Marketing and Your Event: What Works, What Doesn't -

Here are tips to help you avoid learning the hard way what doesn't work when planning your next event.

1. Effective Copy Writing

No matter what type of event you're planning, it's your promotional copy (such as your press releases and posters) — and how it's written — that is going to get people to sign up or attend.

What Doesn't Work

Assuming your audience knows why they should participate. When copy is short on details, it doesn't give people enough reasons to attend.

Not understanding your audience and their problems or pains. People will not respond to a thinly disguised commercial for your oranization.

Grammatical errors, and incomplete information. No excuses. Ever. Invest in proofreading.

What Works

Generate excitement with your headlines and promotional copy:

Write long copy that can be shortened. It's always better to supply too much information. Make sure your promotional copy is long enough to spell out all the details and benefits of attending your event. However, long copy needs to be easy to skim for those who want to get right to the bottom line: use subheads, bold fonts, bullets and call-outs.

Sell the event first, then the organization. You need to focus on selling the benefits of attending your event, not on selling your Grange and its services. Be sure to include information about what they'll "take home" in terms of new knowledge or something tangible, such as workbooks, white papers or checklists.

Provide give-aways and freebies. Something tangible for the person to take home - hand-outs, certificates, even goodie-bags and refreshments. It gives them another reason to attend.

Ensure that your promotional copy includes all the following information: location, date, time, cost, how to register if applicable and how to get additional information.


2. Getting the Word Out

Get your information out early if you want to get into the calendar sections of the newspaper, and further, on the personal schedules of your target audience before they are booked up with other obligations.

What Doesn't Work

Relying on one method of communicating — i.e., press releases via direct mail or only via e-mail. Sometimes direct mail won't get the message through, or e-mails will get filtered out before being read. Always follow-up your press releases either with an e-mail or phone call, or follow-up your e-mails with a press release.

Poor timing: Promoting your event too far in advance, or waiting until the last minute to promote your event. You need both to promote well in advance and to remind prospective attendees again shortly before the event.

Using "wedding-type" or formal invitations and postcards. Generally, response plummets when these types of communication pieces are used, because you don't have room to list all the details and benefits of attending. These should only be used in addition to other marketing for your event.

What Works

Using an integrated marketing communications approach that includes postal mail, e-mail, telemarketing, posters, and utilizing the internet, including the Grange Web site.

Persistence: Hitting your audience more than once with promotional messages. Test for yourself, but three times seems to be the magic number. First, well in advance. Second, two or three weeks in advance. Third, as a last-minute "last chance" reminder.

Buying ads in the newspapers your audience reads, and posting event information to online event calendars and other relevant publications.

Following up with key prospects via telephone.

Sending last minute "See you there!" reminders.


3. Considering Your Audience

Consider your audience, their jobs and their schedules. Plan your event format around your audience type. Your typical audience member has limited time and generally won't attend an all-day event, while individuals who have a distinct interest in the topic will.

What Doesn't Work

Holding events on Monday mornings or Friday afternoons. Doing so will usually cut your attendance dramatically.

What Works

Short performances or lectures, and creative events considered out of the ordinary - often accompanied by food.

"Lunch and Learn" lectures or meetings on specific topics.

Holding your events at new or "in" restaurants or hotels, or at an interesting location such as a park, factory or party boat for a"Harbor Cruise."

Mixing happy "guaranteed" attendees with prospective attendees. Happy attendees will often sell your prospective attendees on why they should belong to your Grange.

Timing your event for Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday—days people are more likely to attend, and days that give you time to deliver last-minute reminders to attendees. Attendees often have other commitments on the weekends, which may conflict with your event.


4. Location, Location, Location

Like a retail business, the location of your performance, presentation, workshop or other event is important.

What Doesn't Work

Venues that are difficult to find or get to (e.g., a busy downtown location on a one-way street).

Not supplying easy-to-follow or complete directions.

Venues that don't include accessible parking close to your event.

What Works

Using your own Grange facilities. If these aren't available or feasible, book a room at a hotel, restaurant, or meeting center easily accessible to your attendees.

Ensuring that the venue is accessible and the directions are correct by driving to it yourself, parking and then walking to the building. Supply maps and directions with the best routes to take.

Paying attention to the location of parking lots and garages: women attendees, in particular, likely won't want to walk by themselves to an out-of-the-way lot or garage, especially after dark.



The bottom line?

Events are a great way to increase awareness of your Grange, and ultimately gain new and perspective members along the way. Ensure your events' success by planning and promoting them well, keeping your target audience in mind when determining the type of event, finding a good location and understanding the differences of your community.

Proper Press Release Content -

There are seven basic elements that every press release should have in terms of content and how it appears:

1. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: These words should appear in the upper left-hand margin, just under your letterhead. You should capitalize every letter.

2. Contact Information: Skip a line or two after release statement and list the name, title, telephone and fax numbers of your spokesperson (the person with the most information). It is important to give your home number since reporters often work on deadlines and may not be available until after hours.

