Outreach to America's chimney sweeps

In my time as communications and marketing director of the Chimney Safety Institute of America, the marketing department (in concert with our education director and executive director) really looked forward to strengthening the quality and quantity of communications with the people who have invested time and energy into obtaining the various credentials that our educational institute offers to sweeps.

In winter 2014, we started beefing up our monthly 4-page insert in the edition of Sweeping magazine, a publication put out by the National Chimney Sweep Guild.



Some editions to view: 
May 2014: Highlight - New CSIA President Mark A. Stoner establishes ambitious goal to raise CCS totals.
June 2014: Highlight -CSIA board OKs new memorandum of understanding with NADCA on C-DET certification.
July 2014: Highlight -A new class on the chimney fire whitepaper, plus health and safety.
August 2014: Highlight - Our gas hearth appliance training class.

In June 2014, we started a new monthly e-mail to our C-DET and CCS credential holders, using an old name I found for print e-newsletters: CSIAccess. This was followed up by a July 2014 email. Open rates for these were 39.8 percent, three times the industry average.

I believe nothing is new, but what is old can be new again. 

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Themes behind "Public Safety & Social" -- our 11/7/13 @indySM luncheon:

To media or the interested public, here's some of the points of emphasis of the Nov. 7 luncheon we're hosting at Wayne Township Fire Department.

1) Perspective and guidance (from about a half-dozen PIOs of police/fire/first responder agencies) to the Indianapolis Social Media community. They include ISP, IFD, IMPD, Speedway Police and Wayne Township Fire Department.

2) Introduction of a newly-formed nonprofit: Friends of Indiana Disaster Search Dogs, a 501(c)3 organization that supports the canines and dog handlers that are part of Indiana Task Force 1. Dogs have been part of the FEMA Urban Search and Rescue Team since 1993.

3) Exposure to the helpful nature of Indianapolis Social Media, or @IndySM, an education-geared nonprofit co-founded by John Palmer and Chuck Gose that celebrates its 5th anniversary in 2014.

A big, big thank you to our regular sponsor: 12 Stars Media.

And thanks to the Wayne Township Emergency Services Center at Wayne Township Fire Department/ for hosting the event; The Brown Bag Indy, which is catering the event; and Chimney Safety Institute of America, a Plainfield-based nonprofit which underwrote the lunch for our public safety guests.

A great list to follow on first responders to follow was authored by Jordan Whitt.

Directions: from I-465, take the 10th Street West exit (heading west) and go south (left) onto North High School Road.

Honored to blog in support of #Playscape5

In August, thanks to a Twitter conversation I had with a former Indianapolis Star coworker (view Janet Schneider's July 18 tweet to me for more) the Spaldings were honored to be contacted by the digital operations and media team at the Children's Museum of Indianapolis. The Museum was getting ready to relaunch their Playscape exhibit after a $3M renovation, and wanted to follow along as five children under the age of 5 tested it out.

That's how our kids became two of the #Playscape5 blog team, which is asked to visit at least once a month from September through January and write a recap of the visit that the Museum could share with its stakeholders and out-of-towners. The parents provide the writeups, but video allows the kids to directly participate.

Besides contributing content for our special Myles and Ella page on the museum's blog, we also visit and post pictures about the Playscape to my social media accounts, which include Twitter, Vine and Instagram.

I also did a Storify: Indy kids get to try out fun #playscape at @tcmindy during a special preview night a few days before the grand opening on Aug. 31.

Our fellow kiddo bloggers are Torrence and Gage and Paul. They too will share their experiences as they learn and grow in the gallery ... and at home!

Note: The bloggers are compensated for the articles, via a free one-year membership. For those of us who were already paying members before this gig, the Museum simply extended us one year.

Here's the writeup from the Children's Museum on their website:

Sept. 13: See Playscape through the eyes of Myles (age 4 1/2) and Ella (age 1 1/2) in this post from dad, Tom. And continue to follow their journey online, on the blog, or by searching the #Playscape5 hashtag!

Here was the post on the Museum's Facebook page, made available to 80,000 fans.

Go to the Museum's website for more on Playscape activities that are held throughout the week.

Tom Spalding, Communications Professional For Hire!

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Man meets menu: My second time as a @Brewhouse food taster

Pictured: An item on the #NewFallMenu list that I can't wait to sample includes the BBQ pulled pork sandwich.

It's no secret that I've admired Hoosier restaurateur Scott Wise's marketing skills as much as his menu ... as he steadily increased his footing in Central Indiana with a crowd-popular line of craft beer and inventive appetizers and entrees. I chronicled his successes and the pub-eatery movement as a business reporter for the Indianapolis Star.

Later, after I left journalism, we worked together on the #social46 team that promoted Indianapolis during Super Bowl 46. Scott later convened members of #social46 for a menu new lineup "taste preview" in fall 2012.

That experience produced this recap: #BrewhouseFoodie makeover menu in Indy via Storify.

I've been asked to be an ambassador for other Indianapolis restaurants and enjoyed the experimentation with using social to promote business, particularly when it supports friends' causes or operations. It helps me gain more seasoning in my own relatively fresh public relations career.

With that said, I am delighted to be returning to Brewhouse as part of the New Menu Preview Night from 7 to 9 p.m. this Monday, Aug. 26. I'll be helping to promote the Scotty’s brand, which is easy to do when your family loves the food and has a VIP card and growler in the fridge.

Full disclosure: The food is free. Each guest receives a take-home goodie bag filled with some of the signature bottled sauces and more.

What's in it for you? I am offering a $10 Scotty’s gift card to give away that can be used to try the new menu on the next day, Aug. 27. The tweep who favorites the most of my #NewFallMenu Brewhouse tweets to my @spaldobusiness account on Twitter during the 7-to-9 p.m. hour will win the gift card and some other small prizes I am including.

Pictured: Another item on the #NewFallMenu list: corn dogs!

A more "social" Indy Star

Attendees to the 7/18/13 breakfast edition of our nonprofit group, Indianapolis Social Media (@indysm) got a treat: StarMedia Engagement & Utility Manager @amybartner of the journalism giant Indianapolis Star talked about transformation: company and personal. I did "highlights" as a Storify. A Storify about a newspaper's social media plans

(Photo by 12 Stars Media)