WORK PLAN GOALS AND OBJECTIVES

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1 IABC/Tulsa 2017 Chapter Management Awards Entry Category: Communication Management WORK PLAN IABC/Tulsa has consistently proven itself to be one of the premier professional organizations for Tulsa-area communicators with all of the capabilities of any larger metropolitan chapter. The chapter is focused on providing value to members through high-profile professional development events and unique networking opportunities. The chapter s high-caliber programming has helped to increase membership, moving to medium from small chapter status for the first time in IABC/Tulsa s history in At Dec. 1, 2016, the chapter s total membership was 78. While the majority of our members are internal communicators, we understand the importance of appealing to the needs of other members and potential members as well (i.e. public relations, marketing, community relations, event planning, consulting, etc.). In 2015/16, we were able to accomplish this through creative networking events and a professional development program of dynamic topics featuring subject matter experts and thought leaders from the Tulsa area and beyond including former IABC Southern Region Chair, Bonnie Caver; Tulsa Mayor, G.T. Bynum; leadership expert, Rhett Laubach; President and Owner of Inner Strength Communication, Priya Bates, ABC, CMP, MC; and many more. High-quality professional development opportunities are the cornerstone of IABC, but the continuing success of the chapter is dependent on communication. Regular, clear communications are vital for a successful chapter and have been vital to IABC/Tulsa s success. GOALS AND OBJECTIVES The executive board for IABC/Tulsa serves two-year board terms. The current board will serve through August Goals are set and evaluated each year at our annual board retreat, a half-day orientation/planning session held each August that allows us time to focus on what we want to accomplish for the upcoming term. The goals and objectives referenced in this entry were set in August IABC/Tulsa Strategy: Provide IABC/Tulsa members with the greatest membership value by increasing member diversity and engagement, and strengthening the awareness of IABC in the community Chapter Goals: 1. Increase member diversity. a. Increase the chapter s non-walmart membership by 3 percent to diversify membership. b. Increase the chapter s non-profit members by two. c. Retain at least 95 percent of our current membership base. 2. Increase member engagement. a. Reach attendance of at least 20 at every monthly professional development event. b. Host two meet-up events annually outside of professional development events. c. Survey current members and create a standard system for collecting feedback following events. 3. Create greater awareness and recognition of IABC in the Tulsa/Bartlesville and Northwest Arkansas areas. a. Implement new IABC brand standards across all IABC/Tulsa-branded materials by Jan. 1, b. Receive at least three IABC/Tulsa mentions in other professional organizations communications. c. Increase IABC/Tulsa s online and social media presence by creating at least two testimonial videos of members. d. Create new collateral that promotes IABC/Tulsa and follows the new IABC International Brand standards including but not limited to: informational brochures, a formal news release template and board member name tags. Based on these overarching chapter goals, our vice presidents of communication focused specifically on achieving or influencing the following underlying communication-related objectives: 1. Rebrand and redesign the newsletter and website by January Develop a communications and social media promotional schedule for promoting all IABC/Tulsa events. 1

2 3. Track and newsletter readership to determine reach and ways to improve content and engage readers. 4. Develop online member directory to help members connect and share information. BUDGET As a board, our philosophy is to spend the majority of our funds on professional development programming and networking opportunities for members. With regard to communications, resources spent in this area are usually more time intensive than budget intensive. IABC/Tulsa s communications efforts require an annual budget of approximately $600. A large portion of this, approximately $250, covered the chapter s annual webhosting fees through BizzyWeb. In August 2016, we agreed to look for a cheaper option to gain more of our budget back. We were able to switch resources to Namecheap, which is only $9.88 for the first year and $40 per year after that. Beginning in October 2016, we ll save more than $200 annually because of this change. Additional communication-related expenses include domain name registrations and any necessary costs incurred to print promotional materials for specials events. Two corporate members cover the expenses of using the Survey Monkey online survey tool to gather feedback from members, and all graphic design work is generously donated by local design firm Byers Creative (Angela Byers is a former IABC/Tulsa President and currently serves on the Southern Region Board). For reporting period, the chapter s communications efforts were well within the $600 budget. IMPLEMENTATION Internal Program There is nothing more important to the success of IABC/Tulsa s goals than regular, consistent communication with members and potential members. The vice presidents of communication