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 Marketing Your Organization
The Internet is key to your fire department's success.
In 1998 the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and United States Fire
Administration (USFA) published a book called Strategies for Marketing Your Fire
Department Today and Beyond. In this publication, they share ideas on
how fire departments can benefit from effective marketing.The need to
distribute information about what your organization does and how you
do your job is critical to the survival of the department. Why?
There are dozens or even hundreds of other agencies competing for the same
money you are. Resources are becoming more and more scarce each day. By
showing your fire department in a positive light, you can
jump to the head of the line when money is handed out. The fire service today must learn
to creatively advertise its products and services to local and federal government, the
public, and ourselves to show the value of what we do. How can you accomplish this easily,
quickly, and cheaply? Through effective use of the Internet!
The Internet allows you to reach into your customers' home 24 hours
a day, 7 days a week. Used in conjunction with traditional marketing
tools, your website becomes even more powerful! A website is
extremely cost effective. Since it is on 24/7, it can cost less than
$1.00 per day! Here is a comparison of the costs for a website versus
direct mailings and print ads:
|
Fire Web Sites |
Print Ad |
Direct Mailing |
- Design
- Domain Name
- Hosting for 5 years
- 24/7/365
|
- 1/2 page ad
- Full color
- 12 months
|
- 10,000 letters printed
- Envelopes
- Postage
- Return envelope with postage
- Once a year
|
|
$1000.00 |
$2700.00 |
$4800.00 |
Remember, elected officials are part of the public you will reach through
the internet, and they are the decision makers whose support you must win to survive. A
highly visible, positive image makes it easier to win their support. You can put
your web site address on mailings, letterheads, brochures and business cards. Now you have
a free advertising tool at your disposal. A web site allows you not only to describe your
organization, it allows you to show anyone everything about it.
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