Big Buddies Campaign. Prepared by: Krista Hoffbeck Public Relations Specialist December 9, 2013

Transcription

1 1 Big Buddies Campaign Prepared by: Krista Hoffbeck Public Relations Specialist December 9, 2013

2 2 Table of Contents Executive Summary 3 Introduction/Rationale 3 Research... 4 PR Goals and Objectives 7 Target and Priority Publics. 7 Strategy... 7 Program Implementation 8 Evaluation...12 Timetable.12 Budget 12 Conclusion...13 References...14 Also included: News release Interview Questions.16

3 3 Executive Summary The Big Buddies program of Western Community Action (WCA) is a great program that has a positive impact on children s lives and creates a brighter future for them. Research will be conducted to find out more information about the program in order to create the best campaign that will produce results the program is looking for. It is predicted that this campaign will bring more awareness of the program as well as increase the amount of mentors. The campaign will also be involving more college students. Introduction/Rationale Big Buddies is a community based, one-on-one mentoring program in Southwest Minnesota that works with youth ages It is a non-profit organization that s mission is To support, inspire, and guide every child in need toward a future of unlimited opportunity through mentoring. The program began in 1989 when a group of people in Marshall wanted to provide mentoring opportunities for children in need. The program works with disadvantaged and atrisk youth and helps them grow up healthy and safely, equips them for college, work, or military service, prepares them for marriage, family and parenting, and equips them for civic engagement and service. Big Buddies also has individual weekly mentoring as well as monthly group activities (WCA). Mentoring can have a large impact on children. Professor Eleanor Pobre conducted an independent study at SMSU looking at the academic scores, social behavior, attitudes of participants, and preparedness for the future. Dr. Pobre concluded that this Big Buddies program exceeded the national average of effectiveness than by other mentoring programs. The program has ranked well among others in many areas including an increase in children s self-esteem and

4 4 academic performance as well as a decrease in violence and risky behaviors. For youth active in the Big Buddies program for 12 months or longer, 67% got along better with teachers, 71% increased their grade point average by at least one full point, 85% liked school better, and 85% reported an increase in self-esteem and confidence (WCA). The Big Buddies program gives children an additional caring adult in their life. The program is modeled on the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program and is incorporated with Western Community Action (WCA). WCA is focused on creating a thriving community where no child grows up hungry, poor, or in unsafe living conditions. Research Big Buddies of Western Community Action is a great program in the Marshall area that could use publicity to raise awareness, gain more mentors, and in return, create a brighter future for today s youth. In the research of this campaign, more information about the Big Buddies Program was gathered in order to find out if they are in need of any more mentors, what kinds of mentors are needed (age, gender, etc), and what kinds of past promotions have been done. Tamara Peterson and Allan Bakke, directors of the Big Buddies Program, were interviewed in order to gather this information. Results and Implications of Findings According to Tamara Peterson and Allan Bakke, directors of the Big Buddies program, there is huge need for more Big Buddies. According to Bakke, We have about a 60% match rate which is really great in terms of youth mentoring programs, but it still means that 40% of our kids are waiting to get a mentor. He also said that it s mostly a waiting list for boys and that it s much more difficult to get men mentors than women. The program has youth who are still

5 5 waiting for mentors right now and they generally have five youth every week who join the program, so they are continually recruiting mentors (Bakke). The program also needs volunteers for small-group mentoring programs. Bakke says, This is an area where we can never have enough volunteers. They call those people Big Buddies For a Day. This is where they work with youth on a much more limited basis than a one-on-one mentor. Big Buddies for a Day lead out of school activities that are geared around hobbies or interests like woodworking, automotive, stained-glass, archery, hunting, quilting, geocatching, painting, etc. It can be any interest or hobby that can be turned into an opportunity to expand the youth s horizons. Those volunteers usually lead a small group of about 4-6 once or twice a month for about 6 months, depending on the activity (Bakke). When asked about their target audience, Bakke and Peterson both said there isn t really a specific age that makes the best Big Buddy. It s mainly about finding those with a sincere desire to make a difference in the life of a child. Peterson says they have a whole spectrum of Big Buddies from college aged to adults in their 60 s and 70 s. College students can relate better while the older adults bring a more grandparent feel. The program seems to really want more college students. Bakke says, We do have a few college students participating but we would really like more. It s amazing to see how the youth relate to the college students. In Many cases they see themselves wanting to be just like that person. Peterson agreed saying they would love to have more college students and said that they bring great things. The kids really look up to the college students and it makes them think more about secondary education as well. Peterson said it s great seeing the kids connect with students who are following their goals.

