MARKETING HIGHER EDUCATION A periodic electronic Newsletter to help you market your school, community college, college, or university. Vol. XI, no. 9, September, 1997 -------------------------------------------------- TABLE OF CONTENTS Digital Event Marketing for a Nonprofit: The American Indian Exposition on the Internet and the World Wide Web, by Professor Elizabeth (Liz) Pollard Waiting for Blossoms Patiently, by Robert (Bob) S. Topor -------------------------------------------------- Digital Event Marketing for a Nonprofit: the American Indian Exposition on the Internet and the World Wide Web by Professor Elizabeth (Liz) Pollard FOREWORD - The following article demonstrates how ingenuity, dedication, and a passion for a subject can produce dramatic results. As you read through this I suggest you ask yourself, if Liz can do this, how can I learn from her experiences and adapt her techniques for my organization? Liz's combination of personal dedication, knowledge of marketing and communications stand as a model for many professionals. I compliment her on her work and, of course, her success. I have been happy to have played a small part in it with her. -Bob Topor, Liz's partner INTRODUCTION - Promoting anything for a nonprofit organization can be a challenge, particularly working within a limited budget, as most of you are aware already! Promoting an event is intrinsically different in many respects from marketing a product or service, and yet, there are some similarities. The difficulties arise in making the right contacts and getting information to them within a very small budget. This summer, I took on just such a project on a volunteer basis, and some of my experiences may help you in similar circumstances! HISTORY - First, a little bit of background may help. The American Indian Exposition is a nonprofit corporation, incorporated in 1935 by 6 Indian tribes in Oklahoma to sponsor a yearly show, or fair, to promote the progress of local Native Americans in homemaking and farming, and showcase the Native American culture and arts of the area. It proved so popular in the Anadarko, Oklahoma area and the surrounding countryside that it has survived into its 66th year, and it has become an annual tradition in the Great Plains area! The tribes who own and run the Exposition have grown to 15, and it offers an annual opportunity for the native and non-native communities to share in the rich cultural heritage of the Native Americans. It also encourages understanding, communications, and commerce between native and non-native peoples in a state with the largest Indian population of any in the country! The farming and homemaking emphasis was dropped during World War II and the economic changes it occasioned. Tribes around the country began to participate in the dances over the years, as well as the sales and exhibits of arts and crafts. Tourists flocked to see its pageantry and dances and partake of the Native American culture on its home territory! So successful was it in previous years that the federal, state, and local governments appropriated funds to assist it from year to year. Then came competition from a purely commercial source. A few years back, the city of Oklahoma City began to sponsor and operate its annual Red Earth Festival to showcase the Indian arts and culture in the area. The purpose for it was commercial, and the event shows it. It promotes Native American culture, but it is primarily designed to promote the city to tourists. It lasts only a few days and benefits mostly the merchants and organizations who back it, not the Indians. With the financial backing of the city, however, it has become quite successful in recent times, and the tribes who operate the American Indian Exposition became disheartened as their crowds dwindled. "Who wants to come to Oklahoma twice in a summer for a similar event?" they argued. What they were overlooking was what distinguished their operation from a commercial effort, no matter how similar! When I arrived on the scene, I noticed the differences and the deficiencies in what the group was doing. There had never been any professional effort to market the event, despite the fact that it drew tourists from whom the whole state benefited! Beyond local posters and banners in the town of Anadarko, where it is held, and an occasional mention in a state brochure for tourists, there was no promotion of it emanating from the group who ran the exposition! Why was that, I asked? Talking to this year's officials, including the elected President of the American Indian Exposition, Sam Redbone (Apache), it soon became apparent that the reasons were many. Exposition officials are all volunteers, working for the exposition on their own time. There is no office or even continuous files for them to use. They must do everything after hours, while holding down full time jobs elsewhere! With attendance dwindling, enthusiasm among the officials was on the wane as well. The failure to distinguish what was different in this event was killing it! In addition, officials told me, there was no one in the Native American community who had the training or experience in public relations and marketing to devote their efforts to it, and