In 2019, the Virginia Department of Game & Inland Fisheries (DGIF) launched the Refer-A-Friend To Fish campaign in April with the objective of motivating current licensed anglers in Virginia to recruit new people to fish. Virginia also focused on improving the marketing strategy implemented earlier in 2018. This was done with social media advertising along with an earlier campaign launch to coincide with the spring fishing season.
These changes resulted in an increase in the following:
- The total number of referral codes generated: 1,378 (up 102 compared to 2018)
- 12% referred more than 1 person, which demonstrates the effectiveness of the monthly sweepstakes to motivate anglers to generate multiple codes
- The number of new customers who used referral codes: 605 (up 167 compared to 2018)
- Total net revenue: $18,778 (up $5,865 compared to 2018)
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