Devise promotion plan for community classes
Classes get equal marketing efforts
To attract a crowd to community outreach programs, people must be aware of the event. Yet promotional activities shouldn't be hit or miss, varying from class to class. A promotional plan should be designed for use with every outreach effort, advises Valerie Eldred, RN, community education coordinator for Mid-Florida Medical Services in Winter Haven, FL.
With a plan in place, you never have to wonder if a program failed because it was not promoted as well as the successful programs, she explains.
Eldred uses several promotional methods for each outreach effort. They include:
· Bi-annual magazine distributed to the community.
A publication called Here's to Your Health is published twice a year. It covers the topics for the health care facility's current lecture series which is conducted by its physicians. It also lists ongoing classes, such as baby sitting training, and special events, such as health fairs. Articles, interspersed with the calendar listings and class descriptions, help make the publication interesting.
· Full-page newspaper ad.
Mid-Florida Medical Services also purchases a full-page ad in two local newspapers the last Sunday of each month to market upcoming classes.
"I look through the magazine and pick out the events that are coming up for the next month. We also try to include an article that ties in with the month. For example, February is heart month, so we would include an article on congestive heart failure," says Eldred.
· Telephone information service.
The Florida health care system has a telephone service called Health Connections. People at the service help consumers with physician referrals and answer questions about health benefits. The operators also are kept abreast of all community outreach efforts. Eldred provides the operators with a description of each class along with a contact person to call for additional information.
· Distribution of fliers within inpatient and outpatient areas.
To alert consumers about upcoming educational classes, fliers are posted within the hospital. Also, home health and hospice nurses distribute them to outlying clinics when they are visiting patients.
"We make sure that the outlying clinics that belong to our health care organization have these fliers in their offices, so we reach quite a lot of people," says Eldred.
· Media releases sent to local newspapers and television stations.
Most newspapers print community calendars of non-profit events and include outreach classes at health care facilities. Television stations will air public service announcements as well. To be included in these opportunities for free publicity, the marketing department at Mid-Florida Health Systems sends weekly media releases with information on upcoming outreach events. If the topic is timely, the newspaper editor might assign a reporter to write an article.
To determine the effectiveness of each promotional activity, Eldred has the Health Connection operators ask consumers how they heard of the class when they call to register. She also includes that question on class evaluation forms.
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