A “Little” Action Creates a “Big” Impact

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Monroe County

Fall 2019 Strategic Communication Plan
Effective August 2019
Lillie Hartman, CEO; Shane Smelser, Dir. of External Affairs; Steven Lee, Dir. of Internal Affairs;
Daniel Korn, Head of Treasury

Executive Summary:

The Fall 2019 strategic communication plan is designed to display the expectations,
rationale, and processes for the marketing campaigns and John Smith Fair. Big
Brothers Big Sisters (BBBS) of Bloomington plays a vital role in the development of our
community’s children and adolescents. With that being said, there are many more who
need our services that we cannot service due to a lack of volunteers. To combat this,
the BBBS board of directors have created the following strategy to solicit targeted
student volunteers from the Indiana University campus. According to StatsIndiana.edu,
about 17,000 people, or 20 percent, of Bloomington’s population are age 5-17. WIth the
poverty rate of Bloomington being 41.5 percent, that is an estimated over 7,000 children
and adolescents that may be in dire need of our services. It is imperative that we
increase our volunteer base to increase our reach to these children.

Goals:

● Engage with and retain more adults, specifically from Indiana University, to
ultimately volunteer as “Bigs” for BBBS
● Foster acceptance, positivity, involvement and community relationships across
Bloomington and all of its various populations and age groups
● Maximize the potential of children in the Bloomington community and their
relationship to Indiana University’s diverse population, furthering education on
both sides

SWOT Analysis:

Strengths-
● BBBS is well-known and well-established
● Focuses on community and individual relationships
 ● Helps those in need
● Offers volunteer opportunities for adults
● Children with mentor are positively impacted during their growth period
● Nation’s largest donor and volunteer supported mentoring network

Weaknesses-
● Not-for-profit, requires funding and donations
● College students come and go
● College students
● Depending on schedule, the level of commitment could vary

Opportunities-
● College students need volunteer hours
● Education school
● SPEA Nonprofit management
● Meet new people, build network

Threats-
● Other organizations (with competitive campaigns)
● High turnover of college students (every 4 years, leave in the summer)
● Crime in Bloomington, especially college-related
● Budget depletion

Target Audience

Key audience members and their barriers to commitment to BBBS’s campaign:

● We believe the key audience members are the students, who are also
considered as potential mentors, and their barriers to commit to the event would
be level of attractiveness of the event and their schedule. No matter how good
the program/event is, if it fails to fulfill their expectations or interest, the students
will not be willing to pursue the program. Also, if they have busy schedule, they
will be hesitant with committing themselves to the program.

Major groups for the marketing outreach campaign:

● IU Students: SPEA students, Education students, Grad students, professors (to
use for volunteer requirements, practicums, etc.)
● John Smith Family Members
C​​ommunication-Specific Goals

The goal of BBBS’s messages is to inform our target audience of our goal, which is to
improve the Bloomington community by building relationships with the students and the
children within the community who are in need, and attract the students to volunteer as
mentors.

Messaging

Campaign Title: A “Little” Action Creates a “Big” Impact!

Slogan: It Starts With a “Little” _________ <- Word varies between several
impactful words here

people.
● Message 1:​​ Maximizing Potential
Big Brothers Big Sisters believes every child has the inherent ability to succeed and
thrive. Every child has the potential to live unique, meaningful lives and make an impact
in their own way. BBBS cultivates and encourages this potential through matching
children between the ages of 6 and 18 (“Littles”) with adult volunteers from the
community (“Bigs”).

● Message 2: ​Inspiring Engagement

Big Brothers Big Sisters works to engage members of the community in building positive
relationships between both young and old. Citizens of all ages can come together and
share their knowledge to help build a stronger and more cohesive community.

● Message 3: ​Building Confidence

Big Brothers Big Sisters values the work of adult volunteers for their role in building
positive relationships that have a direct and lasting effect on the lives of young people.
Giving children a mentoring network to rely on and turn to fosters social confidence,
academic success, and a sense of emotional stability.

● Message 4: ​Fostering Acceptance

Big Brothers Big Sisters aims to brings people of different ages and backgrounds
together to share knowledge and ideas while fostering acceptance across the
community.

● Message 5: ​Involving IU Students

As the nation’s largest donor and volunteer supported mentor network, BBBS will focus
on involving IU students as adult volunteer “Bigs” to build positive relationships between
adults furthering their professional education and children in the community.

● Message 6: ​Raising Awareness for Volunteering

Big Brothers Big Sisters has a unique opportunity to access adult volunteers from
diverse backgrounds through IU, and will work to make students aware of the volunteer
opportunities that can help incorporate them into the Bloomington community.

● Message 7:​​ Bringing Together Bigs and Littles

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Monroe County will use their unique position in a college
town to bring together Bigs and Littles in a fair-style celebration to familiarize new
volunteers with the organization and participants.

Internal Organization Memo

DATE: August 19, 2019

FROM: Lillie Hartman, BBBS CEO

TO: BBBS Board Members

SUBJECT: “A ‘Little’ Action Creates a ‘Big’ Impact” Marketing Campaign

Big Brothers Big Sisters of Monroe County in South Central Indiana will be launching a
marketing outreach campaign in the fall of 2019. The campaign will be effective largely
starting in August 2019, with a few preparatory steps needing to be taken in the spring
of 2019. These messages will be the central focus of our campaign and what we are
pushing forward to our donors and audiences. The messages are as follows and apply
to the board members in your presentation to the Smith family as follows:

Message 1, Lillie:​ Maximizing potential of children in the Bloomington community

through mentorship with adult volunteers.
Message 2, Lillie:​ Fostering acceptance of all backgrounds and diversity in the
Bloomington community.

