Advertising Plan For Respite Volunteers Of Shiawassee example essay topic

Respite Volunteers Advertising Plan Section 1: Introduction Executive Summary U.S. Advertising was asked by Respite Volunteers of Shiawassee to make an advertising plan. The main goal of the advertising plan was to get more male volunteers into the organization. As a group U.S. Advertising came up with two main objectives. The first main objective is to have the community, mainly men, become aware of the services that Respite Volunteers of Shiawassee offers.

The second objective is to stay within the budget given. This way there would be no undo hardship to the services of Respite. U.S. Advertising worked very hard and tried to be creative when coming up with this advertising plan for Respite. Hopefully the advertising plan will work for Respite or a least give them some creative ideas for the future. Overview Respite Volunteers of Shiawassee was established in 1991 however the first volunteer training was not until 1994. Since Respite is a non profit organization it is funded by a memorial grant in memory of Robert Wood Johnson.

Respite Volunteers of Shiawassee has four employees and a Board of Directors. Currently they have seventy-five trained volunteers who are mostly women. Respite is trying to expand their volunteer base to include more men. They are finding that many families want men to come into the home for companionship. Our advertising group, who is creating an advertising plan, for Respite Volunteers of Shiawassee, has seven members.

Our group name is U.S. Advertising. U.S. Advertising stands for Unique Students. The group was formed about five weeks ago. The members include April Peck, Jim Judd, Shari Bennett, Geoff Chaney, Jason O'Connor, K assy Heard, and Erica Fle gel, . Each member of U.S. Advertising is responsible for a different section of the advertising plan. Section 2: Identify Product, Service, or Idea The non profit organization that our group has created an advertising plan for is Respite Volunteers of Shiawassee. Respite offers a service to families who live in Shiawassee County in central Michigan.

The service that Respite provides is trained volunteers who go into the home for two to four hours a week to provide companionship for adults who are ill. This allows for family members who are taking care of their love ones to have a break. Several of the families that Respite Volunteers of Shiawassee are elderly couples, where one spouse is taking care of the other one. They also serve families where the caregiver is an adult child caring for a parent. This break that Respite gives to family caretakers allow them to take a nap, run errands, or just have time for themselves.

It is also a special time for the person who is ill because they get to have a visitor and something to look forward to. Section 3: Situation Analysis Historical Context: The first volunteers of the Shiawassee County Respite were trained in 1994. Since then, they now have seventy-five volunteers. With Respite being a Faith-in-Action agency, many of their volunteers come from local churches, local hospitals, and some from word of mouth.

The Shiawassee Respite has now entered its 11th year of service in this area. As stated earlier Respite is a Faith-in-Action Group which is one of twenty-two groups in Michigan. Through donations, annual memberships, fundraising and a big help from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, Helen Howard, Respite's Program Directory, can make this voluntary service possible to many families in the Shiawassee Country area. The Robert Wood Johnson foundation is devoted to health and healthcare and is the biggest in the United States. Industry Analysis: Through research, the demographic shows locally and nationally that there will be a higher population of seniors and needed caregivers in the future with the baby boomers getting older. The supply, or patients needing help, should be stable in the future.

As stated in the Rural Elderly Report to the Administration on Aging Report to Congress, potential caregivers are decreasing as the number of elderly needing care increases. Market Analysis: With the need for caregivers so high, the demand for volunteers is growing, especially the demand for male volunteers, which Respite wants to focus more attention on. The majority has been female volunteers, but with the different kinds of assistance needed now, they want to try and have more male volunteers. Respite is also focusing on volunteers. Competitor Analysis: The competition is pretty low, considering that this is a non-profit organization, and the only organization in Shiawassee County that offer these services.

Options for the elderly are nursing homes, paid care-givers, and then family. Even though family should be the first option, sometimes family caregivers need a break. That is where Respite comes in. Section 4: Advertising Objectives 1. Establish a quantitative benchmark. o Increase the variety of volunteers from adults (30 - 60 years old) to include more men and couples above the age of 18. o Increase the number of volunteers by at least 10% from 75 currently. 2.

Specify measurement methods and criteria for success. o Increase awareness of program from churches and volunteers to include various forms of media. Media can include but is not limited to: o Website web Newspaper Brochures, Local school so Hospitals, nursing homes, health fairs and senior days at local mall, blood bank so Flower shops, funeral home so Automotive stores, departments stores, electronic stores (specifically targeted at men) o Website can be advertised more frequently through the brochures, newspaper, and fly ers. o Newspaper advertisement should be run on a Sunday due to increased sales of the Sunday paper, or any day in the spring due to increased activity of consumers in the community during this time of year. o Specific placement and distribution of brochures is critical to the recruitment of more male volunteers. Brochures should be distributed as bag suffers. Flyers can be posted in hospitals, nursing homes, funeral homes, etc. to appeal to the emotional side of prospective volunteers. o Informational booths can be set up at health fairs and during senior days at local malls to inform consumers about the program and the need for volunteers. This is also a good source of advertisement materials such as ink pens, magnets, and brochures. o Fundraisers can be set up through local high schools and / or colleges. The profits can be split or entirely given to the school while the sole purpose of the fundraiser is to raise awareness of the program and the need for volunteers; thus all advertisement would be focused on the Respite Group. o Flower shops appeal to the emotional benefit as well as the male and couples market.

