Implementing the Healthy Hearing Campaign: A Step-by-Step Guide

The program will be most successful—and least stressful!—if you take time at the outset to identify the most effective way to implement the program in your community and plan carefully to ensure that your approach capitalizes on every opportunity to share Quota's message! Follow the steps below to guide you to success.

1. Identify ways that your club and community can use the ear plugs. As a club, examine your resources and your community to determine the most effective method of distributing the ear plugs. Consider these questions:

• Does your club hold events where ear plugs can be given away as favors?
  
  
• Does your club distribute gifts into which the ear plugs could be incorporated? For example, goody bags at children's Christmas parties or toiletry kits for underserved women and children?
  
  
• Does your community hold any big events (fireworks displays, concerts, parades) where the distribution of ear plugs might be appropriate?
  
  
• Are you aware of any local organizations interested in hearing and speech issues that might want to partner with you? For example, a local audiologist's office or a school during hearing screening time?
  
  
• Are there local businesses where the provision of ear plugs would supplement services? For example, a lawn care or hardware store?
  
  
• Will the program be more effective in your community if you sell the ear plugs as part of a fund-raiser or give them away to spread the word of Quota?
  

2. Plan accordingly. Once you have decided how your club is going to implement the ear plug program, establish a plan that delegates responsibility to members, including a timeline for production and distribution and budgets for program expenses.

• If you have decided to proceed without a partnering organization, determine how to integrate the ear plugs into your own programs or initiatives. Consider how you will train club members to share information on Quota and the ear plugs with others, advertise the program to the community to maximize interest, and track the program's results.
  
  
• If you hope to partner with others in the community, approach them well in advance, with a clear explanation of your objectives and how the program will benefit them, Quota, and the community. Together, lay out a complete plan for how the partnership will work.

  For example, if you are using the program as a fund-raiser in partnership with the local hardware store, agree on a place in the store where the earplugs will be displayed, how they will be advertised, and how often a member will return to collect the money raised. If you plan to partner with a doctor's office, determine how many sets of ear plugs they will need and how they will track distribution.

  No matter who you partner with, establish that the program must make clear that the earplugs have been supplied by Quota. As Linda Morton explains, "We are not giving ear plugs away. First and foremost, we are selling Quota."

3. Order the ear plugs.

• You can have plugs made by a custom-printing company for as little as $.21 apiece. A few such companies can be found at www.casad.com, www.throwthings.com, www.absorbentprinting.com, or http://shop.store.yahoo.com/earplugstore/cuimearpl.html. (Quota International does not promote or support any particular company for these products. These links are provided for your convenience only.) To have them imprinted with a Quota logo, you will need an electronic file, available free from Quota International. Contact staff@quota.org with your request.
  
  
• A less expensive option is to order plain ear plugs (available for as little as $.07 apiece). Make and print a "Healthy Hearing" card and attach your cards to the bags they come in.

4. Put your plan in action. Once you've set things in motion, don't sit back and relax! For your project to be truly successful, it's important to collect and analyze information on the results. Some important information to consider gathering:

• What methods of distribution proved most popular?
  
  
• Were more ear plugs distributed at certain times than others? For example, the weekends, early in the campaign, or in the days before a specific event?
  
  
• If you identified multiple sites for distribution, where were the plugs most popular?
  
  
• How much money did your club raise as a result of the ear plug program?
  
  
• How many phone calls or other contacts of interest did the distribution generate?
  
  
• For a suggested script to use when giving out ear plugs, click here.

5. Share your results both locally and throughout Quota's international community. Distribute press releases to local papers, publish acknowledgments in school and community newsletters, and send thank-you notes that include information about the program's success to your partners. Also, let the international office know, so they can share your feedback with other clubs looking to implement the project. (Contact Christy Herz, We Share Foundation Manager at christy@quota.org.) A free publicity kit is available from the We Share Foundation. To view or print this kit, click here*. Also, Quota International offers a free Polish and Shine News Release service. To learn more, click here.

• Quota's Ear Plug Campaign History and Overview
  
  
• Project Listen Up!: How One Club Has “Plugged” Quota
  
  
• Read about the Launching of the Healthy Hearing Campaign in the 2006 Quotarian Magazine*
  

*To view or print out this document, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader. Click here to go to Adobe's Web site and download a free copy of Acrobat Reader.