DRAFT
FREEMASONS VICTORIA Communications and Marketing Volunteer Action Team
OPERATIONS PLAN 2020-21
Draft: September 2020
FREEMASONS VICTORIA COMMUNICATIONS AND MARKETING VOLUNTEER ACTION TEAM
COMMUNICATIONS LEADERSHIP The Volunteer Action Team seeks to offer expert advice in Communications strategy issues, and to support the Leadership Team in their initiatives.
CONTENT: PRINT, ONLINE The Volunteer Action Team will provide high quality content for the print and online channels of Freemasons Victoria including FVNews Daily. The Communications and Marketing Volunteer Action Team exists to give member support to the operations of the Grand Secretariat of Freemasons Victoria. The Board of General Purposes has published a Strategic Plan 2017-2025, in which key ‘deliverables’ are set out. The Grand Secretariat is responsible for meeting those objectives, and the organisation employs talented marketing professionals who ‘own’ the decision making process. However, they are keen to share this planning and fulfillment with the membership of Freemasons Victoria. The Communications and Marketing Volunteer Action Team provides engine power from Freemasons who have extensive backgrounds in a number of communications and marketing disciplines.
WEALTH OF TALENT The underlying theme is that there is a wealth of volunteer talent available around Victoria. The VAT believes that much of the labour and services needed by the Team in 2020-21 should be available, without charge to the organisation. This will be especially important in the tough economic times ahead in the post-pandemic period.
CONTENT: RADIO, TV The Volunteer Action Team will develop new avenues of communication to members and the public through radio, and later, television.
MARKETING The Volunteer Action Team will use latest marketing intelligence and technique to boost image and outcomes, in a world where branding is everything.
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY The Volunteer Action Team will provide advice and practical direction at the best IT options for members, Lodges, Districts and Grand Lodge.
STAKEHOLDER RELATIONS The Volunteer Action Team will help in re-establishing contact with corporate, community organisations, as well as the three tiers of government.
FULFILLMENT The Volunteer Action Team will manage Freemasons volunteers in providing contact and reliable processes in the Grand Secretariat’s outreach.
Freemasons Victoria Communications and Marketing Volunteer Action Team
COMMUNICATIONS LEADERSHIP WELCOME TO OUR TEAM
COLLABORATIVE APPROACH
Bro. Ash Long has a 50-year background in Victorian media and communications, with 42 of those years in Freemasonry.
The Communications and Marketing Volunteer Action Team will work towards aims of the Freemasons Victoria 2017-2025 Strategic Plan set by the Board of General Purposes.
He was appointed Chair of the Communications and Marketing Volunteer Action Team, by the Board of General Purposes. He started in that role in April 2020. He saw one of the first challenges to instill a positivity to the organisation’s messages. An early priority was to clean up our social media presence. Within days of assuming the post, he established FVNews Daily which reaches opt-in subscribers, is available on a dedicated website, and is promoted in synopsis form on social media.
Bro. Ash Long, PGTyler. Superintendent of Communications. Secretary, Ivanhoe Grammarians Lodge As well as offering strategic communications and marketing advice to the Freemasons Victoria leadership team, Ash is a special interest in the print and online content being generated for members.
This VAT project also includes a real-time What’s On guide that includes contemporary information, including links to Zoom meetings being held across the state.
Importantly, Ash believes that communications is a two-way process. He is eager that the traditional topdown process be replaced where members feel that they are valued.
The VAT will support parallel teams especially those working towards membership development and retention, Masonic knowledge, and works. Transparency, honesty and accountability are key values of the Team. The Freemasons Victoria message will become more prominent through newspapers across Victoria, commercial and community radio and television, and online media. The aim is that the quality of Freemasons Victoria messages, especially those on social media, will be lifted.
Freemasons Victoria Communications and Marketing Volunteer Action Team
CONTENT: RADIO, TV WELCOME TO OUR TEAM
POSITIVE INITIATIVES
Bob Pullin brings a wealth of career and lifetime experience to the Communications and Marketing Volunteer Action Team of Freemasons Victoria.
