Creating the Sustainable Innovation Lab was both a scary experience and really fun. But I struggled to promote the program.
Here’s What I’ve Learned On Event Promotion
I posted posters around town and shared on social media, but didn’t get much traction. Fortunately, we were able to identify three great individuals – I’m so thankful for their participation and the diversity of thoughts and ideas they brought to the lab.
Local businesses were willing to share our lab. A big thanks to Freedom a la Cart for connecting us with potential participants. (Freedom a la Cart is a local social enterprise café built on a workforce training for local survivors of human trafficking. Aside from their social impact, their food & drinks are artistic & delicious – so check them out.)
I also put out flyers in other local business like Stauf’s Coffee Roasters, Third Way Cafe & Franklinton Cycleworks. Unfortunately, these didn’t get much engagement.
This made me realize that flyers are not enough. What I needed was a clear and concise message that shared not just the goal, but the specific experience participants would take away, and an easy way for people to sign-up and share the event. And that message needed to be share in person, repeatedly, with a specific ask to attended.
The message really wasn’t clear: Were we aiming to find new products for the Wild Tiger Tees? Or would this be a program where our attendees could create products for themselves? If they came up with a new product, what would it be and what would be the key take-aways?
The approach with GiveBackHack
This year’s GiveBackHack is this weekend – Oct 7-9th, and we’ve been working hard to share this event. Some things we’ve done differently than I did with my lab:
- There are more of us sharing stories – especially on Instagram and Linked-In. They highlight different sides of the event (the experience, the mentors, the past attendees).
- We’ve recorded interviews and other videos for sharing.
- There is more repetition – increasing the chance that people will see the message more than once.
- We have been writing personal emails and talking to people, inviting them directly to the event.
- We’ve highlighted the cool takeaways – beyond the obvious thrill of being part of a new idea, there is food, t-shirts, and up to $15k in prize / grant money.
- We’ve spoken at similar events, and attended other events in town, where we could talk & share about GiveBackHack.
What it’s taught me is to get the message out repeatedly, and in different formats, to talk to people in person where possible, and to ask them to attend.
(PS – interested in attending GiveBackHack? Use this link to signup – we’d love to have you!
