THE ASPSF TOOLBOX - SECTION 8
Useful resources for Affiliates of the Arkansas Single Parent Scholarship Fund PUBLICITY
Marketing & Publicizing your SPSF
Click on the links below to view examples of publicity materials actually used by affiliates:
Welcome to the fascinating world of publicizing and marketing your Single Parent Scholarship Fund! There are a few fundamental principles you should keep in mind when you are beginning to explore strategies for getting the word out in your county about your project:
- Always keep your organization's mission and "product" in the forefront. Simply put, the SPSF mission is to enable impoverished single parents to attain self-sufficiency through post-secondary education. Our product is scholarships.
- Your public consists of the general community that benefits from the program as it helps those in need by building strong self-sufficient families; by preparing well-trained members of the work-force; and by building a sense of community and mutual self-support among all who live and work together. Your public also consists of volunteers, board members, donors, and other groups with whom you work.
- Your client market is single-parent students who are the consumers of your product. It is not a one-way relationship; the students you assist can help promote and market your scholarship fund in several ways. These will be discussed below.
- Your donor market consists of volunteers, individuals, businesses, civic groups, churches, foundations, government entities, and other resource providers. Donors are a primary target market and are critically important to your viability as a nonprofit organization seeking financial support.
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The Goals of Public Relations & Marketing:
When beginning to consider strategies for informing the public about your SPSF, keep in mind what you are really trying to accomplish. Obviously, you want people to know that the SPSF exists and you want them to have a clear idea of its mission. You want prospective applicants to contact you for information. You also want the general public to have a positive image of your efforts. Other important goals include:
- involvement of volunteers on your board and committees;
- willingness of contributors to help fund your scholarships;
- cooperation of other organizations and agencies in helping students; and
- awareness of events you sponsor.
Once you have these goals clearly in mind, it is possible to consider strategies for achieving them. The following sections address various forms of marketing and public relations strategies that have been successfully employed by many Single Parent Scholarship Fund affiliates in our history. Bear in mind that not every strategy is going to be appropriate for your SPSF and that you must choose those that fit your organization and your board structure.
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Your SPSF Logo:
Each SPSF should have a logo that appears on stationery, brochures, in news articles, and public service announcements.
Included in this section is a generic SPSF logo in both PDF and JPG formats. It can be adapted/modified for use by our affiliates, including the name of your county on the right above SPSF. Your affiliate is free to design its own logo, of course, so if you prefer to design your own let your imagination soar!
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Your Stationery:
Customized stationery is extremely helpful in conveying a sense of formality and permanence to your affiliate. Including a logo, mailing address and telephone number is critical. Listing the names of board members on your letterhead helps people know who is involved; however, this also dates your material if board membership changes faster than you use up letterhead.
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Your Brochure:
If an individual inquires about your SPSF, the most efficient way of responding is by telling him/her about the project and placing a brochure in his/her hand. A well designed brochure will clearly describe the SPSF mission, mention accomplishments and needs, and include the name and address of a contact person for donations, volunteering, application forms, etc. It will also display the logo of the affiliate and provide names and associations of board members. Although they do have a way of getting out of date rather quickly, brochures are an important print "ambassador" and should be made available to those who want to know what your affiliate is all about.
If your affiliate board members feel artistically challenged try this idea as a way of obtaining help with your marketing materials. Contact the instructor of an advertising class at your local college or high school about adopting your organization as a class project. Students would be required to design an advertising campaign, logo, stationery, flyers, etc. and receive a grade on their work. This could also serve to advertise your affiliate because you could hold an awards event for the student's work that you select and receive local news coverage.
Click here for a sample brochure.
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Web Page:
Many people are accustomed to seeking information from the Internet, and it is extremely easy for you to advertise your SPSF on this website. You can list as much or as little information as you would like on your affiliate's custom web page. The basics include the affiliate's name, and the address and telephone number of a contact person. You may view examples of others' pages by clicking here then clicking on the various county links.
Christina Womack is available to you to further develop your affiliate web page with information about your affiliate, including posting a printable format of your scholarship application form. To request updates or additions be made to your affiliate webpage call Christina Womack at (479) 927-1402, extension 10.
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Newspaper Articles:
People still get a lot of information about their community from reading their local newspapers. It is an excellent marketing practice to ask your newspaper editor for coverage of your efforts when you have something to promote or advertise. You may want to invite coverage of fundraising events, award ceremonies, speeches made to civic clubs, or honors bestowed upon recipients. You may also want to write your own press releases detailing the availability of applications and the deadlines set for their submissions.
