District Marketing Committee Leads to More Publicity
People in your community are eager to hear about the young man at church earning his Eagle Scout Award and the Cub Scouts collecting cans for the local food bank. Your community newspaper may do a feature story or run photographs of how Scouting makes a difference in your community. But you and your district marketing committee must share this information.
A district marketing committee is the answer to keeping up with those heroism awards, Good Turn for America activities, and Eagle projects. Task your committee with a public relations function and use the media to spread the word about Scouting.
Ten Responsibilities of Your District Marketing Committee
- Develop, implement, and evaluate the district marketing plan, including public and media relations, promotions, and advertising.
- Prioritize projects and set short- and long-term marketing goals.
- Develop a marketing budget, with the help of the district finance committee.
- Determine which marketing methods are most effective in communicating the district mission and goals.
- Support the Scouting program through print and broadcast marketing tools.
- Provide media outlets with information that will promote a positive image of the BSA.
- Promote positive public relations at the district and unit levels.
- Assist and support in the planning, promotion, and launch of new programs and projects.
- Help create consistent messages that communicate the fun and values of Scouting.
- Ensure the orderly and effective planning and development of all council publications.
A Word From the Pros
Two professionals, one with and one without a district marketing committee, share how they maximize their marketing efforts:
"The biggest barrier is finding out about all the great things going on at the unit level throughout the council so that I can share the good news with the community," said Chastity McReynolds, director of marketing for the Circle Ten Council.
In order to help the flow of marketing information between the council, districts, and units, each district appoints a district marketing chairman. This person serves as the district's media expert, establishes relationships with local media outlets, recruits district marketing committee members to serve different communities, searches for good stories, and serves as the marketing liaison between the council and district.
The chairman distributes the unit publicity packet and provides units with marketing training. To promote major council events, the council's marketing committee writes news releases and the staff adviser sends it to all news media. The staff adviser also shares news releases with the district marketing chairmen to personalize the event for their district and share with their local news media. The Circle Ten Council is experiencing a marked increase in the number of media responses after incorporating this plan last year.
"While we don't have set district marketing committees, people on the membership committees do similar tasks," said Joe Mueller, director of public relations for the Greater St. Louis Council. "One area of success is getting School Night to Join Scouting incentives. New Scouts receive everything from free tickets to minor league baseball games to free pizzas. Our Scouting for Food volunteers attempt to get coverage in a variety of ways," Mueller said. "Volunteers stage a photo opportunity by presenting the 'first Scouting for Food bag' to the town mayor. They also place stories on how Scouting for Food is vital to local [food] pantries."
Whatever works best for your council—a formally structured district marketing committee or not—engage the expertise of marketing and public relations professionals in your community. Don't forget when recruiting volunteers to ensure that the opportunity presented to your volunteer is not a professional conflict of interest, but utilize their interest and enthusiasm in other project areas.
Where to Find Marketing Professionals
In large and small communities alike, marketing committee members can be recruited from several sources:
- Local college and university marketing or business departments, including instructors, students, and administrators
- Corporate marketing agencies specializing in business development, planning, communications, public relations, advertising, or market research
- Radio and television (including cable) stations
- Newspapers, magazines, and other print media
- Major advertisers
- Local chapters of the American Marketing Association, Public Relations Society of America, or Advertising League
- Marketing departments of local businesses