CMAC Strategic Plan
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The Strategic Campaigns capstone class for a Strategic Communications major always partners with a company or organization to come up with a strategic plan for them. This year the class partnered with the Children's Museum of Alamance County. I served as the Research Director for my group, focusing most of my efforts on the research portion of the project. However, I also assisted with creative brainstorming, copy editing, and writing the proposal.
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CMAC Strategic Plan
- 1. A Strategic Communications Campaign Children’s Museum of Alamance County Elizabeth Bassett, Lindsey Freedman, Emily Hines, Jessica Woodie, Jeff Cook !1
- 3. !3 Background Research In order to gauge the best way to achieve these goals through a strategic communication plan we did both secondary and primary research.
- 4. !4 Research Background Case Studies Show ✤ Donors like to see what initiatives their donations will be going to. ✤ Donors at other nonprofit organizations receive exclusive benefits and forms of gratitude via events, thank you notes, and special perks. ✤ Social media plays a major role in the communication between a museum and their patrons. ✤ Face-to-face contact during fundraising is often most efficient. ✤ Multiple events annually generate more fundraising and interest than one large event. ✤ Incorporating the entire family into a fundraising event is often most successful.
- 5. !5 Implications Background ✤ CMAC should implement programming that allows parents to build a community among themselves. ✤ Donor relations should include exclusive perks and creative ways of expressing gratitude. ✤ The educational aspect of the museum as well as its small size and local feel should be emphasized in CMAC promotions. ✤ CMAC holds the potential to become a part of any family’s weekly or monthly routine.
- 8. !8 Target Audience Target Audience The Do-It All Mother ✤ She is seeking a community that incorporates everything she needs in one convenient location. ✤ She has children under the age of 10, but ideally the kids she is trying to find programming for are under 5-years-old. ✤ She is trying to entertain the kids, complete household duties, do the grocery shopping all while trying to live a healthy lifestyle. ✤ CMAC offers her a place to go that provides a community that is safe and healthy and provides education for her children. ✤ It is local for her and is an essential part of her child’s learning. ✤ She enjoys meeting up with other mothers and participating in activities with her children.
- 9. !9 Target Audience Target Audience The Donor ✤ The Donor is a dedicated member of the CMAC community. ✤ They are involved in the current campaigns and love to hear about all the events going on at the museum. ✤ They especially enjoy supporting the businesses and community of Alamance County. ✤ CMAC donors love coming to the events, such as The Butterfly Ball. ✤ They are supporters of education, children and the well being of Alamance County.
- 10. !10 Target Audience Target Audience School & Daycare Systems ✤ Schools and Daycares are seeking a place that not only provides a safe and interactive place to play but also offers programming centered around health and education. ✤ Teachers love bringing their students to CMAC because not only do they have a good time but the children are provided with educational tools about healthy lifestyles. ✤ Studies show, that cooking is a great way to incorporate math to a child’s curriculum. Thus, making the teacher’s life a little easier. ✤ CMAC isn’t just a fun place to play, it’s an extension of the classroom.
- 15. Brand Positioning !15 Brand Food is Family ✤ Everyone knows that the kitchen is the heart of the home. It’s where you make memories, enjoy home-cooked food, pass down family recipes and gather together with friends and family. ✤ These are all attributes that CMAC strives to be for Alamance County: the extension of the family kitchen. ✤ CMAC provides families with a place to gather and enjoy themselves. ✤ CMAC is the essential heart of any family’s community.
- 17. !17 About Creative ✤ Cooking Up Community is the unifying theme surrounding our campaign. ✤ The creative concept will tie the families to CMAC and the families to donors. ✤ The concept will use cooking and nutrition to bring the entire CMAC community together. ✤ It will use cooking as an educational facilitate the children’s learning. ✤ It will also give CMAC the chance to thank the donors for all of their contributions. ✤ Cooking Up Community will transform CMAC into more than just a museum, but a lifestyle.
- 18. !18 Why? Creative Health Matters A recent study conducted by Nielsen’s Global Health and Wellness study suggests that 80% of the participants were actively selecting food with their future health in mind. They sought out food that helped prevent medical conditions like diabetes, obesity and high cholesterol.
- 19. Tactics & Implementation !19 Tactics CMAC Chefs This would be a monthly program hosted by CMAC where children would come and learn how to make healthy “no-bake” snacks. Parents/caretakers would join the children and be able to engage with other parents/caretakers, as well as facilitate their child’s education through cooking. The Burlington Co-op or other local grocery stores could sponsor the program, providing the produce and other foods.
- 20. !20 CMAC Chefs Tactics According to research published in the International Journal of Early Year Education, children who were subtly guided through math lessons during cooking scored higher on math tests than children cooking with no guidance.
- 22. !22 Nutrition Brochure Tactics A brochure could be put together to hand out to parents/caretakers at these various events that would provide them with guidelines for healthy living. The handout would be located at the front entrance by the gift shop so that parents/ caretakers would easily be able to grab one on their way out.
