The goals of the

United States Power Squadrons'

District 4 Marketing Committee

Did you ever hear the fable about the

seven blind men and the elephant?

Each blind man was asked to describe the elephant he was touching and each described the elephant differently. Not one of the seven could envision the whole picture.

In a way, our USPS membership problems are similar. For many years, the committees involved in the membership process-Public Relations, Boating, Membership, Member Involvement-did not communicate with each other.

To overcome this problem, the D/4 Task Force (now called the D/4 Marketing Committee) was formed in 1995 with district committee chairmen and others who are involved in all phases of the membership process. The Marketing Committee members meet regularly, discuss the

roll of each committee in the membership process, and offer suggestions. These suggestions are then developed into experimental programs, such as our newspaper advertising program, our educational cruises, our name tag/coffee break program, and many others. Through grants from the Green Foundation, the Mar/Com underwrites a great variety of membership programs, many of which (like the student cruises) have become self sustaining. In brief, the D/4 Mar/Com, which reports to the D/C, was created to help all of our squadrons and we believe we are succeeding. We hope your will participate in the various programs that follow. We would also like your suggestions for new experimental programs. If they are approved by the D/4 Marketing Committee, they will be financed.