they hadn't the funds to pay someone in the non-native community to do the job! When I pointed out to them that what they had to offer was quite different from more commercial events, they realized they had something that was worth promoting, but they still lacked the skills. So I volunteered my services to them to help market this event and try to build it up to its former glory. PLANNING - The first step was to identify ways to promote the American Indian Exposition that were as inexpensive as possible. I cast around for possibilities and decided to do a Web site for it! Very few similar events even had one at that time (April, 1997), and the Internet and the World Wide Web offer the best advantages of any inexpensive medium. I consulted with the President and some of the Board of Directors, who told me they thought it a good idea, but most of the Indians don't have computers or access to them. The point, I showed them, was to reach the NON-native community, especially tourists, who might be interested in vacations where they could explore another culture! In addition, bringing these people in would further spread the word when they went home and told their neighbors! A Web site would offer the greatest exposure possible, to the whole world, at a minimum cost! They agreed to try it. When I approached the local Internet Service Provider, Total Access (http://www.tanet.net), they immediately volunteered to foot the technical costs of registering the domain and providing storage for the site, as well as programming help if I needed it. I haven't so far, but the offer is still good. With their backing, I began working to design a really exciting site to serve as my base of operations in promoting the event! I identified things that were unique about this event, namely these: 1) it's the oldest such festival in the country; 2) the American Indian Exposition is the only Native American Festival totally native owned and operated, by a cooperative organization of tribes; 3) this event has the advantage of being the REAL thing, not a commercial imitation with commercial purposes or government sponsorship. The American Indian Exposition is based on the values of family, community, and tribal traditions, truly the best example of a family-oriented event I can imagine! These are the themes I used to market it at the Web site I designed and programmed for it. On May 18, the site went public, at http://www.indianexpo.org, and I began to promote it and the event in earnest! ACTION! - Most of my ideas have been specific to a nonprofit and to the type of event I'm working with, but many of them worked. My perspective has broadened somewhat as I went along, and that is affecting my next moves and plans for the future. I'm going to list some of my ideas here for you and everyone else interested in this topic. First, I identified the Webmasters' email addresses for all the Native American related sites I could find on the Web. When the expo site went up, I sent them an announcement, including an invitation to link their own sites to it if they wished. Web links, as you know, are tantamount to free advertising, so these would be valuable networking! Several emailed me back right away telling me they were doing so, while others quietly put up a link, and I've discovered those later. Some were individual tribes, some Native American businesses, organizations, or individuals in the public eye, or Native American studies programs. One of the nicest, most productive links was from the Native American Resources page at Cowboy net (http://www.cowboy.net/native), a native owned ISP out of Oklahoma City which gets a lot of business! Second, I emailed offices in state government that had anything to do with Native American affairs, education, culture, the arts, or libraries. I also threw in the Dept. of Commerce for OK, and that turned out to be productive! These were sent copies of my first press release announcing the opening of the site. Again, we got many links and visitors out of this! In future years, I plan to go further afield and contact state government offices in surrounding states. Late in the game, I emailed the Texas Commission on the Arts from their site on an impulse and shortly received a notice that they have placed a link to the Exposition site there! I mailed (snail variety) press releases to the offices of all 39 tribes which have headquarters in the state, and asked them to spread the word, as well as link to us if they had a site. The Caddo Nation, a participant in the expo, even emailed me that they had just launched a site of their own (http://www.caddonation.com), and if it wasn't too much trouble, could I link the expo site to theirs and send some visitors their way? Of course I was delighted to do so! I surfed the Web for sites of media in Oklahoma and neighboring states and collected email contacts for those. I then emailed a release to each one, which netted us a few more links and brought some press coverage and press to the event. I also snail mailed releases to most of the same media outlets, to see which netted the best results. Surprisingly, the email contacts have been the most productive so far! Only one person has written me back, asking