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Marketing and Audience Engagement
1. My favorite photographs
2. Scene examples
3. Photography notes
4. Leading photographers
5. Photography presentation
Table of contents
As the Managing Editor I play a major part in audience engagement and community outreach. I did a similar job as the Diversity and Representation Editor and Viewpoints Editor, and I have always taken marketing seriously.
MARKETing EXPERIENCE
At the ODYSSEY we all participate in a marketing project to gain subscriptions and raise money for the program. In my first year I had both the most sales, my second year was good but not as good as the first year. I am determined to top my first-year numbers.
Marketing reach out email example
Left: In this image is a text message I sent to one of my mother's friends to market an ODYSSEY subscription. In my experience with marketing, depending on the person you are selling to you need to change the tone. Mrs. Deborah is someone I know sort of well, but not well enough to drop a formal tone. Along with this message was a direct link to the ordering website and a video of me going through the entire purchase process to help users. When marketing you have to be willing to meet people where they are and I am excellent at that.
Marketing communication examples
Left: Here is the email I sent to Sheila Coffeen, who is the principal of my middle school. In this email, I changed a small portion to personalize it while keeping the majority of the information.
Right: Here is an image that shows the communication I had with Sheila Coffeen who is the principal of my middle school. After sending an email that asked for them to purchase a subscription she replied with a yes. From there the image just shows how we communicated back and forth. I kept my professionalism but I did add more more personal details to engage with her and let her know I cared and appreciated her purchase.
Above: Here, the picture shows what we call the Spheres of Influence in the ODYSSEY. This document has a list of people and contacts for marketing. I used this spreadsheet to track whom I had reached out to and brainstorm all of my marketing attempts. To properly market our magazine, everyone on staff does this, but mine was noted as among the most in-depth. This should showcase my understanding of marketing and what it means to have branding influence.
Spheres of Influence
ENGAGInG AUDIENCEs
Above: In these two images is a note that a substitute I had for my production ODYSSEY class named Mr. V. handed me. The story he is referring to was my podcast on my experience growing up with religion (you can find it on my writing page). He connected to what I wrote very deeply and it meant so much to me that he took the time to give me this note. As a writer and journalist the awards are nice, but personally, it is the handwritten notes or spoken words that mean the most. I still keep this note in my backpack.
On the right of this text box is a typed-up version of the note.
Feedback on my story, it means a lot
Peter,
This is Mr. V, your guest teacher for Mr. Ragsdale today. I've been the one sitting up here superquiet - (because) I didn't know this class was both self-directed and has a UGA student teacher. Anyway: my point is -> I came across your religion article last night while I was just trying to see what classes I had today. I thought your article was a beautifully written expression of the struggle involved for people that are indoctrinated into a belief system, only to then start having big doubts. I have the same thing. Lastly, I wanted to recommend you a song (if you don't already know it) ->Hot Mulligan's "John 'The Rock' Cena, Can You Smell What the Undertaker"-> very similar themes -> peep the lyrics.
"
"
I have always been very open to feedback and the editing process. I often submit something I just wanted to try even when at times they don't work. Instead of just following the rules I like to break or bend them and just see what feedback I get.
Letters To The Editor 1
Left: In this image are three submissions for one of the things I was responsible for when I was the Viewpoints editor called Letters To The Editor. I would find someone from each grade and a faculty member to write a 4-6 sentence review of an article in the last issue of the ODYSSEY. This is our main means of finding that feedback from our audience. on the stories we write.
Right: Here are some more LTTE submissions I had to seek out. These were gathered this year, even though I wasn't the Viewpoints Editor anymore. Still, I had the experience and could step in to properly gather the feedback from our audience that we needed. Given that I have better senior connections now than I did as a sophomore, I took on finding the senior LTTE for issues 1 and 2 this year. Overall, I find audience feedback huge, especially from my peers, when often students are not as engaged in the news as they should be.
Letters To The Editor 2
Final Thoughts
Audience engagement is critical; without our audience, our work would float off into the void. By engaging with our audience, we can build a bond between writer and reader. I have found it to always be refreshing to hear what others have to say, especially when the newsroom can feel like an echo chamber sometimes.
On the marketing side, it is really fun, but I don't get many opportunities to really get into it. We have a project at the beginning of the year to sell subscriptions, and I have performed very well in the past three years.
It has felt great to be able to raise money for my program and further represent the brand through discussions with our audience.
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