Publicity and Space Requests
For Event Planning and Promotion:
STEP 1
Space Request Form
Before you promote an event at St. C's, please make sure to reserve the space and equipment you need.
Fill out a Space Request Form
STEP 2
Publicity Form
St. Columba's will only promote events that are hosted by St. Columba's and its ministries. If you are a ministry of St. Columba's and would like to promote your event, see below.
Fill out a Publicity Request Form
Who should I contact?
Lauren Devito, Communications Director
Contact Lauren to plan a marketing campaign, design a logo for your ministry, or for special requests for printing.
Amanda Fulton, Project Manager
Contact Amanda whenever you have a publicity request, but only after filling out the Calmer Form for publicity requests.
Jamal Williams, Technical Arts Director
Contact Jamal if you need help with Realm, or if you want to schedule to record or edit video. His filming hours are Monday through Thursday, 8am-4pm, and immediately after the 11:15am service on Sundays
Rachid Gana, pressman
Please contact Lauren Devito ([email protected]) for requests for printing.
When to use St. Columba's Communications
What is not promoted through St. Columba’s Communications?
We do not promote events that are not directly hosted by a St. Columba’s Ministry. We will not include events that are run by other organizations or groups, even if they may be of interest to St. Columba's parishioners. For example, if you are the yo-yo ministry, and you are hosting a yo-yo making class, fabulous. Let’s promote it. But if you want to promote another organizations’ yo-yo movie marathon on the history of yo-yos, unfortunately, we will not promote it.
SPECIAL NOTE: If your ministry needs to fundraise for any reason, you must first have a conversation with the Director of Stewardship before reaching out to the communications staff for promotion. Once you’ve coordinated with the director of stewardship, we can assist you in developing a campaign for marketing.
Terrific. I’m ready to communicate! What’s next?
All event requests must be submitted through the Calmer form (https://tinyurl.com/SCCALMERFORM - new link! Please bookmark!). You will receive a copy of your response. If you have additional information to include, please forward that email, with your additional information, to [email protected].
After you’ve submitted your form, and if you’d like to explore a marketing campaign, we’d be happy to discuss options to most effectively promote your ministry.
Email marketing (two weeks advance notice, two weeks to promote)
Enews (Thursday)
Family Newsletter (Wednesday)
Website (one week advance notice)
Slider- The Communications Team will decide if it's appropriate to feature your ministry/event as a slider. An event is eligible to be considered as a slider (on the front page of the website) if it is both inward and outward-facing - that is, of interest to both parishioners and non-parishioners.
Event page - located on a designated section of the website, this can be promotion for both internally and externally facing events. It can contain more extensive information than a slider, including times, links, photos, and videos. A slider may link to an event page.
Ministry page - every ministry should have a ministry page, which should include a description of your ministry, meeting times, contact information, and any additional material that helps to illustrate the mission of your ministry (video, photos, etc) . Please regularly check your webpage to ensure information is up to date. If edits are needed, please send them to [email protected].
Youtube video/ YouTube channel (TBD, minimum 1 month advance notice)
Videos take time to film and edit, but in certain situations, it can be an extremely effective tool for raising awareness. It is best to begin preparing for a video with at least a month’s notice, prior to the desired promotion date. A video can live on our youtube channel, as well as on your ministry page. We can promote videos through our social media and in the enews. Contact Jamal Williams ([email protected]) if you’d like to coordinate a video for your ministry.
Print material (two weeks advance notice)
Flyers, posters, and brochures can be helpful tools to get the word out about your ministry. Coordinate with the communications staff to learn what would be most effective for your campaign. Note that production time will increase if posters or brochures are required.
We can also highlight your ministry event in Connections which is featured with the Sunday bulletin.
If you choose to produce these materials on your own, please run them by the director of communications before disseminating. Please do not hang any fliers up at church without express permission.
Social media (two weeks advance notice)
Facebook and Instagram are our main social media channels. We can work with you to promote your event through photographs, graphics, text and video.
Outside promotion (two weeks advance notice)
The Communications Team has a roster of listservs we connect with to promote events that would appeal to a particular demographic. If you know of a listserv that would be great for your ministry promotion, let us know!
The Diocese (two weeks advance notice)
The diocese will promote some of our activities when it would be something appealing to other churches.
St. Columba’s Nursery School (two weeks advance notice)
Let’s not forget these wonderful young families! This is a great outlet for parents and young children (ages 2-5) for your events. They have an enewsletter and they will also accept flyers for school bags. The Communication Team will help you determine if this is a good outlet for your ministry.
And more!
BONUS! If you need a logo for your ministry, please set up a time with the Director of Communications to help design one for your needs
Let's Work Together.
The Communications Team works very hard to meet the communication needs of each and every ministry. But it’s important that we work together.
If every ministry left brochures all about the church, with flyers and posters taped to the walls, not only would it be unsightly (gasp!), but it also creates a “white noise”, where nothing gets effectively communicated.
With each each and every request, we carefully consider:
- Who is the target audience for this messaging?
- What is the desired outcome for this messaging? (ie Call to Action, Next Steps?)
- How can this campaign compliment the broader themes and strategic priorities of St. Columba’s?
- Which are the most effective communications channels for your target audience?
- What is the best timing of the campaign so it becomes a highlight, and not “white noise”?
- How does this fit into the communications landscape, with all the other communications going on?
Our number one priority is to help promote the mission and ministries of St. Columba’s to the parish and the broader community. It’s a team effort, and we appreciate the opportunity to work with you!
Director of Communications
Project Coordinator
Technical Arts Director
Pressman
