Topic: Marketing and PR
A few weeks ago, when I was asked to sit on the panel for "Marketing your club" at the Potomac Region Midwinter Conference, I replied sure...no problem! I promptly set that thought aside and went back to work on other projects until this past week. The conference is this Saturday, and I really hadn't given much thought to this topic yet. Yikes! I needed to present something that would make for 5 very worthwhile minutes to the audience.
So, I started asking myself some basic questions. What is marketing? How does marketing differ in the non-profit sector? What tools can be used for marketing? What are the other panel members going to cover?
Hmmm.....
Marketing is not advertising or public relations, although these devices can be used as marketing tools. In the business world, marketing is used to promote a service or product to potential and existing customers. However, marketing non-profit community service organizations, like our Kiwanis clubs, has a wider emphasis that just PRODUCT.
Sure, we're sometimes selling or advertising a product for a fundraiser, so we have that aspect. BUT...we're also promoting an ideal, a community service, a group. And not just to possible customers. We are presenting ourselves to the community at large, to possible new members, to people who could support our fundraisers and projects, to other Kiwanians, to other service groups, and even to the media. We have a variety of audiences, and our image is what we're promoting more than anything else.
One of our panel members, Krissy, is from the DC Young Professionals club, and I'm pretty sure she'll cover using social media (websites, e-mail, blogging, upload sites, podcasts, etc.) that can market to the younger, Net-Gen group. Our other panel member, Dave, is the editor of the eBuilder. He'll probably cover information about using print and online media to market our clubs and their activities.
What I'd really like to emphasize to our audience is how to market your club and Kiwanis one-on-one. Each and every club member has the opportunity to be a marketing representative for Kiwanis every day, and many opportunities get missed. We each have probably memorized the official answer when someone asks us "what is Kiwanis?"
Kiwanis is a global organization of volunteers dedicated to changing the world, one child and one community at a time.
Have you ever said that word for word to someone? Have you gotten a look back that clearly said "Huh?"
Club members need to be Kiwanis evangelists....spreading the message about what Kiwanis does and what it really means, personally, to be a Kiwanian. We're enthusiastic about our clubs, our projects, our fundraisers. People pick up on the how something is told even more than the content of the message. The also learn more through actions, so inviting someone to participate with you can show them that enthusiasm.
Telling someone "well, we just do community service" is not enough! We market our clubs by letting people know what the projects involve, how much we enjoy our activities, why we joined Kiwanis to participate in community service, rather than just volunteering as individuals, and what we get out of our club membership that makes our lives so much better.
We never just do anything in Kiwanis. We make a difference for the better....for children, for our community, for our clubs, and for ourselves.
