Section 2 | Advertising

Advertising is a critical aspect of keeping your group alive. The best way to get people to your events is to let them know what you are doing, and where and when you're doing it. You can't assume that people who were at the last meeting will automatically come to the next. Spreading the word about fun and provocative events will increase your group's visibility on campus and ensure that you have a steady flow of new and returning members.

Flyering

Flyering is an effective and inexpensive way for secular student groups to garner publicity. Properly done, flyering can do wonders to increase your group's visibility on campus. Flyering is especially important during the formative stages of your group - it helps to establish your group and attract interested students and faculty. Even when you become well established, your group will benefit from flyering on a regular basis.

How to Design a Flyer
The content of your flyer should be considered with two goals in mind: catching someone's attention and communicating a message in as few words as possible. Printing them on bright paper never hurts, either, but be aware that yellow is overly used for this purpose (you want your flyers to stand out from others, not blend in!)

What's Your Point?
Once you have someone's attention, what are you going to communicate? You only have a second before your audience's attention is elsewhere. Be brief and specific.

Often the simplest bit of additional information can make a huge difference in the success of a flyer campaign. You want your message to be so straightforward and clear that anyone could understand it. Students often walk by flyers half asleep and in a daze. They may glance at the flyer for only seconds before moving on, and it is not likely they will waste time trying to figure out the meaning. There are also other types of print media that you can create to help you advertise, explain and promote your group. You will need resources like this for tabling, giving to potential members, and passing out at events.

One way to grab someone's attention is through sophomoric means such as emphasizing controversial or taboo words. This approach may can have unintended consequences. You may inadvertently create a negative image of your group because the attention-getter overpowers your message.

There are more sophisticated methods for getting your flyer noticed. The simplest is to use creative quotes and phrases presented in a large, engaging font. Flyers like these spark people's interest and compel them to read further:

Nonbelievers of all sorts love to collect quotes, and there are ample resources on the web. Simply doing a web search for —atheist quotes— will bring up more catchy phrases and clever musings by famous heathens than you could ever need.

You can get and share ideas for flyers at the SSA's Flyer Exchange.

Where to Flyer
Just think of all the different locations on campus you've been to in the past couple of weeks. How many of them had spaces just crying out for the company of one (or twenty) of your flyers? Keep in mind that some locations (especially school property such as residence halls) require approval of flyer designs before they can be hung. The following suggested locations only scratch the surface:

• Outdoor kiosks
  
• Bulletin boards inside buildings
  
• Bathrooms
  
• Large lecture halls (give students something to look at during those long boring lectures)
  
• Above chalkboards in classrooms Inside retail establishments on campus that allow public postings (always ask if you aren't sure)
  
• Dorm building hallways
  
• On the backs of unsuspecting friends
  
• Anywhere you regularly see other flyers

Flyers & Leaflets in High Schools

Students at the University of Minnesota flyer for a big event

Almost all colleges and universities have easily-accessible guidelines for putting up public notices. However, the guidelines for public high schools are often much harder to find. The SSA has borrowed tips on this topic from a document created by the San Diego Campaign to Demilitarize Our Schools.

Division of Labor

Flyering and chalking (see below) require a few hours of work every time they get done. Ideally, you'll be doing them for every meeting. For bigger events, you'll need to do them several times. Flyering and chalking are easy, concrete tasks that new members can help with. You can get help with these tasks more easily than almost any other task your group does. Be sure to let everyone in your group know when you're going flyering and invite them along. Don't be shy about going up to members and asking them specifically and directly to come help. You should have a specific meeting time and place to start, but giving out a cell number will help those who are running late to join up with your flyering posse. Once you're all together, it's often worthwhile to break up the campus into areas (maybe even print maps) and have people break into groups of two or three to flyer the areas assigned to them. That way a group of six or seven students can hang hundreds of flyers. It isn't a bad idea to grab a bite to eat afterwards; in addition to advertising the group, it is an excellent opportunity for members to get to know each other.

While group-flyering is usually best, another way is to email flyers to the entire group, encourage people to print out a specified amount, and stick them in buildings during their daily routine. This way students can incorporate a somewhat tedious task into their busy schedules. However, it can be difficult to make sure people are actually flyering and you lose the social benefits.

Behold, the Power of Chalk!

Chalk it big! Chalk it proud!

No flyering adventure can be complete without its ever colorful and eye-catching buddy, Sidewalk Chalk. (Well, okay, when there's a foot of snow on the ground or there is going to be an epic rain storm tomorrow, maybe you can pass). Those cigar-sized sticks of chalk that you used to scribble on your driveway when you were a kid can now be used to get out the message of your group. Imagine the average student on your campus strolling to their first class of the day, looking down and seeing an invitation to check out a new freethought group.

