Marketing & Communications Committee

The Marketing & Communications (MarCom) committee supports the Council strategic plan by helping spread the word about Scouting to our community, and keeps our members informed of news and coming events.

Our National Capital Area Council Marketing Team is always ready to consult with you on marketing and promotion of your Scouting event and recruitment. While devoted to Council-wide and District-wide efforts, we are always looking for ways to better help our staff, volunteers, and Scouts expand the reach of Scouting’s voice and get the word out on all of the wonderful things that are happening within Scouting.

To do so, we’ve developed The NCAC Marketing Toolbox. Here, you’ll find links, information, and other assets that can help you with your Scouting-related marketing needs.

 

NCAC Marketing Toolbox Assets

BSA MARKETING AND MEMBERSHIP HUB
https://scoutingwire.org/marketing-and-membership-hub/

This site is provided and maintained by the Boy Scouts of America’s National Office, and provides Resources and Materials to Strengthen Your Units. Here you can learn best practices and tips for marketing, recruiting, and retention to strengthen your council or unit.

BSA BRAND CENTER
https://scoutingwire.org/bsa-brand-center/

Access the BSA’s brand identity guidelines, customizable marketing assets, photos, videos, and more! If you already know what you want, use these quick links to get where you’re going fast. Start your search for assets using the following quick links:

NCAC ANNUAL REPORT

You can find it here: https://ncacannualreport.org/

It’s a quick down and dirty on what we’ve accomplished in the past year, and is an excellent place from which to launch a conversation with someone new to NCAC and what’s at play in what will soon become the biggest Council in the entire nation.

SOCIAL MEDIA MEMBERSHIP KIT (Coming Soon!)

With a few examples of social media posts, photos, and frames, this quick kit is an excellent way to “Scoutify” your Unit or personal social media pages to drive membership. 

FREE TOOLS AND DESIGN SOFTWARE 

There are a number of free tools and design software out there that can be used by almost anyone. Many are drag and drop, and most offer customizable templates that lessen your design time. We have no partnership with any of these products and make no endorsements for any of these. However, some in the Council have produced excellent products and have found the following to be relatively easy to use.

Note: As with any free tool or open source software use, please be aware of the terms of service, information that you are asked to share, and the security of the software and/or site in question. Limiting security exposure is everyone’s duty. If you have questions, please do not hesitate to contact the NCAC Marketing Team.

  • CANVA
    https://www.canva.com/tools/flyer-maker/
    “With Canva’s drag-and-drop flyer maker, it’s easy to create a professional flyer, even without any graphic design skills.”
  • ADOBE SPARK
    https://spark.adobe.com/make/flyer-maker
    “Spark easily brings words and pictures together, creating beautiful flyers in multiple formats. No design skills necessary.”
  • SMARTDRAW 
    https://www.smartdraw.com/brochure/flyer-maker.htm
    “Design great-looking flyers, brochures, leaflets and more.”
  • POSTER MY WALL
    https://www.postermywall.com/index.php/l/flyer-maker#.WyFsXlVKiCg
    “Thousands of templates and free downloads. No design skills needed! Having a party? Garage sale? Local gig? We’ve got you covered with our Flyer Maker. Create professionally designed flyers to promote your business or event!”
  • VECTR
    https://vectr.com/
    “Vectr is a free graphics software used to create vector graphics easily and intuitively. It’s a simple yet powerful web and desktop cross-platform tool to bring your designs into reality.”
  • CRELLO
    https://crello.com/
    “Easy-to-use design tool for creating stunning visuals. Use free templates made by professionals and customize them for your projects.”
  • SNAPPA
    https://snappa.com/
    “Whip up graphics for social media, ads, blogs, and more without Photoshop or graphic designers.”

Best Practices

  • DO
    Become familiar with BSA Brand Identity https://scoutingwire.org/bsa-brand-center/brand-identity/brand-identity/overview/ and all that it encompasses. Use brand guidelines when customizing a stock piece or designing something new. The more cohesive our branding is across the country and around the world, the more recognizable our programs become.
  • DON’T
    Recolor, distort, or otherwise change the brand to match a particular motif. Let brand elements stand proudly and do the work they were designed to do.
  • DO
    Find and use images and collateral displaying activities and people that reflect those you serve and what they do. Put these images in your collateral and show what Scouting truly looks like in your area.
  • DON’T
    Forget that Scouting is a diverse youth movement that intersects with many cultures—even and especially those in your area. Display the diversity of Scouting in the region and make sure you capture the full reflection of those in your service area.
  • DO
    Budget resources for help and then use that help. The Marketing Team wants to assist you in your quest to spread the word about Scouting. They can provide design, editorial, and writing support for most anything that you can imagine. Build in some budget dollars and leave yourself plenty of time to assemble a great product.
  • DON’T
    Forget to show the team your work and archive it for others to use. We have a big team, and that means there’s a lot of brain power fueling the operation and a lot of excellent work product coming out of that creative miasma. Show it to us. If you’ve created a flyer, built a webpage, or assembled an event that you feel is a representative of what the bar should be—or even a billion miles beyond the bar—your coworkers may want to see it and even use it, either as inspiration or as the design basis for their next project. Show you work, make sure it gets archived, and help us to preserve a bit of that genius for the benefit of others.