Promotion and Public Relations
Many good programs have failed because of poor promotion—people just never heard about them or did not realize how good they were.
Good promotior goes deeper than merely describing a program. Adult education has to be "sold." One of the major functions of adult education is to sell to people the idea of continuing to learn. It is important to society and to each individual that people be enthusiastic about the possibilities in adult education.
Looked at in this light, the promotion of adult education becomes something of a crusade. Adult educators are challenged to learn the skills developed by the advertising business in behalf of mass entertainment, and to apply them, when they are fitting, to their own worthy cause. There is no reason for program defectors to be ashamed of selling their wares—provided, of course, the wares are worthy.
The well-tested methods at our command involve four basic steps: 1) defining the clientele, 2) planning the campaign, 3) preparing and distributing materials, and 4) evaluating results.