use the following tactics to reach chapter members: New or Updated Initiatives: Communications promotional schedule: We ve always been proactive in promoting events, but during the 2015/16 board term our vice presidents of communication took the initiative to create a more formal schedule for communications. This creates efficiencies in our communications, alleviates numerous s between board members about the timing of announcements and helps the board better manage the many different communications we re working on at one time. Below is an example of the schedule: o Chapter newsletter distributed the first Thursday of every month. o Event promotions added to the monthly newsletter as soon as details are finalized; first dedicated is distributed four weeks prior to regular monthly events; reminders sent one week and two days before the event. o Social media posts follow the same schedule as the regular event schedule, with flexibility for creative promotional postings in between. Website and online marketing collateral: After choosing the green IABC/Tulsa branding in August 2015, we began rebranding all marketing collateral and our website for a more consistent look and feel. [Exhibit I: Website screen shots and online marketing materials]. The website is vital for communicating with members and non-members. It features information on upcoming professional development events, board member bios and contact information, information on how to join, a job center for posting open positions, sponsor logos and more. According to our 2015 membership survey, 74 percent of respondents think the chapter s website is a valuable communications tool. During the 2015/16 board term, the website was visited nearly 4,000 times by approximately 2,500 people. Marketing materials and branded giveaways: [Exhibit II: Additional marketing materials] In addition to updating our online marketing materials, we ve also produced a number of physical marketing materials for members and potential members to help raise awareness of IABC. During the 2015/16 board term we created: 2

3 o New membership brochures for marketing to potential members at events. The brochure design was donated by Byers Creative and the printing of the brochure was donated by Bolen Ink, which are both local Tulsa businesses and long-time supporters of IABC. o Branded board member name tags to help our volunteers stand out at meetings and events. Attributed to the president s budget. o Branded greeting/thank you cards to send to speakers, members and potential members throughout the year. Graphic design and printing was donated. o Branded banner stands for use during events and photo opportunities. Attributed to the professional development and awards budgets. o Branded koozies, created originally for the Spelling Bee(r) event, but we have continued using them at networking events and other special events as giveaways. Attributed to the recruiting budget. o Branded t-shirts created as a thank you to board members and extra for event door prizes. Graphic design was donated by Byers Creative and the President personally covered the cost of printing as a thank you to board members. Online member directory: During the 2015/16 board term, our vice presidents of communication developed and launched an online member directory to help IABC/Tulsa members connect and share information. The directory is housed on the IABC/Tulsa website and you must be an active member to be listed. Members can go online and create a profile themselves. They can add a photo, video, professional and personal information as much or as little as they want. All profiles are reviewed and approved by IABC/Tulsa s vice presidents of communications before posting. The directory is indexed through Google and viewable by anyone, but only members can be listed. So far, 12 members have added profiles to the directory and feedback has been extremely positive. We continue to promote it in our monthly newsletters and at IABC/Tulsa events. Highlighting members: Our members are our greatest marketing asset. With that in mind, in August 2015, we brought back the Meet a Member feature in our monthly newsletter. We try to coordinate the column each month to reinforce other content within the newsletter or relevant events, such as highlighting a person who has a membership anniversary and is also leading a webinar that month. In the Meet a Member article, you re able to get to know members a little more closely than you might at a meeting, and you get their perspective on why they re part of the organization, how it s helped their career and tips on being a professional communicator. Continuing initiatives: invitations to professional development and networking activities: Based on information provided through the 2015 membership survey, 96 percent of members find an effective channel for communicating chapter events. Our distribution list is a diverse mix of members and non-members from various industries and professions. At each monthly professional development meeting we collect attendees business cards for a door prize and then enter any new attendee information into our distribution system which currently includes more than 400 names, a more than 30 percent increase compared with a year ago, and more than five times our membership base. See Exhibit I for examples of communications. Eventbrite event registration software: In 2015, after a great deal of research and in-depth price comparisons, the