Introduction

Executive Summary

Genesis/Planning

Components

Lessons Learned

Marketing Your Public Service Candidate School

Planning | Meeting Logistics | Adult Learning Principals | Timelines

Getting the Word Out!
Before starting the first session, the Chamber's Candidate Development Committee developed a marketing plan on getting the word out. After all the time and hard work you put to the planning of the program, you want people to attend!

The following are samples of we did to help inform the public of our plans.

• Guest column in the daily newspaper (see template). This column was also published in the Chamber's newsletter.
• In working with our daily newspaper, we were also able to secure a Sunday editorial announcing and supporting the program.
• We issued a News Release (see template) announcing the program to the local media outlets.
• We sent a letter (see template - Service Clubs) to the President's of the area Service Club organizations and sent flyers to current and past Leadership Academy graduates.
• We sent a courtesy letter (see template) to our current elected officials informing them our program plans and inviting them to attend if interested.
• We worked with our local radio and TV stations and had Public Service Announcements (PSA) run (see template) announcing the program and where to call for more information.
• The Candidate Development Committee developed a letter for candidate recruitment that was sent to individuals who may be interested in the program (see template for potential session participants).
• We worked with our County's Intermediate School District in distributing the information to the school principals, administrators, and board members. We also sent a letter directly to our School Superintendents (see template) informing them of the program. We asked them to share our program information with current Board members and other parties who may be interested.
• In addition to our Chamber newsletter, we also had the Public Service Candidate School information (see template) and registration available on-line at our web site. We also announced the program on our weekly radio show, community cable program, Board & Committee meetings, and at our monthly membership meetings.

Registration Form
Your registration form should include the features of your program; the benefits of participating, the people who will be teaching and the action you want them to take after they read the brochure. It could include a map, information if the building is handicap accessible and instructions on how to request special accommodations for their participation, if necessary. Other information to include would be "open to all"; registration cost, if any; and number of participants limited to…. Make the registration form as informative as possible, this will reduce the number of calls from potential participants.

News Release
The News Release should include these seven basic elements. Begin with FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE should be capitalized and located in the upper left-hand margin. Next include Contact Information. This should list the name, title, telephone and fax number of your company spokes person. The lead paragraph needs to gain the reader's attention. The trick is to focus on the most newsworthy point of the story and reserve other details further in the body of the news release. Try to capture the essence of the story in a single sentence. The main body of the release should include relevant information such as the five W's: who, what, when, where and why.

Remember to include these points in your news release. Why is the story newsworthy? Who is the audience and why would they be interested? Are the first ten words the most important ones in the news release? Have you avoided excess adjectives or fancy language? Did you provide as much information as possible to make it easier for the media to do their jobs?

Planning | Meeting Logistics | Adult Learning Principals | Timelines