When you market your club, what is your message?
“Come to our meeting?” “Where Leaders are made?” “Come to our open house?”
Your message must be compelling and address a problem that your prospective visitors need solving.
So, of course you need to know what your market is. I can tell you what it isn’t. It is NOT, “Fog this mirror, we can help you do whatever you need to do.” Refer to our Club Avatar workbook.
Once you have your avatar, you have to craft a message that gets their attention. “Are your briefings brief?” “Do you put your clients to sleep with your presentations?” “How can you improve your bedside manner?” “What’s the best way to evaluate your employees?”
Then you must choose a medium to distribute your message. But if all you do is Facebook, you may not be reaching your target market! Social media is a powerful tool! There’s no doubt about it. But it is not the ONLY tool. It’s like having a toolbox with just a hammer in it. How do you get access to people’s contact information? How do you follow up? Do flyers do the trick? Do speech craft sessions? Open houses? Hand-written letters? Phone calls?
The trick here is to figure out WHERE YOUR AVATARS WOULD GO TO SEE OR HEAR YOUR INFORMATION! As a friend of mine would say, “You don’t sell milk in a hardware store.” Ever go into a Menards? They sell milk. Why? Their target market is contractors and DIY hobbyists. While they’re browsing around the nuts and bolts, they pass the milk and think, “Hmmm, if I bring milk home my spouse will think I’m considerate!” I would imagine they don’t see a lot of turn-over in the dairy aisle. Would you go to Menard’s because they have milk? No. Would you do all of your milk shopping there? No. Is it just an amenity that makes shopping at Menard’s more convenient and pleasant? Possibly.
If you were the milk producer, would your first choice of market be the hardware store? No. Your target is basically families with children. That most likely corresponds with Wal-Mart.
If you are marketing your Toastmasters Club, you have to put your information where you see gatherings of people interested in getting the solutions to their problems that you can provide.
So you must consider 3 things:
Market—to whom are you reaching out?
Message—what problem can you solve?
Medium—where and how does your target market get their information?
For a more in-depth exploration, Marian Gramlich will be giving her unique approach to Toastmasters Club Marketing.
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