politely that I not send general press releases by email. Two weeks later, the Daily Oklahoman in Oklahoma City emailed me to let me know they had just added us to their links collection, in their "Connect Oklahoma!" section, under Culture, right alongside items like theater, opera, ballet, and the symphony! One of the pleasantest inspirations hit when I discovered that the Oklahoma Press Association had launched a new Web site (http://www.okpress.com)! When I visited, I noticed a "Fun Stuff" area with nothing in it!! So I emailed the Webmaster, with the press release plus a personal note. I suggested that this area could use some interesting travel destinations, places where press folk could get assignments with a little work and a lot of vacation. Naturally, I finished, I had one such link to suggest to him, and he took the bait! Not only did he place a link there, but he gave me quite a plug, to boot! One of the more fruitful inspirations in the immediate area was distributing the press release to a local Kiowa disc jockey who hosts a Saturday morning "Indians for Indians" show on the local radio station, KJON (recently changed from KRPT). He has plugged the site and the expo every show since then, and when he emcees powwows, he plugs the site there as well! That gave me another idea, so now when we go to powwows, I take along a copy of the latest press release to give whoever is emcee at that particular event. Naturally, it gets an announcement, and I get to explain more of what it's about! I discovered early in the game that, although only a few of the Indians in the area have computers at home or office, the public libraries in the state are all fully networked. Now they are told they can go to the library and see the site for free, then spread the word to others! It works. Nothing has ever been faster than the "Indian telegraph!" At an early point, I sent a message to the PR Forum mailing list on the Internet and told my professional colleagues there what I was working on and why. I explained that this was a volunteer effort and the reasons it was so important to preserve this unique institution! My partner Bob Topor backed up my efforts by sending a message to the same list himself with more of an explanation. I asked for hints, tips, suggestions, and ideas on other ways to make this event a huge success! Generous offers started pouring in very quickly! Several people offered to display a link to us at their sites, and one, Steve Wynkoop, of National PR Network (http://www.usprnet.com) came up with some valuable suggestions based on the use of a banner! Another member offered to do a banner for the exposition free, and Steve offered to display it up through this year's expo in valuable ad space at his site! Tom Higgins, of BannerMall USA, did the same in his mall (http://www.aarow.com/mall.html). Several people came up with contacts that I followed up on for additional publicity, and some of them paid off! The banner meanwhile gave us the opportunity to try some of Steve Wynkoop's ideas, including the free ads offered by Internet Link Exchange (http://www.linkexchange.com) and Smart Clicks (http://www.smartclicks.com). Both places offer targeted advertising to some extent, and I entered the site in categories carefully, primarily in those dealing with tourism, cultures, ethnicities, arts, and education. I also entered the World's Top 1,000 (Web Side Story) (http://www.hitbox.com) with the Home Page and the Arts page, another free ad service. All of these services hope to sell you further ads, of course, but the initial coverage of the free offers is considerable! The number of visitors at the site began to climb precipitously, and email from the site collected rapidly! Then Lanny Tonning of PIONEWS (http://www.pionews.com) offered to distribute the expo press releases free through his service, and that increased my ability to cover daily newspapers many fold! Another PR Forum member, Kari Sable Burns (http://www.olywa.net/kari/) was fascinated with my project and wanted to attend the event herself, but was unable to this year. She knows something about the expo, however, since her father was involved with it some 20 years ago! She suggested that for next year, she would like to do some grant writing to bring Native American kids from other parts of the country to visit the expo and see for themselves what native tradition and enterprise can be like! She also has an idea that she might write about the expo, or even broadcast live from the event on the Net! While not everything I've tried has been successful, I learned a great deal from the experience, and the spirit of cooperation engendered by my activities has spread in the community. The Chamber of Commerce was, of course, delighted, and offered clerical and other help for my efforts. Local businessmen I talked with are beginning to think of ways THEY can help, instead of just benefitting from the tourist traffic. Perhaps the community spirit of the Native Americans is spreading! CONTACT! - On August 4-9, 1997, the 66th annual production of the American Indian Exposition took place, amid great fanfare from local papers, something new to the area, I'm told! The Anadarko Daily News published