Males purchase flowers for their spouse and during that time a brochure is used as a bag stuffer and also placed on the counter near the register for easy retrieval. o Work with a local school and / or college to have a volunteer of Respite come in and speak to the entire school (high school) or some type of class (perhaps a class that requires volunteer work) to explain to the students what Respite is and what services they offer. This will help to increase awareness and recruit volunteers. o Advertise brochures and fly ers at a local Big Brother Big Sister program to recruit volunteers. 3. Specify a time frame. o All advertisement except newspaper, fundraiser, and health fairs will continue throughout the entire year. o Newspaper advertisement will be run on a Sunday during the Spring (first day of Spring preferably). o Fundraisers can be held anytime during the normal school year except during busy holidays due to the lack of involvement and preoccupied students that would occur within this time frame. o Health fairs and Senior days will be according to dates already specified by the establishment that organizes the event. o Very important to continue moderate advertisement throughout the entire year via brochures, fly ers, etc.

This establishes a foundation for the company and regulates the name awareness in the community. Section 5: Budgeting Budget As stated by Ms. Helen Howard, Respite has a yearly advertising budget of $3,000.00. With this budget we decided to incorporate a lot of new media vehicles, such as a newsletter, newspaper advertisements, and brochures. The newsletter was the first consideration because we wanted to make sure that it would still be able to be included, but not engulf the entire budget. The cost to have 1,500 copies of this six page 8.5"x 11" newsletter printed is $414.00. This estimate for the print-ready publication is based on a quote by Crest Printing Inc., which is the printing company that Respite has previously worked with.

With the remaining $2,586.00, we were going to have newspaper ads printed every week. Based on the non-profit rate of cost per column inch the cost of this ad to be published one week would be $8.70. To have this sized ad printed 52 weeks out of the year will be $452.40. This is a 4.25 inch wide (2 columns) by 3 inches tall ad.

Non-profit rate = $1.45 per column inch $1.45 x 3 (height) = $4.35 for 2 x 3 $4.35 x 2 (double the width) = $8.70 for 4 x 3 for one week $8.70 x 52 = $452.40 for 52 weeks The $2,133.60 remaining will be used in the printing of the tri-fold brochures, used in the direct mailing of the newsletters, and small in-house projects for Helen Howard, the director of Respite in Shiawassee to print out. Around, $618.00 of the remaining budget goes to the brochures. The cost of the print-ready tri-fold brochures was based on an estimate from Crest Printing Inc. A portion of the budget will be used for the direct mailing of the 1,500 newsletters. The estimated cost of this will be around $600.00. After the cost of the direct mailing of the newsletters the rest of the money will be used for special events promotion.

Some examples of special events are the St. Patrick's Day Dinner and Annual Volunteer Awards Night. This money could also be used for special newspaper ads or fly ers spent out to interested community members. $3,000.00 Starting Budget- 414.00 1,500 Newsletters$2,586.00-452.40 Weekly Newspaper Ads$2,133.60-618.00 Tri-fold Brochures$1,515.60-600.00 Direct Mail Newsletters$915.60 Special Events Promotions Section 6: Advertising Strategy Product Concept Respite is a non-profit organization whose main goal is to send volunteers out into homes to assist adults with an ongoing medical condition or illness. Respite is located in Shiawassee County and is only available to residents who reside their. This organization is a great benefit to the people within this community because they are the only organization with these services in Shiawassee County.

With Respite Volunteers of Shiawassee being the only organization within this community they are having problems with their usage rates. Right now, there are not many volunteers for Respite and one of their main goals is to get their name better known in the community. Respite is always looking for volunteers and in our advertising plan we are focusing mainly on getting more male volunteers to commit some of their time to help out a couple of hours a week. Since Respite was founded the organization has been growing.

What makes them unique is their services are the only one of its types available around Shiawassee County. This is why they are classified in the growth stage of the life cycle. Although they have been around for about 11 years now, they don't have that many volunteers and one of their main concerns is trying to get their organization better known to the community and getting more volunteers to help out. Once our advertising plan goes into affect, members around the county are going to find out that there is more information available to them in supermarkets and department stores in the community. This will increase the awareness of their services and could increase the number of volunteers that Respite gets.

Target Audience Respite is focusing on getting more male volunteers for their organization to help out because the male adults who are sick would feel more comfortable with male volunteers around them. This is important in determining a target market for the volunteers. In order to be a volunteer at Respite, you need to be 18 years or older and have a clean criminal background. These are the type of men that Respite Volunteers of Shiawassee are looking for. The volunteers also need to have some free time during the week that they are able to go to the adult's home. They need to have a vehicle in order to travel to the adult's house to provide companionship for the ill.

Another factor that is important in determining the target market is that one has to be able to communicate with the sick person and their family that they are assisting. For some of the patients being able to talk to someone other than family and doctors could brighten their day. Volunteers who work at Respite need to have a great attitude and enjoy working in this kind of environment. In dealing with psycho graphics, volunteers need to be able to communicate in the environment that surrounds them.

