MPRNewsletter

TOASTMASTERS ®

INTERNATIONAL

M PR

Marketing & PR resources to ensure success

April 2011

Marketing Zone

Medical Professionals Need Toastmasters–Stat!

HAVE YOU EVER TRIED TO COMMUNICATE WITH YOUR DOCTOR, only to be baffled by what he is trying to say? Or frustrated that she is not listening to you? Maybe you’ve wondered if the right hand knows what the left hand is doing when you speak with the nurse or staff members in your doctor’s office. Clear communication, listening and teamwork are crucial when working with patients. Do the physicians in your area know that Toastmasters can help their staffs improve in these areas? It’s time they found out. But don’t just tell the medical professionals how Toastmasters can help – show them.

Having a special themed meeting geared to medical professionals is a perfect way to accomplish this. These are great ways to get the Toastmasters message across:

Thought of the Day: Use a quote or a thought-provoking statement to set the stage for how critical clear communication, listening and teamwork are in any medical professional’s line of work.

Word of the Day: Choose meaningful words in the medical field, such as “ambulatory” or “prognosis.”

Table Topics: Develop a list of questions a patient would ask a doctor, nurse or office administrator, or questions a nurse might ask a doctor.

Prepared Speeches: Gear speeches toward clear communication, listening, teamwork and the importance of each in the medical field.

Need help locating doctors’ offices in your area? Your favorite Internet search engine is always a great resource. Or have your club members target their own physician’s office. Use the Event Flier on the Virtual Brand Portal to promote the themed meeting. Be sure to include relevant information about why Toastmasters is important to this group.

Also attach a copy of a promotional brochure.

Related articles can be found on the Toastmasters website at www.toastmasters.org. Just type “medical” in the search box. Here is a great reference article about nurses improving their presentation skills.

MARKETING AND PR QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER • APRIL 2011

What’s New? Refer potential members to The What, Why and How of Toastmasters for easy answers to these questions: What is Toastmasters? Why should I join? How do I join? Tell them to check out the new “10 Questions for...” section featuring a different member each month.

Facts and Stats: Leadership is still going strong; more than 1,700 members have already earned their Competent Leader awards in 2011-7.2% increase during this same time period last year.

Marketing Zone

PR Zone

Generational Marketing

What’s Your Angle?

GENERATIONAL MARKETING IS AN APPROACH TO selling a product or service based on the general attitudes, beliefs and values of individuals in the same age group.

This concept is important to understand. By recognizing the trends of each age group, we can better target our marketing messages or strategies.

The three most talked-about generations are often categorized as:

Baby Boomers (1946–1965) Generation X (1966–1979) Generation Y, aka Millennials or Echo Boomers (1980–1999) To start, research the different groups to get a clear understanding of what drives each of them.

Once you have familiarized yourself with them, decide which demographic is best suited as new members for your club.

Are you looking to create balance in your club by recruiting more Generation X members? Appeal to this age group’s appreciation for instant feedback by pointing out that immediate evaluations play a key role in Toastmasters. Or you can use text messaging to attract more of the Generation Y crowd. For example, when following up with guests, invite those potential members back to your club via text message.

To retain members of new generational groups, you can use the philosophies and information gained when originally marketing to them. Using the Generation Y example, consider incorporating text messaging into your club’s culture. Two examples: Have members text their feedback on the speeches and use text messaging to coordinate meeting roles. Recognition is also popular with this generation. To attract and retain members, use ribbons or other awards to recognize achievements.

Remember that regardless of the generation, it is important to understand cultural differences, as well as the individual. Someone may be a Baby Boomer but identifies more with the characteristics and attitudes of Generation Y. Interview each new member about his or her specific needs to ensure a successful membership.

If you have had success using generational marketing techniques and would like to share your story, e-mail marketing@toastmasters.org.

MARKETING AND PR QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER • APRIL 2011

Know what is unique about your club or who is important in your club or community.

WANT TO SHARE THE NEWS ABOUT YOUR TERRIFIC CLUB OR district? Attracting the news media’s attention is challenging.

It helps to know the secret: Be newsworthy!

There are two ways to be newsworthy: Find news or create it. First, find what is special about your club. Do you have a specialty or theme, unique meeting location or a particularly successful member? The other method is to create an event that will benefit the community. Either route will lead you to the angle for your story and, if promoted with a news release and properly pitched, will attract media attention.