front page items about exposition developments all summer, unheard of before this. The weekend before the expo began, there was a full front page spread in the Lawton Constitution, a major daily almost 50 miles away! That same weekend, the Chickasha Star, a newspaper in a city 18 miles distant, emailed me for a general article they could use in their business section that weekend, and I gave them one! All week, I shot pictures of every event, every interesting person involved, and had them developed for use at the Web site. There is now a photo gallery mounted there to portray what this year's event was like, and to help kick off publicity for next year! Again, considering the budget, I used inexpensive disposable cameras with flash, 27 exposures each, 4 of them! A Wal-Mart Supercenter opened in Anadarko in July, and they provided careful development for us, knowing what the shots were for. The results are beautiful! Our means of follow up were limited, of course, by budget, but a lot of the results showed at the event or came back to me by word of mouth - also known as moccasin (or Indian) telegraph. Radio and TV stations throughout Oklahoma were reported to have mentioned the exposition in news reports! One British couple who showed up for the event reported that a Wichita Falls, TX television news program carried word of the exposition to them where they were visiting with relatives (mentioning our press releases as their source). On impulse, they decided to take advantage of this opportunity during their trip! Perhaps the best indication of crowd size comes from the fact that all motel rooms within a fifty mile radius were booked for expo week about a month in advance! In addition, local campgrounds were running over! Some disappointments occurred, as at any event. They were, however, things no one could predict or control in advance. The carnival usually available for entertaining the children reneged on its contract and didn't show up. Litigation is now under way by the exposition board against them. The second showing of the pageant got rained out on Wednesday night. Well, so much for controlling the weather! Crowds started wandering away when the rain continued, but Thursday's dance contests moved to the high school gym, with publicity in the paper, radio, and at the Web site! The rain stopped Friday, and the final two days of the expo played to full capacity crowds, with a packed stadium! FUTURE PLANS - The American Indian Exposition will continue to play to large, interested audiences for many years, and I will stay with it. This year's photo gallery at the Web site helps start the publicity for next year's 67th annual edition. Many things will be done the same as before or expanded, and we plan to add photos of each year's event for future generations. We also have the promise of the Oklahoma Historical Society to give us access to their extensive photo archives from earlier years, and we hope to build a historical archive at the site from these! My promotional efforts will begin with a wider view for next year. We'll start early to include as many states as possible in our publicity, both governmental sites and media ones. We may include some educational ones as well, since it seems likely that many schools and colleges would find this event of interest! The word is spreading that this event has more to offer than most Native American festivals, that it's a genuine showcase for the authentic spirit of Native America, as well as for authentic arts and crafts and tribal dancing, and we anticipate that the yield will be even greater in the future as a result! Being an educator by training and experience, I'm naturally looking for opportunities to train local tribesmen (or tribeswomen) to help with the promotional work and with the Web site. Many area Indian youth are now in college, and some have related majors, such as communications! We hope to find some apprentices in the next few years who can train for the task and teach others. Meanwhile, I shall continue working with it and the area tribes myself. FINAL NOTE - The Web site for the American Indian Exposition is now in the process of being updated for the 67th edition in 1998. You're invited to stop by and join some 3,200 other visitors who have seen it since last May 18 in enjoying the visual excitement and the information there! It is located at http://www.indianexpo.org, and the site for my own firm, Smoke Signals Enterprises, which contains some links to other Native American sources and PR sites around the Web, may be found at http://www.smokesig.com. Please be our guests! ********** NOTICE: As a subscriber to this electronic newsletter, you have permission to reproduce and use this article on your campus. All others please note ©1997, Topor Consulting Group International. Comments about, or requests to reprint should be directed to Bob Topor at topor@marketinged.com. ********** Liz Pollard Smoke Signals Enterprises email: lpollard@smokesig.com -------------------------------------------------- Waiting for Blossoms Patiently... By Robert (Bob) S. Topor I believe marketing, especially GOOD marketing, has a lot to do with your ATTITUDE (and mine as a professional consultant). When my