#Marketing
CodeDay is an incredible event for students to meet other students passionate about technology. Consequently, there also aren't many existing channels for you to reach students that are passionate about technology.
Finding and building a community of students excited about CodeDay will be the most difficult and time-consuming aspect of planning a CodeDay. At the same time, it's the most rewarding -- once you get to CodeDay and see the huge crowd, you know it's all worth it.
###Marketing Targets (for a 50-100 person event)
Keep your eye on these targets. If you aren't hitting these targets, you're behind and need to increase your marketing campaign.
- (T-1 Month): 5-10 tickets sold
- (T-2 Weeks): 10-20 tickets sold
- (T-1 Week): 30-60 tickets sold
- (T): 50-100 tickets sold
##Strategy
For CodeDay, we encourage you to rely on a word-of-mouth based strategy. If you think about it, most students don't:
- Get email or Facebook invite to CodeDay
- Register & Attend
Instead, this is the typical flow:
- A friend says "Hey, you should come to CodeDay with me! It's going to be really fun! :D"
- They then register & attend.
Your job as the marketer is to encourage these sorts of discussions among students, and build a community that's passionate about CodeDay.
###The Typical Pitch
CodeDay is a relatively new event, and many students are unfamiliar with the format. This means that you'll need to pitch it in a different way to traditional events. That means, instead of:
"Hey, want to come to CodeDay? It's a 24-hour programming marathon!"
"Oh sorry, I'm not really interested in programming.
It works better like this:
"Hey, want to come to CodeDay? We're going to build apps and games in 24 hours!"
"Oh, sounds interesting, but I don't know how to build an app or game. Is it even possible to build one in 24 hours?"
"Oh yes, it's definitely possible -- StudentRND's been hosting these in Seattle with some really cool results. And it's OK if you don't know how. We have some workshops to help get you started, and part of the fun is learning as you go along, and being in this community with other passionate students!"
"Sounds interesting, but I don't know anyone who's going..."
"That's alright! When you get to the event, people with cool ideas pitch those ideas, then you form teams around people with the most interesting ideas. Many people form teams at the event -- and many bring friends as well!"
"Ok, sounds like fun! I'll get a ticket!"
###Getting Started
As soon as you secure your venue, you should start promoting CodeDay. Here's some things to get started with:
###Identify Key Influencers
The first step, is really to identify key influencers. These could be people in your school, and other schools that you know influence other students. (eg, if they do something, 5 other students do something). For example:
- Club Presidents
- Leaders in different "friend groups"
- "Cool" teachers
Then, approach them and pitch CodeDay to them. Ask them to help you make CodeDay a success by attending, and encouraging their friends to attend.
###Create a Facebook Event & Website
Of all social media, Facebook works the best for high school and college students. Start by creating a Facebook event. This could be on the StudentRND page (with the help of StudentRND staff), or on your personal wall. Make sure that you link to your CodeDay website!
Start by inviting your close friends (they are coming to CodeDay, aren't they?) and the influencers to join the event. After several people click "attending", go through your friends list and invite everyone you think would be interested. Ask your influencers and friends to do the same. That should start building some traction.
As soon as they're all attending, encourage them to all send invites to their friends. This will start building some momentum for your event.
###Facebook Groups
If you're part of any related Facebook Groups, post about CodeDay!
After you've gotten an initial group of students going to CodeDay, start reaching out to other related organizations and ask if you can partner with them. These include:
- High School/College Clubs
- Robotics Club
- Math Club
- Science Olympiad
- Programming Club
- Tech Club
- Computer Club
- Regional Organizations:
- Computer Science Teachers Association
- FIRST Robotics
- Startup Mailing Lists ("Seattle Tech", etc)
- Schools
- Principals
- Teachers
- CTE Instructors
- University Outreach (many universities have people dedicated to outreaching to local high school students)
- Computer Science Departments
- Media
- Local/Regional Newspapers
- Local Tech Blogs
Contact them, and ask them to promote CodeDay to their members. For the more engaged organizations, you can offer a "Media Sponsorship" -- where you put their logo on the CodeDay website & opening presentations in exchange for promotion. That will both increase engagement from their members (because they see it "endorsed" by their organization), and give them an incentive to work with you.
As soon as you get a sponsor, ask them to help you do the same! They may have a decent following on their social media, better relationships with press, industry organizations, and their employees' children may also want to attend!
It's a win-win, since they can promote their involvement, get publicity, and make sure their sponsorship is a success!
It's a continuous process to make this work -- but as long as you spend some time every day to promote CodeDay, people will gradually hear about it.
###CodeDay War Room
Read How to Organize a “Social Media War Room” and Rule the Internet for a Day. Get together and promote CodeDay in one group of organizers! Do this one month and one week before CodeDay.
##Good Luck!
Marketing CodeDay is definitely one of the most difficult, time consuming work in organizing a CodeDay, but with some good effort, you can ensure that your CodeDay is a success!