But what about marketing within?

After nearly two decades of being on my volunteer department I’ve started noticing a frightening trend amongst our members – low attendance. And I’m not just talking about the boring and mundane weekly truck / station maintenance. I’m talking about emergency incidents and training.

The same ten or so people out of a 30-person roster keep showing up for everything, while the others seem to show up periodically. Some I haven’t seen in months (literally).

I had always heard of this strange phenomenon from other departments, but had never been witness to it myself until last year and most of 2009.

So what gives? Where is everyone? What’s the causes and how do we turn things around?

I think the causes are many and some just can’t be explained. I know one reason for our department is because a good portion of our roster is getting older which means more family involvement. The kids are getting older and are in sports and events. They can take longer vacations because the kids don’t need to be looked after so much.

The other causes or reasons are a bit of a mystery to me and I even posed the question in the FireLink forums. Although the response was minimal, one particular response caught my attention.

“The sad fact is some people just don’t enough pride in themselves, their fellow firefighters or their department to really make a difference. They are just shirts.”

I agree to an extent with some, while others I think have just lost interest in one form or another. Sure, they’ll be there for the “big one” and show up to the more glitzy and glamorous events, but ask them to attend a sit-down training or help with the more repetitive and mundane tasks and it’s like pulling teeth.

My initial thought(s)? Market within. Make the department such a neat place to be and be part of that people can’t resist coming around. Here is a short list of ideas I’ve come up with.

• Competition: Firefighters are for the most part type-A personalities and are competitive. Have an annual award for the firefighter with the highest attendance
• More competition: Divide your roster into even teams with a captain leading each and see which team can perform the best. The losers have to buy the winners dinner or give them a cookout or something
• Compliment and encourage: Being a leader means you have to look at every member of the department and periodically remind them just how important their job is and how good they are at doing it
• Make the station a focal point: For most volunteer departments the fire station has always been a focal point. Maybe it’s lost some of that luster and it’s high time you make it the central gathering point for firefighters and the community alike
• Re-Think Training: Train, train, train, it’s what we do. We know we should and more often. But with any volunteer department it gets harder and harder to keep up with local training, let alone the constant barrage of government required trainings now mandatory for all departments. Maybe we need to re-think how the trainings are handled? Offer a dinner before or after? Train more in the public view possibly?
• Compensate: I know, money should be the last thing on a firefighters mind when doing this job and I also know some can’t even fathom paying their volunteers what with budget cuts and all, but maybe a little extra dough in one’s pocket is an incentive that could help
• Do it for the kids: Maybe integrate a junior firefighter program along with your fire prevention program to ensure the future of the department

What else? Any other thoughts? Ideas?

As more and more cities, towns, counties and township’s face budget crunches, there is a strong push for consolidation of government entities. The fire service is not immune to these ideas.

Just last year Indiana tried pushing through a bill that would do just that. They wanted every county to combine as one and all volunteer departments would cease to exist and run as one complete department countywide.

So what does that have to do with marketing, you might ask? Everything.

You see, I firmly believe that by being more visible to the public we serve and by communicating as much as possible with our elected officials, we build a stronger “brand” for our organization.

Now obviously choosing one political side over another is not what I’m talking about here. What I’m talking about is educating these decision makers on just how valuable and important it is to be separate divisions and still be cost effective. One tool you might find interesting is the National Volunteer Fire Council calculator.

Nearly every volunteer fire department is in a smaller close knit community, get out there and talk with family and friends about your department. Tell them how consolidation could effect their taxes, their insurance and quite possibly the fine coverage they’ve always received.

Develop a website campaign and press releases to keep your community informed.

Attend town hall meetings discussing these issues and express your concerns.

If your department/county has been successful in integrating, I’d love to hear your feedback!

From mobile phones with cameras to people lugging around digital cameras that fit nicely in a pocket and the load of ameteur bloggers / publishers, media communication can become a real problem for your department because you’re not in control.

