Marketing Your Activities
Have a special chapter event coming up? Celebrating a unique milestone in your chapter’s history? Promote your activities to members, prospect members, and the broader community and bring more attention to your chapter with an effective marketing campaign.
Create marketing materials that engage people’s interest by using graphics that are bold or distinctive, copy that is playful or powerful, and a format that draws attention. Clearly list essential information such as date, time, and location and make sure to communicate the larger purpose of the event or activity.
For electronic messages, keep your text concise so recipients can quickly scan the information and retain important details. Including a descriptive, straightforward subject line will help ensure that your message won’t be ignored or deleted unread.
Crafting your messaging around a theme will help keep you focused and lend continuity to your marketing campaign. If the content of your program is already set it can provide ideas for your theme. Or, decide on an inspiring theme and build your content around it.
When planning your marketing efforts for an event, program, or activity, use some or all of these methods for getting the word out:
- Fliers
- Signs
- Personal invitations
- Brochures
- E-mail blasts
- Electronic or print newsletter announcements
- Ads in local newspapers or magazines
- Blurbs or banners on your website
- Posts on blogs and social networking sites
Develop a timeline for the development and distribution of each piece of marketing material. Track responses to e-mail blasts and provide a space on your registration form for attendees to list how they heard about the program. This will allow you to assess the effectiveness of your efforts and inform your choices when planning your next event.