Waikato PR students focus on membership

Waikato PR students focus on membership in winning strategy

In tough economic times it’s often difficult for not-for-profit organisations to recruit and in retain members, and that in turn affects income and work capacity.

Third-year public relations students at Waikato University Management School were given the task of coming up with a PR campaign for the Waikato Sustainable Business Network, and the four best teams pitched to their peers and a team of judges at the finals of the annual Chesterman Group Public Relations Campaign Award held at the University last week [Thursday 15 October].

The winning team PRWorks developed a strategy that focussed on membership retention, emphasising the need to look after the customers you've got so that they will tell others about you.

Their strategy centred on building and maintaining relationships and the word ‘remember’ featured strongly.

PRWorks took this strategy even though the Waikato SBN has one of the best retention rates throughout the country. The judges, who included PR professionals and sustainability experts, said they liked PRWorks’ clear thinking and do-able strategies.

The three-pronged approached involved beefing up the membership directory so it could be used as an effective networking tool, designing a new logo and introducing a reward pack that encouraged members to renew their membership from year to year, which included an invitation to an SBN event, a discount card and educational resources. They also proposed that each member business have an SBN ambassador that could keep colleagues up to date with SBN initiatives.

One PRWorks member, Danelle Mouat, said before the campaign she knew nothing about SBN and it took a lot of discussion to settle on the direction of their campaign. “It was very intense. Sometimes we worked through the night, fitting the campaign work around other university papers and jobs. Luckily we were quite good friends before we started.” She said she never realised how nerve-wracking pitching could be. Her team mates were Brad Pogson (the solitary male among 18 finalists), Emma Schuler and Jayde Stevenson.

Judge and competition sponsor Gordon Chesterman said all four teams gave gutsy performances, and all campaigns had ideas that could be picked up and used, while SBN Waikato Vice-Chair Martin Thomas said he’d certainly be taking some ideas to the national SBN board.

ENDS

© Scoop Media