Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Promotional literature

[Steve Farley (sfarley]

Hi, Corey!

Regarding your post on promotional materials on the coho list, I have a few
comments based on our experiences in Tucson.

We seem to be in fairly similar places with Synergy; except our difficulty
isn't finding members; the trouble is getting associate members to fully
invest financially and become active members. We have been marketing since
=46ebruary, and, while we have gained 18 new Associate Member households, an=
d
several of those are becoming Active Members within a month or two, we
still only have the 5 core households as active members. We, too, realize
that getting a site option and a design is a good way of signing up more
active members, but those of us who are fully invested don't have the cash
it takes to take those steps in advance of more Active Members.

But we have been really successful in signing up 60-80% of the people who
come to slideshows as Associate Members, that is, people who pay $10/month
in dues, payable quarterly, and can come to meetings and serve on
committees until they decide whether they want to be Active Members. A lot
of that success has come from consistency of image, extensiveness of
documents, and a clear path leading people into the group.

Each prospective member receives a Prospective packet at a monthly slide
show, which consists of newsclippings on our group, a list of FAQs, bios of
each active member, a brochure, our web address, our mission & goals, and a
map to the Orientation Meeting, a meeting held the following Saturday at a
member's home wher we show a video and interact in a more personal setting.
If people are still interested at that meeting, they sign up as Associate
Members, and get an Associate Packet, which includes out By-Laws, Group
Process Manual, a Welcome Letter, steps to become an Active Member, and an
Associate Contract, which they sign. They then are assigned a Buddy from
the active membership to help answer questions (though this has become more
taxing than hoped with almost 4 buddy-households for each Active buddy).

We also have a website at http://www.igc.apc.org/tndc/
which has been doing very well for us and which we update each month with
news and events.

We do have a very consistent look, complete with a professional logo,
because I am in my work life an independent graphic designer, and have
spent a lot of time developing our materials. Naturally, I believe in the
power of a unified, consistent look, since that's what I try to achieve for
my corporate clients every day, and I do think we owe part of our marketing
success to that consistency. I didn't intend this as a sales pitch, but if
anyone is interested in talking to me about helping them with a logo and
identity system for your group, please email me privately.

If anyone wants to have our promotional materials mailed to them, the group
has decided to ask for a $10 check made out to "TNDC" to cover mailing and
copying costs, which you can send to 2532 E. Helen Street, TUcson, AZ
85716. Most of this stuff is also available for free on the website.


Steve Farley
Tucson Neighborhood Development Corporation

    ----______---\
    \\\\ __   _\\\     Steve Farley
     \\\ \@\  \@\\     Stephen Farley Design
      \\    `  `\      sfarley [at] igc.apc.org
       \\     {||}     (520) 740-0344
        |\\\   =F8=F8 |
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