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North Thames & Chilterns Area Pus Advertising Guide
Please note. This advertising guide will be constantly updated with extra tips and practical information as the results from recruitment campaigns come through. Please pass on your tips, successes and failures. Libraries As many people make a special effort to find out about local clubs, it is worth making a special and ongoing effort Glossy 1/3 A4 Flyers - Full Colour The AMMO and National flyers were ordered from 'Night Owls' - phone 0181 531 5315 for a catalogue. The cost of 5,000 full colour both sides is £280 including all design, artwork, scanning, delivery and VAT! Another excellent company, RCS (0800 328 5064) charges approx. £170 for the same but there is artwork in addition. Posters - a colour A4 poster can be ordered from North Thames & Chilterns Area, free to North Thames & Chilterns Area Groups. A special version is available which plays down the size of the group. Tip If you hold your group night in a pub, you need to be extra reassuring, e.g.. say where in the pub, who to ask for, offer a lift down there etc. Loose Leaflets - A5 size leaflets very useful for people to take away Example cost for 500 black on colour leaflets: £8.75 plus postage (from Central London Photocopying who produce Channel - 0171-278-4461) Please ask your Area Chairman if you are stuck for a design. Leaflet Racks - if there is no decent place to put your leaflets, you might ask if you can supply them in a rack of your own. These cost under £6 from office stores. Try Viking Direct on 0800 424444 for a catalogue. Business Cards / Small leaflets on Posters You can make and attach a 'pocket' to your main poster which holds
either business cards or small leaflets. Business cards can be printed
very cheaply from public machines, example cost £3 for 50. They are
found in railway stations, service stations and similar places.
Newsagents Cards They cost on average about 40p per week. Best is to use a highlighter
pen to write 18 Plus in big type so it can be seen across the street.
Councils Make initial telephone contact to get the names of the relevant people and departments. Tip Better than simply asking for grants is to ask
'What they can do for you?' A couple of local councils were contacted in
this way recently and the results were interesting. One offered to put
all our leaflets in libraries, community centres, doctors surgeries etc.
plus grant aid, and another offered very cheap minibus hire. Basically
if they have money to give away, they will say so.
Word of Mouth Idea One group offered its members £5 for each person they brought down to the club and who subsequently joined. Idea Offer a discount to people coming to events with
guests. This could be from group nights to Area dances. You could consider
free entry at some events because the potential of this is staggering,
bearing in mind it costs zero in publicity!
Library Display Book several months in advance to get the best times - ideally around
September and January to coincide with the recruitment campaign.
Press Release Make initial telephone contact first with the relevant person. It is far more likely to get published if they know you and are expecting something. A press release for your group can be ordered from your Area Chairman, but if you write one yourself, bear in mind the following: It should have the following structure and there should be no waffle, e.g.. paragraph 1: Something that has just happened or will soon happen (e.g.. AMMO) paragraph 2: More details - local club for people in late teens & 20's who run a variety of social events. paragraph 3: What to do next? - e.g.. Open night next Monday at Attimore Hall starting at 8.45pm in the Conservatory. Tip A recent Welwyn Garden City press release was rather clever. There was a P.S. which told the reader about the library display just going on show which would give much more information. (This is a useful marketing ploy as the P.S. stands out and is often the first thing the reader sees when scanning the page.) Tip - (from a member who used to work on his local
paper): Don't bombard them with stuff as is sometimes suggested. You get
a poor reputation and your good press releases won't get the consideration
they deserve. Quality is better than quantity.
Car Boot Sales / Town Centre Stalls Tip Aim at mothers of 18-29 year olds as well as these
people themselves. A number of people have joined 18 Plus after being told
about it by their parents.
Leaflets in Public Places There is a whole host of places that you can leave your leaflets. If you supply a leaflet rack to keep them together, and offer to put their advertising on your notice board, you stand a much better chance of success. Idea Barnet group recently agreed with their local
driving school that they could put leaflets in the waiting room in return
for the group advertising the business. This was a great idea as there
will be lots of young people learning to drive. (Unfortunately, the school
went out of business shortly afterwards!)
Paid for Newspaper Advertising 1. Classifieds Many people scan the personal sections even if they have no intention of replying to a personal ad. However, 18 Plus might just be the thing they need! 2. Display Adverts - i.e.. What's On? / Leisure Sections First, you need a headline that will attract attention such as: 'How to Improve your Social Life', 'Late Teens or 20's?', 'Who are Watford 18 Plus?'. At the end you need to be clear what the reader should do next, e.g.. 'Phone this number for information pack', 'Come down to the Leisure Centre Mondays 8.45pm. Tip Ask to be placed next to the cinema times. Mark Shorey from Stevenage was a wizard at this and it worked a treat. Let them know its important to you. Tip Like travel agents sell late bookings cheaply, so newspapers sell advertising space cheaply after a cancellation or lack of articles/adverts. Send in some artwork and asked to be contacted if this situation arises. I was once offered space for £40 that would normally cost £240 but could not make use of it because they needed the artwork straight away. Tip The Christmas week when people are on holiday and making New Year's resolutions and the following couple of weeks are an excellent time to advertise. Do not leave it too late in January! (This is why we have the January Recruitment Campaign). Tip Under certain circumstances it is more effective to ask for help than to say what a wonderful group you are. A one off advert asking for people to help out at Letchworth produced no less than 7 people down, all of whom returned on the opening night. Some approximate costs per week for a 1 column x 4cm down advert: Stevenage Comet, £30 St. Albans Herald, £18 Bedford & Kempston Herald, £22 Welwyn & Hatfield Times, £21 To find out the costs of newspaper or magazine advertising ANYWHERE, go to your local library and ask for the book. It has everything including readership statistics. Leaflets Delivered through Doors / Inside Local Newspapers The first thought of most people is 'What about the wastage', but if the figures add up, then it is worth testing out! For a cost of £150, you can have 5000 A5 leaflets printed and delivered by a company and you can specify which areas are covered. This may be from more than 1 town if groups are joining forces here. Expect only about 1 in 1000 to produce a response, giving 5 people and £30 spent on each. This compares well with many newspaper adverts that are run. Try 'ValuePak', 0500 - 460046 who quote £19 per 1000, min 5000. If these don't cover your area, try Yellow Pages, Free Ads papers or newsagents windows for contacts. Direct Targeted Mail To buy a list of names & addresses and posting material to them all seems very expensive - it is, but the hit rate is much higher, which is why many small companies experiment with it. Cost of 1000 names and addresses, envelopes, publicity letter and materials and postage is about £400. Average expected return is about 1-2% i.e. 10-20 members. Examples of Successful Publicity This free press release brought 5 new people down: Seeking Members A thriving social group is searching for new members to
enjoy activities like parties, clubbing, 10-pin bowling and holidays.
Publicity Checklist The Publicity Guide will be constantly updated in the light of all
the advertising that is done. The checklist will show what publicity is
done, and how successful it has been. The more information and results
we obtain, good and bad, the more useful this will be in future to you!
Group Name: ....................................... Please note: some of these may be done at an Area level rather than
at by your group, but please record the results of these methods as well.
Any other comments:
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Last updated 22 February 2007 by webmaster@18plus.org.uk |