Marketing Strategy
Before you begin to plan your marketing strategy, you need to determine your marketing or advertising budget. Some campaigns can be built around a no-cost budget where all the advertising is donated (this of course is optimal), while others with more money can utilize multiple marketing platforms.
Once you determine your budget, clearly define who you are marketing to. It’s vital to understand who your benefactors and sponsors might be as well as how you are most likely to reach them. Below are some marketing strategies and tips that can help you get started.
Traditional Marketing
- Utilize the local new stations especially for charitable events
- Make signs, flyers, and posters
- Put an ad in the local paper
- Coordinate a mass-mailing campaign which targets your demographic
- Public speaking and appearances promoting the event
- Word of mouth
- Work with local retail business and vendors who will allow advertising within their location.
Online Marketing
- Email blasts targeting your demographic
- Online publications (since a large audience receives their news from the internet)
- Craigslist
- Local event blogs
- News websites
- Online classifieds
- Create a website dedicated to your fundraiser or add it to an existing site
- Utilize social media such as Facebook, Twitter, Meetup, etc.
Marketing Tips
- Put someone in charge of public relations/community outreach
- Look for companies and organizations to sponsor or donate marketing before paying for it.
- Depending on the event, invite the media to the fundraise. This tactic is very helpful for reoccurring fundraisers.
- Start advertising as early as possible.
- Create a slogan or title for the event.
- Come up with a competition within your organization having different groups compete. Then rewards groups with the highest sales, donations, etc.