Everyday people are reporting the news more frequently and without regard than any time in modern history. How can you deal with this and maybe even thwart a few rumors or fallacies that might arise from this public media.

First make sure you have clear and concise facts presented to the proper media outlets. Even if that means sending out those dreaded press releases to area news agencies, it’s important you get the correct story out there.

Next you can become your own media center and P.I.O via your website. Use it to post stories and if possible images of the incident. A combination of your facts and images makes you a far more accurate reporter than Johnny the freelancer who happened to have his video camera in the car while you were still on the scene.

Have you had to thwart a false claim and/or facts after an incident to make sure your department’s name isn’t Mudd? (If you really are the Mudd Fire Department, we meant no offense!)

Take a moment and think about what would enter your mind if you seen a guy/gal in a brown uniform stepping out of a big brown box truck with the only marking being that of some gold shield looking thing. What do you envision after I described that? Obviously we’re talking about UPS here, but how do we know that when we just mentioned a brown box truck? Because they know how to communicate their message and who we are and I think we could do a much better job at this.

Granted almost any fire truck has a maltese cross and their truck number on it, but what else is there to identify who they are? For most volunteer departments, their small towns are surrounded by townships and/or counties and often times that’s what we put on our trucks. It might say “Smith Twp. Fire Department” or “Adams Twp. F.D.” and although these are real fire departments, both are centered in a town or city.

I can hear the questions already – “Chris, they don’t care what it says on the side of the truck, just as long as we show up.” I can’t deny that a person who is experiencing their first emergency could give a rat’s behind what it says on the side of the truck, just as long as we show up and do our job, that’s what matters most. But what I’m talking about is making an identity for your department while not in emergency mode.

Get out there and let people know that your local department is this or that. It doesn’t matter, but if people know you just as “the fire department”, you’re missing a prime opportunity to present yourselves as much more than that!

Obviously every situation is different and will have to be handled accordingly, but there are some basic rules to follow when dealing with almost any situation.

Your Public Information Officer

S/he needs to understand the media and act in a timely manner. Whether it’s an immediate press conference, a face-to-face with decision makers or sending out a press release to the media, it’s important that some sort of action be taken by this person(s).

Keep It In-House

Thankfully it’s a rare event for most of us, but there are those times when something happens that will be public knowledge and possibly spread all over the local television news, websites, newspapers and even within your community.

No matter what has occurred, I think it’s very important that command remind everyone to keep intimate details about the event amongst members only. Whether the media digs up certain facts or not, it should be left to command and/or the P.I.O. to confirm or deny any allegations to said facts.

Damage Control

Now that your P.I.O. has spoken to the media and department members are made aware of what they can and cannot say, it’s time to rebuild the trust your community is so familiar with.

You need to reassure local citizens, politicians and decision makers that what happened was not a reflection of your department and the necessary steps are being taken to prevent this from happening again.

But you’re also going to have to work twice as hard to keep a positive image about your department and it’s members.

How has your department dealt with bad P.R. in the past?

For almost 100 years fire departments across the country make sure that people are aware about the dangers of fire and how to prevent them. But what usually happens after that week? In all reality the public goes back to their daily lives, the school children we visited are back to learning their ABC’s and businesses who participated are now back to making widgets. In other words the message was clear for a short time, but it will fade.

Why not use fire prevention as a way to market your department year round?

Here is a simple 1-year plan that you could use or build upon to generate more fire prevention and awareness, along with getting your department the much needed attention they deserve

January: It’s the first of the year and people have resolutions on their mind. Make fire safety one of their resolutions and offer a FREE Smoke Detector Weekend Inspection. You get to visit your community, help them prevent fire and start their new year off in a safe manner.

April/May: For many rural and volunteer fire departments, this time of year means the burning of brush and ditches. Why not invite farmers / landowners to submit a request for you to come out and burn the field safely with the understanding that a small donation would greatly be appreciated.