Message 3, Steven:​ Inspiring engagement of members of the IU community to volunteer

and build relationships with young people.

Message 4, Steven:​ Building confidence of children to promote social confidence,

academic success, and a sense of emotional stability.

Message 5, Shane:​ Involving IU students in BBBS to bridge the gap between the
Bloomington residential community and the college population.

Message 6, Shane:​ Bringing together adult volunteers and child participants in a

fair-style celebration to familiarize new volunteers with the organization and build more
relationships with children in the community.

Make sure you do your research and come prepared to “wow” the John Smith family.
Keep up the good work! Remember, ​a “little” action makes a “big” impact!

Event Calendar

Date Event

Early April 2019: Approximately April 1 - 7 Contact Professors about curriculum

integration

August 10,2019 Purchase/Implement Bus Wraps

August 26, 2019 Purchase/Implement Instagram/Snapchat

Advertisements

August 26, 2019 Put up flyers/posters around SPEA and

School of Ed

August 26, 2019 SPEA/School of Education newsletter

outreach begins

September 2,2019 IDS article about BBBS campaign/John

Smith Fair published

November 21, 2019 John Smith Fair

Media Channels (Getting the word out)

The Media Channels below represent what we believe will reach our target audiences in
the most effective and efficient manners. Each is accompanied by a brief description
with more details about the rationale for the platform’s use and the messaging it will
comprise of.

○ Contact Professors about curriculum integration

■ Providing students with opportunities to assist the Bloomington
community, while also earning class credit, is mutually beneficial.
That is why we will contact Professors in SPEA and the School of
Ed to discuss implementing

○ IU Bus Wraps
■ Bus wraps are an efficient way to create awareness for BBBS, as
well as our special event. Wraps will be implemented onto bus
routes that go through areas where our target audiences are
located. Specifically, routes A, B, E, and 6.

○ Purchase/Implement Instagram/Snapchat Advertisements

 ○ SPEA/School of Ed weekly newsletter
■ According to Indiana University’s 9-year schedule, this date is the
start of the Fall 2019 semester. This is an excellent opportunity to
reach our target audience at a time when most will be looking to
involve themselves in clubs and organizations. Newsletter
outreach will continue throughout the semester. Messaging will be
directly affected by the date, as well as how many volunteers we
solicit.

○ IDS
■ The IDS article is to come out slightly after the other media
channels so that the target audience will have already been
exposed to the marketing and will therefore be familiar and more
interested in reading the article. Also, having the IDS at our special
event would be beneficial to display the success of our hard work
and show the future of BBBS.

○ John Smith Fair

■ The John Smith Fair will take place the Thursday before
Thanksgiving break. Most students will be done with classes,
therefore being available to attend the event. This also allows
people to still be able to go their separate ways once the event is
over and enjoy their weekends before coming back to school and
starting their volunteering with BBBS.

Budget

Media Percent of Budget Money Spent

IU Bus Wraps 20% $40,000

Various Channels of Social 17.5% $35,000

Media

IDS 1.25% $2,500

SPEA & Education School 1.25% $2,500

Weekly Newsletter

Campaign Event - BBBS 30% $60,000

Fair
 Flyers & Posters 7.5% $15,000

Staff 22.5% $45,000

We will use our budget in seven main categories listed above. IU bus wraps typically
cost $10,000 per bus, this means we budgeted for four different busses. Additionally,
we are budgeting $35,000 for social media. Specifically, Facebook, Instagram and
Snapchat. Instagram advertisements average $5,000 per month, Facebook and
Snapchat advertisements average $3,000 per month. For three months our total
expected social media expenditures are $33,000, and we will have $2,000 in reserve for
unplanned expenses. We will allot $5,000 for three IU news media platforms, the IDS,
the SPEA Weekly Newsletter and The Education School’s Weekly Newsletter. We will
use this budget to continually purchase advertisements and publish articles about our
cause.

For the BBBS Fair, we will allot a $60,000 budget. This budget encompasses a $20,000
dollar venue including a full dining set, a stage, a tent, and food stations $10,000 will be
alloted for appetizers, beverages, lunch and dinner. Another $10,000 dollars will go
towards carnival-like activities for the children that attend. $5,000 will go toward live
music, another $5,000 for BBBS gear for all attendees, and $5,000 for giveaway tickets
for IU sporting events that BBBS children will attend. Lastly, $5,000 will be alloted for
reserves. $15,000 will be alloted to flyers and posters, as they will be continually printed
in color for a three month period. Lastly, the budget for staff pay is $45,000, as we
expect there to be 15 staff members that we can pay $3,000 for a three month service.

Conclusion:

In all, our goals for our strategic communication plan are to engage and retain more
adult volunteers from the IU, foster acceptance and positivity in the Bloomington
community across various age groups, and maximize the potential of children in the
Bloomington community. We will accomplish our goals through social media
communication, public advertisements, newsletter updates and our main event - The
John Smith Fair. We hope to improve the strength and effectiveness of the BBBS
program in Bloomington, thus strengthening the community as a whole.