This PowerPoint provides information on the many facets of promoting a DECA chapter.

1. PROMOTING YOUR
DECA CHAPTER
Created by Micah Melling, CRVP for 2011-
2012

2. Presentation Outline
 The following bullet points describe the topics
discussed in this presentation.
 Reasons to promote your DECA chapter
 Target market analysis
 Promotional plans
 Media options
 Chapter statistics
 Promotional ideas
 Evaluations and recommendations
 Connection to DECA competition

3. Why Should You Promote Your
Chapter?
 Promoting your DECA chapter to a wide variety of
people has a number of benefits.
 More students will want to join DECA.
 Teachers and administrators will be more receptive to
DECA activities.
 Parents will be more willing to help with chapter
activities.
 Businesses and community members will be more likely
to help with your fundraising endeavors.
 Community members will be more congratulatory of your
chapter’s achievements.

4. Who Should Your Target Audiences
Be?
 At the beginning of your campaign, you must select
your target audiences.
 Your target audiences might include:
 Students
 Parents
 Business leaders
 Teachers and administrators
 Legislators

5. Messages that Appeal to
Businesses
 By supporting DECA, your business will be
recognized as a friend and supporter of today’s
youth.
 Your business will have the opportunity to interact
with the community’s brightest students.
 DECA prepares students to be qualified, ambitious,
hard-working employees.

6. Messages that Appeal to
Parents
 DECA…
 is a great opportunity for your child to grow, both
personally and professionally.
 allows your student to become involved in his/her high
school.
 provides multiple scholarship opportunities.
 helps students to connect with future employers and
mentors.
 will aid your child in developing core-academic and
employability skills.

7. Messages that Appeal to
Students
 Marketing is one of the most exciting, cutting-edge
fields.
 DECA has an array of benefits…
 provides unparalleled professional development,
networking, and leadership opportunities.
 gives members the opportunity to travel the country and
experience top-notch conferences.
 allows members to give back to their communities and
raise money for charitable causes
 There are many messages about DECA and
marketing education that appeal to students.

8. Messages that Appeal to Teachers
and Administrators
 The DECA chapter’s achievements will bring
prestige and recognition to the school.
 DECA members help to instill a sense of community
service in the student body.
 DECA members are devoting themselves to an
important academic cause.
 When DECA members are gone for conferences and
competitions, they are making a valuable investment
in their future.

9. Messages that Appeal to
Legislators
 DECA prepares students to be ambitious, highly-
qualified leaders in tomorrow’s economy.
 DECA members improve their local communities.
 Legislators that support DECA will be recognized as
friends and supporters of education.
 Voters value legislators who support today’s youth
and their educational programs.
 For more information on reaching out to legislators,
view the “DECA and Politics” document and the
“Political Outreach Kit” found on
www.slideshare.net/decainc.

10. Developing a Promotional Plan:
Assembling a Team
 Carefully assembling a team is a vital component of
a successful project.
 Include a variety of people.
 DECA members
 Teachers
 Parents
 Business partners
 Select a chairperson.
 The chairperson should be a committed DECA member who
is willing to work closely with the chapter advisor.
 Assign “roles” to members of the team.
 Developing committees is often an effective way to delegate
responsibilities.

11. Developing a Promotional Plan:
Setting Goals
 Setting goals gives your project a specific, attainable
focus.
 Make sure to involve your entire team when setting your
project’s goals.
 Remember to set SMART Goals.
 Specific
 Measurable
 Attainable
 Realistic
 Timebound

12. Developing a Promotional Plan:
Setting Goals (Cont)
 Here are some types of goals you may set for your
promotional project:
 To increase membership by a certain percentage
 To personally contact a certain number of legislators,
community members, and business leaders
 To increase corporate partnerships by a certain
percentage
 To increase parental involvement and engagement
 To implement a certain number of activities targeted at
administrators, teachers, and counselors.
 Generally, having 3-5 goals is ideal.

