Here's a great idea from Pennsylvania. ECED Program Leader Tim Kelsey shares their best practice - At last week's CRED meeting in Philadelphia, we discussed the need to increase communication among ourselves so we better know what others are doing. In the spirit of that idea, I want to share one of the marketing ideas we've implemented here in Pennsylvania. Earlier this year, we started a monthly postcard mailing to all of our state legislators and county commissioners to increase the visibility of our programs. These focus on a specific program, and help the officials understand that Cooperative Extension has a variety of community issue-related programs. We have been receiving calls and queries about these programs, though we haven't determined the best method of evaluating their overall effectiveness. The postcards are part of a broader visibility strategy, which includes a statewide monthly economic and community development (ECD) e-newsletter, a statewide website, an active statewide calendar of ECD events, and some other printed materials.
The three postcards are for leadership (available here), workforce development (available here), and strategic planning (available here).