Jillian Simmons wrote the paper and helped with marketing.
Brent did most of the marketing and organized the practice workshop. Kelly also helped with marketing.
Marketing
Jillian Simmons
Ball State University
Introduction
The purpose and goals of this group’s marketing plan for the
Big Read program is to reach as many people as possible through the facility in
which we are holding the event, Morris Woods Health Campus. We are also hoping
to reach more people through Big Brothers Big Sisters, an organization that agreed to promote
the program by spreading the word to their members. The main purpose of our
marketing plan, in regards to Morris Health Woods, is to not only reach the residents
of the facility but to also reach the employers and employees of the facility
and the family members of the residents in order to provide an event where the
employers, employees, and family members of the residents can enjoy an
educational and fun-filled event with the residents.
“The most common purpose
of marketing is to impart information about a service, product or idea in order
that people may identify, seek, or support these offerings. Marketing helps
people to identify what an organization, company or person does. It assists
people in seeking specific services or products. Marketing also imparts
information to potential supporters of a cause, idea or program.” (Burkhart, 1995,
p. 5)
Another purpose of
our marketing plan is to get residents interested in an event that will
entertain them, raise their interest in reading, have an open discussion with
their friends and family about the themes of the book such as technology and
the burning of books, and to watch the film version of the book. The main
purpose of reaching Big Brothers Big Sisters through our marketing plan is to get
both mentors and mentees in the organization interested in reading together as
well as individually and encouraging open discussions about literature.
The goal of our marketing plan is to get everyone from both
organizations, which consists of people ranging from young to elderly, to come
together in one place to discuss and share their experiences and their views of
the content in the book and its themes. It is also a chance for them to all
discuss the comparisons and contrasts of the book from the movie. Our biggest
goal is to encourage the participants of the workshop to want to read more as
well as want to participate in other Big Read events. Our goal is reach a
maximum of 50 people and a minimum of 20 people.
Marketing Strategies
The first
step of our marketing strategy was to try and reach organizations through
telemarketing and email. We called a plethora of organizations and facilities,
such as Morris Woods Health Campus, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Delaware County,
The Boys and Girls Club, Ball Memorial Hospital, Westminster Village of Muncie,
Muncie Central High School, The American Electric Power Company, and many more.
We had spoken to Larry Strange about what marketing strategies we should use.
He advised us to not start out asking for financial support, because that would
take more time than we had to get the workshop up and running. He advised us to
ask organizations and facilities for help spreading the word about the event
and having the event at their facility. We called the list of facilities he
gave us and explained the Big Read program. We asked if they would spread the
word about the program to their members and if we could have our event at their
facility. Most of the organizations and facilities said that they needed more
information before even spreading the word and all, but one, Morris Woods
Health Campus said that we could hold the event at their facility. The next
step in our marketing plan was to email all of the organizations and facilities
information, including a newsletter written by the professor and the url to the
program’s website. We continued to call the facilities, but most them said no.
Morris Woods Health Campus agreed to let us have the event there and Big
Brothers Big Sisters agreed to spread the word to their members.
The next step in our marketing plan was to have a practice workshop
at Morris Woods Health Campus, where we would discuss the book and any
questions the residents and workers of the facility had about the event. “Adult educators
frequently provide workshops to share information and further their
professional development.” (Burkhart, 1995, p. 11) During this practice
workshop, 5 residents who were interested in attending the event were present.
