Marketing & Engagement

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Using your theme to develop your brand

This lesson walks students through four aspects of using their theme to create an image/brand that can be used to promote the work and the staff.

We built this community — A case study of a community-building journalism project

In this lesson, we will look at three different types of media (from professional and scholastic domains) that have undertaken storytelling projects in order to humanize faces in a crowd and issues in the world.

Writing an advertising plan and script

In this lesson, students learn to prepare what they will say and how to prepare to sell business ads or sponsorships.

Branding your staff through social media

Instead of maintaining absolute secrecy and hoarding your work until it’s published, be open about what you’re working on.

Involving alumni in your publication

This lesson focuses on how your staff can tap into the resources of your journalism community to build your identity, your program, resources and interest in your publication. This lesson provides several examples of programs, publications and opportunities that can be built into the traditions and calendar of your publication year.

Featuring underrepresented students in the yearbook

Feature Pages and Feature Sections provide contemporary and meaningful forums to include personal coverage and varied forms of storytelling in your publication.

Choosing social media tools

In this lesson, students use a decision-making model to determine the most appropriate social media tool for their intended purpose.

Evaluating your entrepreneurship

In this lesson, students develop an “entrepreneurship report card” that could be used to determine the strength of a staff’s entrepreneurial activities.

Audience involvement and tragedy

This single-day lesson challenges students to consider questions of ethics when involving citizens as journalists through social media in dangerous breaking news events.

Creating a large-scale fundraiser

This single-day lesson introduces students to the 5K race fundraising event used by a newspaper staff from Rockville, Maryland.

Managing online advertising

This lesson introduces students to the online advertising model used by a student media program in Missouri.

Creating an advertising brochure

Students apply their knowledge of sales and marketing concepts and budgeting techniques to get practical about advertising in their own communities.

Funding a publication

Social media ethics: Reader comments

Students will read and discuss a case study from Mill Valley High School in Kansas about an article that actually caused a disturbance in school because social media extended the opportunities for readers to respond to the article.

Pitch a fundraiser

On this two-day lesson, students will focus on fundraising possibilities with the purpose of designing a viable fundraiser that makes more money than it costs to plan.

Entrepreneurship final exam

Creating social media policies

This lesson prompts students to review and develop policies suitable for a staff manual for entrepreneurial activities related to engaging with an audience, particularly social media, marketing and public relations.

Selling yearbooks

Students will review strategies for yearbook sales, including timelines, incentives, promotion and methods for increasing demand.

Assessment: Entrepreneurship Basics and Know Your Audience units

This exam covers the information from the Entrepreneurship Basics and Knowing Your Audience units.

Planning for publication distribution

Students will participate in a discussion about distributing various products and then complete two assignments to consider the event planning process and addressing audience complaints and feedback, as well as corrections and Letters to the Editor

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