dad died (at age 86) I went through his house to help clear his belongings. My dad had always been a very optimistic man, a very spiritual guy. I was interested to find a small clipping in his kitchen, near where he cooked. Here is what it said: NEVER BE DISCOURAGED "There is really nothing we need know or even try to understand If we refuse to be discouraged and trust God's Guiding Hand..... So take heart and meet each minute with Faith in God's Great Love. Aware that every day of life is controlled by God above.... And never dread tomorrow or what the Future brings. Just pray for strength and courage and trust God in all things... And never grow discouraged... be patient and just wait For 'God never comes too early and He Never Comes Too Late'" This anonymous note was obviously important to my father because it was placed in a very important place, right below his calendar and barometer, where he frequently checked weather conditions in upstate New York. But, to me, it summed up his attitude about his life, children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, work and the future. It suggests patience and loyalty to a Greater Being. There is much I have learned from that note... much that can be applied to my daily life and work. That note, as well as my father, have helped me learn patience and understanding. They promise a better tomorrow if we have faith and trust in God. Many marketing ventures require faith and patience (and a trust in God!) as they unfold. Most marketing is not an instantaneous event. Effective marketing is gradual. It is persistent and takes time. It unfolds gradually. People who understand this will benefit from the power of marketing. Those who don't will be easily frustrated and discouraged. Some college Presidents lack patience to wait for marketing results to develop. This is especially true for enrollment management. They need to understand that marketing is not magic. It is not pulling rabbits out of hats! Rather it is like watching flowers grow. It may happen slowly and methodically... but it WILL happen. One just has to be patient and wait for the blossom to happen. To do effective marketing you need faith and perseverance. Of course you need good skills but that alone is not enough. You need more. The "more" is an abstract quality. You might call it faith. You might call it dedication. To my dad, it was both; faith and dedication. I believe if you have an optimistic attitude it will help you both in marketing and in life. You have heard the old question, "Is the glass half-empty or half-full.? "My glass is always half full! I hope yours is too! This article is dedicated to Stanley A. Topor, my father and father of my brothers, Richard, Ronald and Roger (1901-1997). May Dad rest in peace. ********** NOTICE: As a subscriber to this electronic newsletter, you have permission to reproduce and use this article on your campus. All others please note ©1997, Topor Consulting Group International. Comments about, or requests to reprint should be directed to Bob Topor at topor@marketinged.com. ********** Bob Topor Topor Consulting Group International e-mail: topor@marketinged.com -------------------------------------------------- SPECIAL OFFER For Marketing Higher Education newsletter subscribers ONLY. Download the updated second edition of Bob's "classic" book, Marketing Higher Education - A Practical Guide, directly from his Web site at http://www.marketinged.com Special Deal: As a subscriber to this newsletter you have permission to make copies and distribute on your campus... a great aid for marketing committees! Make as many copies as you like (limited to your campus). You can get this book from the Home page on Bob's web site. It costs $40 (U.S.) It is easy to download to your computer, then you can reproduce it in your print shop or make photocopies. The first edition of this book has been one of CASE's best selling publications and has been used around the world. If you have questions call Bob at (650) 962-1105. ********** -------------------------------------------------- NEW! "The Complete Guide to Focus Group Marketing Research in Higher Education" book is now available for downloading to your computer... Bob Topor's 55-page practical guidebook for running focus groups is now available for downloading. As subscriber to this electronic newsletter you have permission to purchase this book and make unlimited copies for use on your campus (copyright free). Regular cost is $32 in printed copy. You can purchase it for only $25. It is a great guide for how to do focus groups and has been Bob's best selling book ever! Don't miss this special offer! It's easy to order (secured credit card) and download... just log on to Bob's web site at http://www.marketinged.com and find it on his home page. Questions? Call Bob at (650) 962-1105 or e-mail him at topor@marketinged.com ********** -------------------------------------------------- Original posting: 9/29/97 Marketing Higher Education Newsletter is published by Topor Consulting Group International (http://www.marketinged.com). Newsletter posted by WEBB Internet Marketing & Consulting (http://www.firstchapter.com). copyright 1997 Topor Consulting Group International