public-docs

Public Relations

The role of Public Relations Officer (PRO) is to handle the promotion of the society and communicate on its behalf. They are involved in:

1. Promoting, marketing and advertising the society’s events and activities.
2. Dealing with the press, including writing and sending press releases.
3. Design and distribution of publications and posters.

Getting members to join and engage with your society throughout the year can be achieved through effective marketing and communication. Read these steps to achieve this.

Know what your members want

• How well do you know your target audience? Research will be vital in finding out this. You need to find out who your members are. Are they science or arts students? Where do they hang out? Do they commute or stay on campus? What do they spend their money on?
• Before recruiting members you need to do your research. Grab some of your friends or classmates and do a survey. You can use http://surveymonkey.com for free. Circulate it on social media and it will provide insights into your target audience.

Know who you are

• Can you define your society in one sentence? Do you, your committee and members have a strong sense of your purpose and vision for the year?
• If not, you need to define yourselves now or else your marketing and communications for the year will suffer. Simply write down your vision and stick to it for the year.

Know what you want to achieve

• You need to set goals that you want to achieve for the year ahead. E.g. Hold more events, increase participation, increase membership. Once you set goals, you can build your marketing and communications strategy around them.

Know your channels and the right people

• How will you communicate internally with your members and externally with the whole student body?
• It is important to identify your channels of communications early so that you can develop a process that will be easy to implement throughout the year, especially when it gets busy.
• Channels to consider include: Online (Facebook, Twitter, Blog, Mailchimp, Instagram, Viral Videos, Offline/Print (Flyers, Publications, Banners, Posters, Promo Wear), Experimental (Events, On-site Promotion, Campaigns, Competitions) and College Media (College newspaper, College radio station, SU webpage etc.)
• People to know: Societies Officer and Societies Office, Marketing and Communications department of SU, College Newspaper editor, Manger of College Radio Station, Chairs of other societies etc.

Know the members you have

• Ongoing research into your new members needs is essential.
• One way communication is no communication. You must be willing to open up conversation with your existing members via social media, surveys and events. Ask for feedback on your society and its events. Make sure to keep members intrigued and engaged. E.g. if most of your members commute, have your events in the early evening and not late at night.

Know your budget

• Marketing and communications can be expensive (especially printing!). Check and see does your societies office provide free photocopying. Assign an average spend for small, medium and large-scale events and activities.
• See our example guideline:

Small – medium event/ budget €80

Dance Workshop

Item	Cost
Posters/ Flyers	€10 - €25
Facebook Ads	€10 – €50
College Paper ½ Page Ad	€30

Medium – larger event/ budget €350

Casino Night

Item	Cost
Posters/ Flyers	€50 – €100
Facebook Ads	€10 – €50
Promo Wear (€5 per T-shirt)	€100 – €200
Pull Up Stand/ Banner	€50 – €100

Know what went wrong

• Digital media lets you measure your success. Familiarise yourself with Facebook Insights and Google Analytics.
• As you measure patterns will develop and you can detect what works and doesn’t work. E.g. freebies, competitions, photos etc.

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