June/July: The summer is in full swing now and there are a host of activities you could educate the public on. You could offer free gas grill inspections or maybe even a seminar on fireworks safety and what to do in the event either of these summertime events turns into an emergency.

October/November: Obviously Fire Prevention Week will be your “big event” for the year, but let’s consider some other situations where fire dangers could arise. Many towns and cities do not allow the burning of leaves or rubbish, but most counties do allow the burning of these natural materials. Send out some of your smaller apparatus (chief’s vehicles, grass buggies, etc.) on a nice weekend looking for burn piles. Just stop in, say hello and see if you could leave them a brochure on burning safely.

December: There’s no denying that this time of year can be very dangerous for several reasons. From live trees, to Christmas lights and decorations and of course space heaters / furnaces, this time of year has a host of issues when it comes to safety. Team up with a local HVAC company and provide inspections of furnaces for free. Invite a local electrician company to come out with you on inspections of outlets where space heaters might be used.

There are plenty of ideas here to think about or choose from, could you add more? Have some ideas? Leave us your notes below and maybe others will learn from what you have done.

It’s my belief that just raising money shouldn’t be the sole purpose of any marketing for a fire department. You see, as you reach out to your “customers” asking for much needed funds, you’re presented a prime opportunity to also market yourself and your services.

In business sales, there is a question you must answer for your customers – What’s in it for me? No matter your industry, you have to provide a reason for that person to separate them from their hard earned dollar. If you don’t believe this, think about the infomercials you see on late night T.V. and you’ll find one particular thing in common. They provide a reason or a sense of urgency. For example:

“Call right now and receive 1 free Acme Gizzmo!” This message tells them that they’re getting a better deal now, instead of later where they may only get one Acme Gizzmo

or

“If you don’t call today, you’ll miss our one time T.V. offer!” This creates a sense of urgency. If you don’t call right away, you’re going to regret not calling.

So how can we apply these same basic concepts to the fire service? Let’s look at some ‘typical’ examples of volunteer fire department fund raisers and how we can create that sense of urgency and answer the almighty question of “What’s in it for me?”

Dinners / Banquet’s: For decades this has been a ‘normal’ routine fund raiser for volunteer fire departments. And although it can work, the amount of time and energy versus the payback is a bit unbalanced. But all hope is not lost.

Usually the message is “fund raiser for area department”, which is all well and good and your usual’s have no problem chucking out $20 to feed a small family and donate to a good cause. But what if we change that message to read “fund raiser for much needed equipment”

This not only creates a sense of urgency because if you don’t get this equipment, you may not be able to protect the community as well.

It also answers that pressing question we spoke about earlier. The customer (citizen) now has a reason for spending their hard earned dough because they’re helping a very worthwhile organization that keeps them safe.

Boot Drives: This is another popular event where firefighters stand at busy intersections carrying a boot and asking for spare change. It’s nothing short of panhandling, but obviously goes to a greater cause and organization.

As cars coast by, you’re going to find it difficult to communicate your message of why you’re asking for money without causing a traffic jam. My suggestion? Get a big poster sandwich board and place it (safely) in a spot well before the cars reach you. While traffic is moving forward, the drivers can read the message and prepare to hand over some loose change to help out.

Have it read “Spare change for new [insert equipment here]”

The list of events could go on forever, but my key point here is that your fund raisers can no longer be just about raising money. You need to think about the reasoning behind why you’re raising the money.

No matter the type of incident, if you’re put into a situation where you have to speak to the media, you need to have your facts in front of you and an idea on how you’re going to answer questions when you don’t have an answer.

Each type of media has to be handled differently and we’re going to look at a couple here.

Television Crews

This can be the most rewarding and frightening experience for any firefighter because it’s not everyday that you’re going to be plastered all over the television for the nightly broadcast. Add to that the big camera and light right in your face, it can be an intimidating experience.