For example, District 6’s Tale Weavers club offers a specialty in storytelling. A news release might angle this as a human interest story if, for example, a member joins the club to practice telling stories in pediatric hospital wards.

If your club doesn’t have a specialty or an unusual feature, you can still make it newsworthy. Simply create a club event to earn media attention. A great way to do this is to recognize a non-Toastmaster in the community who stands out for excellence in communication or leadership. Create a memorable award ceremony and ask club members to speak about the reasons this person was chosen. At such events, clubs traditionally bestow the Communication Achievement Award (Item 1972B in the Toastmasters online store) and districts give the Communication and Leadership Award (Item 1971). The awards ceremony offers a bonus: The community learns to recognize your group as the resident experts in topics related to leadership and communication.

Now you have an angle for your group or activity that’s newsworthy. Be sure to send us clippings or links to your published story at pr@toastmasters.org.

Congratulations,Toastmasters, your news release was published!

CLUBS FROM AROUND THE WORLD RECENTLY distributed news releases promoting their club speech contest and received great coverage. To see a list of clubs that received news coverage (and links to the articles), please visit the announcements page on the Toastmasters website at www.toastmasters.org/clubcongrats

Send Us Your Leadership Videos TOASTMASTERS, WE WANT TO SEE YOUR TAKE ON THIS THEME: “What does leadership mean to you?” Send an innovative and inspiring video of yourself or of another member to the address listed below. Choose three of the eight questions listed below and explain how Toastmasters has helped you become a better leader in your community or at work. Be sure to keep it short: No longer than one minute.

Leadership questions: What does leadership mean to you?

What is the most important thing that has helped you grow as a leader?

What are you a leader of?

What do you love about Toastmasters?

How has Toastmasters changed your life?

How has Toastmasters helped you with your leadership skills?

Why are you a leader?

Why do you think leadership training is important?

Your responses may be included in a video montage that will be hosted on the Toastmasters website in August.

To be considered, state your name, your club name and your club location (city, state/province, country) at the beginning of the video. Mail a DVD of your produced video– lasting one minute or less – to Toastmasters International World Headquarters by Friday, April 29.

A Flip video camera was used to film the members in the videos above.

Mailing address: Toastmasters International ATTN: PR Dept.

23182 Arroyo Vista Rancho Santa Margarita, CA 92688 Need inspiration and advice on producing a video? Be sure to read Barbara Seymour Giordano’s article, “Stand Out With Video” in the Toastmaster magazine here. If you have any questions, please contact pr@toastmasters.org.

The Value of Testimonials Show, don’t tell.

NOW THAT YOU’ VE FOUND YOUR ANGLE and are ready to tell the world about your club or event, here’s one important piece of advice: Don’t!

While someone has to let the world know, it shouldn’t always be you – at least not directly. You’ll have a stronger news item if you let a third party lend credibility and value to your story. Think about it this way: Would you rather have a restaurant tell you how good it is or hear from a customer about its delicious desserts?

Likewise, rather than tell newspaper readers how great your club is, show them by having a member share his or her success story.

GiveUsYourFeedback MARKETING AND PR QUARTERLY NEWSLETTER • APRIL 2011

To make the most of testimonials, you need to learn the art of gathering and preparing great quotes. Try this four-step process: First, find someone worth quoting. It should be a member who has an inspiring story about overcoming a challenge or reaching goals as a result of his or her Toastmasters training.

Second, ask the right questions.

Use open-ended but direct questions that require more than yes/no answers. Let the person know that you need short answers, no longer than two sentences in length.

Third, craft the answers into usable quotes. This does not mean

changing the person’s message.

Rather, try to make each idea stand out and look for a quote that’s thought-provoking and newsworthy.

Last, place the quotes into your news release in a way that supports your story. Be sure to introduce a quote and let the reader know who is speaking. Identify members by their full name, club and club location (city and state/province). Follow these great examples on the Toastmasters website and your news releases will speak for themselves.

Be sure to see past issues of the M/PR Newsletter on the Toastmasters website at www.toastmasters.org/MPRNewsletter. Let us know what you liked and what you would like to see in future editions by e-mailing newsletters@toastmasters.org.