Marketing and Audience Engagement
Since Iliad's refounding in 2001, we haven't prioritized our branding and outreach. 20 years later in 2021, my Co-Editor and I sought to change that by designing a website and logo. I have continued our work this year as sole Editor in different ways with each Editorial Board member. I worked with our Design Editor to create business cards, posters, and stickers, our Social Media Coordinator to gain a larger following through engaging content, our Outreach Director by visiting middle schools and product placement in businesses, and our entire Editorial Board by planning events to inform and engage our audience.
Natasha Trethewey Event
In May of 2022, the iliad Literary-Art Magazine collaborated with the University of Georgia's Willson Center to host 2012-2014 United States Poet Laureate Natasha Trethewey for a talk and facilitated Q&A. I assisted in the organization of the event and gave the opening and closing remarks for the event. It was incredible to see students get to ask questions to such an incredible writer. Click on the photo to view the photo gallery for the event.
Student Creativity Showcase
In December 2022, the iliad hosted our first ever Student Creativity Showcase at Hendershot's, a local cafe and venue. I thoroughly enjoyed spearheading this event and working alongside my teammates in meeting with the owner of the venue, organizing performers for the event, and promoting the event using social media, posters, and individual outreach. We ended up having 7 writers read their creative writing and I performed original music with my Managing Editor Ethan Caspary. We also had a student band headline the event. It was wildly successful and hope to have started an annual iliad event. Click on the photo to view the event coverage and click here to view the event photo gallery.
Class Talks
One of the main ways our literary-art publication gets student submissions is by visiting every art and language class at the school to give a presentation to inform them about what the iliad is and how students can get involved through club meetings and submitting for the chance to be published. Both this year and last year, I delegated many of the talks to members of our Editorial Board and trained them in public speaking, as well as doing several myself. Talking to every language class gives us the chance to reach every student in the school and gives them the chance to get involved with our program. Click the image to see our class talks presentation.
Marketing Project
Every year, members of our Editorial Board and Leadership Team engaged with our annual Marketing Project where students each reach out to 10 members of the community to raise funds for printing our magazine. In addition to raising funds, this familiarizes our team on interacting with community while representing the iliad brand. Click the photo to view an example of an email sent as a part of the Marketing Project.
Social Media Promotion Table
At the beginning of this school year, the iliad leadership team set up a table outside Clarke Central's cafeteria and offered a piece of candy if people followed the iliad's social media. This was a creative way to broaden the reach of our social media and get the word out about our publication.
Bake Sales
Both this year and last year, the iliad held bake sales as a way to make money for printing our magazines. We did outreach to several local businesses who ended up donating baked goods to the sale as well. The bake sales also offered a team bonding experiences for our Editorial Board members.
Meeting The Superintendent and Maintaining Relationships
Our district recently hired a new superintendent so I attended an event along with our Outreach Director to meet him and begin to cultivate a relationship with him. We highly value relationships with our district and the administration at our school, so we make sure to go out of our way to show our appreciation by sending thank you notes and sending a copy of our magazine to district members.
​
Click to enlarge the photo of me and Dr. Robbie Hooker, Clarke County School District Superintendent
Individual Outreach
Our publication is a compilation of pieces submitted by people in the Clarke Central community and lots of outreach must take place to get the word out about what our magazine is and why people might want to submit. I held our Editorial Board accountable for reaching out to people in the community via text, email, and in-person. I also encouraged them to reach out to people outside of their friend groups and to consider diversity in who they reached out to.
​
The photo shows an example of an outreach text to a student.