Promotion and publicity

When you bring an initiative or project to the attention of your target audiences, terms like promotion and publicity come to mind. Both are part of communication. In this article you will find general information about promotion and publicity and how to deal with them. After all, there are many examples of promotion and publicity. In other places on this website we go into more detail:

• Online promotion where you use the many digital tools.
• The use of offline promotion.
• Generating free publicity and press approach.
• We've also listed some tips on how to promote for free.
  

What resources do you deploy?

There are many different promotional tools to consider. Always look very carefully at the target groups you want to reach. If you spend a lot of time, energy and/or money on means that your target group is not looking at, you are missing the point. Read more about the target groups of an initiative or project elsewhere on our website. Of course, the choice of a promotional tool also depends on the budget you have. Below are a few examples of promotional tools you could use:

• Distribute posters and flyers through the hospitality industry, cultural institutions and schools.
• Place ads in regional or national media.
• Build (or have built) a website to have a central point of communication.
• Using social media to connect and stay connected with your target audience.
• A discount promotion in partnership with a restaurant or store.
• Selling or giving away merchandise.
• Creating a digital newsletter.
• Promotion through digital calendars.
  

Cross medial or multimedia communication

A term that comes up frequently when talking about promotion is cross medial or multimedia communication. This means that you don't limit yourself to one type of promotional tool but use several at the same time. This has two major advantages. First, not everyone uses the same means so not everyone will see your poster hanging, if that is the only one you have chosen. Second, this way you increase the repeat value or "recall. This means that someone will come into contact with your message more than once. People see the poster in the café, read about it in the newspaper and see an advertisement on Facebook. That way it is much easier for your target group to remember you.

Design

Good promotion stands or falls with the right look of your communication tools. Always think carefully about the design and layout. You can do that yourself or you can hire a graphic designer to do it for you. When designing the so-called artwork, one of the things you try to do is determine the right colors and shapes of your promotional tools. This way you can make sure that it has a unique look that suits your initiative or project. Among other things, this helps ensure that your target audience recognizes it, remembers it and preferably gets a good feeling about it. We have some tips for you anyway when it comes to design:

• Whenever possible, always include important details such as location, date and time.
• Look carefully at what appeals to your target audience and don't just choose what you like yourself, for example.
• Always include a web address or mention of social media so people can search further for information.
• Don't use too much detail in the artwork. Keep in mind that people often see it briefly and then have to be interested to look further. For example, if you drive past a poster at 80 kilometers per hour you can't read everything. It is also true on the Internet that people often only see something briefly.
• Create a mood board with examples that can serve as inspiration for yourself or a designer. You can do this through Pinterest, for example.
  

Note on privacy

You also can't just randomly approach everyone because then you have to deal with privacy regulations. For example, you can't just take pictures of anyone unless you clearly agree in advance. There are also rules about how you deal with data you receive from or about people, for example when they buy something from you.

Communication Plan

It is useful to record all your plans regarding communication in a plan. That way you have an overview of what you are going to do and in what way. Also, when applying for grants and funds, you are often asked to include a communication plan. On this website we have an initial communication plan ready for you to use. Some of the things you should definitely include there are:

• Information about your initiative or project.
• The (communication) objectives.
• Target audiences.
• The channels you will deploy for each target audience.
• The form and content of communication.
• A schedule.
  

If, from your expertise, you yourself have knowledge that would fit this topic, or if you see opportunities to improve this text, we look forward to receiving your message at info@cultuuracademy.nl.