Publicity Question

[Dionysus]

What kind of publicity would make YOU come to a event or join an organization?

What kind of publicity would you avoid?

Do you read flyers?

If so, what kind (as in looks)?

What kind of recruitment turns you off?

I'm kind of taking survey here.

[sororitygirl2]

Flyers can get old because everyone does them. Posters are better because people can't avoid them, they see them no matter what... whereas, a flyer you have to actually accept from the person handing them out. You can chalk the sidewalks, or have professors announce it in classes (if this is a campus type thing), or maybe put an ad in the paper.

If you do want to hand out flyers, tape some candy to them and people will be more interested!

[Peaches-n-Cream]

I think a newspaper ad is a good idea.

[Kevin]

For some strange reason we seem to think about flyers...

If you post them they will come.

Not only NO but HELL NO.


Personally it would probably take either money or something really exciting going on at an event. I'm so damned busy with all the campus organizations I'm in that another group's event might be a little much -- but if someone I knew asked me to go, I might show up.

As far as what kind of flyers I read... If they're posted in classrooms I'll read them.. Hell.. there's nothing better to do.

I remember one that TKE did back around the time of the Monica Lewinsky Scandal... They had a Picture of Pres Clinton smoking a cigar and advertised their cigar party. That got a lot of publicity for them.

[justamom]

First, I've always been a strong believer in one person brings one person and that one person brings another etc...

It's the EVENT that often brings people together.

The Sigs and the Pikes started a "Beauty Bowl" It was flag football for teams of dorm girls. The girls attracted the GDI guys and the frternity members met the GDIs. Boosted he numbers quite a bit.

Oh, how I hate to say this...TheSigs had a very "special" 35 mm film. Now what guy in their right "freshman" mind will turn down a 35 mm film??? Plus, they had the Little Sisters in the kitchen (get down on your knees and say THANK YOU to them), making pop corn and beer!

They also had the open TG's that for a nominal cover-anyone could attend. I honestly think the guys, being more liberal in their rules, should have an easier time than the females when it comes to COB.

IF a sorority has mixers/exchanges, why NOT invite a girl+friends to attend. It is a great atmosphere for fun with guys and all the "possibilities". You MUST show them a difference between living in a dorm and being part of a sorority.

Things may have changed, but not so much that when you go fishing you don't need a lure!

[Dionysus]

sororitygirl2-We tried that the first day of school, we got some blow pops w/ a little pamplet tied to it. They just took the blow pops and pitched the pamphlets.

Cream-We tried the newspaper. Guess what? They left out the time of our recruitment event.

JAM and KT-This is the most frustrating, no one has ever accepted my invitations. I just get a bunch of stupid questions.

[justamom]

OK Dionysus, lets REALLY get serious and pull everyone into this. You have to know there are a hundred and more chapters facing this problem!
What we all need to know is the type of campus-Commuter? or NOT.
Greek percentage- Under 15%?
What is the current craze in your area?
How many Sororities NPC and Local.

Average chapter size and if you want YOUR chapter size.

Surely SOMEBODY in your GLO has friends OUTSIDE the chapter!?!

You can E-Mail me if you choose, but you may get more help if you post.

[Dionysus]

JAM, I was editing my post while you posted. The two organazations I'm doing publicity (one I'm even being paid for) for aren't sororities. One is a service co-ed fraternity. The other is a social non-GLO that does campus programming. Both are bad in numbers. I know quality is important. But, the numbers are so low that we are drowned in duties.

We all have friends outside our chapter, just loser ones.

Our campus is commuter. Big problem.
About 5% greeks.
No locals that I know of.
3 NPCs, thank goodness, they really helped us w/ our numbers! One of the sororities requires their new members to join another org beside theirs. Since we had a few EC officers from there they often invite their sisters to join.

IMO I'm coming to a conclusion that a GLO of this type will not survive on this campus. I've been at this for 2 1/2 years and I am burning out. This semester I will be putting a LOT more energy into org. #2 instead, one, it has potential, second, I get PAID for publicizing the org.

[justamom]

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOH You're in TROUBLE girl! YO aint got no LURE!

What are you going to say...."It will look good on your resume'?"

WHo needs sevice hours on campus? I know at LSU each girl has to be involved in X number of community hours, but when you get into GLO vs GLO (even if one is service) you cross an invisible line!

At this point, I don't know what to say. If others would give an idea or two, I may be able to "brainstorm" off of them. (One of my stronger points.) People are spread so thin these days, there has to be a "win,win" scenario, or nobody bites! Where is the "win" for a volunteer in this scenario. If you can think of one, you are on the road. Right now, (late and hubby's making the "move") I can't! I will think about this and revisit it tomorrow!
Think Little Orphan Annie-"The sun will come up, tomorrow..."

[Dionysus]

Heh it's my fault (and two ex-members). At first the org was a (local) sorority interest group. I was dead against turning the sorority into a service one, because I knew it wouldn't survive. Then we let another sorority talk us into turning service, because they didn't need anymore competition, invited us to join theirs, promised that they'll join ours too. Then I brought up the idea of turning it into a co-ed fraternity, our current advisor at that time was an APhiO alum. He introduced us to it, and we accepted. Even at that point we still didn't have the concept of what APO really was. I didn't know until I started posting on GC. We didn't know in the process that this org was strictly service. I remember asking dumb questions like "Because we are co-ed, will it be considered as a brothel if we had a house?" or "Do we have a patron god?"

Yep, when they see greek letters or hear greek words we lose about 50% of their interest, and when we tell it is service we lose the other half.
How I stuck around was that, eventhough I was anti-service at first, I became attached to the organization and actually developed some interest in service. Also, once I start something, I would like to finish it.

Anyways, this thread is more about another org, sorry that I gave the impression that this was about APhiO. This organization does programming on our campus, and we are required to have 15 members (we only have 4) and my officer postition (marketing) is a paid one. So, I'm kind of panicing because I have no idea how to get out our name out or events and recruit new members.

[AOIIBrandi]

You could try sheet signs if your school allows them. Get a white sheet and paint the information on it (you get points for artwork and neatness). Remember to cut slices in the sheet so that the wind will go through it, then hang it between 2 trees on a part of campus where everyone will see it. This was how the GLOs on our campus advertised everything.

Clapboard signs could work. Also, post fliers on all bulletin boards in all the buildings you are allowed to.

Other than that word of mouth is really the best way.

[Peaches-n-Cream]

Originally posted by Dionysus
Cream-We tried the newspaper. Guess what? They left out the time of our recruitment event.

GGGRRRR!!! They need to rerun that ad at no cost to your org if they ran the ad incorrectly!!! Plan another event and tell them to run the ad with the new time and place.

Is there another service or volunteer organization that you can join up with and recruit new members? Maybe religious organizations?

[Starlet]

Recently I planned an event for our chapter to raise money for a national September 11th charity and the school paper completely left out any mention about donations going to this charity...which really made me quite mad.

But anyways, another way you can publicize an event is to send an e-mail out to organization's listservs or ask presidents of clubs to send the e-mail out to members. Another thing I did was send out an e-mail to the Resident Directors of all the dorms on campus and asked them to tell their RAs to tell the freshmen and sophomores who lived in the dorms about the event.

Hope that helped you out!