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Developing: Possible Recruitment Strategies

 Some possible recruitment strategies include the following:

• Letters of introduction to various health fields (practicing or retired)
• Referrals from other volunteer centers
• Media attention given to exercises with response partners
• Face-to-face approaches
• Presentations to professional organizations and schools
• Professional newsletters and journals
• Brochures
• Word-of-mouth through existing networks
• Coordinated recruitment with other partners (e.g., Citizen Corps, Community Emergency Response Teams)
• Press releases
• Offering license renewal option to retired volunteers
• MRC booths or tables at fairs
• MRC unit profile

Advertising: Public Awareness and Public Relations

Outreach to volunteers largely overlaps with public awareness campaigns and other public relations efforts. Even when your public message may be intended to generate support from other constituents in your community, each public communication made on behalf of your MRC unit also is an opportunity to attract future volunteers. The importance of volunteers should remain central to all MRC unit communications.

Your public communications strategy will differ based on local resources and needs. Nonetheless, there are some standard options to pursue, which include the following:

1. Find local media (newspapers, radio, television, Web sites, etc.) willing to provide free or low-cost print space or air time. Build relationships with reporters and other individuals in these media outlets. If they know who you are, they are more likely to seek information from you. If your agency or organization has a Public Information Officer, enlist their help with identifying and reaching these key individuals. You also may find a local public relations firm willing to donate time to helping you determine the most effective and efficient ways to disseminate information in your specific community.
    
2. Identify and contact local corporations or organizations—hospitals, emergency management departments, government health offices, even businesses—that might sponsor your message in exchange for a media mention.
    
3. Seek opportunities to speak at local conferences, professional meetings, organizational gatherings, medically related benefits, and special events.
    
4. Establish ties with local elected officials by informing them of MRC activities and by assessing how the MRC can support their objectives. You can encourage them to mention the MRC in their speeches and at other public appearances as a way to advertise the MRC.
    
5. Sell your message to the recognized leaders of the volunteer groups you would like to target (i.e., if nurses, the president of their local association; if medical students, a respected faculty member or student representative; if veterinarians, the head of their local professional group).
    
6. Update your unit profile on a regular basis.

Some of your public messages will describe your MRC unit in general terms and will be suitable for the general public. Other messages may be more targeted, based on your assessment of local needs for medical and other public health volunteers. You may want to reach individuals with certain skills (e.g., doctors with particular specialties, nurses, pharmacists, dentists, veterinarians, chiropractors, other public health professionals, support staff, students, practicing professionals, or retired professionals).

While basing your messages on the core message you crafted earlier, you can modify your appeal for different volunteer types. Determine how best to reach these individuals via the type of media to use and the particular channels to choose.

Creating public awareness of your MRC unit is the first step toward guiding prospective volunteers. Verify that you:

• Clarify your MRC’s mission and focus
• Explain the community’s need for the unit
• Clarify the skills you need for the unit to be most effective

Using public relations effectively can strengthen relationships with volunteers and partnering organizations because it shows that the MRC is part of the community. This can have personal significance to many of your volunteers. It also will be crucial to partnering organizations seeking to sustain a strong community presence.

We are bombarded by hundreds of marketing messages each day. Rarely do we act on a message the first time we hear it. It can take as many as seven exposures to your message before a volunteer will act on it. To reinforce your message, you may use various media to advertise your message to the community. Examples of media MRC units have used successfully include the following:

• Brochures
• Radio advertisements
• Television advertisements
• Billboards
• Health fair displays
• Promotional item
• Inserts in other mailings (such as power bills or medical licensure forms)
• Signs on buses and trolleys
• Banners or signs in high-traffic areas
• Radio and television interviews
• Press conferences
• Mentions in the newsletters of churches and other organizations
• Speaking engagements at civic and professional organizations

Community Practices

Some communities, especially in larger metropolitan areas, have populations speaking hundreds of different languages. MRC volunteers often reflect this cultural diversity. Some MRC units partner with groups such as Asian, African American, or Hispanic/Latino health coalitions. Building diversity in the MRC helps overcome language and cultural barriers that might impede the effectiveness of emergency or public health responses.

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Last Updated on 8/21/2006