Marketing
Marketing has never come naturally to me, but as Editor-in-Chief, it's been my responsibility not only to model excellence for marketing for my staff, but work toward a staff goal as far as fundraising. As such, I've worked to market outside the classroom environment while also maintaining a cohesive brand that allows the OMG to remain more recognizable to the school and local communities.
The Marketing Project
The ODYSSEY begins the Marketing Project at the start of every school year, which has allowed me to repeatedly engage in principles of marketing and branding in a tangible, real-world setting. Each year, I've shown growth in this project as a participant, but as a senior leader, I helped our Business Manager plan and design the project such that we meet programmatic fundraising goals while still educating students on how to market the OMG.
01
Spheres of Influence
At the beginning of every school year, the ODYSSEY asks every student in the program to outline their “spheres of influence” – areas of their life where they have influence. These include family members, friends, and other activities we partake in. This helped me figure out who would be interested in purchasing a subscription and learn how to market.
02
Drafting Scripts
After doing the spheres of influence assignment, students are required to submit scripts for both email and phone call interactions to market the publication. In my scripts, I made sure to highlight how purchasing a subscription not only benefits myself and the program, but also how it supports student journalism holistically.
03
Stakeholder Outreach
Following submissions and approval of the email and phone call scripts, each student is required to send a minimum of ten marketing attempts to some people outlined in the spheres of influence document. This allows the program to cultivate more followers and to bring in more funds to help produce our magazines.
04
Managing Subscriptions
Throughout the duration of the project, I get regular updates regarding which of my spheres of influence have purchased subscriptions, which allows me to follow up as needed. Every year that I have engaged in the project, I've had more subscribers than the 10 required, because for me, it's not about the grade, it's about ensuring out publication has the resources it needs to succeed.
Other Marketing/Fundraising Experience
Outside of the Marketing Project, I've also engaged in several other marketing and fundraising activities with the ODYSSEY. Every activity has facilitated tangible growth in the OMG's funds, or else worked to develop a stronger organizational brand consistent with our mission and values.
UGA Football Games
During the fall of my junior and senior years, I volunteered at home University of Georgia football games to work a concession stand. Shifts were all-day affairs, as oftentimes I was up before the sun and others home well into the night. However, the long hours paid off -- each year, my efforts contributed to roughly $15,000 worth of OMG funds.
20th Anniversary Celebration
In the spring of 2023, the ODYSSEY celebrated 20 years of existence with a banquet and reception in Downtown Athens. Though for alumni, the event was an opportunity to reconnect, as a current student, I was involved in both the audience outreach -- coordinating arrivals and event setup -- and marketing, selling 20th anniversary t-shirts and magazine subscriptions to attendees.
The Talking Dog
Entering the 2024-25 school year as Editor-in-Chief, OMG adviser David Ragsdale and I reached out to a University of Georgia Marketing and PR agency known as the Talking Dog to help us formalize a more cohesive brand. In multiple meetings, we discussed how best to create strong branding in our merchandise, on our social media, and with our school and community outreach. Although the agency decided not to take us on as a client, the results of the conversations influenced our marketing and branding strategy for the year.
Learning Marketing and Branding
In my ninth grade Journalism I class and throughout my time in ODYSSEY, I've engaged in several activities designed to improve my understanding of marketing and branding. Then, as a senior, I've worked to effectively synthesize these lessons and communicate them to the next generation of OMG journalists.
Marketing Notes
In Journalism I, I watched several informational videos to better understand not just what marketing was in general, but how it specifically related to scholastic media and the OMG. These notes exemplify that connection, as I tie in the ODYSSEY's mission statement (our "why") into more nebulous concepts.
Branding Notes
As I joined the Production class, I became more interested in branding and how to best serve our audience. These notes are one example of several documents I've taken from Ted Talk videos regarding the best way to communicate your mission and vision as a brand, to go along with tangible ideas about brand design.
Teaching Marketing & Branding
The OMG's longtime Business Manager graduated in 2024, leaving me with a sophomore new to the position as I took charge as EIC. To ease her into the role, I worked one-on-one with her to prepare her presentation on marketing, spending time both in and outside of class to prep her for the eventual presentation.
Maintaining a Brand
Having worked hard to raise money and learn the principles of marketing and branding, there are several ways that I work to maintain this brand in the OMG's day-to-day. This can be as simple as OMG merchandise or as complex as logo branding.
Social Media
On social media, I've worked with our Social Media Coordinator maintain our brand on the platform we know most students engage with us on. We've done this in a couple of ways; firstly, I created a social media template library so that designs for different stories maintain consistency without being identical. Secondly, we've added a small version of the OMG logo in the bottom right of our social media posts, which further enhances our brand and ensures no one can repost our content without our knowing.
Street Team
Though it may not seem like it, the four days a year in which we pass out our Newsmagazines are the four most important days for the OMG brand. As EIC, it's my job to coordinate these days and ensure they run smoothly. I put together a street team of several students who serve as ambassadors while coordinating with school administration to find times we can distribute without interrupting regular class activity. All members of the Street Team are mandated to wear OMG merchandise, enhancing our school brand, while excess magazines are left in classrooms to keep them fresh in students minds.
Spirit Days
Similar to how varsity athletes wear their jerseys on gameday, I set an expectation this year that OMG staffers should wear their ODYSSEY shirts on Fridays. For us, this helps the staff develop a strong culture and sense of identity. However, it also creates an expectation within the school -- once people start to see us repping our brand consistently, it reinforces our presence and builds positive relationships with other schools.