Step 1:

Determine if your event needs marketing.

• Any event or activity you wish to recruit new people to attend should involve marketing. Some examples of events your group should consider extra marketing for include hosting a pro-life speaker or debate, holding a fundraiser or item drive for your local Pregnancy Help Organization (PHO) or maternity home, throwing a pro-life movie night or an interest meeting, or organizing a trip for your group to attend events like the National Pro-Life March or the SFLA National Pro-Life Summit.  

Step 2:

Understand what marketing tactics can be used.

• There are many different tactics that can be helpful when used effectively to spread awareness for your group. Consider the following types... 
  • Flyering 
  • Social Media Outreach 
  • Email Invitations (this works for getting your mailing list to come out)  
  • Text Invitations (can be efficient for those on the fence about coming)  
  • Personal Invitations 

Step 3:

Confirm your event details.

• Make sure to agree on any admission fee your group will be charging or if the event is free. Free events help increase attendance. If you charge an admission fee, you can use your event to fundraise for a local PHO or something similar.  

• Reserve a space for your event using the appropriate channels.  

• Create your advertising materials! Use SFLA group meeting flyers for group meetings attached here. You can also use free websites like Canva to create flyers, social media graphics, and invitations of your own to use as you market your event.
• Work with your group to solidify the theme of the event, the date, time, location, speaker information, and how people will sign up to attend.

Step 4:

Market your event.

• Set your marketing timeline by selecting dates for your outreach: 
  • Two weeks before the event:  
    • Post your social media graphics with event information. 
    • Flyer about your event on campus. See our flyering event guide HERE.  
    • Send an invitation email to everyone on your group’s email list. 
  • A week before the event:  
    • Post social media graphics to remind your audience to attend.  
    • Send a reminder text and email, encouraging people to attend.  
    • Confirm with everyone who signed up for your event.  
    • Table on campus if it’s a bigger event with a campus speaker.   
  • The day of the event:
    • Post social media graphics to tell your audience that today is the day!  
• Assign volunteers to each marketing task for your event.  

 Step 5:

Host your event.

• Assign volunteers to help run the event.  

• Remember to take pictures to post about how it went on your social media! Tag @studentsforlife so we can see what you have accomplished.  

• Ask your attendees how they heard about your event to evaluate the effectiveness of your marketing. If one strategy was more effective than another for your campus, focus more on using that strategy for your next event. For example, if more people heard about your event through flyers and social media and less through email invitations, schedule more flyering before your next event. 

• If you used your event as a fundraiser, make sure to deliver all items collected or fundraised to your local PHO or designated non-profit.