The story of the 175 years of The Alabama Baptist (TAB) didn’t just get printed in a book this year. It also got shared across social media, on blogs, in newsletters and in the print edition of the paper all year long.
Bob Terry, TAB editor, said the yearlong promotion was to spark a fresh love of the paper by celebrating its rich history of ministry — and highlighting why it’s still important today.
‘Let it minister to you’
“Every week for 175 years, The Alabama Baptist has bound us together, and without that binding to overcome our differences of age, geography and opinion, we can be more prone to fracture and go apart,” Terry said. “This past year has been an opportunity to say again and again and again that The Alabama Baptist is important — let it minister to you like it has ministered to people for 175 years.”
In the year leading up to TAB’s 175th anniversary, the print edition included weekly historical tidbits that showed glimpses into heartwarming moments and tough struggles Alabama Baptists faced across the paper’s history.
The paper also included periodic articles written by Elizabeth Wells, primary researcher for TAB’s new book to highlight stories from TAB’s past. In those articles, she described how the paper began, the editors who ran it and how it grew over the decades.
For the anniversary year, TAB also offered a variety of online content to help readers engage the story of the paper.
Jessica Ingram, editorial and marketing intern, painted a picture of TAB’s history and this year’s celebration on TAB’s blog, found at alerts.thealabamabaptist.org. It featured candid photos from the celebrations and photos and stories from the book “The Alabama Baptist: Celebrating 175 Years of Informing, Inspiring and Connecting Baptists.”
To promote anniversary events, Ingram sent press releases to news outlets statewide to inform them about the book, the birthday party at Judson College in Marion and the symposium at Samford University in Birmingham. Many advertised the events, including WAY-FM radio and the Alabama Press Association.
Lauren Grim, TAB’s graphic designer, designed a wide variety of special products for the anniversary, from postcards to posters to a special anniversary logo.
Terry also was a guest on Priority Talk radio Jan. 30 to discuss the newspaper’s 175th anniversary. And Terry and editor-elect Jennifer Davis Rash are the inaugural guests on University of Mobile’s new KNOWN podcast, coming out mid-March at www.umobile.edu/podcast. (TAB)
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