Marketing Your Program
Marketing is an essential component to a successful program.
Strong marketing can increase attendance at a program as well as increase
awareness about the topic and your peer education group. Both results will
be beneficial to your group but you must take the active role of generating
this awareness.
If you have ever worked hard to plan an energetic, educational,
and top-notch program for your campus and had only a handful of people attend,
instead of the 100+ you were expecting, you know how crucial marketing can
be!
Often, poorly attend programs occur due to a lack of targeted and
effective marketing. People will not attend a program if (1) they do not
know about the program and if (2) they do not know why they should attend.
There are different types of marketing and they are listed and
defined below. However, before you start to market
your program, remember these principles:
People need to know about your program.
It is a fairly simple concept
but it is the one most overlooked. Most peer education groups are
talented and skilled in brainstorming new and creative programs,
researching the
topic of the program, and designing and implementing the program
in an engaging format…only to have very few people attend! Lack of
marketing is the top reason for poorly attended programs. Often groups
invest their time
into the program design and forget to let people know about it.
Your best resource? Your group! Delegate a subcommittee in your group
to be in charge
of promoting and marketing your program and be sure to check in
with this subcommittee regularly to check on progress and what they
need from other
members.
People need a reason to attend.
Everyone is busy and trying to
fit one more thing on a “to do” list is a struggle.
Most likely, your peer education group chose the program topic
and designed the program to address a need on your campus. However,
your campus may need a reminder about why the topic is important
and why they should attend the program. This is called targeted
marketing. Companies selling products and services use this type
of marketing in order to attract the customers they want and need
to stay in business. Here are a few questions to ask yourself as
you plan your marketing strategy:
o Who is the audience of your program?
o Why is this topic important to your audience? Does your audience
know it is important?
o What will the audience gain by attending your program?
o Does your audience know what they will gain by attending your
program?
o Where does your audience get its information?
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Ways to Market Your Program
The components of media advocacy are key tools for helping a peer
education group better market its programs. Below are a few ways
to market your program and increase attendance.
Word of Mouth: Friends and friends of friends can be a source for
attendees at your program. Students as well as staff and faculty
will have a stronger buy-in to your program if they know someone
who is sponsoring it or presenting at it. Remember to let your
friends, supervisors, and professors know about what you are doing
and invite them to attend.
Flyers: Posting flyers
is one of the most common ways to advertise a program on campus.
This means that campuses can suffer from “poster
blindness” where flyers start to blend together and people
do not notice them anymore. However, they can be effective. Consider
using different colors and shapes for your flyers when you post
them in the regular locations. Look into posting your flyers in
different locations such as at campus and campus-area bus stops
or on walls where students are waiting in line at the bookstore,
Registrar’s office, or financial aid office.
Press Release: A press release is a short article or story that
you write about your program and submit to a newspaper for release
or printing. The newspaper may decide to run what you submit or
may contact you or attend the program to learn more. A successful
press release will include the following elements:
o Print your press
release on your group’s or department’s
letterhead.
o Your release date should be the date you want the story to run.
o Include the essentials: who, what, when, and why in the first
one to two paragraphs.
o Include a quote or two. You can quote a member of your group
to explain the purpose of your event.
o Be sure you include the name, title, and phone number of who
the press can contact for more information.
o If you have a photo opportunity occurring at the event, you may
want to mention it in your release as well.
o To download a sample press release, click here.
Media Alert: A media
alert includes only the basics of the event: who, what, when,
where, and why. It is also printed on your group’s
or department’s letterhead and will include a contact name
and information for who the press can contact for more information.
It can be written in a bulleted format.
Public Service Announcement: Public Service Announcements (PSAs)
are a brief written announcements that can be read over the air,
often on radio, in one minute or less blurbs. PSAs differ from
traditional radio advertisements because they are read for free.
A sample PSA can be downloaded by clicking here.
Each of the sample marketing pieces that can be downloaded is provided
as a basic example and you are encouraged to adapt them to fit
your program. It can be very beneficial to work with your campus’ journalism
or marketing department to help your group learn more about these
marketing techniques as well. You may also want to work with your
campus’ student organizations office to include marketing
as a workshop open to all student groups. Local media (including
newspaper, television, and radio) may be willing to do a brief,
one-hour training on what they look for in a press release, media
alert, and public service announcement and how to build an effective
relationship with the press.
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