By Eileen Zhuge, @eileenzhuge | Winston Churchill High School, MD
Marketing plays a vital role in DECA. It’s how chapters share their stories and connect with people beyond their own schools. Behind every post, video and campaign is a team of students who work hard to bring their chapter’s ideas to life. As a member of DECA’s Content Creators Team, I wanted to highlight some of these students and their creative work!
Shreshta Ramji, California DECA VP of Marketing | Lynbrook High School, CA
Shreshta Ramji is a member of Lynbrook High School’s DECA chapter and currently serves as the California Vice President of Marketing. Now in her third year of DECA, she loves how this organization teaches members to think on the spot and handle scenarios with confidence.
What’s your process for coming up with creative ideas for social media posts or campaigns?
I love browsing Pinterest and my DECA account’s feed for inspiration. Pinterest is one of my favorite ways to create a mood board for inspiration, and then I recreate those in my own style to keep our posts as creative as possible. My goal is to balance the details/informational side of DECA with the fun side, often entailing engaging elements where fellow DECA members can join in and/or add their own story under our template!
What tools or apps do you use most often when designing graphics or videos?
I use Canva, Premier Pro and CapCut!
What’s your favorite piece of content your team has made so far, and why?
My favorite piece of content is our ICDC recap video, where we met and featured DECA members from over 25 associations and countries. It was so much fun filming with my camera this year, and putting it all together was the best part!
Caitlin O’Sullivan, Outreach Chair | Florida Atlantic University High School, FL
Caitlin O’Sullivan is a sophomore at Florida Atlantic University High School and serves as the Outreach Chair for her chapter. Now in her second year of DECA, she loves the creativity that comes with marketing and the wide range of opportunities it offers. After competing in the Sports and Entertainment Marketing Team Decision Making (STDM) event, she hopes to pursue an MBA in sports management in the future!
What’s been the biggest challenge your chapter has faced in marketing, and how did you overcome it?
My chapter's biggest challenge has been communicating events and updates through our different marketing channels. It can be a challenge for members to keep track of deadlines, meeting dates and how to join. To combat this, I have started posting frequent stories with reminders and updates in addition to feed content.
If you could give one piece of advice to a new chapter starting their marketing from scratch, what would it be?
Network, network, network! It’s essential to experiment with various outreach methods to determine which ones are most successful. Don’t be afraid to reach out to people and start with the basics - simply promoting DECA in a conversational context can go a long way. From there, curate your content to best fit your chapter image, and stay consistent with your posting style to maintain your brand.
Where do you see your chapter’s marketing going next year? Any big goals or ideas?
Personally, I hope we can increase our overall presence as a DECA chapter. There are so many different countries, let alone chapters, that are a part of DECA, but I hope that my chapter can work to distinguish itself as one that truly embodies the values of DECA. I would also love to see my chapter become more involved in events like the Summer of DECA and DECA Month! I’m also hoping to create interactive posts, such as giveaways, to increase overall views on our pages.
Rayyan Khan, VP of Marketing | Reedy High School, TX
Rayyan Khan has been a member of DECA for four years and currently serves as the Vice President of Marketing for Reedy High School in Frisco, Texas. He loves that marketing allows him to connect with people from across the world. Rayyan enjoys seeing the creativity of other chapters and learning from their approaches, which inspires his own work in DECA marketing.
What systems or tools help your team stay on track?
My marketing team and I mainly use Canva for most of our posts. For videos, we use CapCut, and we also use Adobe Express for official DECA templates. Having those tools makes it a lot easier to stay organized and maintain consistent content.
What have you learned about time management or planning since taking on this role?
Something I’ve learned is that time management is absolutely crucial, especially when you’re working on a team. You don’t realize how bad things can go if everyone isn’t coordinated. If your time management isn’t solid, the entire marketing process can start to crumble!
What does your process look like from idea to posting?
I usually start by drafting an idea in a document and discussing it with my friends to get feedback. Once everything looks good, I plan out the setup for filming - making sure everything’s ready before I record. When I film, it’s in person and usually fully dressed up for the theme or concept. After that, I edit the video using Canva, CapCut or iMovie, and then it’s ready to post.
Priya Cordeiro, PR + Social Media Manager | Exeter-West Greenwich Regional High School, RI
Priya Cordeiro is a second-year DECA member at Exeter-West Greenwich Regional High School, where she serves as the Public Relations and Social Media Manager. She loves how supportive the DECA community is, noting that everyone genuinely wants what’s best for one another and is always looking for ways to help other members succeed!
How does your chapter engage members through social media or events?
Our chapter engages its members through social media by posting about events we take part in, such as the school activity fair, and regularly posting meeting dates and polls so that we can collect a consensus about DECA and what my school is interested in seeing as far as events and fundraisers run by our chapter!
How do you keep followers active and not just passive viewers?
We send out regular emails from both myself and our chapter advisor to make flyers advertising DECA, and we also created a school store that’s new this year, we post polls and questionnaires about what students would be interested in purchasing so that they’re keeping up to date with our account, we also have created activewear and jerseys for our sports team so that we’re engaging the whole school, even non DECA members.
How has your marketing helped build a stronger sense of community within your chapter?
Not only has our chapter increased by roughly 400%, but the members have also become more active and excited about their participation. I’ve noticed that we’ve had a lot more student-led conversations and initiatives, which show ambition. This is super exciting for the future of EWG’s chapter.
Aarushi Anandakumar, Officer of Marketing | Centennial High School, TX
Aarushi Anandakumar is a second-year DECA member from Chapter 7, where she serves as the Officer of Marketing. One thing she loves about her role is the creative freedom it gives her when promoting DECA. Aarushi enjoys using Canva and TikTok to design engaging content that encourages members to interact and get involved.
How do you communicate marketing results or insights with the rest of your officer team?
I believe that communication is the key to any team's success. When discussing marketing insights with my officers, such as new campaign ideas or statistics from a recent post, I usually opt for group chats or emails to ensure everyone gets my message clearly.
How do you make sure your marketing efforts align with your chapter’s goals?
One way I ensure my marketing aligns with chapter goals is by communicating with my advisors on important updates or information that needs to be shared with members.
What metrics or feedback do you pay attention to most — likes, engagement, member turnout or something else?
When reviewing content, I pay attention to the creator's insights on Instagram. Specifically, the skip rate or viewer retention of the post. This data directly tells me how engaging the reel is and how effectively it delivers information to members.
