Practice Your Pitch Breakout Session

Practice Your Pitch Breakout Session

Session Objectives:

-  To be aware of the different types of “pitches” they have.

-  To be familiar with what should be communicated in a “pitch.”

-  To practice their actual pitch.

Additional Resources:

-  Fall Guidebook: pages 25-32.

Points to Emphasize:

-  Reflect on your Tour experience.

-  Make it personal.

-  Invite people to be part of something that you care about.

-  Be proud, share with your networks.

-  Practice makes perfect!

Potential Agenda: This is a SAMPLE of what you can do. This is very flexible. The intent of this document is to GUIDE you (in the event you need it). Feel free to make this your own!

Marketing Basics for Tour

The feeling you get when you fill all the spots on the Tour is simply amazing. Tours have gone out in the past with anywhere from 20 to 45 people. Ideally, a Tour will be somewhere in the mid-thirties. Getting this many people allows the Tour to have the money it needs for operations, as well as enable the core to facilitate activities properly. It's plain and simple, your job is to recruit, recruit, recruit! The more people that know about the Tour, the better your chances are of filling your bus. Remember, if you inform students of the Tour, the better your chances are of getting them to sign-up.

How can I fill the Tour fast?

Breaking down the ‘r’ word

Recruitment is tough because it forces you, as bus leaders, to focus on the numbers of students you are attracting when you would rather focus on the other aspects of planning the Tour. However, we were all recruited somehow, and we must continue to recruit others, in order to continue ‘Paying It Forward’ to our best ability.

Talking, not selling
There are countless ways to recruit—seek out individuals, clubs, fraternities, etc. Let’s talk about individuals because word of mouth has proven to be the most effective way of recruiting in the past. STLF wants PIF Tour participants. What does it take to get someone to participate? People must feel included, wanted, accepted, and important.

It’s not about selling the trip. It is about making a person feel comfortable enough to want to participate in the trip.

Pitching the elevator spiel

Imagine you are on an elevator with a potential Tour participant. You only have a few floors to tell the person enough about the Tour to gain some excitement and buy-in. What would you say? It is extremely important for you to be able to communicate what the Tour is in a very short amount of time, depending on the audience. It is smart to develop a few ‘pitches’ of various lengths to prepare for this (30 seconds, 1 minute, 3 minutes, & 5 minutes). Wearing past tour shirts can get you noticed and people interested. This is a great way to share your experiences with others and recruit them for the tour.

Obviously, this pitch can be used anywhere, whether it is in class, at the bookstore, etc. You can understand people’s openness to the Tour over time by gauging how they respond to certain concepts (mentioning leadership, service, camp, traveling, youth programming, etc).

An elevator pitch should include several components, although you don’t have to use them in this order:

o  Contact information - STLF & Pay it Forward, meeting times, website, etc.

o  Hook – A personal story or a compelling statement; something that pulls on the emotions

o  Basics – What happens on the PIF Tour? No need to talk in depth about the organizational history or anything… yet. You want them in the door.

o  Follow up opportunity – Get a name or an email address. Say you will email or Facebook the person.

As always, it’s easier to KISS: Keep It Simple Stupid

Be short. Be concise. Get to the point. Get them interested, not overwhelmed.

Recruiting & Marketing Strategies

People need to know about the Tour before they can sign-up

You must get the word out on your campus. There are a number of ways to market the trip, but the most effective way depends upon your campus culture. Some key points to recruiting and marketing are:

o  Create demand – People want what they can’t have. People really want what others have. Push the registration opening to gain demand quickly. Once you get a few sign-ups, the momentum of your efforts will create even more.

o  Recruit for the PIF program – Just because your individual bus is full doesn’t mean you’re done! There are more buses, more campuses, and more people who can have the wonderful opportunity of experiencing the PIF Tour.

o  Utilize the Internet – Students are more and more connected to the Internet. Of course, once your communications are considered SPAM, you are done. So be strategic about it. What audience can you gain access to? How about using Facebook or another electronic forum your school offers?

o  Focus on the audience – People are classified and grouped on campuses in many ways. How do any of these classifications align with STLF? Think about getting on the agendas of these organizations to announce STLF meetings—residence halls/dorms, Greek community, service or leadership organizations, etc.

o  Be buzzworthy – There is nothing better from a marketing perspective than creating awareness through an event. The event can be as simple or as complex as you like. Think about all the events STLF already sponsors – Month of Kindness, 5k Run for Research, Fill the Bus. Remember to tell people about these events and try to get them in your campus paper.

o  Speak to the masses – Where do the largest crowds on your campus congregate? In class! Contact professors of your largest classes on campus and tell them about STLF. Ask for a few minutes before class, and you will be amazed at the results of your announcement.

o  Get others to tell the story – When more people talk, more people listen. If there is someone excited about the Tour, get that person involved! Tell staff and faculty at your school, too. Any time someone is excited, you can put that person to work—telling more people about the Tour.

