Eldoret City Marathon was founded in 2018 as a platform for launching the careers of young and unknown long-distance running talents while simultaneously promoting the conservation of the environment. The Eldoret City Marathon was developed to afford the talents in the shadows an opportunity to compete at home where they would not need the services of a manager or agent to register for a world-class marathon. The Eldoret City Marathon can then serve as the platform that gives them national prominence and introduces them to agents, managers, and the rest of the world. Beyond nurturing young and unknown talents, the founders also envisioned the marathon as a platform for advocating for mass tree planting as a panacea for climate change.

What Was the Problem?

Eldoret City Marathon sought to expand the reaches of participation beyond the locality, attracting the interest of participants from all over Kenya and across the globe. However, without a highly specialized digital marketing team, the marathon could not achieve the anticipated levels of growth that would help it achieve its objectives. Additionally, outside Eldoret and its environs, the marathon had little traction with potential participants and sponsors, who would enhance talent nurturing and the tree planting exercise at the core of the marathon’s objectives. The marathon did not also have a digital presence, to expose it more efficiently to the masses. Therefore, despite the good intentions from the marathon, there was little movement in achieving the objectives set by the organizers.

How Did We Resolve It?

The most critical step in marketing the Eldoret City Marathon involved creating an online presence, where the brand would get exposed to a wider audience. Consequently, we developed a website for the marathon, where our target audiences could review our objectives, as well as learn how to participate in the marathon and also partner with us in our climatic action cause. Additionally, we created social media pages for the marathon on all the prominent social media sites, Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter, where we could more effectively communicate with our audiences and give quick feedback regarding our preparations for the marathon, the events, and the post-event notices regarding the marathon. We also partnered with major media companies in the country to give live coverage on the marathon, further enhancing the exposure and consequent participation in the marathon.

We also sought to enhance the marathon website’s conversion rate, seeking to enhance the number of online visitors to the website. This process involved identifying suitable keywords that would enhance access to visitors who would not have accessed the website before. The website was also designed in a manner that enhances user experience, ensuring that the visitors have access to relevant information on the home page without getting redirected often, which reduces customer retention.

What Were the Outcomes?

Since our partnership, Eldoret City Marathon has seen a rise in online presence, based on the engagements recorded with audiences and participants. Due to the greater exposure, the marathon has steadily grown the number of participants registered every year, and this has consequently enhanced our tree-planting efforts towards easing the climate challenge. With greater online participation, the marathon has gained traction as a well-known event in Kenya, with many audiences readily tuning in to observe the event through our online platforms.

What’s Next?

The Eldoret City Marathon seeks to enhance its reach with Kenyan audiences, as well as internationally. With increased exposure, the marathon, the highest paying marathon in Africa, can increase its efforts to promote unnurtured talent in the region, while also attracting more sponsorships. With increased sponsor support, the marathon can increase its prize structure, incentivizing more participation. The Eldoret City Marathon also seeks to expose more talents to the world, potentially helping these talents to participate in international events where they can represent the country and garner more individual accolades.

Additionally, the Eldoret City Marathon seeks to enhance tree planting in the region in response to global climate changes. Added participation in the marathon guarantees greater involvement in the tree-planting exercise.