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Self-Help Builder News March 2013 Volume 6, Issue #1 >
New RCAC Self-Help marketing videos a hit
By Angela Sisco, RCAC rural development specialist
“We love them!” said Michelle VanSchoyck, Community Action Partnership of Northwest Montana’s (CAP) loan packager and group worker. VanSchoyck is currently recruiting for CAP’s next self-help group and she is using RCAC’s self-help videos as another tool to market its program. VanSchoyck gushes about the videos, “It’s great to see the actual families affected by the program rather than just the program requirements.” CAP uses the RCAC produced videos as a compliment to its existing multimedia marketing methods, where social media has been particularly successful for them in recent months. The videos are available on CAP's website, and slated to be used in big business informational meetings and outreach events throughout the its service area.
RCAC released the videos this winter to help grantees increase their success in finding qualified participants for the U.S. Department of Agriculture Rural Development Mutual Self-Help Housing program. Each video is unique but both explore common themes about the impact the self-help housing program has had on participants’ lives. One video is in English, and the other is in Spanish with English subtitles.
(Reprint from Self-Help Builder December 17, 2012 – Volume 5 Issue #4)
RCAC’s multimedia specialist, Jeremy Raff, produced the videos. To get a good cross section of the self-help landscape, he visited the build sites of five grantees in four states. Raff felt that it would be more compelling to see how people’s everyday lives had been changed than to create a how-to video that delved into the nuts and bolts of the program. The videos are documentaries, and the residents used their own words to describe their lives before and after moving into the new homes and communities.
The videos can be used in a multitude of ways to help organizations reach out to future builders. Here are just a few examples:
- Provide links to the videos on your website
- Post them to your Facebook page
- Show them on laptops at housing fairs or similar events where potential builders may be present
- Send them to your local television station or cable station, and offer to be interviewed on a show that highlights local events
- Use them as outreach to realtors who may have clients that cannot otherwise qualify for a home
- Show the videos at meetings with larger local employers who would benefit from employees in stable, affordable housing
If you would like help to embed or add links to the videos on your websites or other media Sharon Wills, RCAC’s communications supervisor would be happy to work with you. You can reach her at (916) 447-9832 ext. 1005 or by email at swills@rcac.org.
All RCAC videos are produced and edited by Jeremy Raff, RCAC multimedia specialist, and available on our website at www.rcac.org/videos.