Call it a “policy manual,” a “PR manual,” a “how-to notebook,” a “publicity notebook” or whatever you will, it’s something you wish your predecessor had created and it’s something you need to do for your successor. And for yourself.
Face it. When you only prepare for a certain event once a year, you’ll forget a lot of the details in another 12 months. That’s one reason humans are willing to volunteer for the same tasks year after year: We forget all the headaches from last time.
So a handbook solves many of those issue. Ideally, everyone on the “Big Event” committee contributes to an overall handbook, but even if that’s not the case, do so for publicity and marketing. Here are some of the details it needs to contain:
1) Goals and objectives. What, specifically, does the event do for your small nonprofit and for the community it serves? Add a new page to this section each year, because goals tend to evolve. That will give you an idea of how marketing also needs to change.
2) Timetables and deadlines. With luck, you’ll open the handbook up next year before the first deadline. We tend to forget just how much time these things tend to take. If there are changes with the media, the schedule or other attributes of the event, insert a new sheet each year rather than using white-out or the like. That way you can track your history.
3) Media contacts. Who do you deal with at which media? Get their names spelled right and phone numbers and emails once and you’ll have them. One of the first things you’ll do each year is make sure this list is up to date. Note here any particulars about each media: Did they have special needs, were they helpful or not, etc. If there are personnel changes, pull out your deadline sheet and go over it with the new personnel.
4) The actual publicity. Keep copies of the articles you send out, as well as how it appears, and you’ll learn how to improve (at least in the eyes of the medium that has made changes in your work.) You also won’t have to reinvent the wheel, though there are reasons to be creative each year. But by not having to redo the basic work, you’ll have more time to do other stuff better.
5) Results. When you market, track the results. Details on how that works require a book to itself, but if you can put your finger on any particular results, note that in detail in the handbook.
6) Suggestions. After the event, there’s usually a meeting where everybody has input into what happened, what went wrong and how it can be done better next time. Even if you’re not planning on using all of those ideas for next year’s marketing, at least keep track of them. You’ll never know when one of them might be useful.
Make sure there are multiple copies of your PR and marketing handbook around so that it doesn’t get lost. Put it on a computer somewhere (or better yet, in a non-public part of your website) so it easily can be emailed to your successor or to helpers. Be sure you update all copies equally.
Then enjoy how much easier next year’s event will be to publicize.