The volunteers need to be able to hold conversations with the sick adults and provide them with an enjoyable experience to get their minds off their illness and it gives them a period of rest and relief. Psycho graphics also deals with the values and lifestyles of the consumer. With Respite, their volunteers need to have a drive for what they do. It takes a kind hearted person to go into a sick adult's home and spend time with them. There are many benefits of volunteering for Respite. Volunteers get a chance to make a difference in the lives of others and a rewarding experience that will last a life time.

Another benefit for volunteers of Respite is attending monthly meetings that are held for the organization. Being able to help another individual with a medical illness by taking time out of your schedule and helping them out with whatever they do, should be fulfilling enough for you to become a volunteer. Changing the lives of others and making a difference in the community is a great way to help others. Section 7: Execution Based on our objective to gain awareness in the community to increase volunteers there were several changes that had to be made in the advertising.

Presently the only form of advertising that the Respite of Shiawassee is doing is to publish a newsletter that is sent out annually. To publish this newsletter the cost is $2,000.00; about half of this cost is used for the direct mailing of the newsletters. The cost of printing the 3,500 newsletters is not a bad way to spend the budget. The only problem with this is that the newsletter's main purpose is to inform current members and volunteers.

In order to gain new volunteers and members, the focus of the advertising should be towards the community of possible volunteers rather than towards the current Respite supporters. However, instead of completely taking the newsletter out, it was decided to make the publication smaller and to have a lot fewer made and sent out. A lot of money can be saved by cutting down the size and by sending it to less people. This publication will mainly be sent to members and volunteers, considering without their donations of time and money there would not be a Respite, which is why this publication is needed. This publication will continue its current role of highlighting the events that occurred throughout the year, the names of the donor members of Respite and other information that the volunteers and members might need or want to know; it will basically act as a year end report.

This publication will be printed on one sheet of tabloid (17"x 11") stock and then folded in half to create the four, letter-sized pages. Then an 8.5"x 11" sheet of paper will be inserted to create six pages. The black and white newsletter will be printed on off-set white 60 lb. stock. The publication being already created and ready for print saved quite a lot of money; if not, that price would have almost doubled. Our advertising plan calls for small advertisements in a local newspaper and a brochure. The newspaper advertisements are going to be placed in the Argus Press, which covers all of the Shiawassee county area.

These small advertisements will highlight the need for volunteers and draw attention to their currently running website as a great source of information. These will be used to gain exposure and bring in more community members, particularly males as volunteers. These advertisements are going to be two columns wide, which is 4.25 inches and will be 3" tall. They will be already made up and ready for print when they are sent to the Argus press.

Another medium that our plan calls for is a tri-fold brochure. The brochure is going to be print-ready, which means it would be already designed and ready to be printed. Another feature of the brochure is that it is a two color print, just black and a pant one spot color; this made it more expensive to print then a black and white publication, yet less then processed color printing. These tri-folded, print- ready brochures are going to be printed on 80 lb. stock, which is a standard in brochure printing. It is planned to have 5,000 of these brochures printed. These brochures are going to cover everything that a person could want to know about the responsibility of becoming a volunteer and the process of how to become a volunteer for the Respite of Shiawassee.

The brochures will be used to achieve the objective of bring in more volunteers and interested community members to get involved. Most of these brochures will be places in hospitals, churches, colleges, nursing homes, health fairs, flower shops and other interested local businesses; especially the local businesses that are more for males, because Respite has a need for male volunteers. Using these three advertising mediums there is more of a focus on the target market of possible volunteers instead of focusing on the volunteers and members that Respite already has. This advertising plan should succeed in fulfilling the objective of gaining more volunteers because we are marketing to the target audience.

Section 8: Evaluation There are three criteria that can be used to evaluate if the advertising plan, for Respite Volunteers of Shiawassee, was a success. These are based on the goals of U.S. Advertising. The first determinant of success is by whether or not the team stayed within budget. This is a very easily rated. Given that our budget was $3,000.00, the thing that has to be considered is: Did we exceed the budget of $3,000?

The next criterion for success in the advertising plan is if U.S. Advertising finished within the allotted time period. The way that this is considered as a success is if the advertising plan was completed on time with the conditions of the assignment fulfilled and the wishes of Respite Volunteers of Shiawassee fulfilled. The third principal of success and the most important is whether the set objective of our advertising plan was fulfilled. This will be based on whether it is viewed as a success in the eyes of Helen Howard, the director of Respite Volunteers of Shiawassee. Our objective is to gain awareness in the community of what services the Respite has to offer; both to frail elders in the community and to possible volunteers. If Ms. Helen Howard believed that the objective were met, then our plan could be considered a success.

Another way to test whether the objective was a success is by measuring the number of volunteers and donation members currently affiliated with the Respite and then measuring them in one year's time to see if there was an increase. These are the three criteria that will be used to evaluate whether our advertising plan was a success or not. U.S. Advertising will leave the success of this advertising plan up to Ms. Helen Howard and future Respite volunteers.