Marketing

Publicity

Develop goals for Publicity with the other members of the event planning team.

For publicity purposes, who is your target audience?

Develop the advertising budget:

Printing costs
Paper
Other materials
Advertising
Design costs

Decide which media(s) you will use for publicity:

Posters
Fliers
Table tents
Outdoor signs
Newspaper: ads (required if you are using Educational Activities funds)
Newspaper: free advertising and/or coverage
Radio/television public service announcements
"Last day/last week" attention-getters
OSU Calendar of Events

Create a "Press Information" Page including:

Event
Performer(s)/Presenter(s)
Day/Time
About the Event (description)
About the Performer(s)/presenter(s)
Cost of Event/Ticket Prices
Sponsors of the Event
*Tickets Sold: At the door? Where else? When?

*All events funded by Ed. Act. where food is presented must be ticketed. Each student organization hosting a ticketed event must meet with the Educational Activities Advisors at Student Involvement 4 weeks prior to any arrangement of an event. Fifty percent of tickets MUST be available at the Student Involvement desk (149 MU East/Snell Hall) for pickup and/or sales. The other 50% of tickets may be dispersed at different advertised locations.

Bring Press Information Page to Student Media:

Bring a picture from last year’s event or from something that your group has done-the more colorful, the better.
You can use the fax machine in Student Involvement to distribute the press release to KBVR-TV Channel 26 (7-7957), Barometer (7-4999), and OSU News and Communication (7-2130).
Write a public service announcement (refer to KBVR-FM Public Service Announcement Form and KBVR-FM Guidelines for Public Service Announcements) for KBVR-FM and deliver - send to other radio stations in the community.

Making arrangements for printing of publicity:

Get estimates of costs from OSU Printing & Mailing Services (100 Cascade Hall)
Generate Purchase Request for amount
Complete Printing form from OSU Printing & Mailing Services
Deliver originals to OSU Printing, with Purchase Request

*This should be done a minimum of 4 weeks before event date.

Reserve MU locations for the following media in the MU Business Office at beginning of year or term:

Table tents
MU display cases
Easels

Reserve Dinning Center locations for the following media at UHDS in Poling with Debbie Kuehn (7-3477) at beginning of year or term:

Table tents
Display cases
Easels

Place an AD in the Barometer

You can consult Barometer staff for help with design and cost
Can be purchased with Purchase Request

Distribute posters and fliers around campus

Make outdoor signs from posters/fliers on stakes

Placement of out-door signs are limited to the quad

Day of Event!

Make sure that people know WHERE your event is held
Signs or balloons or arrows or anything that points to your event location will be helpful.

Good publicity can make the difference between a mediocre event and a SUCCESSFUL event!

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Publicity Tips

It’s impossible to have a successful program without an audience. So… ADVERTISE! Your advertising should get people’s attention, draw them in and keep their interest. There are a lot of ways to do it, some free and some will cost money. There’s no doubt that you will use a little of both. The best way to begin is to form a publicity committee or choose a publicity coordinator.

First, prepare a budget. How much money do you have to spend? Make sure you get estimates that are as accurate as possible for all your publicity needs. Don’t forget hidden costs like printing costs of fliers or mailing press release.

Timing is everything. When you are working with radio, TV, newspapers or other publications, they will have deadlines that you need to follow. If you want a free public service announcement (see Free Advertising Page), you will usually need to contact the radio/TV stations early. Display ads in newspapers, including The Barometer, usually have a deadline of three or four days prior to the event. Make a calendar going backwards from your event date to determine when it would be best to start your media campaign.

Who is your audience? It’s important to determine what populations will be most interested in your event and to target your advertising to those groups. If your target group is students, your advertising will be very different than if you are targeting the Corvallis community.

Types of Advertising

Word of Mouth - The cheapest and best form of advertising. Get the word out about your event. Talk to people. Do class raps - contact professors of large classes or classes with subjects that might have an obvious audience (i.e. the Women’s Center might go to a Women Studies class) and ask them if you can make an announcement in their class. If they say OK, schedule a time with them and MAKE SURE someone from your group shows up! It’s important that everyone in your group knows the details of the event so they can talk about it to anyone they might meet.
Display advertisements and posters/fliers - Fun graphics and attractive presentation will attract people to read your posters and ads. Make sure you don’t forget to include the basics (who, what, when, where). If you have a logo for your organization or for the event, be consistent and use it on all your display ads. Posters should be hung all around campus and in the windows of local businesses. It’s important to ask permission of either the business owner, or someone in a campus building, before you hang your poster or it may be removed. Student Involvement has a posting service, so take advantage of it! Just bring the posters to the front desk of Student Involvement.

Publicity Priorities

Form Publicity Committee to decide on:
Theme

Logo

Target audience
Recommended 10 weeks before event:
Reserve:

Display cases

Bulletin boards,

Easels

Counters
Recommended 5 weeks before event:
Develop drafts and details of:

Print designs

Posters

Display ads

Fliers

Send notices to news "calendars"
Recommended 4 weeks before event:
Order and pay for Newspaper ads

Begin running classified ads

Order posters (OSU Printing and Mailing)

Send press releases to newspapers

Produce all materials
Recommended 3 weeks before event:
Pick up ordered fliers, posters etc. from OSU Printing and Mailing

Combine publicity with ticket sales
Recommended 2 weeks before event:
Begin distribution of fliers and posters

Put up displays

Run display ad

Run public service announcements

Run ad on Channel 26
Recommended 1 week before event:
Begin special promotions

Hand out fliers around campus

Call newspapers to see if they will cover event
Recommended the day before event
Do special promotion activity to run through event day