Marketing Your Club at ANU

Effective marketing is essential for a thriving club. It’s how you recruit new members, drive attendance to the events you work so hard on, and build a strong presence on campus. Good marketing can make or break an event, especially if you rely on ticket sales. This guide will walk you through building a strategy, choosing your platforms, and creating accessible, engaging content.

Key Principles for Success

  • Start Early: Finalise your event details and begin promotion as soon as possible.
  • Be Clear: Give potential attendees all the information they need to decide to come.
  • Have a Call to Action: Make your ticket or registration link visible and accessible everywhere.
  • Amplify Your Message: Encourage friends, members, and collaborators to share your content.

Part 1: Building Your Marketing Strategy

Before you create a single poster or social media post, take a moment to plan your approach.

1. Define Your Brand and Theme

A consistent brand makes your club instantly recognisable.

  • Club Branding: Use your club’s logo and colours consistently across all platforms. The more people see your brand, the more they will recognise your events.
  • Event Theming: Creating a specific theme for a major event can make your marketing more cohesive and exciting. A theme helps guide your graphics, decorations, and promotional language.

2. Know Your Audience and Your Unique Appeal

  • Target Audience: Are you trying to reach first-years, postgraduate students, or students from a specific academic college? Knowing your audience helps you choose the right platforms and tone.
  • What Makes You Unique? Is your event the biggest of its kind? The only one with a specific theme? Does it feature a special guest? Emphasise your unique selling points in all marketing.

3. Set Your Tone and Collaborate

  • Find Your Voice: Your tone should match your event and audience. Whether you use lots of emojis and memes or maintain a more formal style, keep it consistent.
  • Collaborate with Other Clubs: Reach out to other clubs to cross-promote events. It’s a fantastic way to reach a wider, like-minded audience.

Part 2: Essential Guidelines and Responsibilities

Accessibility in Marketing

Ensuring your marketing is accessible is crucial to making everyone feel welcome.

  • For screen readers: When using images, always include the text from the image in the post’s main body. If you use emojis, add a text description in brackets, e.g., “party popper emoji 🎉”.
  • Provide an Accessibility Statement: Include a template like the one below in all your event descriptions. This transparency helps people decide if they can comfortably attend.

Accessibility Statement Template

At [Club Name], we strive to make our events as accessible as possible.

  • Food and Drink: There will be [e.g., vegetarian, vegan, gluten-free] options available, based on dietary requirements provided during registration.
  • Venue: The event venue is/is not wheelchair accessible. There are/are not accessible and/or gender-neutral toilets at the venue.
  • Transport and Parking: The venue is close to [public transport options]. Parking is available at [parking location].
  • Contact: If you have any accessibility requirements or questions, please don’t hesitate to email [Name/Position] at [club email address].

Advertising Events with Alcohol

The ANU Liquor Statute governs how alcohol can be discussed and consumed. The primary purpose of your event cannot be the consumption of alcohol, and this must be reflected in all marketing. You cannot advertise the sale of alcohol at an on-campus event without approval from the Director of Functions and Services.

Part 3: Choosing Your Platforms

A multi-platform approach is the most effective way to reach the entire campus community.

Digital Marketing

  • ANUSA Clubs Calendar: Create an event through your club’s Rubric account, and it will automatically appear on the official ANUSA Clubs Calendar. This is a crucial step for reaching a broad audience.
  • Facebook: Create a Facebook event page with all the necessary details. It’s an easy way to consolidate information and track interest.
  • Email Newsletters: If you have a member mailing list, send out regular newsletters celebrating past events and promoting upcoming ones.
  • Social Media Groups:
    • ANU Schmidtposting (you may only post once per event)
    • Halls of Residence pages
    • Other groups relevant to your target audience
  • Institutional Promotion:
    • ANUSA Departments: Contact relevant departments for promotion (see the list of departments on the ANUSA website).
    • Academic Colleges: If you are a discipline-specific club, ask your College, School, or a relevant course convenor to advertise your event in their newsletters or lectures.

Physical Marketing

Don’t overlook the power of physical advertising on a busy campus!

  • Posters: Lots of postering in key spaces on campus can be a really good way of getting the word out. It’s a great way of advertising, but it’s often overlooked!
  • Merchandise: Creative merch like stickers can serve as walking advertisements for your club.
  • Banners: A professional pull-up banner is a great investment. Bring it to all your events to increase brand recognition.

Part 4: Case Study: Marketing at Market Day

O-Week and Bush Week Market Days are your single biggest recruitment opportunities of the year.

Making Your Stall Stand Out:

  • Visuals: Use a large, clear banner and informational posters on your table. Have your stall volunteers wear club merchandise.
  • Information: Prepare pamphlets or flyers with key information for people to take with them.
  • Engagement: If possible, demonstrate what your club does (e.g., an art club could have art that members have made on display).
  • Giveaways: Stickers, membership cards, or other small freebies are a great way to make a memorable impression.

Part 5: Tools of the Trade

You don’t need to be a graphic design expert to create great marketing materials.

  • Canva: A user-friendly and popular option for creating social media graphics and posters. Highly recommended for all clubs. The base version of Canva is free, but you can apply for a free Pro account if the club is a registered NFP. This gives you access to more templates and design elements. See Canva for Nonprofits for details.
  • Inkscape: A free, open-source vector graphics editor that can be used for more complex designs. See Inkscape for details.
  • Adobe Creative Cloud: If a club member has access to Adobe products, they can use tools like Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere Pro for graphic design, video editing, and more. Staff (including casual tutors) can get a free license through the ANU IT Service Desk, although this is not available to students who are not employed by the university.