104 - Marketing Rotary for Non-Professionals - Why Rotary?

In this series, Rotary refers to the enterprise of Rotary International and The Rotary Foundation.

Please review Marketing Rotary for Non-Professionals 101, 102A, 102B & 103.

    Whether it is a group of people considering applying to Rotary International (RI) for a charter or an individual considering accepting the invitation to become a member of a local Rotary club, they will require an answer to this thought - Why Rotary?  The answer today is the same as it has been for over a century.  From Rotary's inception, membership in a Rotary club related to the needs of those who had strong desires to network with others to make their lives and communities better.  Marketing Rotary to these people would be much easier if Rotary used as its directional philosophy in public messaging:  Rotarians make the world better . . . one community at a time emphasizing Who Rotarians Are regionally.  Clubs could use the same public messaging tag line, reinforcing Who Rotarians Are.    

   Note the simplicity and brand identity of this forever-relevant approach.  Rotarians throughout the world want to and do make their personal lives and communities better in many ways:  employing people, starting new companies and/or organizations, networking with others who have similar desires, serving their communities in many ways, etc.  They want to have a better understanding of where they live; to have self-fulfilling peak experiences while helping others do the same.  This is Who Rotarians Are. Rotary's messaging should not be directed toward everyone in every community or every citizen of the world!  It should only be directed and relevant to those who would seek a response to Why Rotary?

   The response must be universal and communicate the same philosophy to locals everywhere, which is why spot messaging should be closer to the clubs.  For example, examine Rotary's polio eradication initiative and how it relates to the world population today.  For the last twenty-five years, people of Southeastern Asia and Africa can relate to polio because they have been, and some still currently are, directly affected by it.  Rotary clubs throughout these regions made, and some still are making, their communities better by eliminating the scourge.  Locals can relate because they lived through the initiative led by Rotary.  But to the populations in North and South America, Australia, The Philippines, and Europe polio is ancient history.  On these continents, most people under sixty simply do not relate to polio.  But clubs could create locally appealing responses to Why Rotary? by basing their public image messaging on Who Rotarians Are and how they have made and are making their communities better.

So Why Rotary?  Because Rotarians make the world better . . . one community at a time!