Advertising and Publicity Manager

Paid publicity can be a major expense for any stamp show. The larger the market, the more expensive the ads become and the more difficult it is to get free press coverage. This makes it imperative for any show to develop and maintain low and no cost means of promoting upcoming shows. Paid publicity usually includes (subject to budget restraints):

  1. Major city newspaper(s), sometimes restricted by cost to geographical sections
  2. Local papers close to the show site
  3. Local radio station(s)
  4. Postcard mailings to previous show attendees (brighter colors tend to be more effective)
  5. Postcard mailings to a rented list of APS members in the area
  6. Local advertising coupon mailers (depending on cost)

Local TV and cable is beyond all but international show budgets without personal connections. Every attempt needs to be made to get press releases and special show coverage run by local media when you do pay for ads. This is often successful in smaller markets. Sometimes inviting a major exhibit or philatelic piece to be in the Court of Honor will make it possible to get the media to cover the show. In Chicago it has been hard to get the Tribune and the Sun-Times to cover anything but Internationals and the APS Convention. It has been possible to get the regional Pioneer Press to cover Chicagopex. The St. Louis Expo managed to get an inverted Jenny and a plate reconstruction of the St. Louis Bears for their first show. This resulted in major TV and newspaper coverage which the show has continued to cultivate every year. Another factor in receiving coverage has been strong linkage of show themes to local event anniversaries and the busing in of hundreds of school children for educational programs about the show theme, tours of the show and goodie bags of philatelic items.

Unpaid publicity is vital and all the following concepts need to be explored by each show:

  1. Press releases to all the philatelic publications and all local and regional media including show dates, show theme, availability of exhibit prospectuses and convening societies
  2. Announcements of the show dates to the APS and all philatelic media for inclusion in their show calendars
  3. Requests to the APS to use the email database of exhibitors to announce the show dates, theme and the availability of exhibit prospectuses, then a follow up email announcing convening societies, details on show location, dates and times and scheduled events
  4. Requests to dealers to participate in a mailing offering discounts or refunds of parking fees to all attendees making certain minimum purchases
  5. Requests to dealers to use their own email lists to promote the show
  6. Collect names, addresses and emails of all attendees to build future mailing and emailing lists
  7. Cooperative advertising handouts with other local shows – each show in the area is listed in a one page handout that is regularly revised and passed out at the door of each show promoting the upcoming shows and listing meeting places, dates and times of the sponsoring clubs
  8. Convening societies promoting the show in their publications and newsletters
  9. Flyers posted in local post offices, supermarkets, community centers, libraries and malls
  10. List show cancels and cachets for sale on ebay and include all show details in the lot description
  11. Establish an active website for your show with links to major philatelic websites – APS www.stamps.org, www.askphil.org, www.josephluft.com, www.stampshows.com, www.asdaonline.com
  12. Establish a series of one frame educational displays promoting stamp collecting and your show
  13. Invite an auctioneer to hold an auction at your show – the publicity will be huge
  14. Set up a blog on your website and encourage participation from all dealers, potential exhibitors and show attendees
  15. Offer free gifts and services to the public at your show – stamp appraisals, free stamps for kids, free stamp literature for kids, estate advisory info – this may generate local coverage
  16. Offer Power Point presentations with scripts featuring stamps that can be used in history, geography, literature, math and science classes.

Our hobby has faced a decline in membership and dealers for many reasons. Expenses and loss of supply sales to shows and direct sales by manufacturers have hurt dealers. The shows and mail order dealers have lost sales to the internet dealers. Children are not using or seeing stamps on mail and spend huge amounts of time on cell phones, email and surfing the net. To reach the people we are losing to the net we have to penetrate the net to make them aware of us. The good news is that email and viral marketing is exceptionally low cost. Perhaps some collectors with experience with MySpace, YouTube and similar sites can develop approaches that will draw viewers to club, society and show websites. Remember, the general public thinks stamps, not philately. Try a search engine.

(Develop samples of each type of email, press release, flyer, web page with link and ad mentioned above)