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MARKETING AND AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT
Marketing the ODYSSEY is a huge part of what I do as the "face" of the program, so it has always held a special place in my heart. My goal is for my program to be one that anyone feels they can enjoy, and by continuing to reach out into the community, I hope to do just that.
MARKETING PROJECT
At the beginning of every year, each ODYSSEY staffer is required to contact at least 10 community members, family members, friends, etc. from their spheres of influence, and attempt to sell them a subscription to our magazine. We learn about the process of marketing, what makes a good pitch, and how to handle a business transaction.
Last year, I won the award for "Most Subscriptions Sold" in the program!
SPHERES OF INFLUENCE
The first thing that we do when we start the Marketing Project each year is to identify our spheres of influence - those in our personal, professional, academic, and athletic realms that might be interested in supporting the ODYSSEY and buying a magazine subscription. We make a giant spreadsheet and list out as many people as we can, before getting our list approved by our adviser. Once we have enough names, we begin to reach out.
REACHING OUT
Once our spheres of influence are approved, we begin to reach out to our stakeholders. I prefer tto reach out in person or over the phone, but in the event that that doesn't work, I send texts or emails. Pictured above are just two examples of some messages I sent to people I identified in my sphere.
GUEST SPEAKERS
During the Marketing Project this year, our adviser asked two local, very successful realtors to come and speak to us about marketing.
One of our speakers was a local Athens realtor Reign Streiter, who spoke to us about how to properly sell your product to someone. He told us that in sales, there isn't a "yes" or "no," but rather an "Option A" or "Option B," and how when selling, you have to adjust your own mindset.
To the right is a copy of the notes I took during Mr. Streiter's visit.
We also got to hear from another local realtor, Alex Sams, who comes and speaks to our class each year at the beginning of the Marketing Project.
He spoke to us about the importance of confidence in sales and how you need to have a "swagger suit" when selling your product to others. He said that we have to balance professionalism and personality when selling, in order to connect with your customers.
Above is a copy of the notes I took during Mr. Sams' visit.
REACHING OUT
SELLING ADS
One of my main responsibilities as EIC is working with our Business Manager, Audrey, to acquire ads to put in each issue. Typically, we try to sell around 5-6 total pages of ads, which may not sound like much, but it requires a lot of effort. One of the first things I do with Audrey at the beginning of the school year is create a massive list of everyone we want to reach out to, and as Audrey reaches out to those businesses, I periodically check-in and see where we are. Audrey and I work together to calculate the total amount of ads we need to sell for each magazine and we try to consistently communicate with each other as we move along in the cycle.
Selling advertisements for the magazines is an extremely crucial part of our program, as the funding allows us to keep producing magazines, and I have worked extensively with Audrey over the past two years to help develop relationships with many local businesses, many of which have agreed to continually advertise in our magazines.
FEEDBACK FROM FACULTY
As Viewpoints Editor, one of my main responsibilities was to reach out to members of our faculty and staff to try and garner feedback for our Letters to the Editor section in each magazine. Each time a new issue came out, I would reach out to the teachers in the building, either via email or in person, and ask them if they, or any of their students, wanted to submit some feedback on an article from the latest issue.
While this served as a way for us to reach out to our community, it also served as a form of marketing, as it allowed for me to garner interest in our publication and get more members of our community to read it.
MAGAZINE QUOTES
One of my other responsibilities as EIC is communicating with our publisher and contact ting him about quotes for magazine and how many we will need to print. I work closely with him to determine what the pricing is for each amount of magazines and how many we will need to buy, in order to make sure that each member of our school community gets their copy during magazine distribution.
MAGAZINE DISTRIBUTION
Each time a new magazine comes out, I work to evaluate who had successes, who worked hard, and who showed up to the plate during the cycle and assemble a distribution team based on those criteria. I then message everybody and remind them to wear their ODYSSEY shirts and bring their press passes.
Once everyone shows up for magazine distribution, we split up into teams and each take an areas of the school. Magazine distribution is my favorite because we get to knock on the doors of all the classrooms and put our hard work in the hands of our school community. It is always so well received, and it makes my heart happy to see everyone enjoying the magazines!
SOCIAL MEDIA
STORY PROMOS
One way that we actively try to engage our audience is through story promos. Each time a story gets posted on our website or a magazine comes out, we try to film a short promotional video of the author talking about their story and encouraging others to go check it out.
Click on the photos to see a story promo from my sophomore year and the promo videos for two of our magazine issues!
REPOSTING
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While this is definitely the most indirect, informal form of marketing, I do believe that reposting can serve as a great way to engage the audience and spread the word about the program.
I try to repost each time something gets posted on the ODYSSEY Instagram, putting it on my story so that anyone who follows me will see it, and hopefully go check it out. To the left are just a few examples of times I reposted some of the ODYSSEY's posts on my story.
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