This document outlines ways to promote a DECA chapter through developing promotional plans and implementing promotional activities and ideas. It discusses analyzing target audiences, crafting appealing messages, assembling a promotional team, setting goals and timelines, understanding media options, highlighting chapter achievements, and specific promotional ideas such as public service announcements, social media, presentations, and competitions. The overall aim is to increase awareness of and involvement with the DECA chapter within the school and local community.

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.