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McMinnville Area Habitat for Humanity Run, Walk, Ride

Public Relations Plan

Emily Eisert

Senior Capstone

Linfield College
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Situation Analysis

McMinnville Area Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit organization in McMinnville,

Oregon and an affiliate of Habitat for Humanity International. The mission of the organization

is to bring people together to build homes, communities, and hope. McMinnville Area Habitat

for Humanity has built 55 homes since it was founded in 1991. Each home is built with the help

of volunteers and community members as well as the family who will own the home.

McMinnville Area Habitat for Humanity owns the home until the Home Dedication Ceremony,

when the family becomes the owner of their home. The organization recently purchased a lot of

land that will be used to build future homes. There are currently 55 homes, and two are in the

planning and construction phases.

There has been a recent change in leadership within the organization. Mary Stern stepped

in as Executive Director in June and is working to improve the reputation of McMinnville Area

Habitat for Humanity. There have been some other changes at the administration level as well.

The organization is working hard to be transparent about where funds are going and regaining

the respect of the community as an organization doing good work. Past reputation problems may

create hesitation from community members to participate in McMinnville Area Habitat for

Humanity events.

The Run, Walk, Ride event will be held on June 17th, 2017. This will be the 16th annual

Run, Walk, Ride event. Last year there were 130 participants and the organization raised

$12,500. There is a 5K and 10K run and walk and a 28-mile bike ride. A possible competitor for

this race is the Go Granary 5K on June 10th in the Granary District in McMinnville. People may

not want to participate in multiple races within a week of each other. There is also a 10K in
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Portland, the Grateful Dad, on June 17th, which may be appealing to runners in the Portland area

who do not want to drive to McMinnville. There is also the Salem Summer Solstice 5/10K on

June 23rd in Salem. Once again, Run, Walk, Ride will be competing with people who do not

regularly participate in races and may only choose one within June to participate in.

A strength of this organization is that McMinnville Area Habitat for Humanity is working

for a great cause. The Run, Walk, Ride event will make it possible to build homes in the future

for community members. There has already been a significant impact in the community with the

55 homes already built. Another strength of the organization is the executive director, Mary

Stern. She is highly respected in the community and has been working to better McMinnville for

most of her career. She is very involved in the community and is an influencer among residents.

McMinnville Area Habitat for Humanity has the opportunity to reach beyond

McMinnville and Yamhill County for the Run, Walk, Ride event. There is an opportunity to

reach out to runners and bikers in the Portland and Seattle areas. There is also an opportunity to

make this event one that people look forward to each year as a way to be active as well as

support a local non-profit organization. The organization currently has a Facebook page and an

Instagram account, which can be utilized for outreach for the event.

As noted above, one audience for this campaign consists of serious runners and bikers in

the Portland and Seattle areas. This is a professionally timed race, which will make it appealing

to this group. The event includes a 5K or 10K run and walk and a 28-mile bike ride. The 10K run

will likely appeal to people who regularly run races. The campaign will target this group through

media outlets that promote running and biking. These are people with active lifestyles who are

seeking out opportunities to be professionally timed. They are likely to be in average to higher
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income bracket due to the $25 cost associated with the event as well as having the ability to

travel to the race if they are living outside of the McMinnville area.

The second audience for this campaign is people who want to support the McMinnville

Area Habitat for Humanity. These people are going to be more interested in the 5K or 10K walk.

This audience includes McMinnville residents who want to support a local non-profit. They are

not reading running and biking magazines, blogs or websites, so they will have to be reached

through local media outlets and promotional material distribution.

PR Plan Introduction

This plan is based on a mass communication theory called the diffusion of innovation

theory. This theory is used to explain how people make decisions, such as choosing to participate

in the Run, Walk, Ride event (Weidman, 2015). There are five stages to this theory that will

eventually turn potential participants into active participants. The first step of the theory is

awareness. This is important because it is the basis of the rest of the decision-making process.

Without people being aware of the walk, run and bike ride, no one will sign up for the event.

Once people are aware of the race, they need to become interested. Interest is the second part of

the theory and is related to awareness because people need to know about the race in order to

become interested.

The next two stages are evaluation and trial. These are the stages in which potential

participants will evaluate whether the action they are being asked to do is worth it to them and

then they try it before officially adopting the action. The evaluation and trial stages are important

because it can determine whether the potential participant becomes a participant. This will be
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done through direct communication with potential participants. The final stage of the theory is

adoption. This stage of the decision-making process will be evaluated by how many people

register for the event.