- 24. !24 Coffee & Crafting Tactics ✤ This would be a program for parents/caretakers bringing their younger children to the museum. ✤ The program would occur during the morning when, according to our research parents are most likely to want to connect. ✤ A local coffee shop may be willing to partner and donate coffee for the parents/caretakers to enjoy while their children participate in a craft with museum facilitators. ✤ This would spark community and conversation among the parents/caretakers. ✤ The event would be hosted every Saturday morning so patrons could make it a weekly routine.
- 25. !25 CMAC Cooking Classes Tactics This would be a donor event hosted by a local restaurant willing to partner with CMAC. Donors would be invited to attend a cooking class at the restaurant as a thank you for their donations. The Burke Manor Inn, in Gibsonville, has a cooking class in their restaurant and would be a great partner for the event.
- 26. !26 CMAC Cookbook Tactics Recipes from CMAC Chefs, CMAC donor cooking classes and other featured recipes will be created and used as both a thank you to donors and a means of fundraising. The cookbooks will be on sale at the CMAC gift shop and other local vendors.
- 28. !28 Blog Social Media Posts on the blog would be more informational. They would be less about events at the museum and be more of an informational tool for parents and donors to use to learn more about health, nutrition, community information and recipes. An example blog post can be found in the addendum.
- 29. !29 Facebook Social Media ✤ Posts featuring a graphic and information about health, nutrition and recipes would provide followers with materials to share with their friends. ✤ Facebook would also play a key role in event promotion. ✤ Users are more likely to share posts from CMAC that are not directly related to the museums events itself, rather posts that are relevant to CMAC while also providing information and entertainment for the followers. ✤ Social Media Today, as well as several other strategic communications sources, reports that brands are most successful when 80% of their social media posts are not directly brand related and the other 20% are. ✤ Posts that may be most successful, while also tying into the campaign would be healthy recipes, crafts, at-home science experiments, etc. Example Post
- 30. !30 Facebook Social Media ✤ “What’s Cooking at CMAC?” Graphics: These would provide a weekly taste of programming, highlight certain exhibits and showcase what new events CMAC has every week. These posts could be the suggested 20% of posts relating directly to CMAC. Using graphics instead of text will catch the followers’ eyes as they scroll down their news-feeds.
- 31. !31 Twitter Social Media ✤ Promotional posts will be made to raise awareness about new blog and Facebook posts as well as upcoming events. ✤ Engaging with patrons and encouraging them to use Twitter as promotional platform and as a place to provide feedback will be paramount.
- 32. !32 Instagram Social Media ✤ CMAC will adopt the hashtag #CMACchefs to allow the families to interact with the museum during the cooking classes or at home with some of their newly learned recipes.
- 33. Media Pitching & Touchpoints !33 Touchpoints
- 34. Media Pitching & Touchpoints !34 Touchpoints ✤ A story could be pitched to parent blogs, broadcast media, and print media highlighting the use of cooking to enhance math skills in young children. The following outlets would be great for pitching any Cooking Up Community events. ✤ Healthy Alamance: This nonprofit works towards creating a healthier community in Alamance County. They would be a great potential partner to use when pitching to media outlets as they are already an established expert on the topic. ✤ The Burlington Times: This media channel has covered CMAC before and would likely to be willing to do so again if an interesting story came along. Other print media should also be targeted, especially the family and lifestyle section editors and writers. ✤ WXII12 and Fox8: Up to this point CMAC has had no broadcast media coverage to our knowledge, this is a media channel that should be utilized. ✤ Parent Blogs: Blogs in the area would definitely be interested in covering the larger events, and this may draw their attention to the museum in general. ✤ A sample press release can be found in the addendum.
- 35. Future Plans !35 Future “Cooking Up Community” has potential for future expansion. If the campaign is a success then another tactic could be created such as a CMAC community garden. The garden would allow for patrons to connect with one another as well as use the produce in the CMAC Chefs class so child could see first hand the value of gardening.
- 36. Budget !36 Budget **Offering an unpaid internship through Elon School of Communications would allow more personnel for help with implementing social media and programming.
- 42. !42 Addendum Addendum Sample Press Release Children’s Museum of Alamance County 217 South Main Street Graham, NC 27253 FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Date of Issue Kitchen Serves as Mathematical Learning Environment For Children (Graham, NC) It is no secret that the U.S. falls short in global rankings on math and science among students. In a 2013 article NPR reported that the U.S. failed to rank within even the top twenty countries. With this, many schools and parents are struggling to find creative ways to incorporate math into their children’s education through fun activities. Cooking and time in the kitchen may be the solution to this. According to research published in the International Journal of early year education, children who were subtly guided through math lessons during cooking scored higher on math tests than children cooking with no guidance. The research showed that cooking allows for math skills at all levels to be introduced to children. From counting the number of raisins added to an ants-on-a-log to using fraction skills to half a recipe for chocolate chip cookies, cooking can enhance their learning in a fun environment. The Children’s Museum of Alamance County is implementing a new program called CMAC Chefs where children are invited to visit the museum and make their favorite “no- bake” snacks with the help of CMAC volunteers. Children will not only be learning about healthy eating habits and how to cook, but they will also be enhancing their math skills at the same time. CMAC Chefs classes will be held Wednesdays at 2 p.m. just in time for a child’s afternoon snack. For more information please contact Inda Luciano at inda@childrensmuseumofalamance.org.