3. Headline: Skip two lines after your Contact information and use a boldface type.

4. Dateline: This should be the city your press release is issued from and the date you are mailing your release.

5. Lead Paragraph: The first paragraph needs to grasp the reader's attention and should contain the relevant information to your message such as the five W's (who, what, when, where, why).

6. Text: The main body of your press release where your message should fully develop.

7. Recap: At the lower left hand corner of your last page restate your product's specifications, highlight a release date.

Press Release Writing Tips -

1. Make sure the information is newsworthy.
2. Tell the audience that the information is intended for them and why they should continue to read it.
3. Start with a brief description of the news, then distinguish who announced it, and not the other way around.
4. Ask yourself, "How are people going to relate to this and will they be able to connect?"
5. Make sure the first 10 words of your release are effective, as they are the most important.
6. Avoid excessive use of adjectives and fancy language.
7. Deal with the facts.
8. Provide as much Contact information as possible: Individual to Contact, address, phone, fax, email, Web site address.
9. Make sure you wait until you have something with enough substance to issue a release.
10. Make it as easy as possible for media representatives to do their jobs.

Press Release Formatting Tips -

1. Use 8 1⁄2 x 11 paper.
2. Use a minimum of one-inch margins on each side of the page.
3. Use a Bold typeface for the headlines to draw attention.
4. Capitalize the first letter of all words in the headline (with the exception of: "a", "an", "the", or prepositions such as: "of", "to", or "from"). The combination of upper and lower case makes it easier to read.
5. Complete the paragraph on one page instead of carrying it over onto the next page.
6. Use only one side of each sheet of paper.
7. Use the word "more" between two dashes and center it at the bottom of the page to let reporters know that another page follows.

– more –

8. Use three numbers symbols immediately following the last paragraph to indicate the end of the press release:

# # #

Organizations and Non-Profits Can Profit From Blogs -

By Wayne Hurlbert
(www.webpronews.com)

Blogs are a powerful addition to any organization's marketing and public relations effort.

Blogs work well, either as a blog section within the site, or as a free standing blog linked to the organizational website.

Non-profit organizations include charities, industry organizations, special community events, trade unions, and Chambers of Commerce.

The goal of any non-profit is not to turn a financial profit in the generally accepted sense. Their goal is to put forward the causes and interests of the organization's membership.

The value of blogs to any non-profit is almost unlimited.

First of all, a blog provides a powerful informational vehicle for the association. The Board of Directors and association staff can keep the membership up to date with the latest initiatives and activities of the organization.

Because a blog is constantly updated, with fresh content, the organizational leaders can maintain up to the minute contact with the members.

Since one of the major difficulties faced by many non-profit organization is membership recruitment and retention, a blog can display the benefits of membership, in real time. Regular postings of how members benefited tangibly from joining the non-profit, can be a useful and interesting series on the blog.

Blogs help the organization in recruiting volunteers for its many activities, from policy committees to fund raising to membership recruitment drives. Openly posting notices of upcoming association events will attract volunteers from the readership.

A blog serves avaluable public relations function for both local and regional news media. Even the national media may pick up stories from a non-profit organization's blog.

Journalists are known to read many blogs on a daily basis, searching for newsworthy article ideas. By posting the policy positions on the blog, as well as distributing them by way of traditional press releases, the story has a greater chance of coverage in the media.

Constant updates about activities and initiatives, on the blog, can go far to helping journalists write about your organization.

Often, non-profit organizations fall victim to some bad press coverage. A blog can get the organization's message out to the media in a hurry. A rapid response, to real or perceived problems, will go far in enhancing the association's image and reputation in the community.
Fund raising can gain a boost from the blog as well.

By regularly highlighting how the money raised by the organization, has helped real people overcome their challenges, the blog will make raising donation levels much easier. Fund raising volunteers will be another result of the charity's success stories.

Charities are a natural home for blogs. By discussing the worthwhile cause, and utilizing the personalization power of blogging, charitable organizations can benefit greatly by blogging. Information about the charity and the people it serves, combined with success stories, form a ready source of posting ideas.

As worthwhile causes, links to the charity's blog will be frequent and powerful, propelling the organization to the top of the search engine rankings. As a high ranking site, the organization's blog adds credibility. Along with that credibility would arrive an increase in volunteers and in donation revenue.

Chambers of Commerce, attempting to gain public support for business, will do very well with blogs. By showing the general public and their elected representatives, how a strong vibrant business community benefits everyone with more jobs and a stronger local tax base, support for business will grow.

Many businesses already maintain blogs, and will happily link to the Chamber's blog.
Small businesses, in particular, will benefit from being part of the Chamber of Commerce reciprocal links from its blog. Association with other businesses, and the networking opportunities afforded through working together, can form another frequent posting idea for the organization.

As you can see, blogs have much to offer to non-profit organizations.

The benefits of a blog to association leaders and managers are endless.

It's time your non-profit organization added a blog to its communications program.