Run, Walk, Ride PR Plan

Goal: Increase awareness and attendees for the Run, Walk, Ride Event

The goal of this plan is to increase participation in the Run, Walk, Ride event. There were

130 participants at last years event and there is a goal to increase that number by another 30

people. In order to successfully get an increase in participants, potential participants will need to

become aware of the event, become interested in it and eventually sign up to participate. The two

objectives for this plan are to increase awareness and interest in the event to 3,000 people and to

increase the attendance among runners and bikers from last year by 30 participants.

Objective 1: Increase awareness and interest in the event to 3,000 people

The first objective of this plan is to increase awareness of the event to 3.000 people.

Raising awareness of the event is the first step in getting people to sign up for it. They are not

able to sign up until they know what to sign up for. Once they are aware of the event, they will

need to become interested in it before they register. This objective is designed to increase both

awareness and interest in the event.

Strategy 1: Controlled media

The first strategy for objective one is to utilize local businesses and events to promote the

event. By doing this, we will be able to increase the awareness of the local community. The

McMinnville community is an important audience and will likely be the largest group present at

the event. This is because of proximity to the event. By utilizing the businesses that local
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residents visit, we will be able to reach an audience beyond those that are already aware of

McMinnville Area Habitat for Humanity. Using an event that is largely attended by people in the

community will also increase the number of people who will become aware of the event.

Tactic 1: Posters

The first tactic for this strategy is to create posters. These posters will be put up in

McMinnville businesses all over town, particularly 3rd Street because these businesses have the

most traffic. This communication tool will reach people who are shopping at these locations.

There will also be posters specifically for businesses that are sponsoring the event. The poster

will identify them as a sponsor, which will help them show their audience that they may be

interested in the event as well.

We will evaluate this tactic by surveying people when they sign up for the event to learn

how they found out about the event. We will also track how many posters went up and the usual

amount of foot traffic that goes through the different locations to track how many people were

made aware of the event.

Tactic 2: Social Media for McMinnville Area Habitat for Humanity

The next tactic for gaining interest in the event is through McMinnville Area Habitat for

Humanitys social media accounts on Facebook and Instagram.There will be an event on

Facebook for people to RSVP to that includes more information about Run, Walk, Ride and how

to sign up. This is an opportunity for people to see who else has signed up for the event and be

encouraged to do the same. There will also be a posting plan that includes the link to the website

so followers can sign up through the post. The social media campaign will run from April 15-

June 17.
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In addition to promotional posts, we will create a #machabitat training guide campaign to

be posted on Facebook. This will help encourage people who are not as active to prepare for the

event and feel like they will be successful when participating. The campaign will be a series of

posts for 9 weeks, one a week leading up to the event. Each post will include a tip about how to

get in shape or an exercise they can do. This will be a way to promote the event without over-

posting directly promotional messages. It is important for people to feel like they are getting

something out of the the posts, especially if they have already signed up for the event.

We will measure the effectiveness of this tactic by surveying people when they sign up

for the event to learn how they found out about the event. We will also track shares, likes and

comments on the social media posts to show how many people were actively aware of the social

media posts. The number of people reached will be tracked using analytics on the social media

sites.

Tactic 3: Social Media Toolkit for Participants

The third tactic for this strategy is to create a social media toolkit to provide to people

who register for the event. This toolkit will include posts for participants to copy and paste to

their own social media accounts and pictures to attach. This toolkit will be on the registration

website for people to access after registering. This will make it easier for people to share with

their friends and for them to do some of the promotional work. People are also more likely to

want to participate when they know their friends are and, therefore, will be more likely to sign up

if prompted by someone they know. I will also develop a social media toolkit for the event

sponsors to use if they would like to share with their followers that they are supporting the Run,

Walk, Ride event.

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We will measure the effectiveness of this tactic by tracking how many times the hashtag

included in the social media toolkit is used. This tactic can also be evaluated by tallying all posts

that tag McMinnville Area Habitat for Humanity.

Strategy 2: Uncontrolled Media

Uncontrolled media is important for reaching people who live outside of the McMinnville

area. Uncontrolled media includes newspapers, blogs and websites. It is also an opportunity to

reach people who do not look at posters when they are out in the community.

Tactic 1: Local Press Release

The first tactic for uncontrolled media is to write a press release that targets the

McMinnville community. This press release will be sent to the News-Register and will highlight

what the event is about and why people should sign up to run. The newspaper may reach people

who are not paying attention to posters or do not follow McMinnville Area Habitat for Humanity

on social media.

We will evaluate this tactic by surveying people when they sign up for the event to learn

how they found out about the event. This tactic will first be evaluated based on how much

coverage the News-Register gives leading up to the event. The circulation of the paper will be

used as an indication of how many people were reached.

