Toastmasters Recruitment Campaign: Communications Strategy

Does your club have a Communication Strategy? If not, here is an example of one to get your started. 

Thank you to Jenna Ross from Positively Speaking for creating and being willing to share her Communications Strategy. 

Background and Organizational Need

Toastmasters International is a non-profit educational organization that teaches public speaking and leadership skills through a worldwide network of clubs. Each club provides a mutually supportive and positive learning environment which fosters self-confidence and personal growth.

Positively Speaking Toastmasters is one of those clubs. It was chartered in 1991 and is located in Maple Ridge, BC. Every meeting has an agenda, and every member has a role to play. Members progress by taking part in the pathways educational program.

The club currently has 13 members. While this is sufficient to maintain club status, this usually means there are just enough members present to carry out all meeting roles. More members would be beneficial to have more speeches, more feedback, more fleshed out agendas, and more funds for the club. The goal is to have about 20 members in the club, which would mean about 11 new members need to join this year (assuming 4 members terminate their membership as in 2019).

Potential problems in gaining new members are:

• Some people are unaware of toastmasters
• People don’t fully understand the benefits
• People are unsure what type of commitment is required/cost is involved
• It seems intimidating
• PST club has inconsistent follow up with guests to encourage them to become members (responsibility of VP Membership)

The communications plan will aim to address the first four potential problems.

Stakeholders

• Positively Speaking Executive & members
• Area Director & District Director
• D96 VP Public Relations

Project Team

• communications strategist
• consultant on membership
• Additional committee members as recruited - potentially xx

Audiences

Campaign Goal

To have 11 new members (11 members - 4 projected to leave = 7 net new members) signed up for Positively Speaking Toastmasters by June 30, 2021.

Communications Objectives

• By June 30, 2021, at least 44 guests have attended a meeting or open house (estimates approximately 1 in 4 guests will become a member).
  By June 30, 2021, at least 11 member applications have been submitted.
• Website contact us page traffic has increased to xx unique views (with intention of converting xx% of views to inquiries).
• *Campaign social media posts reach an average of at least xxx (increase from xxx) and see an average engagement rate of at least xx% on Facebook, an average reach of xxx (increase from xx) and maintain an average engagement rate of xx%.
• 1 earned story from the City of Maple Ridge (social media) or Maple Ridge News is attained.
• At least 15 posters are distributed within a 10km radius of Maple Ridge City Hall
• **Fans increase from 165 on Facebook and 177 on Instagram.

**Will be a secondary measurement.

Key Messages

1. Toastmasters is a fun, supportive organization where members build public speaking and communication skills.
2. Members build leadership skills by mentoring other members or taking on an executive role.
3. Toastmaster members will build social skills that can help them at networking events and social gatherings.
4. Toastmasters is an international organization, with a local Maple Ridge club. We are actively looking for more people to join our supportive group!
5. Through weekly meetings, members build real-world, transferable skills that help them communicate with confidence.
6. With greater self-awareness and self-confidence, members can gain a competitive advantage in the workplace.

Budget

$200 roughly, will be decided on a case-by-case basis

Human hours (1-2 hours/week)

Strategy

• Omni-channel storytelling campaign
  • Create personas similar to Cineplex “Suzie Seatkicker” “Texting Tommy” etc that highlight why someone might join - overcoming anxiety, building confidence, building leadership skills, developing social skills, developing communication/listening skills
  • Highlight current members with #mywhy stories
  • Align open house with “New Year’s Resolution” date

Activity Plan Phase 1: Tactics and Responsibilities Work in Progress

Activity Plan Phase 2: Asset Creation and Distribution; Due XX

• Brand assets - font, colour codes and logo (Executive to advise)
• Story writing - TBD
• Assets - can use canva.com.
• Photography - Jenna to arrange or find stock photos
  • Social media + instagram, poster, paid ad (of each story) x2
  • Close up and further away
  • Focus on showing speaking/communication skills
• Printing and distribution
• Schedule/publication
  • Editorial calendar

Activity Plan Phase 3: Campaign Monitoring and Progress Tracking Due xx?

• Monitor & respond
• Engage w/ comments and sentiment
• Track
• Capture feedback (engagement, emails, oral testimonies, etc.) for the report.
• Evaluation
• Based on benchmarks to be created. Track any media outlets, track sentiment

Campaign Assets

Boilerplate

At Positively Speaking Toastmasters, we help our members become more confident speakers, communicators, and leaders. Our weekly meetings give everyone a chance to practice speaking in a small and supportive environment. Stop letting fear hold you back: find your voice at pstm.toastmasters.org.

STORY 1

Member story with why they joined, what they got out of it

STORY 2

Member story with why they joined, what they got out of it

2019/2020 PST member notes
Members who left:

Members who joined:

Number of guests: