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CONTACT WINTER 2004/SHEVAT 5764 VOLUME 6 NUMBER 2 THE JOURNAL OF JEWISH LIFE NETWORK/STEINHARDT FOUNDATION Marketing Jewish Life contact WINTER 2004/SHEVAT 5764 VOLUME 6 NUMBER 2 Marketing Jewish Life Eli Valley Editor or the past dozen years, many American Jewish institutions have tai- Erica Coleman Copy Editor lored programming towards that elusive yet abundant breed: the unaf- Janet Mann filiated Jew. Millions have been spent on new programs that promise to Administration F reach Jews who lie outside the community’s orbit. Unfortunately, we Yakov Wisniewski have often neglected perhaps the most crucial area of focus: innovative mar- Design Director keting of programs and offerings. Instead, many of us have relied on perfunc- tory marketing plans that place the message of outreach and engagement in JEWISH LIFE NETWORK STEINHARDT FOUNDATION the media of the already-affiliated. Michael H. Steinhardt Chairman Such logic is counter-intuitive. If our target is the unengaged, then by defini- Rabbi Irving Greenberg tion they exist outside the range of Jewish media. The competition for their President attention is fierce. Like everyone else, Jews in the open society are subject to Rabbi David Gedzelman seemingly limitless avenues of identity exploration and a whirlwind of infor- Executive Director mation. The deluge of messages and options is equivalent to spam – unless it Jonathan J. Greenberg z”l Founding Director is found to be immediately compelling, it will be deleted. In such an atmos- phere, strategic message creation and placement is crucial for the success and CONTACT is produced and distributed by Jewish Life Network/ vitality of Jewish programs. Steinhardt Foundation, 6 East 39th Street, 10th floor, New York, NY 10016. This issue of Contact explores effective ways to market Jewish life and Jewish Phone: (212) 279-2288 Fax: (212) 279-1155 programs. Since successful marketing hinges on a clear understanding of one’s Email: [email protected] audience, articles in this issue offer strategies on reaching particular bands of Copyright © 2003 by Jewish Life Network/Steinhardt Foundation. the Jewish spectrum. It becomes clear that superior marketing is inexorably tied to the creation and refinement of high-quality programming. As we understand our target audience more thoroughly, it often becomes necessary to fine tune the program itself so that it best meets the audience’s needs. Jewish Life Network/Steinhardt Foundation We have our work cut out for us. Large segments of the Jewish community is dedicated to strengthening and transforming American Jewry to ensure a currently associate Jewish institutional life with ossified structures and atavis- flourishing, sustainable community in a fully integrated free society. We seek to tic attitudes incompatible with contemporary American life. Ultimately, for revitalize Jewish identity through educa- marketing to succeed, it must be linked not only to enhanced programs, but tional, religious and cultural initiatives that are designed to reach out to all Jews, to a clearer understanding of the spiritual and cultural needs of Jews today. with an emphasis on those who are on the margins of Jewish life. Photographs in this issue appear courtesy of con- tributors, Photos.com, Jack Pinto and Dave Phouff. Eli Valley 2 CONTACT Tips For Marketing To The Jewishly Unengaged by PAUL GOLIN e are all good at tuning out space, or a spiritual transformation, or a commercials or other market- meaningful encounter with welcoming ing noise when we need to, folks, they are often met with tepid con- W but on those rare occasions tent, cliquish social circles, apathy and, Effective when we find something indispensable in the worst cases, hostility. After a few through an ad—a great new camera, a negative “tastes,” it’s difficult to bring marketing and better job, even a significant other— these people back to the community. we’re glad those marketers found a way This might be why today less than half of effective program- to deliver the message into our con- all Jews participate in institutional sciousness. Marketing Jewish programs Judaism. Even the best marketing can’t ming both begin to the unengaged requires the same kind save an organization that needs to com- of persistence, innovation and excellent pletely revamp its programming or “cor- with the same step: end product, and it can be just as porate culture.” rewarding for both parties. So where do Luckily, effective marketing and effec- understanding your you begin? tive programming both begin with the same step: understanding your audience. audience.Who are TIP 1 Don’t Promise What Who are you trying to reach? Why are You Can’t Deliver. you trying to reach them? And, what are you trying to reach? The Jewish community has much to you offering? Marketing can help attract offer those searching (actively or other- people to your program, but if you exag- Why are you trying wise) for meaning. However, many gerate, and the participants come away unengaged people have had uneven disappointed, it becomes another nega- to reach them? And, experiences with the organized Jewish tive contact with the community. Even if community. After being promised a safe your program is great, and you engage what are you many unaffiliated Jews in Jewish activity, if you fail to move them into deeper Paul Golin is Assistant Executive Director of the offering? Jewish Outreach Institute and previously served as its engagement with the community (or at Director of Communications and Strategic Planning. least offer some kind of “next step”), it’s Paul can be reached at [email protected]. not successful outreach. WINTER 2004 3 Go Where The pected locations at little to no cost. For duction to Judaism course by simply TIP 2 People Are. example, when a JOI-sponsored program stating, “all are welcome” may send a At the Jewish Outreach Institute (JOI), in Baltimore wanted to reach Jews in very compelling message to intermarried “outreach” means engaging the unen- their 20s and 30s, they secured permis- families, because the Jewish community gaged where they are, rather than waiting sion to post flyers in the bathrooms of is not demanding that they first self- for them to come to us. One of our popular bars and clubs. It worked identify as intermarried before it will activities is to help institutions move because it found its audience, and it serve them. The label “interfaith” might beyond their own four walls to conduct found them at a time when they may attract fewer participants, since many “Public Space Judaism”—free Jewish life have been particularly receptive to a intermarried families see themselves not programs in malls, bookstores, parks message that suggested there’s something as two faiths but as a Jewish family and movie theaters. The rationale is two- better out there (than drinking in bars). where one parent is simply not “offi- fold: to find people who are not on any- cially” Jewish. Unless a program deals primarily one’s lists, and to offer them Jewish con- TIP Identify and tent in neutral, familiar settings. 3 Lower Barriers. with issues surrounding intermarriage, Even if you are not quite ready to Outreach is about removing barriers to you should ask if there are more wel- move your programming into the public participation. The programs of “Public coming and inclusive phrases that can square, you should still move your mar- Space Judaism” mentioned above be used. JOI consulted with one Jewish address the hesitancy day school in Tucson, Arizona, that many unengaged Jews devised the slogan, “All families raising feel about walking into Jewish children are welcome.” That’s a our institutions. But beautiful and inclusive message. More often than not, the assumption language can be just as These are subtleties, but they are not powerful a barrier as lost on the target audience. Just one any physical space. word can sour an entire message. For is: white Ashkenazi and heterosexual. While Hebrew is an example, the marketing phrase “Keeping integral part of Judaism our children Jewish” sounds defensive, What messages do the images in and has bound our and begs the question, “Keeping from people together across what…or from whom?” Intermarried your marketing materials send to time and continents, families will recognize the implication. If using Hebrew words in the word “keeping” is simply changed to the marketing of your “raising,” the phrase would include potential participants who are Jews program probably won’t intermarried Jewish families rather than help reach unengaged potentially chide them. of color or same-sex parents? Jews. By and large, they While words are important, images don’t speak Hebrew, can have an even greater impact. One and therefore have no thing to keep in mind is assumptions keting there. Unengaged Jews are not idea what takes place at your havdalah about what Jews “look like.” More often reading temple bulletins or buying local program, your kiruv, your learners’ min- than not, the assumption is: white Ashke- federation newspapers. They need to be yan or your beginners’ chavurot. These nazi and heterosexual. What messages do reached through secular venues, includ- terms are red flags signaling to the unaf- the images in your marketing materials ing mainstream media. That might filiated that they don’t have the Jewish send to potential participants who are sound expensive, but it doesn’t have to education they think is necessary to Jews of color or same-sex parents? be. Most local papers have free events access our institutions. It may seem a daunting task to get listings, especially the free city papers Even in English, inclusive language your message out there when it has to that reach younger crowds. takes on greater importance in light of compete with all the noise emanating If possible, develop rapport with local the growth of intermarried households from the giant marketing machine, but it newspeople.