The Communications and Marketing Volunteer Action Team has identified a number of initiatives that it will seek to realise:
Bob knows our organisation from start to finish, and he brings a deep background knowledge of the people and structures of our fraternity. Bob has a wide knowledge of media, and how it works. He has an enviable career background, especially in radio, particularly Geelong’s 3GL and Pulse radio stations. Bob also brings a wide knowledge of the special challenges faced by country members of Freemasons Victoria. He and colleague Luke Potter can help metro members better appreciate the needs of regional and country Victoria. Bob will assist us in our aim to have Freemasonry best communicate its messages
RWor o. Robert or.. Br Bro JG W P ullin, P PJG JGW Wor odge o or.. Mas Mastter: L Lodge off the Gr ea ean Road. Grea eatt Oc Ocean Secr etary: Rosebank L odge Secretary: Lodge to the public, our members and their families. The VAT also hopes to revisit the possibility of re-visiting television options, albeit through 21st Century media platforms such as YouTube. Bob Pullin brings gravitas to our volunteer team.
■ Positive exposure worth more than $1 million of no-charge media space and time across Victoria, ■ An emphasis in promoting the work of individual lodges and individual members, ■ Assistance available to all Lodges with image, newsletters, websites and outreach, ■ A new parallel website - www.FVNews.com.au with daily news updates, n Increased reporting and transparency of Grand Lodge decisions and activities to members, ■ A disciplined 'one voice' approach to Freemasons communications and marketing.
Freemasons Victoria Communications and Marketing Volunteer Action Team
MARKETING WELCOME TO OUR TEAM
A FOCUS ON MAJOR GOALS
In a commercial world where ‘branding is everything’, Xavier Murtagh brings a wealth of marketing ability to the Freemasons Victoria Communications and Marketing Volunteer Action Team. For Xavier, marketing goes beyond buzzwords and chat. For him, marketing is about properly understanding the challenges, an organisation’s ability to meet them, and then executing a wellthought-out strategy that has prompt results. Xavier runs a leading Victorian consultancy that provides marketing solutions for emerging Victorian businesses. Don’t expect old-fashioned ideas that are beyond their ‘use by’ date. Expect to be challenged on viewpoints. Disruption - changing the ways that they have always been done - is how marketing needs to be in the 21st Century. Xavier is one of Freemasons
The Communications and Marketing Volunteer Action Team has established a number of goals aligned with the objectives of the Strategic Plan:
Wor. Bro. Xavier Murtagh. WM: Old Scotch Collegians Lodge. Victoria’s great young leaders. He is Master of the Old Scotch Collegians, which is undergoing a substantial refresh under his leadership. Marketing a memberorganisation such as Freemasons Victoria requires sound, inventive, exciting marketing strategies. The Communications and Marketing VAT (an acronym he hates) counts itself fortunate to have Xavier as one of its leaders.
■ Better and more engaging storytelling with dignified messages about Freemasonry, ■ Ownership by members of their social media behaviour, ■ Promoting Freemasonry's compassion and philanthropy, ■ Re-engagement of past, excluded and unaffiliated members, ■ Expanded community involvements, ■ Renewed vigor in promoting Freemasonry in regional and country areas, ■ Live-streamed, video and podcast content, ■ Multi-lingual marketing materials including ethnic radio programs
Freemasons Victoria Communications and Marketing Volunteer Action Team
INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY WELCOME TO OUR TEAM
START SPREADING THE NEWS
Damian Byrne is transitioning his career from hands-on Information Technology to one of leadership and management.
The Communications and Marketing Team will place emphasis on working at street level with Craft Lodges across Victoria, Chapter, Mark and other orders, Freemasons Foundation Victoria, Royal Freemasons and Epworth Freemasons.
Our VAT is fortunate that he has agreed to lead a team of like-minded experts at lending support for members, Lodges, Districts, Grand Lodge, and the Grand Secretariat that serves it. Damian is Worshipful Master of the Admiral Collingwood Lodge, and his personal Masonic journey has seen him make a substantial number of achievements for his Lodges and the Craft. He is an ethusiastic leader who shares in the fun of Masonry, involving others, and helping to support their growth as individuals and as Freemasons. One area of Damian’s portfolio is for organisation to better use our Safesforce membership database, so that we can best serve our membership.
