Baltimore Country Club (BCC) in Maryland was experiencing an all too familiar problem: too many job openings with too few applicants. While being incredibly active with online job sites, the needle wasn’t moving, and the staff was growing tired.
BCC COO and General Manager Kent Johnson, CCM, reached out to the club’s public relations firm to help raise awareness and garner more interest in working at BCC. An initial meeting was held at the club with me and club leadership as well as internal communications and human resources staff. In that meeting we discussed the need for BCC, and all organizations for that matter, to utilize the three components of public relations: earned, owned and paid.
An explanation of each:
Earned Media. Some refer to this as traditional public relations or media relations. This is where media outlets are contacted in hopes of earning a story with their outlet that is compelling for their audience.
Owned Media. Social media platforms, digital newsletters and website—things that you control and can use to tell your story as you see fit.
Paid Media. Advertising—and this comes in many forms, from affordable social media ads to digital, radio, TV, print/online and outdoor ads and direct mail.
Getting BCC’s Story Out There
Our initial effort for the club was through its social media channels. The internal team created compelling videos—shared on all club channels—showcasing their diverse workforce and talking about why BCC is a great place to work. In addition, the posts were reinforced with social ads to make sure they were reaching the desired audiences.
The idea then shifted to earned media. This tends to give many organizations pause, and private clubs are no exception. These are the stories in which you have very little control of the outcome. The upside is that when they turn out the right way, it is a third-party endorsement that goes farther than most owned and paid initiatives. The risk is that your story is in someone else’s hands and when it airs or is written you may not like the result because you lack approval rights.
With some trepidation, Johnson allowed us to pursue earned media to tell the community that BCC is a great place to work and there are plenty of opportunities. We seized on a few key points. One is to dispel the false narrative that you cannot work at a club unless you are “connected” or know the right people. The other is to stress that private clubs have influential membership that can help—and have helped—employees as they advance in other career pursuits. And the last point is that employees are treated with great respect at private clubs. Unlike most bars and restaurants where anyone can walk in and occasionally behave poorly, clubs do not tolerate this behavior and it makes for an outstanding work environment.
The result was two local television stations shining a light on Baltimore Country Club and the opportunities to work there. The local CBS affiliate liked the story so much that they aired it again the following week!
While the struggle to hire remains for everyone, efforts continue to be made through earned, owned and paid media to make prospective employees aware of all BBC has to offer.
As your club endeavors to tell its story effectively, consider all aspects of public relations and make sure that you are active in each of the three PR buckets for the most effective means of communication.
John Maroon is owner of Maroon PR, based in Columbia, Md. He can be reached at [email protected] or visit maroonpr.com.