There was 1 employee present, which we thought was very important because “It
is key that management encourages staff development, endorses the instruction
to be provided, and recognizes the benefits of hosting a workshop.” (Glackin,
Folkner, 2009, p. 76) We discussed the event with the residents. We told them
what the book was about along with giving them ten copies of the book to read
before the event. We told them about the movie we would watch during the event
and some of the themes we would discuss. We also asked them if they had any ideas or
people outside of the facility who may be interested in also attending. One the
residents was involved in Association of Lifelong Learners, a somewhat
political group that consists mostly of people of elderly age that were once
educators. They met on Thursdays at the E.B. Ball Center. She invited us to
come to one of the meetings to pass out flyers and to discuss the event with
other members. Brent agreed that he would go to their next meeting to bring
flyers and discuss the event with them. Some of the other residents brought up
the names of other residents living at Morris Woods Health Campus that would be
interested in the book and coming to the event. Some of them were not able to
read well, so we also brought the big print version of the book and the
soundtrack, which reads the book out loud. We also gave the facility employee a
copy of the movie. We asked the residents if there was anything particular they
would like to do during the event, such as have snacks or games for them to
play. They said that the discussion and the movie was enough. We were planning
to have the event from 6 p.m. – 7 p.m., but one of the residents suggested
having it a half an hour to an hour longer. We agreed that it would be as long
as they wanted within the time confinements of the facility. Before ending the
practice workshop, we talked more about the book in relation to current events
and the burning of books. Many of them did not believe that people would burn
books. This lead to an idea to also include a small slideshow presentation of
places and events where the burning of books has actually occurred. “Clear
communication directed to your clients’ interests, needs, and educational
levels helps lessen the chance for a communication breakdown.” (Smith, 1987, p.
3)
Another strategy we used to get people interested in the
event was posting the event to our Facebook and Twitter accounts to help spread
to the words to our friends and family. We are also sending out an email that
will go out to all the students and faculty at Ball State University. Two of
the members of this group are faculty members and teachers at Ball State
University. We are offering extra credit to our students in order to get them
to come out and join the event.
In table 2 in organizations, we discussed the reasons why
the organizations we chose to target would be good organizations to promote the
Big Read program.
We learned from one of the sources that the first thing you should do when
marketing is “identify groups of potential learners, to decide who will
be targeted, to determine the needs of the target group, and to actively
promote the program to the prospective learners.” (Douglass, Valentine, Cervero,
1999, p. 3)
Two out of the five organizations
that we chose are agreeing to participate in the event, Morris Woods Health
Campus and Big Brothers Big Sisters. Morris Woods Health Campus was chosen,
because we would have a captive audience interested in reading and
participating and support from the management for the program. The Big Read program would also help aging
minds stay active, which would help to maintain mental health. Our marketing
strategies focused on how we can relate the Big Read program to the elderly
residents and the faculty. We discussed with the faculty during phone
conversations that it would help with their mental health as well as give them
something productive to do that was out of the ordinary in the daily routines.
We discussed with the elderly residents different themes in the book that we
thought would spark their interest, such as the burning of the books. The Big
Brothers Big Sisters organization was chosen, because they can use the Big Read
activities through their volunteers as a learning and bonding activity with the
youth they serve. When we spoke to Big Brothers Big Sisters over the phone, we
described it as an activity for the mentors and mentees to participate in an
educational activity together. We also described it as a chance for them to be
surrounded by people of older ages that can share their life experiences and
perspectives with those of younger ages as a way to spark their interest in
reading and continuing their education. “Adults bring a wealth of experience into the
classroom. Pedagogical approaches should incorporate students’ experience into
education.” (Kilgore, 2003, p. 84)
Big Brothers Big Sisters was
able to help support the Big Read program by spreading the word. Morris Woods
Health Campus was able to help the Big Read program by not only allowing us to
have the event at their facility, but also by spreading the word throughout the
facility as well as outside the facility to other organizations that the
residents had connections with.
Budget
The budget is set at $50. There are only a few expenses that will have
to be paid for out of the budget, which are for refreshments for the
participants. All other resources, such as the books, the movie, flyers, using
social media, the telephone, and email to reach out to organizations and
facilities, were free. The refreshments, which consists of cookies and drinks,
should be under $50 as were are buying enough to feed only fifty people.
Popcorn served by the facility will also be free. The movie and slideshow will
be shown with technology that is already owned, such as the tv at the facility
and HDMI cord and laptop owned by members of the group.
Marketing
activities and results:
Marketing Activities
|
Organizations/Facilities
|
Results
|
·
Contacted and communicated by phone, email,
and in-person
·
Held a practice workshop
·
Handed out books and brochures
|
Morris Woods Health Campus
|
·
Agreed to let us have the event at their
facility
·
Suggested another organization to reach out
to
·
Reached the facility employees and residents
·
Estimated number = 25
|
·
Contacted and communicated by phone, email,
and in-person
·
Handed out brochures
|
Big Brothers Big Sisters of Delaware County
|
·
Agreed to spread the word and hand out
brochures
|
·
Contacted and communicated by phone and
email
|
Westminster Village of Muncie
|
Westminster Village declined our request for
assistance in promoting Big Read citing disruption from current construction
activities.
|
·
Contacted and communicated by phone and
email
|
Ball Memorial Hospital
|
Never returned calls or emails
|
An
event public event page was set up on Facebook. This event was also posted to
our Facebook pages. This event was sent out to over 1,000 people. As of now, no
one has responded to the event.
