Volunteer Management even more ideas in the
Ultimate Ideas Newsletter
How to lead, recruit and retain more volunteers and members!
Issue 5
Welcome to this Issue of our 'Ultimate Ideas Newsletter' and welcome to the 100s of our new members. Let's look at even more ideas to get you thinking...
One of the things I keep learning is that the secret of being happy is doing things for other people.
Dick Gregory
From our latest E-book Beyond Just Words! 502 Inspirational Quotes for Those Who Serve
8 Ways to Make Your Volunteer Recruitment Flyers Really Stand Out From the Crowd
It's All In There
Here are some tips from marketing experts on designing a successful flyer and other written material advertising your volunteering opportunities. Always keep in mind who you are trying to reach. Consider including a headline, testimonials, pictures, bulleted information, contact details and a call to action. Show your prospective recruit how volunteering will benefit them and meet their needs rather than only highlighting your organization and its achievements. Let's explore this all a bit deeper...
The Headline
The headline is the most important piece of information on your brochure. The sole purpose of the headline is to get people's attention and to have them then read on...It should be big, bold and stand out so as to catch the eye. Unfortunately, the headline 'volunteers wanted' does not always get people to even look at your flyer or to read further.
What's In It For Me!
Whenever someone is asked to do something, there are two questions posed by their subconscious – what’s in it for me and can I do it? Salespeople know that you always lead off your message with 'What’s in it for me?' because this is what the customer, or prospective volunteer, really wants to know. Ensure your volunteer recruitment flyer and brochures anticipate these questions and provide the answers in a 'quick read' bulleted form.
Key Words
Research at Yale University has identified the words that spark the most interest from people. Are any of the following words contained in your recruitment material and flyers? These words are:
gain |
health |
save |
achieve |
earn |
profit |
win |
discover |
new |
secret |
love |
results |
avoid |
free |
you |
special |
unique |
get |
easy |
amazing |
magic |
Word Association
Not sure what 'key' words to include? Ask your most satisfied volunteers to choose three words from the list above that best describe for them the benefits of volunteering. Then ask them to put each word into a sentence. Several of these can also be used as your volunteer testimonials. Testimonials add great credibility to your volunteer recruitment message. Add a photo of these volunteers in action and you will increase your chances of people reading your flyer.
Action Stations
Ensure your flyer has a big, bold 'call to action'. This is will explain who and how to contact you if they are interested in volunteering. A phone number or an email address with a real person's name attached is vital. But beware, if there is no-one answering the phone or the email sits in the inbox for a week - it really is a potential volunteer lost. Make sure that when they act, you can respond immediately as part of your volunteer management.
Testing, testing
Businesses pay big money to have their promotional material evaluated before publication. Try out your new volunteer recruitment flyers and all other written material on your current volunteers, paid staff and clients. Get their feedback to help you refine the finished product.
It's only words
There is a saying in marketing that promotional literature such as flyers and brochures 'tells not sells'. It can attract attention and provide information, but it may not be sufficient on its own to 'make the sale' and have the volunteer sign on. Always use written material to complement your more active volunteer recruitment techniques such as word of mouth marketing.
Adapted from the book Count Me In! 501 Ideas on Recruiting Volunteers by Dr Judy Esmond
We welcome links to this issue of the newsletter http://www.morevolunteers.com/newsletter5.htm and are happy for you to forward the newsletter to others who volunteer and/or are involved in volunteer management.
More great ideas on volunteer recognition, volunteer management and volunteer recruitment continued next page...
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