Marketing and Outreach Efforts | <– Date –> <– Thread –> |
From: Susan Hyne (susanhynegmail.com) | |
Date: Sun, 8 Sep 2013 15:20:31 -0700 (PDT) |
--Response from CoHo Ecovillage, Corvallis, Oregon (Susan Hyne, Chair of Neighbors Team) Hello all -- Here at Takoma Village Cohousing in Washington, DC. we are ramping up our marketing and outreach efforts to increase our pool of prospects so when we have a resale we will not have to start from scratch identifying a buyer. Does your community have a formal ongoing marketing/outreach program? E.g. regular Open Houses/Orientations, other events? --CoHo has a Neighbors Team responsible for outreach and welcoming visitors. We have public tours four times a year during our quarterly work parties. We find that touring visitors while CoHoots are busy with a variety of projects gives a good preview of life in community. We also teamed up with Oakleigh Meadow Cohousing in Eugene to offer joint tours in May and August (visit CoHo in Corvallis in the morning and visit Oakleigh in Eugene in the afternoon). Do you have a line item budget for marketing/outreach? If so, would you be willing to share how much your community allocates each year to this task? --We have a modest budget to cover promotional materials and to pay for a visitor's first common meal. Do you keep a prospect list? If so, how frequently do you contact this list? --Yes, our First Responder (person who answers phone/email inquiries) starts an entry in a Google Docs spreadsheet and it is updated by others who have had contact with the visitor(s). Visitors have the option to join CoHoPublic, a Yahoo group and we post a few messages a month (units for sale, upcoming tours, new posts on our blog, more photos in our photo album, etc.). Do you have a marketing/outreach team? What is the scope of this team's work? --Neighbors Team gives private/public tours, helps folks get connected to the community, stays in touch with active prospects, oversees Friends of CoHo program, and helps Membership Team coordinate the Associate Member program. Both programs are excellent ways for folks to get connected to CoHo, both for ongoing community and for purchasing resale units. See https://www.cohoecovillage.org/blog/2012/01/ways-to-connect-with-coho-ecovillage/plus the Membership section on our website ( www.cohoecovillage.org) for more details. When we developed the Associate Member program and revamped the Friends of CoHo program, many communities provided us with helpful information on their programs and we really appreciated the headstart. We're happy to share info with other communities. Do you ever invite prospects to simply join community events rather than create a special event for them? E.g. invite them to attend a regularly scheduled dinner vs. organizing a dinner or BBQ or something else for prospects. ---We did about 20 "Welcome Weekends" prior to move-in with events (site tour, meal, meeting, etc.) to help prospects get to know us quickly and make a decision about pursuing membership. That model didn't work as well after move-in. Right now, visitors are welcome to attend meals and meetings; we don't typically schedule extra events. --We ask visitors with a "serious" interest to send us a bio prior to a visit. That is shared with the community and really helps folks connect with them. --Greeting lots of visitors can be a challenging addition to peoples' already-full lives. So Neighbors Team handles most of the face-to-face contact until it is clear that someone is ready to actively pursue membership. Then they'll get a buddy and start our membership steps (for owners, associate members, and renters). If you do have special events, how many do you do a year? I'm truly appreciative of descriptions about your marketing/outreach efforts for your community. Thanks! Best -- Ann Zabaldo Takoma Village Cohousing Washington, DC Principal, Cohousing Collaborative, LLC Falls Church VA 703-688-2646 -- Susan Hyne
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Marketing and Outreach Efforts Ann Zabaldo, September 8 2013
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Re: Marketing and Outreach Efforts Kathryn McCamant, September 8 2013
- Re: Marketing and Outreach Efforts Ann Zabaldo, September 8 2013
- Marketing and Outreach Efforts Susan Hyne, September 8 2013
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Re: Marketing and Outreach Efforts Kathryn McCamant, September 8 2013
- Re: Marketing and Outreach Efforts Barbara Smith, September 9 2013
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