Tactic 2: Regional Press Release

The second tactic for uncontrolled media is to write a press release that targets a regional

audience of people who regularly participate in races or bike rides. There will be two versions of

this press release. The first will target runners and will be sent to regional running magazines and

blogs. This will reach a broader audience outside of the McMinnville area. Another press release
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will be written that targets cyclists. These will be sent to websites and blogs specifically for

cyclists in Oregon and Washington.

We will evaluate this tactic by surveying people when they sign up for the event to learn

how they found out about the event. This tactic will first be evaluated based on how many

publications and blogs publish the press release or an article based on the press release. The size

of each media audience will be used to estimate how many people were reached with the two

specialized press releases.

Objective 2: Increase attendance of runners and bikers areas by 30 people from last year.

After raising awareness and interest in the event, the next step is to increase the number

of people who actually participate in the event. In order to do this, they will have to go through

the trial, evaluation and adoption stages. The strategies in used for this objective include direct

communication with potential participants, which gives them the opportunity to There are several

forms of communication that will give potential participants the opportunity to sign up and

evaluate whether they are going to participate. They will then go through the adoption stage

when they attend the event and complete the race.

Strategy 1: Farmers Market Booth

The first strategy for achieving the second objective is to have a booth at the

McMinnville Farmers Market on May 18th. This will give prospective participants an

opportunity come up to the booth, learn more about the event and then sign up. This is direct

communication with the people who may be participating in the event.

Tactic 1: Postcards
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We will design and print promotional postcards and will hand them out at the booth as a

way to remind people to sign up for the event. These cards will have all of the information

necessary to sign up and will be a great way to keep the event on the mind of each person who

gets one. It will be designed similarly to the poster to keep the style consistent and recognizable

for people.

We will evaluate this tactic by surveying people when they sign up for the event to learn

how they found out about the event. We will determine how many people were reached by this

tactic by counting the number of cards taken by the end of the day of the event.

Tactic 2: Website

The second tactic for this strategy is to develop content for the registration webpage that

is user friendly and adaptive, and provides all of the information about the event. People will

then be able to sign up for the event at the Farmers Market on an iPad. This is a way to make it

easier to register. The website will also feature the social media toolkit and press releases for

those who want more information.

We will evaluate the success of this tactic by tallying how many people sign up for the

event during Farmers Market hours. We will track this through online registrations, which

happen through the website.

Strategy 2: Direct Outreach to Mac Habitat Supporters

The second strategy for generating registrations is to directly communicate with people

who already support McMinnville Area Habitat for Humanity. It is important to keep a direct line

of communication to those who already support the organization because they are likely to
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continue to support it. Reaching out to people who already support the organization may lead

them to invite their friends and be able to initiate a word-of-mouth campaign.

We will evaluate this tactic by surveying people when they sign up for the event to learn

how they found out about the event.

Tactic 1: Email to McMinnville Area Habitat for Humanity email list

The first tactic for this strategy is to send out an email in a newsletter format to tell

people about the event. This will take the form of the monthly newsletter that already goes out to

McMinnville Area Habitat for Humanity supporters. This email will inform the recipient about

the event as well as provide some facts about why affordable housing is important and the

purpose of the Run, Walk, Ride event. It will also give directions for signing up through the

website along with a link to the registration page. The end of the email will have a share feature

that encourages recipients to pass it along to their friends.

We will evaluate this tactic by surveying people when they sign up for the event to learn

how they found out about the event.

Tactic 2: Postcards for Mac Habitat Events Leading Up to Run, Walk, Ride

The second tactic for this strategy is to hand out more of the previously mentioned

postcards at other McMinnville Area Habitat for Humanity events leading up to Run, Walk, Ride.

These postcards will give information about the event and how to sign up. These will be effective

because they are being handed out in person and the recipient is already supporting McMinnville

Area Habitat for Humanity at a different event. These will be available at the registration table

for each event.

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The success of this tactic will be measured by how many people who attended a previous

event sign up for the Run, Walk, Ride event. As a part of the registration process, we will have a

survey for participants to indicate how they found out about the event.

Conclusion

The overall success of this campaign will be determined by whether the participant goal

of 160 people is met. This campaign can be modified in the future for next years Run, Walk,

Ride event.
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References

Weidman, L. (2015). Diffusion of Innovation Theory. Retrieved from https://bblearn.linfield.edu/

bbcswebdav/pid-351855-dt-content-rid-2205601_1/courses/2015FA-MSCM34701/PR

%20Chapter%209%20Public%20Opinion%20and%20Persuasion.pdf

What We Do. (2017). McMinnville Area Habitat for Humanity. Retrieved from http://

machabitat.org/about-us/