March 2003
Marketing Savvy – Our Field’s Blind
Spot
By Susan J. Ellis
Responses for this topic
What is it about volunteer leadership that makes us unwilling to
take what we’ve got and flaunt it? I am so often struck by
our lack of marketing savvy, particularly now that the Internet has
opened so many new, free ways to spread the word about our
work (free in terms of money, though time and effort are still needed).
First, it is my opinion that the volunteer world generates what
ought to be headline-grabbing, real news on a daily basis – especially
in contrast to the bleak and frightening world news blanketing newspapers,
television and radio at the moment. Yet, if volunteer program managers
contact the media at all, it is too often with boring stories that
are anything but new.
Use what I call the “So-what? Factor” when you look
for the newsworthy item. For example:
- Three volunteers get an award for serving 25 years each.
So what?
- The summer orientation class is accepting applications.
So what?
- Ten students pass their driving test with help from their
volunteer reading tutors. So what?
The point is not that these facts are irrelevant to the people involved;
it’s that they are not important to anyone else. They are not news,
in a public sense. News is made when certain criteria are met:
-
Anyone can immediately see the value of the activity, outcome,
etc., without a great deal of background explanation.
-
The item
is unusual (rarely occurs) or even unique.
-
The item is connected
to other issues in the news – it’s
current.
-
The item is surprising or counter-intuitive in some way.
-
The
item appeals to an emotion, whether people’s reactions
might be tears, laughter, anger, or pride. If there’s no
gut reaction, it doesn’t matter to anyone.
What kinds of volunteer activities or accomplishments might meet
such criteria? Of course it will depend on your setting, but let’s
look at #3 – some connection to national or local news stories.
Follow these steps:
Step 1: Read and watch the latest news reports and narrow
in on those events that seem to have the greatest relevance to people
in
your community.
Step 2: Look within your agency and focus on what volunteers
are doing that directly or indirectly impacts on or relates to this
news.
Step 3: Take photographs of the volunteer activity and
then write a press release to send to your contact list. Or, call
one of the
local news desks to invite them to send a reporter out. You can
even write a simple letter explaining why you think this is “news” and
offering to work with the paper or station to find the best way to
bring it to public attention. (Be sure you answer “so what?” before
anyone can think it!)
Here are just a few ideas to help you gain perspective:
-
The news is filled with fear of war and terrorism. Can
you show peaceful interaction among volunteers/clients (either
side)
who are Muslim or from the Middle East and those who are not?
Do you work with children who express their feelings to volunteers
who,
in turn, help them see a wider world view? Can you provide the
news media with comic relief of any kind?
-
Unemployment and economic
woes are in the news. Do you offer ways that unemployed people
can volunteer, both to keep up their
morale and to add something new to their resume? Are volunteers
helping clients to job hunt successfully? To start home businesses?
-
Teenagers
and twenty-somethings are often perceived as alienated. Do you
have proof they are not all that way? What do young volunteers
do that might surprise the skeptics (pick out-of-the-ordinary things,
not just walk-a-thons or visiting older people)? Similarly, confront
conventional wisdom if you’re in a nursing home in which
residents do service for others instead of always being the recipients.
You’ll get media attention for these types of things – and
it doesn’t have to be the biggest mass media. Community or
neighborhood newspapers, often weeklies, are particularly interested
in such stories. So, too, the university or high school newspaper.
Local radio stations are also good targets for your press releases.
Note that this sort of publicity – great for new volunteer
recruitment, for volunteer recognition, and for gaining the respect
of the paid staff – doesn’t take money. It takes a growing
mailing list or, today, e-mailing list. It also means being alert
to photo opps, since a picture is really worth a thousand words.
Even if you resist seeking media attention externally, are you doing
effective marketing inside your organization? Do you make everyone
aware of newsworthy actions by volunteers? Do you post photographs
on a public bulletin board or on your Web site? Do you send special
alert memos or at least include the news item in your regular program
report? If you are not the cheerleader for volunteers, who will be?
Finally, one of my pet peeves is the way that most volunteer-related
conferences are kept secret. Of course, that isn’t the intent
of the organizers, but an observer might easily think the event is
to be an exclusive gathering. Maybe a date saver is sent to an internal
mailing list, followed by a more detailed brochure mailing. Some
information may be put on a Web site. And then the registration committee
waits for response.
Remember that advertisers tell us it takes seven mentions of a product
before we even notice! Here are just a few marketing tips that can
be applied by any conference or even local workshop sponsor:
-
Look for every possible free calendar of events that will
accept your notice: on the Web and elsewhere1; directed at volunteering
folks but also of interest to a wider, yet related, audience
(activity directors, fire chiefs, alumni officers). In fact,
unless you start
posting to general community calendars, you may never discover
the full range of colleagues right in your own town. Get volunteers
to
help find sites and then keep the list to pass on to next year’s
chair!
-
Cross-publicize events with volunteer colleagues in neighboring
geographic areas. Usually people in New Jersey never hear about
the Pennsylvania Association for Volunteerism’s annual
conference, and Pennsylvanians are in the dark about the New
Jersey event.
All it takes is an agreement to send each other press releases
and ask
for announcements in regular member communiques. Such missed
opportunities abound all over the world, wherever artificial
boundaries are placed
on member territory!
-
Print up inexpensive flyers or bookmarks with
the basic information and share the job of distributing them
as widely as possible:
at conferences of related professionals; at community meetings;
in public libraries; and other places where group leaders meet.
If every
member of the planning committee agrees to find three places to
put a stack of materials, think of how many new venues you can
reach
with little effort.
What I want to know is:
-
Do you have an example of "savvy" volunteer program
marketing that others can emulate? (All suggestions for where
and how to draw attention to volunteering are welcome.)
-
Why do you
think so few of our colleagues take marketing action?
-
Can you brainstorm
possible volunteer activities that might make “news” today?
----------------
1As always, I invite all site visitors
to use the conference calendar we offer on the Energize Web site.
Do not think that your event is too limited or too local to qualify!
You truly never
know when someone within two miles of you may be out of your regular
network, yet finds the information online and shows up.
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People's Responses