Be sure to maintain a file of printed articles because it is always helpful to send along copies to people who want to know more about you...and, it is good for your board to be able to see the historical progression of activities covered by the press. Consider inviting a member of the media to serve on your board. You will then have instant access to publicity.
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Public Service Announcements (PSAs):
Short, to the point, time-limited messages can be sent to a variety of media forms without much difficulty, due to the nature of instant electronic communication. Local newspapers, radio stations, and television stations and cable TV outlets have e-mail addresses to which PSAs can be sent. Most media are happy to print or announce information provided by nonprofits, as long as it is legible and grammatically written. To find out e-mail addresses, simply call your local media outlets and ask for them. Some may have e-mail connections on their Internet websites, making it even easier to send them PSAs.
It is always possible to send a PSA via the post office, if you or the media you are contacting do not have e-mail. Try to maintain an updated list of addresses for your local media. Printing labels for these addresses will make it easier to get the mail out!
Click on the following links to view examples of newspaper articles and PSAs.
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Press Kits:
The preparation of a press kit for distribution during a major event is well worth the effort. A press kit can consist of various items, including but not limited to:
- a news release that describes the event with quotes from interesting people and provides background information on your SPSF;
- a brochure;
- a photographs of former or current recipients, fundraising events, etc.
- a business card that lists your affiliate's address and contact information.
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Public Presentations:
Bringing your SPSF out in the public eye is one of the best ways to promote an awareness of the program, attract volunteers, gain media attention, and garner financial support. Civic organizations, particularly those that meet on a regular basis, are the perfect environment for public presentations. Most will give you twenty minutes following lunch or dinner, plenty of time in which to describe the mission and accomplishments of your SPSF and, most importantly, to give a scholarship recipient an opportunity to speak from his/her heart. We have found that single parent students are the very best ambassadors, living proof that a person who wants to complete his/her education will do so. His/Her emphasis on the importance of the Single Parent Scholarship as a cherished honor and an expression of the community's commitment to him/her and his/her family, is most impressive to a listening audience.
Offering to provide a speaker to civic organizations can accomplish several marketing objectives simultaneously. It creates greater public awareness of your program, offers person-to-person contact, provides an opportunity to recruit board members and volunteers, and it paves the way for a request for financial support. That support may come from the organization approached or may be forthcoming from individual members. Be sure to bring plenty of brochures with you for distribution to those in attendance!
Other venues for public presentations include church groups, governmental meetings, United Ways, college and university classes, festivals, and forums on social issues. Having a speaker's bureau of trained, well-prepared board members and volunteers is quite helpful in sharing the responsibility for presentations among your co-workers.
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Awards Ceremonies:
An excellent way to recognize current scholarship recipients and donors while simultaneously obtaining press coverage is to hold an annual award ceremony. Several SPSF affiliates have held such ceremonies and report that they are fairly easy to arrange. Invitations to scholarship recipients and their families, to donors, to board members, to public officials, and to the press are extended at the same time. In some ceremonies, checks and/or certificates of achievement are presented. A well-known speaker may also be invited to address those in attendance; his or her presence may attract better coverage from the press. A key to the success of such an event is to schedule it when most students can attend. Also, holding it in a centrally-located public space large enough to seat all who participate is very important. Printing a program to distribute to participants and preparation of a press packet will add to the chances of the event's success.
Click here to view examples of affiliate graduation and awards programs
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Donor Appreciation:
If a donor requests publicity for the presentation of a check, always try hard to meet the donor's need by arranging a photo session, writing a press release, or incorporating the check presentation into a larger event. Although newspapers have become somewhat reticent about sending a photographer to cover occasions in which the only "action" is a check being given to a charity, there is nothing to prevent you from having a picture taken of the event and providing it to your local newspaper. The quality of the photograph must be excellent, however.
"Stand alone" donor appreciation events have become popular as a means of letting financial supporters know how much you value them, but keep in mind that you may run the risk of being perceived as spending money unnecessarily. It is best to test the waters for an event like this by polling donors to determine if they would attend. If you perceive a negative reaction, try to combine donor appreciation with another event such as one in which you are honoring students at the same time. In that way, you are linking the givers to those who directly benefit from their generosity.
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ASPSF Publicity Video:
The ASPSF has produced an eight minute video which presents the mission and history of the Single Parent Scholarship Fund, as well as personal testimonials from recipients, affiliate board members, and donors. Free copies of this video were included with the original Toolbox. If you need another copy, please let us know.
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