Promotion Made Easy…Promotion All Year Long
These materials have been developed to help educators in all settings promote the profession of career and technical education. Plan to use them to assist you in your promotional planning not only during CTE Month but throughout the year.
The following promotional ideas are suggestions to help you create community awareness of CTE Month and the contributions provided by educators. You can inform the public by personal contact in schools, and by using the media to tell your story throughout the community.
When planning your CTE Month celebration, it is important to reach out to all your different audiences:
- News Media
- Elected Officials
- General Public
- Businesses and Their Leaders
Remember that CTE Month is your time to shine. Every part of our nation is different; therefore, you may have unique celebration ideas for your local community. Be creative and open to providing a wide range of activities.
How will you celebrate CTE Month within your school? As part of your staff and student recognition program, this event can add spirit to your workplace and strengthen school morale. Consider making the following activities part of your celebration:
- Ask shopping mall management to sponsor a career fair, make room for an exhibit, or provide space for a “questions and answers about career and technical education” table or booth.
- Use a special message promoting CTE Month when you answer your telephones.
- Distribute copies of the ACTE Brochures to your students and their parents. A variety of subjects is available, including basic information about careers. Brochures are available by calling the ACTE Product Sales Dept. at 800-826-9972. To view the list of brochures, go to the Product Catalog on the ACTE Web site.
- Encourage your elected representatives, including mayors, city managers, county executives, and state governors to designate February as CTE Month in your community. Use the sample proclamation provided on this Web site. The proclamation signing ceremony can serve as a photo opportunity for your school.
- Adapt the radio public service announcements (PSAs) on this Web site and distribute them to every radio station in your community. Each of the PSAs can be “tagged” with your school name as a co-sponsor, creating visibility for your school.
- Download high-quality versions of the CTE Month video PSAs “Finding Your Way” and “We are the Future” and post them on your Web site, or embed them on your Web site by pasting the code above.
- Show one or both video PSAs on your school’s closed-circuit television. Contact Catherine Imperatore for a DVD. Please specify if you need one PSA or both. To cover the cost of production, the DVD costs $2 plus shipping.
- Submit the first-place PSA, “Finding Your Way,” to your local television station. Contact Catherine Imperatore with the station guidelines and the format you need. To cover the cost of production, Beta SP videotapes cost $27 plus shipping and DVDs cost $2 plus shipping.
- Contact local television reporters. Ask them to air stories in February and beyond about career and technical education. Offer to be an on-air expert. Use the publicity ideas on this Web site. Radio producers may ask you to appear to provide education information.
- Encourage local merchants to announce the date and theme on their marquees, in-store broadcast systems, electronic signs, and cash register receipts. Decorate your school with banners, posters, and balloons celebrating CTE Month. These materials are available through the CTE Product Guide.
- Speak with media representatives who cover education issues.
When a national education issue is reported in the media, offer yourself as an authoritative interview source (if appropriate). Building a presence with the media is a gradual process. Do not become discouraged if your first few attempts are turned down. Once you have established a relationship with a reporter, provide information from this Planning Guide which the reporter can use as background information for an article on education. Ask the reporter to do an education story during February and mention the CTE Month campaign.
- Appear on public affairs television or radio programs.
When you have established an ongoing relationship with a particular producer, you could ask to appear on a TV or radio public affairs segment. Use the information from this Web site to provide yourself with background information for the segment. In some cases, the TV or radio producer may ask you to appear to provide education information.
- Hold a “CTE Month Call-in Hotline.”
If you are a member of a local or state education organization, ask your colleagues if they would be interested in staffing a Hotline and responding to specific questions from the public on education issues. If your colleagues agree, approach a local newspaper or TV station and ask them to sponsor the Hotline by providing facilities and phone lines for your teachers. The newspaper or TV station can run stories in advance promoting the Hotline to the public and offer on-the-spot or post coverage of the event. Organizing a Hotline requires at least two months of planning, but it is a terrific way to reach a large audience.
Order the promotional items offered in the CTE Product Guide. Products such as the banner, poster, and balloons will spotlight the Career Tech: Today an Education, Tomorrow a Career message in your school, or at a special event. Most products can be personalized for your school and provided as give-aways.
