by Trey Nosrac

“So, what’s your plan?” I asked (full story here).

He reached for his phone and began to scroll. When he found what he wanted, he said, “I’m putting the cart before the horse, using my budget to target people who have no previous connection with horseracing. I’m fishing in freshwater online.”

I moaned, “Please don’t tell me it’s clickbait, one of those annoying popups that lead you to cyberspace Never-Never land. Those ads that you can’t click off the screen and make you want to punch your I-pad in the throat?”

“No, my idea isn’t a popup, it’s a simple landing page designed to generate referrals. The goal is to have the viewer refer the product to someone else.” He slipped into a professorial tone, “Technically, this classification of advertising is a CTA, call to action. A CTA can involve a banner, button, graphic, or text on a website meant to prompt a user to act.”

“That sounds like clickbait to me.”

“Not really. This click leads to a conversion funnel. In online marketing, this is an essential part of inbound marketing, sometimes known as permission marketing. Permission marketing is an invitation to the user to forward a non-evident need, insight, or a hidden truth based on human behavior. The goal is a push, sending information to another person. A private push, from a trusted person, has always been the ultimate in marketing. A good push makes everyone feel good.”

“Hey, that happened to me at the beginning of the pandemic. My ex-sister-in-law, Twyla, forwarded me a link to a movie streaming service named Sundance Now. The link had a note — Hey Trey, this site is great. Plenty of weird stuff that might be perfect for my favorite weird guy. Cheers, Twyla.”

He nodded, “That is a perfect example of a push.”

“It worked! I subscribed to Sundance Now and loved it. I’m glad she thought of me and clued me in. I’m in the middle of an epic Swedish series with subtitles about a family that owns a restaurant during World War II. Do you think this approach will work, that it could do the impossible and find new owners?”

“That depends on the pushers.” He handed me his phone and said, “This is my simple CTA. The hope is that a few people like Twyla send it along.”

I looked up. He gave me a nod. I pushed the button.

Thank You for visiting!

Since you have landed on this page, you have likely discovered that harness horse racing can be a passion that fills your mind and nourishes your soul (if not always your bankroll). Amazingly, the world contains people who have yet to find the fulfillment that can result from our sport.

These are strange times.

You may know someone who can no longer take that cruise around the world or stroll the streets of Paris. Their bowling team is no longer rolling, and dinner parties are solitary affairs. Their world, like yours, has changed in many ways. They are in a mental rut. While there may not be a cure for coronavirus lockdown, learning our game via virtual horse ownership may be good medicine.

Boredom is no small matter. Lack of new challenges can lead to health issues. Social psychologists who study boredom know that in such periods, people make poor choices, such as increased drinking, drugs, unhealthy eating, and doom scrolling. In a pandemic, the boredom problems will accentuate.

Here are five psychological tips for these troubling times:

Remind yourself why you are not socializing as often. Staying home is a sacrifice you chose for the good of others.

Find a rhythm as a buffer from boredom. By creating new routines, you can restore a sense of meaning.

Seek out new activities. Finding activities that are challenging enough to keep one occupied and engaged is not easy, and sometimes takes a push.

Try something new. Boredom urges many of us towards novel experiences. Embrace that urge. Experiment with home repairs, learn to tap dance, or get digitally involved in harness racing. Doing new things not only relieves boredom, but it also helps us acquire new skills and knowledge. Evidence shows that embracing new experiences can help us lead not only a happier and more meaningful life, but also a psychologically richer one.

Connect with others. Making new friends or keeping in touch with old friends is a challenge in lockdown but using Zoom or skype is better than sitting alone.

Again, this message is not for you. You already understand and appreciate the rewards of our sport and partial horse ownership. During these trying times, people who do not know our sport will be looking for new outlets, especially during the coming long winter days. You know in your heart that racing can help. You know our sport has engaged you mentally.

Please consider giving a push. If you know a curious, adventurous person anywhere who faces a season of boredom, a person who remains utterly unaware of our sport, pay it forward by privately forwarding this page with these two links.

This link is to a story that illustrates the joys of ownership.

This link takes you to a person hungry to help small groups of new people purchase a portion of a yearling and slowly find their way into this fascinating game, perhaps using an educational zoom format.