First and foremost, check your appearance and make yourself look as professional and presentable as possible. It might be a hot summers day after a big structure fire and you’re covered in sweat, your hair is all sloppy and you have a soaked towel hanging around your neck. Or it could be a freezing blizzard-like day and you have snot freezing on your lip. In either instance, a quick glance in the mirror and a minor cleanup is probably not a bad idea.

Next you want to think about what you’re going to say. Unless you’re a professional actor or are very comfortable speaking into the camera, you will have some stage fright more than likely. If you don’t know the answer to a question, respond with something like “At this time I do not know” instead of “Gee, I ain’t got no clue”.

There are other obvious points such as profanity, using jargon and/or jokes during the interview, but we hope those don’t have to be discussed anytime in the near future. Otherwise maybe it’s time to hang up the P.I.O. hat.

News Print

This form of media is not nearly as intimidating, but does require some thought before you go on record with a reporter.

As mentioned above, first think through what you’re going to say and how you’re going to respond to questions that you do not have an answer for.

Presentation is not as critical here, but if they want a still shot of you with the scene in the background, you might want to consider a quick glance in the apparatus mirror.

The biggest difference between print and television is that facts can get a bit skewed as the reporter feverishly writes down notes. Maybe a name is important and they assume the spelling, only to find out later it was incorrect. Or a key element of the incident, how a fire started for example, was misunderstood.

So how can you do your best to eliminate these mistakes?

Pay attention to the reporter and his/her notes. Glance down at their note pad as they write and do your best to ensure they’re getting the facts correctly as you stated. There’s no denying your responses on video, but in print it can happen.

Whether your the official P.I.O. of a large department or the chief of a smaller department who handles the media, there are certain things to keep in mind when dealing with the media.

Do you have other tips/tricks you’ve used in the past in dealing with the media?

Now I want to look the domain name of your department and see how you can best utilize it to market your department. If you don’t have a website, you might want to get in contact with us and see how we can help.

The Internet is being touted as the greatest change in communication since movable type was invented and I would have to agree. No other era had the opportunity to communicate as fast, as much and as often as we can now. From social media sites like Facebook and Twitter, we are living during a communication revolution like no other.

So how do you combine a fire truck and a website? You put the URL in reflective lettering on every apparatus.

I think one of the best spots to do so would be on the back door/panels of the truck. Why, you might ask? Because so many people are migrating to mobile Internet, it would be easy for them to look up your site while sitting in traffic stuck behind your apparatus.

The second best spot would be on each side of the truck in the same spot. So if you have a blank panel at the top, put it there on both sides. Or if you have reflective striping down the sides, that would be a good spot also. This gives you more exposure because the URL can be seen from either side.

And the last spot to consider would be the front face of the truck or the bug guard. And the only reason it’s listed last is because not too many people are going to be able to read it as they pass or read it in their rear view mirror.

Hopefully now you have an idea of how to market your department and the website to customers more than just word of mouth.

Personally I’ve always viewed them as these muscular, broad shouldered muscular men carrying big axes. You know the ones, almost super hero like. And yet, here I am at a whopping 125lbs and 5′9″ and considered a veteran (notice I didn’t say old) in our department. Would I be the typical image of a firefighter that might come to mind for most citizens?

No matter the physical stature many have in our heads or the professional uniforms we wear, there is another image of a firefighter that many don’t see – off duty.

Volunteer firefighters will normally have a full-time job during the day and volunteer their free time at night to the fire department. While full-time firefighters will hold down a part-time job during their off days. But we all have interests beyond the fire service such as sports, woodworking and yes, even us geeks who toy with computers and programming.

We are everyday human beings who have families, homes to take care of, kids to take to events. And yet, we’re often times portrayed as firefighters 24/7. Sure, we all “live the life” that way, but should we be portrayed outside the public view that way?

If you were to market your department looking for members, what would be the first image you would use to say “this is a firefighter”?

In your next campaign to recruit, I would highly suggest taking these everyday life images and incorporating them into your materials along with the typical firefighters dressed in full turnout and fire trucks. You might be surprised how much that little image addition can add to your responses.