SO WORTH IT.

Anyone who’s been following my blog knows I’m hosting an event tomorrow.

Planning the Marker Social has consumed my month. The past 30 days I’ve been drafting sponsorship letters for prizes, playing phone tag with sponsors, playing phone tag with venue and service rentals, recruiting volunteers – and lets not forget promoting the event on our social media outlets.

Even though I’m tired beyond belief – this is SO worth it.

We did a lot of extra things with our first fundraiser – when we probably could of kept it more simple and probably make the same amount of profit. BUT – it’s all the little things that got everyone excited. For example we had a limo contest, where the winner of the draw won a ride to and from the Marker Social tomorrow. Our idea was to give out draw entries to only those who sold 4 tickets to their friends. We quickly picked up it wasn’t working – maybe because it went against the action principle of persuasion. We then changed the base of the contest to engagement – tweet us a picture of your tickets and receive an entry – OR share our promo video and receive and entry. A quite successful one we had going on earlier in the week – where we had a booth in a central part of college, and with every ticket purchase we give them FREE baked goods AND an entry to our limo contest.

All of these little things took a whole lot of time and energy – but it’s so worth it to see how excited everyone gets. It warms my heart when someone RTs us on twitter or tells me in person how excited they are for Saturday.
I had a great time last year at my first year Marker Social, probably one of my best nights out ever (I’m serious!).

Even though I’m sleep deprived and really exhausted it’s been a pleasure to plan this out. It’s also been really amazing to see all the support I’ve received from all my classmates and best friends. I love you all.

I hope all the first years enjoy it like I did last year. See you all tomorrow!
edc

UNTRADITIONAL MARKETING

One of the toughest challenges of coordinating an event is grabbing the attention of my audience. Our primary market is college students, and as I know firsthand – college students are busy. They have huge work loads with school and part time jobs and top of that they try to maintain an active social life while still finding some alone time to stay sane.
With our upcoming social in one week – we needed SOMETHING to get people’s attention.

Then.. cue in my co-coordinator’s brilliant idea.

On Monday, Josh (my co-coordinator) showed me the viral music video that everyone (even Ellen! )is buzzing about – “Psy – Gangnam Style.” He knew right away he needed to take advantage of it’s popularity and make a promo video incorporating the dance moves.

Result? 200 views in less than 24 hours and a whole lot of likes and shares from our Creative Communications community.

If you haven’t seen it – definitely check it out!

Original:

Marker Social Promo:

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THE MAN SHE FELL IN LOVE WITH

Yesterday, I spoke to first year CreComms about the Marker Social I’m hosting on September 29. It was the first time I spoke to the group as a whole – and because it was just going to be a quick – Hi I’m…. and I’m here to tell you about… I didn’t bother to prepare anything.

As I walked away from the group of 70-ish after my little blurb, I immediately kicked myself for not putting something together prior.
In PR, we constantly refer back to our “key messages” and “objectives.” And as a PR student, I should of known better. I should of took the five minutes prior to remind myself what my keys messages are and how it impacts them.

Although I did communicate the main reason why I asked to speak to them (5W’s about the fundraiser) and although I did get a few laughs from my intended jokes, I failed to mention what the CCMAs were and why it benefits them. I also forgot to ask them to follow our twitter, FB and website. I even wrote down the social media info on the white board but forgot to mention…!

It’s said each consumer is hit with thousands of messages a day – as I’m quickly picking up, it’s hard to find opportunities to directly communicate and engage with our audience (while you have their full attention) – and I really wish I took advantage of that precious opportunity I had during yesterday’s first year seminar.

Sigh.

But, I’m still learning.

For now, I’ll leave you with Michelle Obama’s Democratic National Convention speech where her key messages were clear as day. Maybe, just maybe – one day I’ll be able to be as articulate and inspirational as she is.

If you haven’t seen it – do yourself a favour and do watch.

It’s so mesmerizing as she speaks so beautifully (and flawlessly!) about the man she fell in love with.

edc

SHOW ME THE MONEY

I spent my summer writing to people I don’t know and asking them for money.

Well, that’s not entirely true.

Before I wrote them letters, I did spend just as much time researching them and creeping on their social media accounts (if they had any).. so maybe I knew them a little bit?

Even after two months of drafting these sponsorship letters and reading them over and over again – most of them are still not sent out. So… why? Well because as I’m quickly learning – sponsorship letters aren’t an easy task. As much as I wish it were black and white, it’s not. It requires a lot of time commitment, precision and tons of good research. If you’re lucky enough, they also require a couple of professional eyes that can give it a quick read. And if you’re lucky like I’ve been – they’ll suggest a few very helpful changes.

So if I had to make a list with my top 5 tips for writing sponsorship letters, here they are:

1. Do your research
   Research is a make or break! If you’re not willing to put the hours into some quality time with google – then turn around right now. Find their websites, annual reports, and personal twitter accounts. Useful information you can find is what current causes they support, what they value and whom they’re trying to reach.
2. Get to the point
   Chances are: your audience are extremely really busy people. Cut them a break and get to your key message right at the start of your letter.
   “This is my offer and this is what’s in it for you.”
3. Find the right contact name
   It makes a huge difference when you personalize your letters with the right company contact name. All it takes is a simple call to their general line to ask for the contact name of community sponsorships. It not only gives you a name to follow-up with after mailing out the letter but it also shows the company you are really thinking of them.
4. Learn how to do a mail merge
   Even though you will be personalizing each letter to suit each sponsor request – you will have a letter format that somewhat overlaps – whither it is the logo or end signature. Save some time from reformatting each letter and get a mail merge going.
5. Find your red pen
   Draft 1, draft 2, draft 3, draft 4. It may be cruel – but it is necessary. The last thing you want to do is lose a potential sponsor for an amateur spelling or grammar mistake – or worse! – spelling the company or contact name wrong (eeek!).

If you guys are wondering what I’ve been collecting sponsors for – well I’m hosting the 10^th Annual Creative Communicatons Media Awards in April of next year.

Our first fundraiser is a White-Tee Marker Social on Saturday, September 29, 2012, at The CHEER.  Tickets are availalbe at the Mercantile at the Exchange District Campus. If you’re a RRC student or not – I suggest to check it out! It will be a good one…. 🙂

edc