Wor. Bro. Damian Byrne WM: Admiral Collingwood Lodge
Importantly, the VAT will work collaboratively with the existing Grand Secretariat staff.
Damian has a precious talent for the overview of systems, and to uncomplicate their use.
The theme for the 202021 Communications and Marketing Team uses familiar words:
Damian wants to enable young Masons with IT skills to play a major role in the leadership succession that every organisation must ensure.
"To be happy and to communicate that happiness to others."
Damian Byrne is also a very competent marketer, and understands the role of a positive mindset in achieving FV’s goals.
Membership retention and membership development are two of the central areas in which an improved communications and marketing approach must focus.
Freemasons Victoria Communications and Marketing Volunteer Action Team
STAKEHOLDER RELATIONS WELCOME TO OUR TEAM
PARTNERSHIPS THAT WORK
Luke Potter’s keen and able business outlook is exactly the type of talent that Freemasons Victoria needs to help re-establish our links with major corporations, leading community organisations and the three tiers of government. Luke has a grass roots understanding of people and their roles with organisations. He is President ot the monthly Boolarra Link community publication that is published in the Latrobe Valley. He has also been chosen to lead the Business Development VAT for Freemasons Victoria. His portfolio work will look at how best Freemasons Victoria can restore its position as one of the state’s leading community organisations. As the Taskforce is reimagined, his skills will be helpful in seeing that our fraternity’s rightful place is restored in the community eye. Luke has also been asked to
The Strategic Plan talks of the importance of strategic partnerships with like-minded community bodies.
Br o. L uk e P ott er Bro Luk uke Po tter algon L odge aralgon Lodge Trar
Grand Lodge's most important partnerships arewith its existing members, past and future members, and the general public. It will also be important to develop an overall 'Freemasons' message.
assist in the Content portfolio for Print and Online, that will help support our FVNews Daily initiative, social media, websites, the Freemasons Victoria journal and other specialist publications.
The Freemasons communications and marketing should blend the Craft Lodges and its members, with Chapter, Mark and other orders, Freemasons Foundation Victoria, Royal Freemasons and Epworth Freemasons.
The Strategic Plan makes deliberate mention of the objective to position our fraternity as a leading community organisation within Victorian society. It is a place that FV richly deserves.
It is important for the Communications and Marketing Team to assist Lodges to communicate with their own members and their families.
Freemasons Victoria Communications and Marketing Volunteer Action Team
FULFILLMENT WELCOME TO OUR TEAM
MEMBERSHIP ATTRACTION
Graeme Hawke has had a business and community life built on getting things done.
An important job of the Communications and Marketing VAT is to work alongside other VATs to help them complete their tasks.
Proficient at paperwork and administration, Graeme is an exemplary ‘people person’, with a reputation for getting things done.
One of the best tools for retaining and developing membership numbers in volunteer organisations is to recognise members for their achievements.
His title is head of the ‘Fulfillement’ portfolio, which is a fancy word for ensuring that our projects are completed properly. Graeme is being asked to focus on the people requirements of our Volunteer team. One of the VAT’s early goals is to set up a Tele Team which can speak in person with representatives of Lodges across the State. Another ambition is to establish Lodge and District scribes and photographers who can funnel in news about our members and their doings. Our VAT wants to promote
Wor. Bro. Graeme Hawke Past Master, Ivanhoe Grammarians Lodge all things positive with the name ‘Freemasons’. So we will be reaching out to the Freemasons Foundation, Royal Freemasons and Epworth Freemasons, so we can speak with ‘one voice’. There will be a great need to manage a great network of Victorian Freemasons, and Graeme’s abilities will be of enormous use in doing this in a professional way.
We need to recruit a team of Mason volunteers across the state that can take photos of Lodge events and people. This type of content is eagerly sought by publications and will be published without charge. Opportunities are there for Lodges, guided by District Co-ordinators and their teams, to participate in other media such as commercial and community radio.
FREEMASONS VICTORIA Communications and Marketing Volunteer Action Team