Marketing Strategy

AT-A-GLANCE

We are diversifying our marketing strategies to engage with both local and broader audiences.

Given the nature of our work, many of our marketing efforts also serve our mission to educate, engage, and build community. Given our emphasis on content creation, we will initially focus on building community, partnerships, and media relationships that expand our reach, rather than paid advertising. We will revisit this strategy should it prove insufficient.

STRATEGY #1

Social & Popular Media.


GOALS
  • Grow Following
  • Convert Followers to Membership
  • Engage & Activate Membership
  • Attract Contributors & Advisors
  • Increase Merchandise Sales
  • Increase Event Attendance
  • Instagram: Focused on attracting high activation, low pay members, event attendees, and merchandise sales. Content will focus on visuals, humor, profiles, quotes, promoting member stories, and behind-the-scenes looks at The Plenary team and events. We will work closely to identify appropriate influencers and work with them to amplify this content through guest posts or content shares.
  • Twitter: Focused on sharing content, building relationships, and converting followers to members. Content will focus on centralizing and amplifying relevant resources from partners and communities, promoting public awareness campaigns, merchandise sales, and thought leadership. We will work closely with partners to amplify this content through mutually beneficial shout-outs or alerting them to content that serves their audience.
  • Facebook: Focused on fostering community, sharing content, and attracting new event attendees. Content will focus on promoting member stories and testimonials, sharing experiences, and promoting content and merchandise. We will strongly encourage members and followers to amplify this content by providing strong messages with social capital or clear calls-to-action.
  • Public Awareness Campaigns: Designed for shareability and accessibility. Content will use multimedia -- such as video and infographics -- to produce punchy, attractive access points related to topics being covered by The Plenary. We will work closely with our partner and member networks to strategically disseminate campaigns to maximize reach.
  • Promotional Campaigns: Spanning social media and other forms of media, we will identify public figures who are mission-aligned and share a passion for the cause of a particular event. We will work with them to create content, messaging, and campaigns to promote the show and related resources.
  • Artist Collaborations: Campaigns around limited release merchandise co-created by The Plenary team and a featured artist to draw interest, increase profile, and increase revenue.
  • Talks & Media: Targeted press campaign to feature The Plenary's model, events, and Collective in podcasts, Youtube channels, articles/blogs, news outlets, TV & radio programming, and speaking engagements that reach our target audiences for membership.
STRATEGY #2

Event Promotion.


GOALS
  • Grow Following
  • Increase Event Attendance
  • Partnership Activation: We will coordinate closely with partner organizations in the areas we are hosting events -- or support members who are doing so locally -- to build mutually beneficial promotional agreements. We will disseminate event information through their networks and in turn promote relevant materials and resources from partners through our events and membership portal.
  • Promotional Pop-Ups: We have existing relationships with a number of institutions and venues in several cities, including San Francisco, Memphis, Cambridge, New York City, Portland, Seattle, Chicago, Washington, DC, LA, Houston, and Denver. We are continuing to expand these networks and will work closely with physical partners to host small teaser events leading up to major campaigns or events in the area. We will also work with community groups planning independent events to connect them to venue partners or support them in building these relationships to host similar promotional events whenever appropriate. These events may be guerilla-style or more formal depending on the messaging for that particular initiative.
  • Local Press: We have an existing press list and will continue to build relationships with local press and influencers so that we can strategically work with them to promote upcoming initiatives and events. We have a general press kit prepared that will be tailored as needed for each new effort. Strategies for reaching out to press are also part of community training.
  • Street Team: We are building a growing team of local volunteers who will disseminate flyers, stickers, and word-of-mouth marketing in advance of local events to maximize reach.
STRATEGY #3

Membership Recruitment & Activation.



GOALS
  • Increase & Engage Membership
  • Increase Merchandise Sales
  • Increase & Decentralize Implementation of Events & Resources
  • Newsletter: Monthly newsletters will be sent to members that include motivational stories, strategies, and new resources or merchandise available to keep members excited and engaged.
  • Partner Event Pop-Ups: We will work with our partner organizations to identify events, festivals, fairs, conferences, or exhibitions that make sense for The Plenary to have a physical presence. At these events, we will bring merchandise, promotional materials, and sign-ups to engage target markets.
  • Ambassador Training: Preparing members who are interested in reproducing and tailoring The Plenary community events in their area. Training includes understanding of framework, specific how-tos regarding event planning and management, and a marketing toolkit with flyers, press release templates, etc.
  • Community Incentives & Challenges: Through newsletters, the membership portal, and social media, member challenges that involve capturing actions, completing activities, or sharing experiences will be used to keep members actively engaged and to spread the reach of our resources through gamification and community-building.
STRATEGY #4

Donor & Contributor Activation.



GOALS
  • Fundraising
  • Build Sustainable Donor Relationships
  • Increase Profile & Grow Network
  • Private Events: Special talk series, guest speakers at events, retreats, and fundraising nights will be planned for existing and potential donors, hubs, contributors, and influencers to bring them together, build relationships, and increase this community's awareness of The Plenary's work. These events will be highly curated and thrown at different scales based on current needs.
  • Exclusive Opportunities: Special access to our contributors and supporting public figures will be offered to donors through small group webinars, meet and greets, and other exclusive offers, with incentives for attendees to share opportunities with their peers to increase The Plenary's awareness and reach.