You know how to market your business. Why not use the same strategies to promote your Rotary club? If carried out properly, marketing can increase awareness about Rotary, draw members to your club, raise money, and ultimately enhance your club’s potential for humanitarian service. What better time to do this than in January, a point of new beginnings, not to mention Rotary Awareness Month?

Assemble your team

First of all, you need to assemble a marketing team. You’ll want the following key players:

Webmaster - This is someone who oversees your club’s Web site. Webmasters post information, including upcoming speakers and events, and summaries of service projects. They maintain the club’s member directory and should also provide contact information in case a local reporter wants to write about the club’s latest fundraiser. Everything from a rubber-duck race to a wine-tasting soiree could attract media attention.

Photographer - This is a job for the club member who knows the difference between pixels and pixies. This person photographs club meetings, social events, and service projects with a digital camera – preferably at least four megapixels, but six or above is a whole lot better – so the photos can be e-mailed to the media, burned onto a CD, or posted on the club’s Web site. Photographers should set their camera to the highest resolution and capture images of people (especially Rotarians) in action. Sure, they could snap podium shots, handshakes, ribbon cuttings, and check presentations, but the press is more likely to print a compelling candid.

Publicity chair - An enthusiastic promoter, this person oversees the writing and distribution of press releases about the club’s activities and scheduled speakers, both before and after the event. Give this job to that media-savvy club member, the one who can write in a lively and concise fashion and knows how to contact editors and reporters at local newspapers, magazines, and radio and TV stations.

Newsletter coordinator - This person compiles and edits the content for the club newsletter and oversees the design and layout, whether it’s a traditional printed bulletin or an online version for the club’s Web site.

Rotary’s PR experts - Rotary International’s Public Relations Division is ready to answer all your PR questions. The staff can provide you with resources in­clud­­ing public service announce­­ments for TV, radio, print, and billboard; guides to help you work with local media; and brochures to promote Rotary. Get sample news release templates as well as fact sheets on topics such as Rotary’s educational programs, PolioPlus, health, and water by contacting Public Relations Coordinator Joe Lorenzo at 847-866-3387.

You can also access PR tools in the Members section of the RI Web site.

Get the word out

Now that you’ve put together your team, it’s time to disseminate your club’s message. Try these approaches:

Press releases - The mayor is scheduled to speak to your club, and you want to let local newspaper, radio, and TV reporters know. Dash off a one-page press release that includes contact information and the five Ws: who, what, where, when, and why. Then e-mail or fax it to your targeted media outlets. Be sure to send the press release at least one week before the event. If you get writer’s block, check out samples at www.rotary.org.

Press conferences - Use these for big announcements. For example, at the presidential membership conference in South Bend, Ind., USA, the Rotary Club of South Bend arranged for RI President Wilfrid J. Wilkinson to present a check in support of its Hurricane Katrina housing effort, and the local NBC television affiliate covered the event.

Letters to the editor - You’ve just read an article about students’ low reading comprehension scores on standardized tests. Now’s the perfect time to tell the community how your club is working to promote literacy. Keep your message simple and direct, and state it clearly in the first sentence. Make your letter timely, keep it brief, and include contact information. Don’t forget to sign it.

Advertising - Your club is celebrating its 50th anniversary, and it wants to capitalize on the landmark occasion to attract more members. Place an ad in your local newspaper or magazine. Need high-quality photos? Look under Rotary Images in the Media and News section of the RI Web site.

Public service announcements - Your club wants to let the community know about Rotary’s good deeds but doesn’t have an advertising budget. Not to worry. RI has made it easy for you by preparing the four-disc Rotary: Humanity in Motion III: “Best of” Collection (608-EN), which contains TV, radio, print, billboard, and Internet public service announcements (PSAs) that focus on Rotary’s work in polio eradication, literacy, water, youth, hunger, international education, and peace. Order it at www.rotary.org, and be sure to send some of the announcements to radio and TV station managers, who may be legally obligated to run PSAs.

Billboards - Some billboard owners will offer nonprofit groups like Rotary clubs space on vacant billboards for the cost of posting.

Blogs - You’re leading a Group Study Exchange team in Japan, and you want to share all your great photos and stories along the way. This is the perfect opportunity to create a blog, which can become an online journal. Get inspired at www.gsemanchester.blogspot.com.

YouTube - Everybody’s doing it, so why aren’t you? When you upload a video on YouTube, it’s easy to send a link to local media, and people around the world can view it. See some Rotary PSAs at www.youtube.com. (Search for Rotary + polio.)

Newsletters - Blogs may be glitzy and new, but your club still enjoys a good old-fashioned newsletter. Expand your mailing list to include community leaders, businesses, and media. And, of course, post it on your club’s Web site.