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MARKETING
& AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT
MARKETING
& AUDIENCE ENGAGEMENT
NETWORKING
1. Staff Highlights
When we drop a new edition, we post a staff highlight reel on Instagram showing us holding our papers. It puts faces to the bylines and reminds people that the paper is made by real students with real passion, not just words on a page. Seeing the staff behind the stories makes people more likely to engage with our work.
NETWORKING
2. Shout-Outs and Connections
We use Instagram and LinkedIn to keep our connections strong by posting guest speakers, sharing thank-yous to the Redwood High School Foundation for supporting our program and highlighting collaborations with the Journalism Education Association. It shows appreciation, keeps relationships active and helps our newsroom stay connected to the larger journalism community.
BRANDING
1. Our "@redwoodbark.org" emails
Under branding, every Bark staffer has a personal Bark email (first initial, last name at redwoodbark.org) used for all Bark-related communication and is attached to our bylines. This keeps our work consistent and professional and makes it easy for sources and readers. Rather than reaching out to a personal email, they can reach us through a Bark-branded address.
In addition, Bark uses role-based email aliases, so people can contact positions like eic@redwoodbark.org or headcopy@redwoodbark.org instead of specific students. This keeps communication centered on The Bark as a brand: editors may change, but our contact points stay the same, making the publication feel recognizable and professional.
BRANDING
2. Staff-designed Bark merch
Bark staff design our own merch through editor-led pitches and staff-wide voting using a Google Form. It's almost a guarantee to see a Barkie or two or three wearing their merch around Redwood High School's campus every day. We also wear our branded gear at staff events, like our holiday card sent to donors and while traveling together to the NSPA convention in Nashville, presenting The Bark as a unified publication.
BRANDING
3. Press Passes
From a branding standpoint, The Bark’s approved student press passes signal that we are a recognized, trusted publication. Because the passes are customized and admin-approved, they give us legitimate access to report on events like the BottleRock music festival, packed sports sidelines and city political meetings, reinforcing our identity as professional journalists and making the Bark brand visible well beyond campus.
BRANDING
4. Our app
From a branding standpoint, The Bark’s app through Student News Organization makes us feel like a real, legit publication. The clean layout and push notifications keep our stories visible and easy to access, so The Bark stays top of mind.
FUNDRAISING
1. Prioritizing "The Business" side
For fundraising, The Bark has designated business managers and shared folders and resources to keep fundraising rules, donor tracking and advertising consistent. This system keeps everything organized and transparent, and ensures our processes stay the same even as business editors change, making the resources evergreen and reliable.
FUNDRAISING
2. Advertisements
We run advertisements for local businesses through a clear, organized system run by the business team. Ad prices are based on size and placement, so larger ads and featured spots in print or online cost more. This keeps advertising fair, consistent and professional while supporting the program’s fundraising.
** In my opinion, local businesses could get an even better bang for their buck by asking for visibility on our social media, like an Instagram story ad, where students are already scrolling every day.
FUNDRAISING
3. Merch-based funding
For fundraising, we sell Bark hats at major Redwood High School campus events like graduation, open house, back-to-school night and parent night. We, as Bark students, run the booths themselves, wearing Bark merch and talking with families, so donors can directly see and meet the students they’re supporting.
DISTRIBUTION
1. The "old-fashioned" way
As convenient and savvy as our social media posts and edition launches are, you can’t go wrong with physically handing out papers. At big campus events like graduation, I pass copies directly to families or place them on empty seats, and during crowded events like the Halloween costume contest in the amphitheater. Unlike social media, personally offering a paper can’t easily be ignored, disliked or scrolled past.
DISTRIBUTION
1. The signature red stands
For distribution inside the school, we use our signature red wooden stands placed around campus. We unload stacks of each print edition into stands on all four corners of the main floor and in the library, making our new edition easy to spot and accessible to students throughout the day.
DISTRIBUTION
3. Reaching beyond campus
Let’s be honest: it’s usually teens who lose interest in physical papers. Older readers are more likely to flip through print, and younger kids often think it’s cool to hold a big, colorful paper and feel grown up. That’s why I place stacks of The Bark at local libraries and coffee shops, reaching people beyond a high school campus. To my knowledge, this was the first time in my three years in the program that our print edition was placed within the broader community.
I’ve genuinely enjoyed watching people of all ages stop, pick up the paper and take time to read it. Seeing the paper exist and be appreciated outside of school made the impact feel real and meaningful.
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