The KCMPI Marketing Team (Public Relations; Newsletter; Web site; Marketing; Membership Publications) has been very busy this year. As many of you know, our chapter was awarded a grant by the MPI Foundation last year to develop and implement a comprehensive marketing plan. The plan's objectives included:

We are excited to announce that the plan is complete. We would like to share what we've developed for the chapter. We designed and produced several print pieces to help promote membership benefits, programs and sponsorship opportunities. All the materials were developed for multi-use by all committees. Many pieces were printed and are available in an electronic format. We also designed a general information video that is available on our Web site and on YouTube. Check them out.

In addition, we partnered with Naylor, LLC, to once again produce a printed membership directory this year. In late January, we will provide an electronic version of an updated roster. Watch your e-mail. We would like to hear your comments about the new directory.

All of the new promotional items are available to you to use in promoting KCMPI; let us know if you need copies or access to the electronic version.

In addition, we worked to make chapter operations more efficient. We developed a Google-based working calendar for chapter leaders; basic policies and procedures for many committees; and style guidelines to help us maintain brand consistency. We've also received great press coverage in MPI's Net Community Newsletter as well as several articles in the Kansas City Star.

We are in the process of making updates to our Web site and welcome your comments. You may have noticed that we have added a Google-based calendar on the program calendar page. This calendar can be downloaded to your personal device. We are working to add a President's Blog later this year. We are very excited with the response to the Job Bank since we added it to the Web site. Last but not least, we designed a tracking system to help us record and monitor our ROI in the marketing arena. We plan to use the results for planning in 2008-09.

If you have any comments, questions or want to join our exciting marketing team, please contact me at 816-941-2122 or pgaughan@kc.rr.com.

P.S. In case you might be confused about a message board versus a blog or a wiki (I know I was behind the times and confused), check out this link for a brief explanation by Rob Price, MPI's webmaster. http://www.mpiweb.org/CMS/mpiweb/mpifeature.aspx?id=11948

KCMPI Marketing Update