Flyering and Chalking should be fun!
Make flyering and chalking social activities. At meetings announce that afterwards you'll be flyering and then going out for pizza or to the local coffee house. You'll cover more territory and make friends - not to mention that these people will likely become the future leaders of your group. Do not plan to cover the same amount of territory with three volunteers as you would with fifteen. You want to keep your volunteers engaged rather than exhausted.

Concentration vs. Distribution

You and your fellow secularists find yourselves with a bunch of flyers and sidewalk chalk. The campus is your canvas. Where to post/draw your message? There is a golden secret to effective flyering and chalking that groups usually learn over the years: concentrating your message in one area is more effective than sparsely distributing it over a large area.

Think about all of the competing messages that assault your senses on a daily basis. Placing just a couple of flyers in the surrounding visual "noise" will mute your message. Instead, pick a handful of high traffic (and appropriate) areas and cover them with flyers and chalk as if your life depended on it. You want to elicit a "whoa!" reaction from passersby. Remember that students may only glance at any posting or chalking for a few short seconds. Keep your message clear and concise so that viewers will immediately get the point. If most of the flyers in one location are a certain color, try to hang flyers of a contrasting color. For this reason it may be helpful to print your group's flyers in several colors.

Be ready for controversy if you use bold phrases, and don't allow members to tarnish your group's good name with bigotry. Students for Freethought at the Ohio State University received complaints one year concerning intolerant, anti-religious phrases (such as "Jesus is dead. Deal with it.") chalked on campus. In response Students for Freethought compiled a list of phrases approved for advertising the organization, posted the list on their website, and handed out the list to everyone who went chalking. Review the rules for flyering and chalking for your institution. Not following them will detract from your group's credibility.

Tabling

What is it? A group display, often at an event such as a student involvement fair, in which you have an opportunity to promote your organization to the student community.

Tabling can be a great way to reach out to fellow students and be visible on your campus. If you have been attending college for longer than the past twenty minutes, you are probably aware of the concept of tabling. Religious groups, academic clubs and annoying credit card merchants all employ the almighty table as part of their marketing tactics. They do this is because it is effective. You too should harness the power of the table for the good of your group.

Goals of a Table

• Recruiting more members / finding students who might want to join
  
• Meeting faculty members who are sympathetic to your cause
  
• Gathering contact information
  
• Educating the community about the ethos of secularism
  
• Networking opportunities with other groups at neighboring tables

Using tabling to attract new members is of paramount importance. Always have a sign-up sheet so you can add people to your email list or Facebook group. If you've got Wi-Fi and a laptop, you might even consider having people sign-up online right there and then. (Be sure to get a lock for your laptop and lock it to the table!). Laptops can also be helpful for showing videos or multimedia presentations (e.g. a slideshow of pictures of your group).

You may run into people who want to argue with you about the merits of your worldview. Feel free to engage them in a friendly debate, but remember that many bystanders who may be experiencing their first and only encounter with a secular organization will view your discussions. Many of these people will go on to become politicians, teachers, business leaders, voters, etc. The image they develop of your group today may affect how they one day vote on, legislate, or influence issues relating to the rights of secularists. Public relations and your demeanor should always be in the back of your mind during tabling. Be sure to coach table volunteers on this as well.

While tabling you have tremendous power to either do a great deal of damage to or a great deal of good for the secular movement.

Hemant Mehta

Hemant Mehta of friendlyatheist.com and past chair of the Secular Student Alliance Board of Directors has compiled a few tips on how best to do this.

He says that a friendly atheist:

• Believes everyone should do what makes them happy, provided they are not stopping anyone else from doing the same
  
• Does not judge others for following a different path than his/her own
  
• Shows kindness, volunteers, and helps others
  
• Does not go around denigrating other religions or philosophies, because he/she knows that to get respect, one must give it
  
• Can talk to a religious person without starting an argument.
  
• Questions his/her own beliefs as much as others' beliefs
  
• Invites positive dialogue from religious people
  

One thing practically all universities have in common is a student involvement fair. These events have many names, but the theme and characteristics are nearly the same. They tend to take place during the beginning of an academic term, especially in autumn. They are intended specifically for student groups and are generally well attended by freshman and sophomores looking to become involved in campus activities. These events are critical for student organizations who want to increase the size of their member roster. Find out the date for your school's involvement fair and sign up! Advanced registration may be required to ensure that you get a spot, especially at large universities. If you are tabling at an involvement fair, find creative ways to make your table stand out. An attractive display or popular give-away items will bring more students to your table, and remember - brown folding tables always look better with a bright tablecloth.

