You may want to print out this planning sheet and keep it handy as you go through the campaign. This Web page includes several advertising and promotional materials that can help you educate and inform people in your community about Indoor Air Quality. 

• For your target audience to receive your message, you need to employ several media and run the ads frequently during a specific time period -- perhaps two to five weeks. That's better than spreading your ads out over several months. 
• Remember, your busy audience is bombarded with thousands of messages every day -- on ads, brochures, the mass media, billboards, the "net" and more. For you to get your message through, you have to employ many media with great frequency. 
• You can always re-schedule a repeat of this campaign at a later date, but you need to bunch together your media blitz for maximum effectiveness.

Poster

 
• For maximum effectiveness, place the poster in locations frequented by your target audience: grocery stores, home furnishings and equipment stores, libraries, and other high traffic areas. 
• On the poster is a space for you to add -- via a stamp or other means -- sources of local information on indoor air quality. Make sure these local sources have the booklet and fact sheets available to people who are seeking more information. 
• Also make sure this poster is hung in a wide variety of places during the campaign period.

Press release and Sidebar

• Provide a localized version of this press release to your local newspaper editors, preferably at the beginning of the information campaign. 
• Localize by getting quotes from a local expert. It's always good to cite several sources of information; that adds credibility to the story. 
• Do not simply pencil in the names on the press release and hand it to an editor. If you do, s/he will know that it's a "canned" news release, which is something editors don't like. Instead, copy the text from the Web page and paste it into your word-processing program. Type in the names and titles of your local contacts. Also include their names, titles and phone numbers at the top of the release after the word "contacts." 
• If possible, deliver your news to a specific editor or reporter. Choose someone you've worked with before, or someone who has written about similar issues in the past -- maybe someone who covers health or the environment. (If you are distributing this to a small newspaper, this may not be possible -- they sometimes have only one or two reporters.) 
• When you approach the editor or reporter with these press releases, do not mention that you "want publicity" as part of this national ad campaign -- journalists are only interested in the news value of a press release, not its promotional aspect. The last thing they want is to think they are giving free advertising to someone. 
• Another tip: If you know of homeowners who have dealt with indoor air quality problems, and these people wouldn't mind sharing their story, write down the information and give it to the newspaper editor or reporter you're dealing with. The reporter will then probably want to do his/her own story based on interviewing the people. Typically the reporter would then add in some of the facts from this press release that you provided. If the newspaper follows up on your tip, the editor might even send a photographer to their home. 
• If you already have a good-quality photo to include, it would greatly increase your chance of getting the press release into the newspaper, and it would provide a visual element that is more likely to grab a reader's eye. If you don't want to include the photo, you could mention that "photos are available."

Radio and Television PSAs (Public Service Announcements)

• Contact your state's broadcasters association for information on radio and TV stations. That will list the public service directors at each station. Contact the public service director about running your PSA. 
• If you plan to pay for ads, you should talk to the advertising director. Paying for a few ads might also get you some free air time. 
• We have not provided a produced radio spot. If you have contacts at a radio station, perhaps you could enlist their assistance in producing the PSA, using the script we've provided. 
• While a television script is included here, this campaign also includes a broadcast quality television ad, which you can order using the ordering instructions. 
• If you plan to buy media ads, you'll want to select the broadcast times and stations according to the type of audience you want to reach. (For radio, "drive" time on a hard rock station aimed at the teenage market may not be your best buy. To reach busy adults, you might want to select stations geared to the 35 and older "homeowner" audience. For TV, you might want to pay more for the "news" hour slot.) Your sales rep can help you with this; just be sure to explain exactly who you're trying to reach. 
• If you hope to get free "Public Service Announcement" air time, you'll need to provide the station with the taped announcement. The downside of PSAs is that you have no control over when the station runs them. Sometimes a public or "college" radio station will simply read your PSA script.

Good Luck! If you have a specific question about the marketing materials, please contact Mike Vogel at mvogel@montana.edu, or phone (406) 994-3451.