Re: Best Places to Advertise for New Members | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: Thomas Lofft (tloffthotmail.com) | |
Date: Mon, 1 Dec 2008 20:33:00 -0800 (PST) |
To: Cohousing-L <cohousing-l [at] cohousing.org>Message-ID:<69bd61b60812011002w6cff8959s851e541620f91c91 [at] mail.gmail.com>Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-1From our past experiences over the last 15 years, I have found the best promotions that attract people to cohousing include: 1. Networking among friends and affinity groups is one of the strongest. In our case, this has attracted healthcare workers, parents, singles, seniors, family members, out of staters, locals, a wonderful mix that has meshed into a strong community. 2. Internet presence: keep the web site updated, create an opportunity and reason for contacts to enter your database. Keep an up-to-date calendar. Show who the people are. Cohousing offers a lifestyle based upon the sense of community and who you are and what your values are. Be straightforward and promote YOURSELVES. Unless you think you really wouldn't want to be part of any community that would accept you as a member. 3. Use the front page of the local and metro newspapers for presence. It's cheaper to get a front page news article than to buy an inside page real estate ad. Do things for the community. Make sure the Press knows you're going to do it and make sure they cover it. 4. Write your own copy for stories about cohousing under the guise of a popular interest article about any aspect of cohousing about which you feel an interest in writing: cooking for thirty; facilitation of group dynamics; management by consensus; helping a neighboring family through home hospice care; selling all your cars and only keeping ten Flex-Cars for a community of thirty; keep doing it, again and again; recruit a team of writers who will commit to write an article a month; if 12 writers each write once a year, you have an article a month. 5. Read the local newspaper for local news items about what everyone else is doing. For every article that has any relationship to something you're doing in cohousing, write a short (<250 word) letter to the editor. For example, the local paper wrote a business story about a builder installing geothermal HVAC in a new home. He had done 12 GT systems in the past 20 years. I wrote a short letter about how Liberty Village has installed 18 geothermal systems in 5 years, in every home in the community and invited readers to attend an open house the next weekend. Three guests arrived carrying copies of the Letters Column. 5. Think of reinforcement. Every item you do to create a positive image of your community is advertising. Make cohousing part of your conversation with everyone. Create and wear Cohousing Community T-shirts, polo shirts, turtlenecks, sweatshirts. Wear an "Ask Me About Cohousing" button. Carry community cards with the website and address. Include one with every check payment you mail out. Business cards are absolutely the cheapest form of direct advertising. 6. The best advertising is the media presence you create, not the ad space you buy. 7. Be sure your community has a link in the cohousing.org's MarketPlace.8. Get your community on a cohousing tour, even if you have to create one. 9. Form a regional cohousing network and join forces to create mass marketing efforts with economy of scale. Regional networks do for communities what communities do for families. They leverage our efforts and celebrate our achievements. We are not in competition. We are in the mission of mutual support. 10. Get HGTV or some local TV station to cover your project, from the process of site selection through design through construction. They will do it. They did it for Liberty Village. It's a very popular economic interest subject right now: "People are planning to invest money in new homes - they call it cohousing." 11. Never be afraid to do shameless self promotion. Thanks for your interest in cohousing.Tom lofft Liberty Village, MD _________________________________________________________________ Windows Live Hotmail now works up to 70% faster. http://windowslive.com/Explore/Hotmail?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_WL_hotmail_acq_faster_112008
- Re: Best Places to Advertise for New Members, (continued)
- Re: Best Places to Advertise for New Members Rob Sandelin, December 1 2008
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Re: Best Places to Advertise for New Members Fred H Olson, December 1 2008
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Re: Best Places to Advertise for New Members Sharon Villines, December 1 2008
- Re: Best Places to Advertise for New Members Sarah Florreich, December 1 2008
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Re: Best Places to Advertise for New Members Sharon Villines, December 1 2008
- Re: Best Places to Advertise for New Members Thomas Lofft, December 1 2008
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Re: Best Places to Advertise for New Members R.N. Johnson, December 2 2008
- Re: Best Places to Advertise for New Members Michael Barrett, December 2 2008
- Best Places to Advertise for New Members Pam Rank, December 2 2008
- Re: Best Places to Advertise for New Members Fred H Olson, December 3 2008
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