13. Developing a Promotional Plan:
Determining Activities
 Selecting activities and establishing a timetable
creates an in-depth view of your entire project.
 As a team, determine how many activities to implement,
what the activities should be, and when the activities
should occur.
 Some situations may call for monthly activities; others may
call for activities once a semester.
 At the beginning of the project, decide how each activity
will be planned, structured, and delivered.

14. Understanding Your Media
Options
 Understanding your media possibilities is necessary.
 Recognize your media options (newspaper, radio, TV,
digital billboards, etc).
 Understand the difference between “small-town” media
and “big-town” media.
 Small-town media outlets will be more likely to assist with your
efforts. However, small-town media outlets sometimes don’t
reach a significant number of people.
 Big-town media outlets sometimes won’t be able to assist with
your efforts due to competition and high demand. However, if
you can convince them to help, big-town media outlets will
often reach a significant number of people.

15. Chapter Information
 Creating a polished document of chapter “pride
points” can be extremely helpful as you promote
your chapter.
 This document can be given to stakeholders and to
members of your target audience.
 Don’t overlook the design of this document; make sure
that it is appealing and eye-catching.
 Don’t confuse this with a flyer. This document should
include in-depth information.

16. Chapter Information (Cont)
 The following are some pieces of information you
might want to include in your “pride points”
document.
 Quantitative Elements
 Average GPA of members
 Percentage of members enrolled in upper-level courses
 Percentage of members who plan to attend college
 Amount of money raised for charity (previous year)
 Number of awards won at competition (previous year)
 Qualitative Elements
 Quotes from members
 Testimonials from parents, teachers, and business leaders

17. Promotional Ideas
 Radio Public Service Announcements (PSAs)
 Many (not all) radio stations will allow you to record a
30-second PSA about the importance DECA. Since
DECA is a non-profit organization, they will air the PSA
for free.
 Radio Talk Shows
 Request
to go on a local radio show to discuss your
DECA chapter.

18. Promotional Ideas (Cont)
 Facebook Page and Twitter Account
 Create and actively use a Facebook page and Twitter
account for your DECA chapter.
 Update both with upcoming events and important
reminders.
 Invite chapter members, community leaders, and local
businesspersons to “like” your Facebook page and
“follow” your Twitter account.

19. Promotional Ideas (Cont)
 Press Releases
 Ifyour chapter does an exciting activity, submit a press
release to local newspapers and radio stations.
 Editorials
A small-town newspaper may be willing to run a story
that specifically discusses the benefits of DECA.
 Letters to the Editor
 Write a short message about DECA and submit it to your
local newspaper as a “letter to the editor.”

20. Promotional Ideas (Cont)
 Digital Billboards
 Some businesses and organizations have digital
billboards. Ask a business or organization to display a
positive message about DECA on one of their billboards.

21. Promotional Ideas (Cont)
 Presentations
 Identifycivic organization or councils that would benefit
from learning about DECA.
 Leave your audience with an informational handout
about DECA.
 Here are some ideas for audiences:
 City
Council
 School Board
 Chamber of Commerce Board
 County Commission
 Community Organizations

22. Promotional Ideas (Cont)
 Open House
 Invite
community members to come to your high school’s
marketing classroom and visit with DECA members.
 Have DECA members present information about chapter
projects, competition, and conferences.
 Ask each attendee to join your DECA chapter as a
“professional member.”

23. Promotional Ideas (Cont)
 Local Competition
 Host a practice competition for your chapter members
and ask local businesspersons to serve as judges.
 This will allow prominent leaders in your community to
see how DECA benefits students.
 A local competition is also a great opportunity for DECA
members to prepare for district and state competitions.
 Don’t forget to ask each judge to join your chapter as a
“professional member.”

24. Promotional Ideas (Cont)
 Workshops
 Have DECA members host a workshop for local
business professionals.
 This workshop should cover a relevant business topic on
which teens are knowledgeable.
 Some possible ideas are using social media and marketing to
the younger generation.

