Step 2: Pack Promotion

Advertising Your Unit: Use Media, Messaging and More!

Let people know what you’ll do … share your list of fun activities. A great program plan isn’t enough – you’ve got to promote it in the Pack and beyond.

  • As a way to share what you do, empower parents to be part of your welcome team – any parent who likes Scouting can spread the word and promote your Pack program.
  • They can be a big help in letting people know what your unit is doing because peer to peer and parent to parent recommendations are the best.

Learn more about the steps on these web pages:

For a printable version of the 6 steps, and a timeline explanation for implementing them, view this document:

Resources: National Pictures and Templates, and Pack Packet

Everybody loves flyers. They want flyers. Simple. Easy. One page (use both sides). 

A flyer can get into hands, school backpacks, bulletin boards and more. 

A flyer is low-tech paper, but with a QR code you can access a website or launch an email. That same flyer can also live on the internet and in social media.

Here’s a fillable word document to use as your Pack Packet. Make sure to add your Pack number, contact information, and all the Pack events you have planned for the year.

New families don’t know how your Pack and Dens operate – some don’t know what Cub Scouts even do – you need to have a way to tell them what they need to know so that they want to join you.

Have an easy, simple handout you can share with new families. Something to hand out at recruiting events, at spring and summer fun events, at school, in the car pool line, at church, at the grocery, wherever you meet new families.

Consider these Tips when Creating your own Flyers

  • Put Your Best Faces Forward!  Make flyers with pictures of your own Scouts.  You are not limited to the current Council or National templates and pictures.
    • It is OK to make your own flyer with words and images that reflect well on Scouting.
    • See these suggestions about flyer content and design from the Scouting Marketing Team.
    • Also, never list a Scout’s full name: first names only (or, better: no names).
  • QR Codes?  Yeah, I see those, and I’ve used those, but how do I make those?
  • Make Many Flyers – Keep Current.  You’re not limited to one flyer for your program year – you can update and circulate a list of your Fun Activities and pictures of your Pack and Den family any time of the year:
    • Spring flyers for Den and Pack summer fun.
    • Summer Flyers to prepare for School Year Recruiting
    • Flyers in the Winter to highlight Spring and Summer Events.
    • Collect Them All!  You might make different versions of your basic flyers.
      • Pictures of different activities.
      • Pictures of different Scouts. Current Scouts are more eager to share flyers they appear in.

Signs and Other Hard Handouts

  • Yard Signs – if your families put them in their yards, if you put them at your schools and churches and community centers (with permission), you can create awareness that your community has Cub Scouts!
    • But what do you put in the big white space?  Big Bold Letters So People Can Read!
    • You have many options for what you put on the sign, but here’s some:
      • At a School:  Sign Up Night Here, August 23 @ 6:30
      • In many locations, like the front of a house: Call 404-123-4567 for info! or Call the Cubmaster at 404-123-4567 for info!  (Or a short email address.)
      • Realtors often have a pouch of flyers on their signs – if you securely attach a plastic pouch with your Pack Packet or other flyer, it will get into more hands.
  • Peer to Peer Cards – let Scouts share kid to kid.  To join, to attend a sign-up event, or just to attend a fun event.
    • Can you make Cards to invite another Parent to be a Leader?
    • Of course you can!
  • Stickers! – Scouts (and kids) will know what to do with these.

Social Media and E-Messaging: Free and Easy Publicity

There are lots of paths to promote your Pack using social media, electronic messaging and even traditional media – pick all you like.

The benefits of social media and electronic messaging – they are free, easy for your families to share, and can go viral if your families do share.

Soft media can share your flyers that have your calendar of fun activities – and so much more.

No media method works every time for everyone, but every media method works some of the time for someone. The biggest communication failure is the failure to communicate.

Photos and Videos (Tell and Show): 

Using electronic and social media – and your flyers – your Pack Promotion can take off, because you don’t just “tell” people about your Pack, you “show” them.

  • Your own Photos and Videos are best – they show what your Scouts and Families do.  And they are most likely to be shared on social media or shared by parents with their kids.
    • Use photos wisely – take a lot, but share the best ones in your social media channels.
    • (You can keep a photo site with a larger gallery of pictures for those who want a deeper dive.)
  • There’s plenty of official video from Scouting America – much of this can be great sharable content for your families on your social sites.
  • Don’t forget about making your own videos!
    • Candid video clips go viral faster than photos.
  • You’ll love those photos and videos at the end of the year for your Blue & Gold Awards Banquet, and then again when you share it with School, Church, Neighborhood, Social Media and more – like when you do a Sign-Up Event for new families.

Peer-to-Peer and Parent-to-Parent Promotion: Powerful!

One on One Messaging is the best!  Peer to Peer – Parent to Parent – Kid to Kid.  The recommendation of a friend or fellow school parent will mean more than the testimonial of even the best Pack Leader.  Kids can invite kids, parents can invite parents, and that’s how you grow.

  • Personal Follow Up. If you or a welcoming parent/New Member Coordinator reaches out to someone you know or someone you met at a Sign-Up Event, and invite them to a Fun Den or Pack activity, that is more powerful than a group ask.
  • Phone It In. While it’s not the universal way to reach out to people in this era when people text “can I call you?”, sure, you can call other families in your Scout’s grade and tell them about why you like Scouting.
  • Mail It In. While it costs the price of a stamp, a letter or postcard is even more personal and might make an impact.
  • Empower Your Scouts. Give them “peer to peer” cards that say, “join us”. Give your Scouts stickers to share, or bookmarks or other enticements.
  • Incentive Your Scouts to Promote Peer to Peer.  Is there a badge for Recruiting?  There sure is – the Recruiter Strip – so show your Scouts and families what they can get when they bring a friend to your Den.  Maybe have a further contest and other prizes.
  • Re-brand a Fun Event as a Joining Event.  Are you having a Fun Den or Pack Joining Event at a Pack Meeting?  Maybe give it a new name for your Scouts:  call it “Bring a Friend Fishing Day”, or “Bring a Buddy Bike Ride”, or “Scout Out New Places With New Friends”.
  • Chalk It Up.  Can you write “Join Pack 1234” in chalk on your sidewalk?  Sure you can.
  • Rock On.  Painted Pebbles are a thing.  Paint “Join Pack 1234” and leave them on the trail?  Why not?

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