6 6 Both Bakke and Peterson said they always need donations. The donations allow them to provide quality programming and supplies for activities. It also allows them to be able to recruit more Big Buddies through advertising. Bakke says how the rural youth mentoring programs lack the financial resources that urban programs do because there are not as many grant opportunities (almost none at all). They rely on the commitment of local people, businesses and the United Way of Southwest Minnesota to be able to provide the mentoring and programs. When asked about some of the promotions/events they ve done in the past, the Bowl-A- Thon and online auction is the biggest, which they do every spring. In the Bowl-A-Thon, people form teams of five, raises pledges and donations, and come out for an hour and join them in a round of bowling. They have about 32 teams who raise about $400 on average. One thing they both mentioned is wanting to promote more in the college. Peterson says they have partnered with some groups in the college before and that the program is looking for more ways to get students involved. Little Buddies of the program have baked cookies with culinary students in the past and use to do a small group with one of the religious organizations. A few professors have also mentioned the program in their classes to get the word out. Hanging up posters in the college was successful last year; they gained several new mentors from that. The directors feel there is always a need to get the word out about the program. Besides putting up posters, they also run as many free spots on the radio and in newspapers as given to them. Bakke says he would really like to tap more into social networking. Big Buddies does have a Facebook page but Bakke feels they have not done as much as he thinks is possible. Peterson gave me information about the social media when meeting with her, saying how she had just set up a Twitter page. She said she needs to play around with the pages more and doesn t seem to

7 7 have a full understanding of what is possible. She feels Public Relations could really help in bringing new volunteers (even just for the day), receive more donations, and raise more awareness. PR Goals and Objectives Raise more awareness about the Big Buddies program at SMSU Increase the amount of volunteers signing up as Big Buddies Get more college students involved Target and Priority Publics The targets for the Big Buddies program would focus on targeting students at SMSU, but would also target those in the Marshall community. The program doesn t target a specific age because it s more about finding people that care about youth and want to make a difference in their lives. College students have a lot to offer the kids and since this is a college town, there are many of them to target. There is a big opportunity to reach a large number of students that would be interested in this program. Strategy The main strategy of the campaign would be to have an event at the college, which would promote the Big Buddies program and gain more mentors as well. This event would give prospective mentors a chance to talk to the directors and ask any questions they may have and also meet some of the Little Buddies. The other parts of the campaign include releasing news releases, advertising for the event with materials such as posters, and revamping their social media.

8 8 Program Implementation Events For the strategy of this campaign, the main promotion will be an event at the college (SMSU). The event will take place in the upper conference center. Since this is a non-profit organization in the community, the room may be given at a discount or even free for the day. The event would be a talent show that would involve the Little Buddies. Everyone in the Marshall community is invited, not just the college, although college students are the main target. The children that would choose to participate could sing, dance, juggle, play an instrument, and make a piece of art or whatever else they would like. Donations will be given at the door to raise money. People can give whatever they feel, in turn raising some money for the organization and paying for the cost of the room. Besides that, the event would give Little Buddies and Big Buddies a chance to meet each other and connect. Both Little Buddies with or without a mentor are all welcome. This event would give Big Buddies an opportunity to see more of what the organization is about and if it is something they would like to be involved with. The directors of the program would be there, so it would make it a great time to ask any questions they might have about becoming a Big Buddy. It is also great, because the little buddies get to be involved and do something fun. The event would get the word out in the community and at the college that the Big Buddies program is out there. The event will take place in the spring and start at 7:00pm. First, the directors will talk a little about the Big Buddies program. They will explain how you can become a Big Buddy and some of the activities you can do with the youth. There will be a PowerPoint/short video showing some photos and other important information. After that will be the talent show. At the