chapter decided to switch event registration software to Eventbrite from Cvent. Looking back, the move to Eventbrite was even more beneficial to the chapter then we had even anticipated. The improvements are many, including: improved functionality, an easy to use content management system, a simplified pay structure, clean/modern look and an improved user experience. An added bonus is that Eventbrite can be searched by anyone looking for events in their local area. Additionally, Eventbrite can connect to MailChimp to send event invitations and to SurveyMonkey for post-event surveys. Not only is the software more intuitive, but the chapter has also realize cost savings since switching to the new system. Cvent cost the chapter $1,000 annually, while Eventbrite has no annual fee or contract, but instead charges transaction fees per registration. Since switching to the new system, IABC/Tulsa has realized total cost savings of approximately $600. Chapter newsletter: A monthly chapter newsletter is sent to our communications distribution list and includes regular features such as a president s column, information about events, a Meet a Member article feature, information about IABC International and IABC Southern Region events, links to International-sponsored webinars/seminars and member anniversary recognitions. The newsletter is distributed via MailChimp to the more than 400 individuals (up from just over 300 a year ago) registered to receive IABC/Tulsa s. Based on 2015 survey data, 88 percent of members find the newsletter an effective channel for communicating. 3

4 Social media: IABC/Tulsa s social media outlets have proven successful channels for sharing information about chapter, regional and international IABC events. We re active on outlets including Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. We have completely rebranded our social media profiles to reflect new IABC branding and IABC/Tulsa s selected primary color, Pantone 354 Green. For each event we ve produced or co-hosted, in addition to our website, we ve promoted on social media. We ve also posted live on Facebook and Twitter during our events to promote attendee engagement and to provide tidbits to those who couldn t attend. We ve grown our Facebook page to more than 120 likes (a 20 percent increase from last year) by promoting it at IABC-hosted social events such as our holiday mixer. If attendees posted photos to Facebook or liked our page they received extra tickets for a drawing where they could win prizes. More than 1,200 individuals follow our Twitter account and our tweets have been seen nearly 31,000 times in the past year. More than 80 people follow our IABC/Tulsa LinkedIn group (an 18 percent increase from last year). According to our survey data, our members find IABC/Tulsa social media an effective channel for communicating, specifically: Facebook (56 percent), LinkedIn (56 percent) and Twitter (48 percent). Phone calls and personal s: An advantage to having a small chapter is the ability to easily provide a personal touch with one-on-one conversations. When an individual s membership is about to lapse or registration is low for a monthly meeting, board members will call or send personal s to drum up support for the chapter. External Program While the chapter s primary communications focus is on its internal audience (members and potential members), the board recognizes the need to publicize events and news to the general public using the following tactics: Press releases: The IABC/Tulsa board periodically reaches out to the press to share information about monthly meetings and special events. The chapter also ensures the media receives updates about Bronze Quill winners and accomplishments of note. [Exhibit III: Press release example Annual Gift of Communication event] Social media: Our social media efforts reach both internal and external audiences. See above for additional information. Competing professional organizations: When we host a speaker or topic we believe is relevant to another professional organization we send the information to them to market on their social media outlets and in their newsletters/communications. In return, we reciprocate when they host events that appeal to our membership. For the November 2015 professional development luncheon we were able to work with the Tulsa Area Human Resources Association to post the meeting information on their website. The event was a huge success and drew nearly 40 attendees, our largest luncheon in the past year. We ve also had success advertising events with PRSA, the Oklahoma Ethics Association and the Tulsa Press Club. Job Line: On the chapter website, local businesses and corporations have the opportunity to post career opportunities within the communications field. Community Networking Events: We believe it s important to not only host targeted professional development and networking events, but to also offer fun, unexpected events in the community that are open to anyone. This is a great way to enhance our brand and reach a broad audience who may not know about IABC/Tulsa. In August 2016, IABC/Tulsa held its inaugural IABC/Tulsa Spelling Bee(r) a spelling bee for adults with adult beverages available. We partnered with a popular local bar in downtown Tulsa called Fassler Hall, a German pub-style bar, to host the event. For a month, both Fassler Hall and IABC/Tulsa promoted the Spelling Bee(r) on our Facebook pages and through printed posters in