25. Promotional Ideas (Cont)
 Presentations to Middle School Students
 Visit middle school classes and discuss the benefits of
joining DECA.
 Activities Aimed at Freshman Students
 Freshman are looking for ways to adjust to high school.
DECA is an excellent option to accomplish that
objective.
 Ask for permission to speak at freshman orientation.
 Arrange to speak to freshman classes.
 Personally invite freshmen to join DECA.
 Invitation ideas: decorative cards, verbal messages,

26. Promotional Ideas (Cont)
 Appreciation Day for Teachers, Administrators, and
Counselors
 The following are ideas for this promotional concept.
 Give them a “thank you” card for supporting DECA.
 Present them with a chapter t-shirt or a small plaque.
 Make them an “honorary member” of your DECA chapter.
 If you have a school store, give them a free soft drink or
snack.
 An
“appreciation” day would be a great activity for DECA
Week.

27. Promotional Ideas (Cont)
 Pre-DECA Program
 Involve students one year prior to their year of DECA
eligibility.
 Have Pre-DECA Program socials and meetings to
introduce participants to the many facets of the
organization.
 Ask participants to help with events and fundraisers.
 Host practice competitions.
 Make participants feel the “DECA love” with incentives
and appreciations.

28. Promotional Ideas (Cont)
 DECA Week is a great opportunity to spread the
news about the organization.
 Have your mayor sign a proclamation declaring “DECA
Week.”
 Encourage members to wear DECA apparel throughout
the week.
 If you have a school store, run “special” deals.
 Submit press releases to local media outlets.
 Have a “community service” day.
 More ideas for DECA Week can be found under the
“chapter resources” tab on www.deca.org.

29. Promotional Ideas (Cont)
 Global Entrepreneurship Week (GEW) provides
another opportunity to promote your DECA chapter.
 Entrepreneurship is a large part of DECA, and GEW
(held in November) provides a platform to voice this
concept.
 Have local entrepreneurs come and speak to your
marketing classes.
 Reach out to local entrepreneurs and tell them about
DECA.
 Coordinate activities within your school that promote
entrepreneurship.

30. Promotional Ideas (Cont)
 Career and Technical Education (CTE) Month takes
place in February and provides another opportunity
to promote DECA.
 Arrange a proclamation signing with your mayor to
declare “Career and Technical Education Month.”
 Host a celebration for CTE at your school.
 Go on a radio show to discuss CTE.
 Submit an article about CTE to your local newspaper.
 More ideas for CTE Month can be found under the
“chapter resources” tab on www.deca.org.

31. Periodic Evaluations
 After every major promotional event, come together
as a team and evaluate your performance.
 Periodic evaluations help reinforce the “positives”
and improve the “negatives.”
 Be sure that all team members are involved in the
periodic evaluation process.

32. Final Evaluation
 With your entire team, conduct a final evaluation of
your project.
 Determine if you met your objectives.
 Address the strengths and weaknesses of your
project.
 Don’t rush through this process; take time to
adequately reflect on your team’s level of success.

33. Recommendations
 Develop a set of recommendations.
 Your chapter might want to undertake a similar project in
the future, and having a few recommendations would be
helpful.
 Answer these questions:
 What went well? Why did it go well?
 What didn’t go well? Why didn’t it go well?
 What are some activities or decisions that we wouldn’t
change?
 What are some activities or decisions that we would
change?

34. Connection to DECA
Competition
 You can potentially take your promotional project to
DECA competition.
 A project of this nature could be classified as a
Public Relations Project (a Chapter Team Event).
 For more information on this event, visit the following
webpage:
 http://www.deca.org/docs/conferences-
competitions/DECA_PRP_Guidelines.pdf

35. For More Information…
 Before May of 2012, please contact Micah Melling.
 Email: decavpmicah@gmail.com
 After May of 2012, please contact the current Central
Region Vice President.
 His/her
contact information will be found on
www.deca.org.