9 9 end, there will be a chance to socialize, ask questions, and munch on some cookies. Handouts (brochures) will be available to anyone. Applications to start the process of becoming a Big Buddy will be given to those that are interested. Press/Media Activity A news release will go out to the SMSU newspaper, The Spur, as well as the Marshall Independent. The news release will promote the event coming to campus. This will give out information to not just the college, but all of Marshall. A news release will also go out to the communications department at SMSU and from that, they will post on SMSU Today. SMSU Today is a great source because so many people check the site. Advertising Besides the event, posters will also be put up around the college since that has been successful in the past. I would partially keep the design they have now where it says, You have 168 hours to spend this week. 53 hours are spent sleeping. 40 hours are spent working. 23 hours are spent on daily needs. 52 hours are spent on recreational activities, watching television, and talking on the phone. Can I have an hour? The meaning behind that is really great. The posters would be made to stick out more since it s kind of plain though. With all the posters that get hung around the school, it needs to really stand out. Also on the posters will be a social media promotion to get people to like the Facebook page, which is explained further in the Social Media section. Around the time of the event, new posters will be put up, promoting the specifically the event and how it s a great opportunity for students to see if it s something they d want to get involved with. There will of course be information on when/where the event will be. Both sets of

10 10 posters will mention how Big Buddies is on social media since that is the best way to get the most recent information out to people. These posters will be put in all the major areas throughout the school. There will also be some placed in the Student Center since that has such high traffic. There will be one poster in each dorm as well when you enter. Slips of paper will also be put in all the student s mailboxes on campus as promotion. The slips of paper will promote the event, having information about who, what, when, where, and why (time, date, place of event, what is Big Buddies). That is a great way to make sure each and every student sees what will be happening on campus. There will be a continuation of getting all the free ads spots on the Marshall radio that they can as well. Social Media/Website The social media will be revamped because it is so important to be able to connect with people online. The woman in charge of the social media didn t seem to have very much experience of the best ways of using it. First of all, the posters, brochure, and website don t list that they are on any social media, which is a huge downfall. People aren t going to have a clue they are on Facebook or Twitter if you don t mention it anywhere. The pages are difficult to find when you search for them as well. Looking at the Big Buddies page, there are only 131 likes. All of the program s new advertising literature and posters will be including the information to connect with them on social media. The Big Buddies program has not made a post since August and before that, July. So they post very infrequently. The Big Buddies Program should be posting at least once a week. If someone takes a look at the page and sees you haven t posted for months, the person may not see a point in liking it. Even if there isn t anything big going on in the organization, it is still good to

11 11 post statistics, quotes, etc. The Big Buddies program could even give parenting tips or post informative articles related to the organization. People want to know what s in it for them for liking the page. Posting good content builds a community and keeps followers engaged. They could also give facts of how the Big Buddies Program started or about an employee that works there, which personalizes the posts. Pictures should also be posted. It is recommended that they continue to post a picture of a recent Big Buddy and Little Buddy that were just matched together. It would also be good to have more pictures from events. It gives prospective mentors an idea of what it is like to volunteer. There will also be a special promotion on Facebook. To encourage people to like the Facebook page, there will be some Big Buddies T-shirts and a gift card given out at the event to a few random people who liked the page. Several random names that recently liked the page will be given the prizes. A post will be made on the Facebook page about this as well as featured on the posters. This will encourage more likes on the page. Once someone likes a page that person will get any information you post, which is what every business/organization wants. The website also needs more content. There are areas you can click on but are blank once you get there. That can really annoy some people. They need to either fill it in or just delete that section. It makes the website look incomplete. The photo gallery should also display all of the photos at once instead of a slide slow, making it look more professional. People don t have the patience to sit there watching the entire show. As mentioned earlier, there needs to be a link to the social media as well.

