You can only encourage membership from people who know about you. Here are some ideas for raising awareness of people would want to join your Scottish heritage society.
You are probably engaging in several ways already, such as leveraging social media by sharing stories, photos, and videos; building a strong website that is easy to navigate, mobile-friendly, and employs search engine optimization; email marketing through regular newsletters and notices; and community engagement by hosting tents at various highland games and Scottish festivals. (See COSCA Member Services for best practices of all these strategies.)
For Scottish heritage societies, the least utilized form of building awareness is through advertising. Advertising can either be “paid” or “earned.”
The challenge of paid advertising is cost-effectiveness: spending the least amount of money for the greatest impact. Societies need to employ targeted marketing rather than mass marketing. This means you need to find a population or platform that has a high percentage of “qualified leads” or people proven to have an interest in Scottish heritage.
In order to convert these people from consumers of your information to paying members, you can employ one of the most useful and successful sales technique called “AIDA.”
Attention: Capture the customers’ attention and make them aware of your service. This can be achieved through eye-catching advertisements, engaging headlines, or unique selling propositions.
Interest: Generate interest in your product or service by providing relevant information, highlighting benefits, and addressing potential customer needs or pain points. This step involves creating a connection with the customer and making them curious to learn more.
Desire: Build a strong desire for your product or service by emphasizing its unique features, advantages, and the value it brings to the customer. This stage involves persuading the customer that your offering is the best solution for their needs.
Action: Encourage the customer to take action, such as making a purchase, signing up for a newsletter, or requesting a demo. This can be achieved through clear calls to action, limited-time offers, or easy-to-follow steps for completing the transaction.
The AIDA model is widely used in marketing and sales strategies to create effective and persuasive communication that leads to successful conversions. For example, this can be applied to something as simple as a display ad. Compare the Clan Forbes Society display advert to its neighbors in the “Calling of the Clans” section of the Scottish Banner.
Attention: The bold use of color immediately catches the eye in a sea of small black print on white.
Interest: Since the advert is small, the print is large enough to generate interest in the surname “Forbes.”
Desire: The Society offers a free newsletter.
Action: The Society encourage the potential customer to take immediate action through the Quick Response (QR) code, Facebook, Instagram, or email.
“Earned advertising” is generated without direct cost through others voluntarily promoting or sharing your content, rather than paying for ads. Examples include word of mouth, such as encouraging family members to join; social media shares; customer reviews and testimonials on third-party platforms; and mentions in print and digital media.
Earned advertising is considered highly valuable because it comes from unbiased, third-party sources, which can build trust and credibility for your society.
The key to generating mentions in media is developing an effective press release. This involves several key components.
Headline. Make this catchy and concise. Aim for a headline that grabs attention and clearly conveys the main point of the press release.
Dateline. Include the location (if appropriate) and date. Start the press release with the city, state, and date of the announcement.
Contact Information. Provide your media contact: name, title, email address, and phone number of the person responsible for handling media inquiries.
Introduction. Provide an engaging opening. The first paragraph should provide the most important information, providing who, what, when, where, and why. This should be brief, within 50 to 60 words.
Body. Provide the details and context. Provide additional details, background information, and context to support the main announcement. This may include quotes from key stakeholders, such as your society leaders or current members, to add credibility and a human touch. You can also include relevant statistics and facts to strengthen your message.
Call to Action. Encourage further action, such as attending the event, visiting your website, or signing up for a newsletter.
Boilerplate. The final brief paragraph should be your standard description about your society, including your mission and key achievements.
Many newspapers, magazines, and digital platforms welcome such information. One of the most popular magazines that targets the Scottish heritage community is the Scottish Banner, based in Australia. Editor Sean Cairney informed COSCA that “We would welcome any news pieces about a clan/society for example at a games or function, or perhaps if visiting Scotland as a group, as an example. This also gives the groups exposure outside of their own newsletters and social media pages.”
For example, the Clan Murray Society received a large spread in the February 2025 edition. Mr. Cairney noted that Clan Murray reached out to the Scottish Banner regarding this article: “We have had articles from them before and that particular one was held back for a few months as I did not have space as it was quite long for a Clan feature.” He notes that the preferred length would be 500 to 700 words. However, he added that Scottish heritage societies can send material at any time and “we will always do our best to run them.”
Scottish heritage societies can also take advantage of free services such as event listings. Groups can “Submit an Event” here: https://www.scottishbanner.com/events/submit-an-event/. Readers can review upcoming events in both the United States (https://www.scottishbanner.com/calendar/category/usa/) and Canada (https://www.scottishbanner.com/calendar/category/canada/) . Events in Scotland are also noted here: https://www.scottishbanner.com/calendar/category/scotland/.
Mr. Cairney also encourages societies to send photos of their events, their clan and family tents at highland games, or other activities. He notes that “people may not be aware there are active chapters in different parts of the country for example and this helps highlight that fact.” He adds that these photos are “perfect” for the letter page, which is also placed monthly on the website at https://www.scottishbanner.com/scot-pourri/.
Mr. Cairney specifically points out that “Clan gathering’s around North America or in Scotland are always a great interest point for us to have” and that “anything sent is always requested to have accompanying images, this really pops the story for everyone.”
He advises that groups do not need to send a “pitch” – just send the item or photo because “we can have odd space to fill or someone pull out last minute and if we have things on hand it really helps my layout designer fill pages with varied content.” Any story, press release or letter can be sent to info@scottishbanner.com or people can reach out at https://www.scottishbanner.com/contact-us/.
In return, Mr. Cairney asks that groups share the Scottish Banner posts on social media, which has become very important in extending the magazine’s reach: “Sharing of our posts, especially the relevant articles, is always a help” and he added that “any way we can continue to grow our social media numbers is very helpful for us to sell advertising as our advertisers have great interest in our social media reach.”
He emphasized that “advertising and subscriptions are the best way to support us.”
While he shares free digital editions of the publication, this “is not generating much financial return for us.” In order to increase digital subscriptions, he is offering a 25% discount to all COSCA organizational members, which they can share with their members. This promo code will be e-mailed to all Official Delegates of COSCA Organizational Members who are current in their dues.
Whether you use paid or earned advertising, “raising the banner” for your organization has proven to improve awareness, increase membership, and grow events.
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