There were also tweets sent out
about the event:
So far, there have been no responses
to the tweet. However, it has been tweeted to over 100 people.
Brochures
have been handed out to the Big Brothers Big Sisters and Morris Woods Health
Campus. There were also brochures that were given to the Association of
Lifelong Learners. There were over 100 brochures distributed to these
organizations and facility. There were brochures distributed in our classes,
which estimates that about 25 people were reached out to.
Others forms
of marketing were also attempted by contacting journalism students and members
of different Ball State organizations to help spread the word through media and
word of mouth.
Reflection
The highlights of completing this
assignment was figuring out what worked best with getting people and
organizations on board with the Big Read Program. After making phone calls and
sending out email didn’t get us any positive responses, we started showing up
in person and making meetings with people in charge at facilities, which gained
us a place to have our event, promises to promote the event, and connections to
other organizations.
The process
of this assignment was timely, but we learned a lot about organizing,
marketing, and planning an event. The lessons we learned were that it is better
to approach people in person and having a face-to-face conversation with them
in order gain more positive responses. It is also a better way to get an
understanding of the organization, what they are about, and the ways you can
connect your program with their program. We learned that it is better to have
all of the information about your program when reaching out to people instead
of just providing them with basic information. Having meetings and practice
workshops with organizations also helps with marketing and planning as it gives
both you and the organization a look of how your event will go and what should
be incorporated in your event to make it even better and more appealing to the
people who will be attending. As a group, we learned that communicating and
coming up with ideas helps a lot with organizing. We also tried to all be there
whenever we had meetings just in case one person in the group had an idea or
information that another person did not have. This also helps in ensuring the
organization that the people running the event are hands-on and are serious
about running the event in a non-messy manner. We learned a lot about
budgeting. The only thing that is going to cost us is having refreshments for the
participants of the event. The movie and slideshow presentation will be shown
using a television that is already at the facility and an HDMI cord and
computer that is already owned by us. Chairs, tables, and a large room will
also be provided by the facility for free. We have found that by using
technology, it really cuts down on costs.
Tables and pictures/used:
Purpose
|
To reach as many people as possible through
contacting and communicating with different organizations
|
Goals
|
Reaching about 50 people and finding a place to have
the event
|
Marketing strategies
|
Contacting and communicating with organizations and
facilities by phone, email, social media, and in-person
|
Marketing activities
|
Creating a public event page on Facebook, tweeting about
the event on Twitter, handing out brochures, having a practice workshop at
the facility where the event will be held
|
Marketing results
|
Connections were made with different organizations.
Two, and possibly three, organizations agreed to spread the word. One organization/facility
agreed to let us have the event at the facility and residents and employees
have agreed to come. Over 600 were reached about the event.
|
Budget
|
The budget is $50, but only about half of that will
be utilized for refreshments. All of the other resources will be free and
used with technology.
|
References
Burkhart, J.
(1995). Marketing Workplace Education to
Business. Colorado, Denver: Colorado State Dept. of Education, Denver.
State Library and Adult Education Office.
Kilgore, D. (2003). Planning Programs for
Adults. New Directions For Student Services, (102), 81
Glackin, B. C., & Folkner, C. A. (2009).
Planning, Organizing, and Hosting a Workshop—It's All in the Details. Cataloging & Classification Quarterly, 47(1), 74-89.
doi:10.1080/01639370802455216
Smith,
B. (1987). Marketing your adult
literacy program: A "how to" manual. New York: New York State
Adult Literacy Program
Douglas, K. H., Valentine, T., & Cervero,
R. M. (1999). Marketing Adult Literacy Education: Administratirs' Perceptions
of Effective Strategies for Program Development. Adult Basic Education, 9(2), 104
