Volunteer
Recruitment Brochures:
The
Missing Voice
Your Best Recruiters
When it comes to recruiting new volunteers, it's no secret that
your current volunteers can be your most effective salespeople.
They have, after all, experienced the benefits of volunteering
at your institution first-hand. And when they began, they had
the same questions and concerns that run through most potential
volunteers' minds: Do I have what it takes? Will I fit in? Can
I really make a contribution at this organization? What will
they be like to work with? Will this experience enrich my life?
Nothing is more persuasive or better for easing fears than
the enthusiasm and reassurances of those already doing the job.
But while many organizations enlist the help of current volunteers
in their face-to-face recruitment efforts, far fewer employ the
same strategy in their written recruitment materials.
The Missing Voice
The most glaring thing missing from most volunteer
recruitment brochures, in fact, are volunteers themselves.
Oh, there are plenty of bland, generic volunteers-in-action
photos, of course, and a whole lot of copy written from the organization's
point of view. But where are the volunteers' voices? Where are
those first-person "reassurances" that foster a sense
of connection, help overcome resistance and allow readers to
imagine themselves actually volunteering at your institution?
"Organization-centeredness in communications is a systemic
problem in volunteer management," says Nan Hawthorne, editor-in-chief
of Charity Channel's e-newsletter, Volunteer
Management Review. "Managers tend to write terrible
ads that stress need, rather than speaking to volunteers' interests."
Testimonials as Marketing Tools
Direct marketers have long known that one of the most
powerful ways to address prospects' interests and assuage their
concerns is by using personal testimonials. When it comes to
building trust and increasing sales, including real-life comments
from satisfied customers makes marketing materials far more effective.
People take comfort in knowing how others like themselves
have benefited from a product or service and that they've had
a good experience with it. Testimonials are often just the extra
bit of motivation needed to dislodge fence-sitters and turn them
into buyers. The same holds true when you're marketing an experience
like volunteering.
Read about Conner Prairie's use of testimonials, below, then
use the six important tips that follow to put your own volunteers'
voices into your organizations's recruitment materials.
Testimonials
on the Prairie
When prospective
volunteers read the recruitment brochure from Conner
Prairie, an open-air living history museum in Fishers, Indiana,
they're not reading a missive filled with museum-world jargon
and "thou shall nots." Instead, they're treated to
a marketing 
piece that invites them to connect with
their American past, meet new friends, find their interest, try
another, enjoy themselves and make a difference. And quotes from
current volunteers are prominently displayed on the back cover.
"When asked why they
want to volunteer here," says Volunteer Manager Mary Friend,
"the number one reason people give is because a current
volunteer, member or staff member suggested they check into volunteer
opportunities at Conner Prairie. In my opinion, the testimonials
are a form of referral." The museum also uses testimonials
in its marketing materials targeted toward finding volunteers
for specific programs and events. "It lends credibility,"
Friend says.
When it comes
to recruitment, many organizations could stand to take a lesson
from Conner Prairie's inviting, benefit-oriented approach. The
museum has 300 active adult volunteers, 100 youth volunteers
and 125 alliance volunteers. And for its annual Headless Horseman
weekends last fall, an additional 275 volunteers from area groups
and corporations were on hand to help make the event a success.
Whether you've never used the power
of testimonials in your marketing before or you're looking for
ways to use them more effectively, you'll find six important
tips in Part Two.
Six Tips for Getting and
Using Testimonials >>
Copyright © 2002 Katherine Khalife
All rights reserved.
For reprint permission, please e-mail kkhalife@museummarketingtips.com
Katherine
Khalife is publisher of MuseumMarketingTips.com
and the Museum Marketing Tips e-newsletter, used every month
by thousands of cultural institutions seeking practical tips
to improve their marketing.