A beautifully organized table!

What Materials Should Be at your Table?

• A brochure describing your group Information on when and where meetings are held
  
• The date, location and topic of your next meeting
  
• A signup sheet for e-mail updatesand/or your Facebook group
• Literature on issues of current interest to the secular community (such as Freedom From Religion Foundation nontracts)
  
• Plastic literature holders to keep the table neat (these are inexpensive)
  
• A folding "science fair" style poster about your group (images are nice!)
  
• Your inviting and smiling face
  
• Freebies like key-chains or buttons are also popular (just make sure your organization information is attached!)
  
• Another option is to tape slips of paper with meeting info onto candy. Students are more likely to pick up a free sweet than to take a brochure!
• Note that while an organized presentation is more appealing, avoid overdoing it. Don't dilute your presentation with too many materials or distractions
  
• Friendly eye contact makes people much more likely to come up and talk with you
  

Good Old-Fashioned Networking

When you are trying to get people to your meetings and events, personal invitations are often highly successful. If you know someone who has views that are similar to your members', personally invite them to the group. Ask members to bring friends - it is much less intimidating to visit a group meeting for the first time if you have a friend to go with. If you are out somewhere as a group, don't be shy about telling people about your group and inviting them to come. Even if they aren't interested, it often begins very interesting conversations. Contact the leaders of student groups or academic departments that you think may be interested in what you are promoting.

Advanced Promotion Techniques

A major event, such as a debate, panel discussion or high-profile speaker, takes a little extra promotion. Consider your target audience, and expand your advertising accordingly. For example, if Richard Dawkins is coming to speak on evolution, your audience also includes the Biology department, as well as those students and members of the surrounding community who have read Dawkins' books. Even opponents of his work might be interested in coming to see his presentation. Suddenly you have a much larger and more diverse audience than your average meeting! Directly target these new audiences. Email, send flyers to, or personally visit professors of departments that may be interested. Talk to the leaders of other student groups or visit their meetings to announce the event. Send press releases to your local and student newspapers (see below for more info on press releases). To reach members of the surrounding community, take out an ad in the local newspaper(s) 2-3 days before the event.

Don't forget the value of Facebook for advertising. In addition to creating a Facebook event (which we recommend even for weekly meetings), you can use Facebook to advertise, as well. At www.facebook.com/advertising, you can reach out to students in your area, on your Facebook network, and fine-tune your message to target certain keywords to get great results for a low investment.

Interacting with the Media

Building good relationships with the media can be the key to having successful large events and PR campaigns. The Secular Student Alliance is happy to help you develop lists of contacts at local media services. Just ask, and we can send you a list of all the email addresses and phone numbers for the media in your area.

You should work with the media in whatever ways are most available to you. Likely your school's newspaper will be the best resource for this, but a local off-campus paper can also be a very good resource. Newspapers are focusing more and more on local events-give them what they want!

Writing an editorial or guest column about your group can be very helpful, especially when your group is just starting out. Student newspapers are often delighted to have a reporter cover a new group. SSA can help craft and send a press release about your group getting off the ground. In this particular case, it's worth going to the campus newspaper's office and telling them in person that a new group is starting. You may want to arrive with a press release in hand.

Pulled off an awesome media blitz? Apply for the Best Media Coverage Award! This could include a letter to the editor or opinion column written by a group member, or an article written about your group or its activities - the winning group will get $300.00 as part of the award!


Press Releases

Lots of newspaper stories start with press releases. Press releases help the media do their job by keeping them posted on what organizations are doing. When your group has a major event (which could include getting off the ground), you should let the media in your area know with a press release. They won't cover every event, but by staying on their radar, they may think of your group when they have a story that needs a nontheistic perspective.

A press release is a formal "news tip" that is emailed, faxed and sometimes mailed to newsrooms. It should read like a short newspaper article (no longer than 450 words); containing a headline, contact information, a summary paragraph and some direct quotations from the people involved in the story.. Keep your release short and to the point, including the 5 W's (Who, What, Where, When, Why), and never more than one page in length.

Send press releases to the media about a week before your events. You want to give them enough time to fit your event into their production schedule, but you don't want them to forget about you. For a really big event, there's nothing wrong with sending a release out a month or two ahead of time and then sending a similar release again a week or so before the big day.

Once you have sent your release, it is important to follow up with a phone call. Reporters are busy, and a personal connection can be exactly what it takes to get their attention. You don't want to waste their time, though; just let them know that you're following up on a press release and you'd be happy to answer any questions they might have.