12 12 Evaluation This campaign will be very successful in reaching its goals. It will be fairly easy evaluating whether or not it really was successful from the amount of new Facebook/Twitter followers, amount of new mentors that signed up, and the number of people who come to the event. Timetable The event will take place in the spring. The event posters will be put up several weeks before to start raising awareness, as well as sending off the press releases. Radio ads will also begin at that time. The slips of paper in the mailboxes will be put up about a week before the event. If they are put in any earlier, the slips will just get thrown away and forgotten about. The social media and website revamping can begin anytime, but should be the first step that takes place. The normal Big Buddy posters will also go up right away to advertise the program. Budget This will be a low cost campaign. Since this is a non-profit organization, it s best not to spend very much money since they don t have much to begin with. First, the advertising would be low cost. It would just be the cost of printing the posters and other materials. The radio ads and social media are free. The only larger cost would be the event. It would still be low cost though because the only thing needed is renting the SMSU conference center for the night. It should be able to be obtained at a discount or maybe even free though if the college wants to help a local non-profit organization.

13 13 Conclusion Big Buddies is a great program in the community that could use Public Relations to raise awareness, increase the amount of volunteers, and get more college students involved. This campaign would accomplish all of those goals. First, there will be an event at SMSU to get more college students interested. The event will be involving Little Buddies and consist of a talent show, and short presentation about the program. Information will be available to prospective mentors. For the advertising, posters will be put up (event posters, as well as regular Big Buddies posters). There will be slips of paper in the student s mailboxes and free radio ads aired. The event would be a great opportunity to get people talking, get the kids involved, and give prospective mentors a great opportunity to ask questions and meet the kids. For social media, post will be made more frequently and a promotion to like the Facebook page will be done. The website will have a few changes that consist of adding content and changing the viewing of photos. The social media plan will really help the organization spread the news and stay in touch with the Marshall community/college campus. The entire campaign will be low cost as well, all leading to a successful campaign.

14 14 Works Cited Bakke, Allan. Interview. 5 Dec "Big Buddies." Western Community Action Web. 3 Dec Peterson, Tamara. Personal Interview. 6 Dec 2013.

15 15 News Release For immediate release December 11, 2013 Contact: Allan Bakke: Big Buddies to Have Event at SMSU to Promote Mentoring Program Marshall, Minn. The Big Buddies program of Western Community Action will be having an event at SMSU to raise awareness about their program and reach possible prospective mentors. Big Buddies is a one-one one mentoring program in Southwest Minnesota that works with youth ages Big Buddies helps the youth grow up and provides them with an additional caring adult in their life. The event will take place in the Upper Conference Center at SMSU on April 15, 2013 at 7:00 pm. Little Buddies in the program will be putting on a talent show, displaying some of their gifts, which include singing, dancing, and art work. It will be a great opportunity for anyone thinking of becoming a mentor to come, ask questions, learn more about the program, and meet some Little Buddies. All Students at SMSU are invited to come, as well as residents of Marshall. There will be cookies and beverages afterward. Those who would like to sign up as a mentor can receive an application at the event. Be sure to like the Big Buddies Facebook page for a chance to win a gift card or t-shirt the night of the event. For further information about the Big Buddies program or the upcoming event, contact Allan Bakke or Tamara Peterson at # # #

16 16 Interviewee: Tamara Peterson Date: 12/6/13 I. Opening: A. Introduction: B. Purpose of Interview: D. Note-taking? E. Preview structure of the interview: II. Body: What is big buddies all about? Is there a need for more big buddies? How many little buddies are looking for a big buddy in the Marshall area? Do you need more volunteers for small-group mentoring as well? Is there more of a need for male or female mentors? Who is your target audience? Is there a certain age of big buddies you are looking for or that are preferred? Do you have many college students participating in the program or would like to have more of them involved? (Since college students are usually gone after 4 years

17 17 Do you need donations? Do you feel you need to raise any more awareness about the program? Have you done any kinds of promotions or events to get the word out in Marshall? What has been effective? How do you use social media? How do you think Public Relations could help your organization? III. Closing: A. Signal Termination C. Share plans for information after interview is over D. Ok to if any more questions? E. Any questions? G. Thank you