a handful of local establishments. The Spelling Bee(r) was open to anyone who wanted to participate. We ended up with 52 spellers and a completely packed house every table in the establishment was full. The crowd was engaged, the participants had a great time, we had the opportunity to tell at least 50 new people about IABC/Tulsa, collected names of interested parties and received positive feedback from everyone involved. This event was held at very little cost to us, as attendees covered their own food and drinks. The establishment provided a special discount on certain beers for the event, as well as DJ services between spelling rounds. The only costs to IABC/Tulsa included the printing of promotional posters, IABC/Tulsa-branded koozies (which each spelling bee participant received), and the cost of the gift card prizes for the top three spellers, totaling just under $400 for the event. We plan to hold a second Spelling Bee(r) event in Branding One of IABC/Tulsa s overall goals is to increase awareness of the IABC brand in our community. To help accomplish this, IABC/Tulsa creates communications tactics that clearly represent IABC and position the organization as the only global communications 4

5 organization, and the communications organization of choice in the Tulsa-area. To support these goals, the board has implemented the following tactics: IABC/Tulsa graphic standards manual: To align with IABC s new logo and brand standards the Tulsa chapter created its own graphic standards manual, based off of IABC International s guidelines [Exhibit IV: Tulsa graphic standards manual]. The manual is shared with all IABC/Tulsa board members and provides an easy reference guide to follow when using IABC s brand on our communications materials. IABC/Tulsa s brand: As a chapter we wanted to adopt our own specific brand identity within the new graphic standards so IABC/Tulsa materials are recognizable, unique and representative of our chapter. The Tulsa-area of Oklahoma is known as Green Country because of the heavily wooded area, many rolling hills, mountains and much foliage, as opposed to western and central Oklahoma. We wanted to embrace this nickname for the region and use it to help community members identify with IABC/Tulsa. Based on these regional identifiers, the color we ve adopted as our primary chapter color is Pantone 354 Green and Cool Gray 9. We ve incorporated our new brand standards across the board from social media, to signage at events, and even to name tags for board members. Community brand: A brand is much more than specific logos, colors and templates. IABC/Tulsa promotes the IABC brand and our mission to promote communications and build global relationships across industries and areas of expertise. We do this through our monthly professional development events and our special events throughout the year. One example is our Annual Gift of Communication event where professional communicators donate four hours to consult local non-profit agencies on a communications issue they are faced with. In 2015, this event drew more than 20 volunteers and provided consulting for four local non-profit agencies. A post-event survey showed feedback from everyone in attendance was unanimously positive. 100 percent of the survey respondents were satisfied with the event. MEASUREMENT AND RESULTS In addition to measuring the overall goals of the chapter, we measure our communication efforts by looking at: Individual event surveys and annual membership surveys Social media engagement and activity on our website Engagement at promoted professional development and social networking events Annual Membership Surveys: IABC/Tulsa conducts an annual membership survey to determine areas for improvement, membership needs and professional development topic areas. surveys were issued to all current IABC/Tulsa members in November 2015, with the next one planned in late December [Exhibit V: 2015 survey results] Annual surveys consistently show that one of the main reasons people join IABC/Tulsa is for the professional development. Communication is vital in keeping members informed of professional development opportunities and helping them to stay connected to the organization. Key 2015 survey results: The 2015 survey achieved a 35 percent response rate, nearly 10 percent higher than the 2014 survey. 100 percent of respondents believe we re meeting their expectations as a professional organization (55 percent said we exceeded expectations). The top three most valued aspects of membership remained the same from 2014 to 2015 and included: 1) professional development opportunities; 2) networking/sense of community; and 3) current trends and best practices. The most valued communications channels (in order of highest ranked) include: s, newsletter, website, Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. More than 80 percent of respondents regularly attend monthly luncheon meetings. The most valued programs and services of our chapter are our half-day development seminars, monthly luncheons and chapter s. 5