Strategies to promote Tour

Although these ideas are not legal at all schools (make sure you check school policy guidelines to determine this), here is a list of ideas that have been used at other schools:

o  Posters around campus and in classrooms

o  Chalking

o  Laminated flyers in the showers

o  Bathroom flyers

o  Facebook

o  Announcements through professor websites

o  Dorm bulletin boards (create easy to use design)

o  Resident Advisors / Community Advisors

o  Table tents in student center, campus dining halls, etc

o  Student org. display cases in student centers

o  Ads on campus bus services

o  Listservs (whatever you can access—campus, dorms, clubs, etc)

o  Career center/academic advising center

o  Announcement on campus civic engagement page

o  Computer lab screensavers

o  Door hangers

o  Putting flyers on cars in campus parking lots

Media Overview

Why should you care?

Media is a very powerful tool when used properly and strategically. It is one of the fastest ways to contact mass numbers of participants, donors, and campus supporters. Below are some different suggestions on how to use media to create a buzz on campus or just spread information about your trip throughout the community.

Alert college newspaper to inform students

Every college campus in the United States has campus media of some sort. The most common type of media on college campuses is a campus paper. A department on campus, campus club, local newspaper, or independent organization may produce the campus paper. Usually these are produced on a daily, weekly, bi-monthly, or monthly basis. This is important to know because the appropriate time for you to contact the paper depends on how often it is produced. Try to get the paper to advertise your events this fall. Don’t forget that they may give students groups free advertising for the trip, too.

Alert local media to publicize effort

The media located in your college town will have a reporter or editor designated to cover your college campus. You can contact the paper to find out who this person is and get a hold of them, or you can contact your college’s public relations department. Partnering with the PR department will improve your communication with the local media. Building a support base in the local community can make it easier for you to get donations and community support. You can also see if the local media will give you free advertising space to help promote the Tour. Don’t overuse the paper though, because if you do they may not want to help you anymore. Contact the national core for ideas and strategies to contact local media.

Alert hometown media to build awareness

Local media from your hometown can help you build awareness of your Tour. You might be able to use the publicity for fundraising and to inform local students about the Tour. Newspapers like to feature people making a positive difference within the community, so contact them to do a personal interview/story about the PIF tour.

Represent STLF by talking to media

Talking to media or anyone in a professional setting is a learned practice. STLF has created a talking point sheet, which is generic and needs to be customized to specific events. This can be a starting point anytime you are representing STLF. One thing to remember is that you can only control 50% of any conversation/communication. It is up to everyone else to interpret what you say. You must plan ahead major points you want to cover. It is best to concentrate on a couple of points and represent them with a story or example. Try to connect your story with STLF’s mission to create name recognition with your audience.

Media Plan for Tour

Alerting media will cast positive light on STLF

The main goal of this year’s media plan is to cast a positive light on STLF and the Tour. For the Tour, the main focus is on the participants and bus core leaders themselves. One person from each bus core will be the designated media contact and will receive updates from National. National will provide you with sample press releases, media resource lists, and media talking points. More details regarding this will be covered in subsequent emails and at the Winter Retreat. In dealing with the media, communication and speed are key. If you are asked for information, please respond as quickly as possible or give an update on requested items.

Following timeline will help gain attention

National has created a timeline for the couple of weeks leading up to the Tour for best practices in contacting media organizations. It is not guaranteed that each bus will receive some media attention, but it is a good possibility that this will happen, if it does, have fun with it.

o  4+ weeks before

·  Research media types and communication styles in different cities

·  Figure out how to customize press releases and what medium you are going to use to distribute them (i.e. email, mail, fax, etc.)

·  Review the customized talking points received from National

·  Provide information to campus papers and local media

o  3 weeks before

·  Get in touch with personal contacts/previous contacts in media organizations

·  Speak with contacts in cities to see if they have good relations with any local media

o  2 weeks before

·  Finalize what communities will receive which press releases

·  Finalize all contact information for local media

·  Complete and finalize press releases

·  Submit information about your projects and cities by the final deadline

o  1 week before

·  Send out press release

·  Verify and update information if asked

o  2-3 days before