Let's Talk Marketing

I have two questions for every APO brother who comes across this post: 1) Is your chapter known of or recognized at your school? 2) When you mention recruitment to non-APO people, do you get a response such as, "What's APO?" or "I already have my calendar marked for

recruitment events!" If you answered 1) Yes and 2) the latter of the two responses, chances are, you are doing a great job in marketing your chapter at your school and you can continue to expand your advertising of APO. If you answered 1) No and 2) The former, you need to promote APO more. Marketing is the action of advertising/promoting a group, service, etc.- something that is essential to recruitment because it is hard to recruit anyone if no one knows who you are or what you do.

So how can marketing tools and strategies be improved? Very simple steps can be taken and make all the difference.

If your school has an Expo, sign up for a table.

If your school has an Expo or any opportunity for you to reach out to freshmen, take advantage of that opportunity. This is a great way to collect emails to send informative messages to potential new members. Have letter shirts, presentable symbols, and photos of you best

serviceand fellowship activities, and the amazing conferences. Anything that can draw an audience, use it. Brush up on your knowledge of APO for the questions you may receive and

if you have recruitment week planned out, give out schedules.

It also doesn't hurt to have some candy out on the table as well. You'd be surprised of the crowds a few Life Savers draw. When you collect the email addresses, create an email group so you can

send out reminders for your events.

If you use simple paper posters, upgrade to bed sheets.

This is something that has become a trend for Centre College's different programs, especially in

the Greek Community. They are more durable than paper and they are reusable, as long as you

put dates and specifics on separate pieces of cloth and pin them on.

Text-only posters? Add images!

Posters will grab more people's eyes if it has a few pictures and artsy writing. If you have artists in your chapter and they aren't on PR committee, ask them to join and put their talents to good use!

Use Youtube.

If you have the means and a good idea, make a Youtube video and share it. Make people laugh, cry, and ultimately, get them interested in APO.

Are you using every social network you can?

Facebook has the tools you need to create events, groups, everything you need to get the word out. Twitter, annoying as it is at times, is great to make announcements to a mass of people. Social networks are fast becoming the greatest tools for communication and advertising. Just be sure you do it in a non-annoying manner. Here are some Dos and Don'ts when it comes to social networking:

• On Facebook, DO make an event and invite everyone you can from your school and ask your brothers to do the same...
• ...but make sure you DON'T have to make 1001 changes to the event after inviting people because every change becomes a notification that annoys the invited.
• On Twitter and Facebook Statuses, DO write about how excited you are for the coming APO events like a week, then a couple of days, then the day before the event whether they are exclusive to APO or public. Just get the name out...
• ...but DON'T post on Twitter and your status about the APO events 10 times a day, every day, for a month or else you will get major eye-rolls and even a "Do not show messages from (brother)."
• DO announce your events on every social networking site members are a part of. Different people have different networks that they check regularly.

Recruitment is not just for one week- it goes on all year long.

Just because it's not the week before recruitment, it doesn't mean APO has to become invisible. If you have a fundraiser, public service or fellowship event coming up, make a poster and Facebook event. Treat all public events like you would a recruitment event. Also, stay visible with your letter shirts. In my sorority, we designated Wednesdays to wear our letters as well as any day we did a philanthropy event. It wasn't required, but highly encouraged and most wanted to participate anyway to show pride in our organization. This would make APO more recognizable at the very least.

If you have a new idea, share it!

I have presented a lot of outlets to get out the word for APO, but there are countless ways to promote the brotherhood. If you have an idea, present it to your chapter and if it works, the section. We all need to help each other promote APO in any way possible.

I hope you all found this information useful to your recruitment endeavors. If you have any questions or suggestions regarding all things marketing, feel free to email me at section.67.marketing@gmail.com.

YiLFS,

Martha