6 A recognized benefit of running a small chapter is the ability to gather live feedback with relative ease. In addition to the consistent and important quantitative feedback gathered through surveys and user statistics, IABC/Tulsa relies on conversations with members and potential members to help track its progress. Here are some of the many ways the board is keeping the pulse on the chapter: Annual membership surveys and surveys following select professional development events. Input received through these surveys has been extremely beneficial for the chapter and have provided guidance on speaker topics. When attendance at monthly meetings and special events is expected to be low, the board will mobilize to conduct targeted s and phone calls with members. These conversations help not only to drive participation at chapter events, but also to learn from members why or why not they choose to participate. This feedback is invaluable. Through nearly every communication distributed, members and potential members are encouraged to share their opinions by at iabctulsa@gmail.com. Since most communications from IABC/Tulsa are electronic, the board regularly analyzes user statistics such as number of s sent and subsequent open rates, number of Twitter followers, number of Facebook group membership, etc. to help determine the overall effectiveness of chapter communications outreach. The most important statistic the board regularly reviews against its overall chapter goals and communication objectives is the number of both member and non-member professionals participating in monthly meetings and special events. OVERALL RESULTS Communication is key to helping IABC/Tulsa achieve its overall goals. Over the past year our communications have vastly improved in format, content and frequency. Many changes and improvements were made over the past year in the area of communications, and all have helped to move our chapter forward. Consider these results: OBJECTIVE Rebrand and redesign the newsletter and website by January Develop a communications and social media promotional schedule for promoting all IABC/Tulsa events. Track and newsletter readership to determine reach and ways to improve content and engage readers. Develop online member directory to help members connect and share information. RESULT The new IABC logo and branding was incorporated across the board by the end of 2015 The website is completely rebranded with logo and new colors The newsletter incorporates the new logo but we re still in the process of redesigning the color formatting A promotional schedule was drafted, approved by the board and implemented by February 2016 [see page 2 of this entry for detail] We have tracked our total distribution list as well as open rates for the 2015/16 board term Open rate of 22.8 percent and click rate of 1.8 percent We re above Mailchimp s benchmark of a 20.6 percent open rate and slightly below its benchmark of a 2.48 percent click rate Launched the online member directory in mid profiles created so far and we continue to promote the directory and its benefits to members In addition to exceeding our stated communications objectives for the 2015/16 board term, our communications team contributed to the success of IABC/Tulsa in many other ways including: Increasing member and community engagement in IABC-sponsored activities: o The first regular professional development luncheon held since our new board took over in August 2015 drew the chapter s highest luncheon attendance in more than a year with nearly 40 attendees, nearly double the average for monthly luncheons. o In 2015, more than 80 percent of survey respondents said they regularly attend (30 percent of meetings or more) monthly professional development meetings, compared with 70 percent in

7 Helping to develop a stronger brand image: o Results from the 2015 membership survey reveal that 100 percent of IABC/Tulsa members believe the chapter is meeting their expectations for a professional organization. o 55 percent of 2015 survey respondents ranked IABC/Tulsa excellent in terms of meeting expectations, compared with 50 percent in Zero respondents rated us poor either year. Positioning Bronze Quill as a well-know and premier awards event for Tulsa-area communicators: o The 2016 Bronze Quill awards were one of the most successful in IABC/Tulsa s history in terms of the number of awards entered and the number of attendees at the awards ceremony. More than 50 communications projects were entered and attendance at the awards ceremony reached 160, the chapter s largest attendance ever. The following statistics further highlight the effectiveness of IABC/Tulsa s communications tactics: According to our survey data our members find IABC/Tulsa social media an effective channel for communicating, specifically: Facebook (56%), LinkedIn (56%) and Twitter (48%). Our list of members and potential members who have signed up to receive notifications from IABC/Tulsa continues to grow and now totals more than 400 individuals, more than five times our current membership. Our open rate exceeds the Mailchimp benchmark by more than 2 percent. Facebook remains one of our most engaging and successful social media platforms. During the 2015/16 board term, our Facebook posts reached 6,420 people and earned 295 engagements. So our reach through Facebook is more than 80 times greater than our membership base. IABC/Tulsa continues to excel in professional development opportunities and member engagement, driven by our commitment to timely, effective and creative communications to our diverse membership base and broader audience. The overall focus remains on our members, and on creating the highest possible membership value for them. Effective communication is a vital part of this, and an area that we ll continue to focus on and improve to keep enhancing the IABC member experience. 7