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Introductions Jessica Oxley –VISTA in the NeighborWorks America DC office

Agenda Introduce scenario Present necessary outreach steps –Press release –Flyers –Social media Review strategy timeline Questions?

Scenario Your boss sends you the following request: Good afternoon, VISTA. Our organization has a Housing Expo next month, and I’d like you to be responsible for the marketing and outreach for the event. The expo will be held April 25 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the convention center downtown. Our partners for the event are the City of Middletown and Middletown Home Bank. We’ll have vendors from the city, the housing community, Middletown State University, as well as others. The goal of the expo is to expose Middletown’s community to the wide range of available housing options, regardless of income. Mindy Waters is the project manager, so any other questions can be directed to her. Thanks, Anne Regal Executive Director Middletown Housing Partnership

What now? First, let’s identify the important information in the .

Good afternoon, VISTA. Our organization has a Housing Expo next month, and I’d like you to be responsible for the marketing and outreach for the event. The expo will be held April 25 from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at the convention center downtown. Our partners for the event are the City of Middletown and Middletown Home Bank. We’ll have vendors from the city, the housing community, Middletown State University, as well as others. The goal of the expo is to expose Middletown’s community to the wide range of available housing options, regardless of income. Mindy Waters is the project manager, so any other questions can be directed to her. Thanks, Anne Regal Executive Director Middletown Housing Partnership

Apply the information First, we’ll create the press release Keep it short: don’t surpass 500 words Every press release should have: –A headline –The 5Ws –A contact person –An about us section for your organization Where to distribute: –Local radio and TV stations, business journals, newspapers and magazines –Don’t forget student media outlets at local university

Apply the information Next is a flyer Things to keep in mind: –Use logos for your company and the event’s cosponsors –Keep it short and catchy –Don’t use too many different colors or font types –Remember your audience If you serve a multilingual community, be sure to create multilingual flyers or flyers in different languages

Apply the information Using new media to promote your event –Make sure the event is posted to your organization’s website –For Facebook Create an event page, invite all members/fans of your organization’s page Post flyer, press release and any media coverage –For Twitter Send short, catchy messages that include a link – either to your org’s website or facebook event

Let’s talk timeline Four weeks before event Create flyer and distribute Post event to company website Create Facebook event Two weeks prior Write and send press release Week of Flyer again Begin tweets Update Facebook event Day of Send tweets prior to and during event Send Facebook message reminder to event attendees

Questions? Thanks for joining today! Resources from today’s webinar will be posted on VISTALand: