THIS IS A FOLLOW-UP TO PREVIOUS POST -- "PRESS RELEASES AND ADS SHOULD BOOST WRITERS UNION MEMBERSHIP"
EXAMPLE OF PRESS CAMPAIGN
Two days ago, I submitted a 3-page plan that advocates investing money so the NWU becomes far more visible and, thus, eventually dramatically increasing membership.
Below is the follow-up that I promised. It shows how a campaign would work – and demonstrates that a long-run effort to reach out to the media will SAVE MONEY.
Here is step-by-step how a press campaign works.
A. Chicago is selected as the site of a national convention. The National Writers Union (NWU) sends a press release to Editor & Publisher (E&P) trade magazine.
B. The next week, the NWU sends a release to E&P on announcing its new leadership – and repeating the information in press release A.
C. The new leadership announces a campaign to create a new division that will focus on free-lance writers (I’m making this up, but the leaders will have better ideas) and sends this info to E&P. At the end of Press Release C, the NWU concisely summarizes Press Releases A and B.
D. The NWU places an ad in the same E&P that it expects Press Release C to run in. The ad seeks new members and makes reference to recent news events.
E. The NWU announces the speakers at its national convention. Press Release D summarizes the facts of the first three at the end.
F. The NWU places an ad in the same E&P that it expects Press Release D to run in. It also seeks new members and makes reference to recent news events.
G. Future press releases and ads are sent that follow the same formula.
Now how do we know a campaign in E&P will work? We have NO bleeping idea.
And that’s the point of having labor. The NWU needs to spend money efficiently and needs to figure out SOONER RATHER THAN LATER where our efforts will pay off. Using hired help, for example, could help us ascertain that E&P is a waste of time and money and the same campaign should be run in a different magazine.
The NWU needs to pro-actively contact publications to figure out where to run its material BEFORE going through steps A through G.
The union is better off finding out these things ASAP when the labor is cheap and before spending thousands for nothing.
Martin Zabell
Showing posts with label national convention. Show all posts
Showing posts with label national convention. Show all posts
Sunday, July 19, 2009
PRESS RELEASES & ADS SHOULD BOOST WRITERS UNION MEMBERSHIP
THIS IS THE SECOND PLAN I AM PUTTING ON MY BLOG FOR THE BENEFIT OF THE PEOPLE PARTICIPATING IN THE NATIONAL WRITERS UNION'S NATIONAL ASSEMBLY AUG. 5-AUG. 9
WRITING FOR SUCCESS
Press releases increase membership
and enhance odds of beneficial laws
Plan presented by Martin Zabell of Chicago chapter of National Writers Union to other leaders in Chicago chapter on or around June 1, 2009
The National Writers Union (NWU) will NEVER increase its membership enough to achieve what it needs to achieve for its writers unless it INVESTS money in writing and distributing press releases and other information.
LOCAL groups all over the USA invest HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of dollars per year in people who perform these tasks. They do so because it works. I know because I’ve seen this first-hand in 20 years as a reporter and editor, essentially distributing information from organizations smart enough to contact me and others to hundreds of thousands of people and short-changing groups too dumb to see the forest because they’re looking at the trees.
The NWU has to stop being dumb. Who knows how much money it has lost by appearing to be a defunct organization that doesn’t post basic info and news on its Web site?
Eventually, the NWU should invest hundreds of thousands annually in press relations. Currently, though, I’m proposing that it invest a tiny fraction of that – roughly $10,000 per year.
My plan makes this investment contingent on the performance of many of these duties for FREE. In other words, an expenditure of $10,000 means roughly $20,000 of voluntary services. In addition, the $10,000 would make the NWU’s current expenditures in advertisements more effective. Currently, local chapters advertise for events, but as the director of a writer’s group I brought in thousands of dollars without ever running an ad.
NOW is the time to make this first investment because on May 20 a new leadership was elected. The membership has given the new leaders a MANDATE to change.
Nowhere in the leadership’s campaign platform is there talk about a balanced budget, continuing to provide the services it has in recent years, and maintaining a small membership. Instead, the platform includes 16 goals that can be summarized as GROW. The goals include:
* “Through our concentrated efforts in both organizing and communication, establish the National Writers Union as the leading public voice for all freelancers and writers.”
* “Communicate with the outside world by issuing regular press releases, writing Op-Eds and letters to the editor, keeping our website up-to-date, and developing partnerships with groups that have similar interests.”
* “Develop organizing drives and initiatives with the goal of building our union, strengthening diversity, and widening the age range of our membership.”
My plan has the following goals:
A. Increasing visibility.
B. Activating current members.
C. Increasing membership.
D. Using financial resources more effectively.
E. Making the Web site more interactive.
F. Improving the NWU’s image and professionalism via the above goals.
Here is my plan to achieve those goals:
A. INCREASING VISIBILITY
a. Research publications that should be amenable to NWU articles.
b. Place articles in labor newspapers.
c. Place articles in writers’ magazines.
d. Place articles in other specialized publications (ex.--trade and business mags).
e. Place articles in “mainstream” publications.
f. Utilize all those famous people on our board by ghostwriting for them or seeking them to pen articles themselves.
g. Send press releases to lawmakers.
h. Establish regular relationships with all of the above.
i. Write blogs in response to articles on pertinent issues.
B. ACTIVATING CURRENT MEMBERS
a. Solicit NWU members to write on issues of expertise.
b. Solicit members to tell their stories of unfair labor practices in print.
c. Contact local and specialty publications to maximize the writers’ odds of getting the articles printed.
d. Ghostwrite if the members don’t have the time to write on their own.
C. INCREASING MEMBERSHIP
a. Solicit members who can pinpoint local or specialty publications that can reach prospective members.
b. Use the news releases as advertisements to seek new members.
c. Coordinate news releases with advertisements that seek new members.
d. Contact members, ex-members and prospective members to inform them of the NWU’s success at increasing its visibility.
e. Use the success as an argument for them to join or rejoin an active and growing organization. (Coordinate news events and press releases with phone calls.)
D. USING FINANCIAL RESOURCES MORE EFFECTIVELY
a. Keep track of who is publishing our materials.
b. Spend less time and money on reaching out to publications that have not demonstrated an interest in our activities.
c. Spend more time and money on reaching out to publications that have demonstrated an interest in our activities.
d. Figure out where we need to spend money on advertisements and where press releases can replace ads.
e. Report back on prices of ads.
E. MAKING THE WEB SITE MORE INTERACTIVE
a. Post articles on the Web site.
b. Encourage members to provide feedback on these articles.
c. Encourage members to write articles that will be posted on the site.
d. Advertise our success by listing the articles that were published in publications.
F. IMPROVING NWU’S IMAGE AND PROFESSIONALISM VIA ABOVE GOALS
Yes, it’s true that the new leadership can write lots of articles and press releases as they promised.
But, here’s what they cannot or should not do – spend time trying to figure out which publications are receptive to printing their articles and which are not. In other words, I would, in part, be acting as support services for the leadership.
For example, Larry Goldbetter writes an article on the national shield law. Before he writes it, I would contact a number of publications to gauge interest, report back on which are most interested, and improve the chances of publication by recontacting editors who had previously expressed interest.
I am 100 percent certain that many publications will print information from the NWU.
How do I know? At a UAW conference, I wrote news articles on the spur of the moment, submitted them to few newspapers, and was informed by a couple of them that my articles were printed. Labor newspapers have expressed an interest in printing more of my articles.
Frankly, a national group should have a staff to do the above tasks. However, I am offering to do this for 30 hours per week – 20 volunteer, 10 paid. If I was paid $20 an hour and did this for one year, that would add up to $10,400.
And, by the way, you could get some of that money back from the publications themselves. I know the Chicago Tribune pays guest columnists because I had clients who were paid by them.
Ex-NWU treasurer Tom Gradel informed me that the NWU paid $50,000 for its Web site – easily the worst Web site I’ve ever seen put out by a national organization.
If it paid $50,000 for its Web site, it surely can spend $10,000 for nationwide publicity.
WRITING FOR SUCCESS
Press releases increase membership
and enhance odds of beneficial laws
Plan presented by Martin Zabell of Chicago chapter of National Writers Union to other leaders in Chicago chapter on or around June 1, 2009
The National Writers Union (NWU) will NEVER increase its membership enough to achieve what it needs to achieve for its writers unless it INVESTS money in writing and distributing press releases and other information.
LOCAL groups all over the USA invest HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS of dollars per year in people who perform these tasks. They do so because it works. I know because I’ve seen this first-hand in 20 years as a reporter and editor, essentially distributing information from organizations smart enough to contact me and others to hundreds of thousands of people and short-changing groups too dumb to see the forest because they’re looking at the trees.
The NWU has to stop being dumb. Who knows how much money it has lost by appearing to be a defunct organization that doesn’t post basic info and news on its Web site?
Eventually, the NWU should invest hundreds of thousands annually in press relations. Currently, though, I’m proposing that it invest a tiny fraction of that – roughly $10,000 per year.
My plan makes this investment contingent on the performance of many of these duties for FREE. In other words, an expenditure of $10,000 means roughly $20,000 of voluntary services. In addition, the $10,000 would make the NWU’s current expenditures in advertisements more effective. Currently, local chapters advertise for events, but as the director of a writer’s group I brought in thousands of dollars without ever running an ad.
NOW is the time to make this first investment because on May 20 a new leadership was elected. The membership has given the new leaders a MANDATE to change.
Nowhere in the leadership’s campaign platform is there talk about a balanced budget, continuing to provide the services it has in recent years, and maintaining a small membership. Instead, the platform includes 16 goals that can be summarized as GROW. The goals include:
* “Through our concentrated efforts in both organizing and communication, establish the National Writers Union as the leading public voice for all freelancers and writers.”
* “Communicate with the outside world by issuing regular press releases, writing Op-Eds and letters to the editor, keeping our website up-to-date, and developing partnerships with groups that have similar interests.”
* “Develop organizing drives and initiatives with the goal of building our union, strengthening diversity, and widening the age range of our membership.”
My plan has the following goals:
A. Increasing visibility.
B. Activating current members.
C. Increasing membership.
D. Using financial resources more effectively.
E. Making the Web site more interactive.
F. Improving the NWU’s image and professionalism via the above goals.
Here is my plan to achieve those goals:
A. INCREASING VISIBILITY
a. Research publications that should be amenable to NWU articles.
b. Place articles in labor newspapers.
c. Place articles in writers’ magazines.
d. Place articles in other specialized publications (ex.--trade and business mags).
e. Place articles in “mainstream” publications.
f. Utilize all those famous people on our board by ghostwriting for them or seeking them to pen articles themselves.
g. Send press releases to lawmakers.
h. Establish regular relationships with all of the above.
i. Write blogs in response to articles on pertinent issues.
B. ACTIVATING CURRENT MEMBERS
a. Solicit NWU members to write on issues of expertise.
b. Solicit members to tell their stories of unfair labor practices in print.
c. Contact local and specialty publications to maximize the writers’ odds of getting the articles printed.
d. Ghostwrite if the members don’t have the time to write on their own.
C. INCREASING MEMBERSHIP
a. Solicit members who can pinpoint local or specialty publications that can reach prospective members.
b. Use the news releases as advertisements to seek new members.
c. Coordinate news releases with advertisements that seek new members.
d. Contact members, ex-members and prospective members to inform them of the NWU’s success at increasing its visibility.
e. Use the success as an argument for them to join or rejoin an active and growing organization. (Coordinate news events and press releases with phone calls.)
D. USING FINANCIAL RESOURCES MORE EFFECTIVELY
a. Keep track of who is publishing our materials.
b. Spend less time and money on reaching out to publications that have not demonstrated an interest in our activities.
c. Spend more time and money on reaching out to publications that have demonstrated an interest in our activities.
d. Figure out where we need to spend money on advertisements and where press releases can replace ads.
e. Report back on prices of ads.
E. MAKING THE WEB SITE MORE INTERACTIVE
a. Post articles on the Web site.
b. Encourage members to provide feedback on these articles.
c. Encourage members to write articles that will be posted on the site.
d. Advertise our success by listing the articles that were published in publications.
F. IMPROVING NWU’S IMAGE AND PROFESSIONALISM VIA ABOVE GOALS
Yes, it’s true that the new leadership can write lots of articles and press releases as they promised.
But, here’s what they cannot or should not do – spend time trying to figure out which publications are receptive to printing their articles and which are not. In other words, I would, in part, be acting as support services for the leadership.
For example, Larry Goldbetter writes an article on the national shield law. Before he writes it, I would contact a number of publications to gauge interest, report back on which are most interested, and improve the chances of publication by recontacting editors who had previously expressed interest.
I am 100 percent certain that many publications will print information from the NWU.
How do I know? At a UAW conference, I wrote news articles on the spur of the moment, submitted them to few newspapers, and was informed by a couple of them that my articles were printed. Labor newspapers have expressed an interest in printing more of my articles.
Frankly, a national group should have a staff to do the above tasks. However, I am offering to do this for 30 hours per week – 20 volunteer, 10 paid. If I was paid $20 an hour and did this for one year, that would add up to $10,400.
And, by the way, you could get some of that money back from the publications themselves. I know the Chicago Tribune pays guest columnists because I had clients who were paid by them.
Ex-NWU treasurer Tom Gradel informed me that the NWU paid $50,000 for its Web site – easily the worst Web site I’ve ever seen put out by a national organization.
If it paid $50,000 for its Web site, it surely can spend $10,000 for nationwide publicity.
HELPING JOURNALISTS IN CRISIS
I submitted the following plan to Larry Goldbetter on Jan. 29, 2009. He said something to the effect that it was a good first step in the union getting involved in the issue mentioned in the plan. He urged me to post it on the NWU ListServe to get feedback and work on improving it. NO ONE has ever commented on it.
With the Delegates Assembly approaching, I decided to post the plan on the blog I created for the NWU's Chicago membership. Here it is.
HELPING JOURNALISTS IN CRISIS
Writers’ union needs to furnish information to members
To: Larry Goldbetter
From: Martin Zabell
Date: Jan. 29, 2009
Larry:
During the time that I’ve spent phoning lapsed National Writers’ Union (NWU) members, I’ve concluded that the best ways to boost membership are for NWU officials to communicate regularly with members and to provide information that is of value to them.
How can this be accomplished? After reading the article that I sent you on Jan. 18 about the predicted demise of about a dozen major newspapers, I drafted a plan for the NWU to formulate a report on “The Future of the Journalism Industry.” I sketched out my ideas on Jan. 21 and am now on Jan. 29, putting the ideas into this report.
I should also give Loretta Campbell of the New York City branch some credit for this initiative. Although I can’t recall her exact words, she kept on saying something to the effect that the NWU needed to offer a service that other unions don’t and that thought was in my head as I read the report on the demise of major American newspapers.
The major premise of this plan is that writers in the National Writers’ Union want to help their colleagues and receive help from their colleagues. That is the feedback that I have received on the phone. The number of people who complained that they were only contacted when politics was the subject is large.
Instead of contacting members and non-members when the NWU needs their votes or money, the union should be making members feel like they’re making intellectual contributions and are part of an active group throughout the year. Writers need “news they can use.”
In any case, my plan includes the following elements:
* Contacting journalists in our union as well as ex-members to ask them about writing opportunities in light of the journalism industry’s collapse. Are more writers involved in public relations? Technical writing? Books? Web sites? Research? Education?
* Conducting research to ascertain what professional journalism industry analysts have concluded about the future of the industry.
* During the course of the research, posting some of the insights that our members and ex-members have on the NWU Web site.
* During the course of the research, e-mailing some of the insights that our members and ex-members to people who live in the same region as the person providing the insight. In other words, if someone from Denver has a insight about Denver-area publications, we could e-mail that insight to others in Denver.
* Working toward putting journalists in the union in touch with each other so they can help each other, particularly those who live in the same area.
* Building long-term membership by contacting current members regularly. In these contacts, the union should be sharing what it has gathered from other members.
* Putting together a skill development section in the report as well as a Tip section on the Web site as the report is being put together. For example, a member or ex-member could write something about how to increase audiences for Web sites or blogs or teach others how to put together blogs with graphics.
* Listing projects that our members or ex-members are working on. The purpose would be to improve the chances that the projects come to fruition. For example, a book being written by one person in the privacy of his or her home might be going nowhere, but he or she could use the help of another writer or non-writers that union colleagues could put him or her in touch with.
* Posting news updates on the Web site and e-mailing these updates to members.
* Boosting membership by reaching out to ex-members and other non-members. Making them feel part of an important project could enhance the chances that they will join or rejoin.
* When the report is complete, it should be put out in a user-friendly region-by-region format so members can easily access information.
* The report should also have sections. The first item on this list provides an idea of how to break this down. For example, there should be a section on books, education, Web sites, etc.
* The report should also include lists. For example, it could list newspapers that are still paying decently, new Web sites, specialized magazines that our members are now writing for, etc.
* The report should also include anecdotes. Members essentially would be telling their own stories whether they be horror stories about people and publications others shouldn’t be dealing with or the opposite.
* The report should also include the equivalent of advice columns from our members.
I sincerely believe that they would get a lot of cooperation from members and non-members of the National Writers’ Union. At minimum, we should be providing them more information on a regular basis. Many of the stories on the Web sites are ancient.
I’m sure that I can provide more depth to this proposal if asked.
Shalom,
Martin Zabell
With the Delegates Assembly approaching, I decided to post the plan on the blog I created for the NWU's Chicago membership. Here it is.
HELPING JOURNALISTS IN CRISIS
Writers’ union needs to furnish information to members
To: Larry Goldbetter
From: Martin Zabell
Date: Jan. 29, 2009
Larry:
During the time that I’ve spent phoning lapsed National Writers’ Union (NWU) members, I’ve concluded that the best ways to boost membership are for NWU officials to communicate regularly with members and to provide information that is of value to them.
How can this be accomplished? After reading the article that I sent you on Jan. 18 about the predicted demise of about a dozen major newspapers, I drafted a plan for the NWU to formulate a report on “The Future of the Journalism Industry.” I sketched out my ideas on Jan. 21 and am now on Jan. 29, putting the ideas into this report.
I should also give Loretta Campbell of the New York City branch some credit for this initiative. Although I can’t recall her exact words, she kept on saying something to the effect that the NWU needed to offer a service that other unions don’t and that thought was in my head as I read the report on the demise of major American newspapers.
The major premise of this plan is that writers in the National Writers’ Union want to help their colleagues and receive help from their colleagues. That is the feedback that I have received on the phone. The number of people who complained that they were only contacted when politics was the subject is large.
Instead of contacting members and non-members when the NWU needs their votes or money, the union should be making members feel like they’re making intellectual contributions and are part of an active group throughout the year. Writers need “news they can use.”
In any case, my plan includes the following elements:
* Contacting journalists in our union as well as ex-members to ask them about writing opportunities in light of the journalism industry’s collapse. Are more writers involved in public relations? Technical writing? Books? Web sites? Research? Education?
* Conducting research to ascertain what professional journalism industry analysts have concluded about the future of the industry.
* During the course of the research, posting some of the insights that our members and ex-members have on the NWU Web site.
* During the course of the research, e-mailing some of the insights that our members and ex-members to people who live in the same region as the person providing the insight. In other words, if someone from Denver has a insight about Denver-area publications, we could e-mail that insight to others in Denver.
* Working toward putting journalists in the union in touch with each other so they can help each other, particularly those who live in the same area.
* Building long-term membership by contacting current members regularly. In these contacts, the union should be sharing what it has gathered from other members.
* Putting together a skill development section in the report as well as a Tip section on the Web site as the report is being put together. For example, a member or ex-member could write something about how to increase audiences for Web sites or blogs or teach others how to put together blogs with graphics.
* Listing projects that our members or ex-members are working on. The purpose would be to improve the chances that the projects come to fruition. For example, a book being written by one person in the privacy of his or her home might be going nowhere, but he or she could use the help of another writer or non-writers that union colleagues could put him or her in touch with.
* Posting news updates on the Web site and e-mailing these updates to members.
* Boosting membership by reaching out to ex-members and other non-members. Making them feel part of an important project could enhance the chances that they will join or rejoin.
* When the report is complete, it should be put out in a user-friendly region-by-region format so members can easily access information.
* The report should also have sections. The first item on this list provides an idea of how to break this down. For example, there should be a section on books, education, Web sites, etc.
* The report should also include lists. For example, it could list newspapers that are still paying decently, new Web sites, specialized magazines that our members are now writing for, etc.
* The report should also include anecdotes. Members essentially would be telling their own stories whether they be horror stories about people and publications others shouldn’t be dealing with or the opposite.
* The report should also include the equivalent of advice columns from our members.
I sincerely believe that they would get a lot of cooperation from members and non-members of the National Writers’ Union. At minimum, we should be providing them more information on a regular basis. Many of the stories on the Web sites are ancient.
I’m sure that I can provide more depth to this proposal if asked.
Shalom,
Martin Zabell
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
VOLUNTEERS NEEDED
Although I don't have the specific information in front of me, the National Writers Union's national office is looking for volunteers from Chicago to help it administer the Aug. 5 through Aug. 9 national assembly in Chicago.
Participating in the national convention will be very exciting. Please post your interest on the blog and I will put you in touch with the national officers, two of whom are Chicagoans.
Shalom,
Martin Z.
Participating in the national convention will be very exciting. Please post your interest on the blog and I will put you in touch with the national officers, two of whom are Chicagoans.
Shalom,
Martin Z.
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