Tag Archives: advertising

Fundraising For Social Change

Buy This Book If you work for (or with) a non-profit, this book is a must-read. Kim Klein (the editor) focuses on key problem all non-profits face: acquiring, retaining, and upgrading donors.

Acquiring is the process of getting new people to donate to your organization. Typically this is done with direct mail, web site asks, and some special events. The goal is to create an impulse donation.

Retaining is the strategy of converting an impulse donation into a habit.

Upgrading converts the “regulars” to give more than they have before. Typically this is done via a personal call, letter, or special “insider” event.

###

Finding Donors. Did you know that in 2004, 75.6% of contributions came from individuals (11.6% of foundations, 8% bequests, and 4.8% corporations)? Or, 7 out of 10 adults in the US and Canada give away money?

Asking For Money. What’s the #1 way to get donations? Ask for them! You need to identify people who: are able to make a gift, believe in your organization, and can be contacted. Formally, you ask for letter first with a letter detailing your organization and a request for monies for a specific need, following up with a phone call, and ending with a face-to-face meeting. Informally, a phone call followed by a letter would suffice.

Special Events. A special event is a two-fer: a fund-raising opportunity plus increased publicity. During the event, there must be a pitch to let people know now is the time to donate. Consider having some friends of your organization purposely start the donation process to break the ice.

Direct Mail. Use direct mail to: get someone to give for the first time, get donors to repeat their gift, and get donors to renew their gift. On a direct mail piece, expect less than 1% response (higher quality lists produce greater response) – so you’ll need to play the numbers game. Before starting a direct mail campaign, calculate the cost of the mailing vs. the likely result of the donation to arrive at a net income per donor. There a lot of information in the book about crafting the copy of the mail piece.

This book is a gold-mine of non-profit fundraising strategy. If you work with non-profits, read it often.

How Can I Market Our Technology Solutions?

I am requested to provide the management with a marketing plan for Information and Communication Technology solutions. Our products are the service that we provide. However I need to put them into packages in order to be able to sell them. I was thinking about internet ad (such as in yahoo and msn …), technology and business magazine, what else might help? tournament? in what? or TV program? I need ideas that enable me to brand them. What may I suggest as activities? or marketing ideas? My target audience are all the large and medium size enterprise in the Arab countries.

###

If your target is “all the large and medium size enterprise in the Arab countries”, what problem/challenge/need do they all have? If they don’t have a common need, then you need to narrow your target even more.

If you’re selling IT & Communication services, why should these companies (which have these departments in-house), choose you? What can you offer that they can’t do themselves?

Who within the organization needs to hear your message? IT? CEO? C-Level? Manager of IT?

To advertise/market to your target, you need to be places they look: online, magazines, newspapers, trade shows, television, radio, websites, blogs, etc.

Your message needs to be written specifically to the target company/person within the company in language they use (different levels of management use different terms for the same thing because of their different perspective).

The entire point of your message is to get them to contact you. Don’t spent a lot of time crafting your solution to their problem and advertise that. Instead, identify who you’re talking to, their problem, and your solution (benefits-based). You want them to go to your website, email you, and/or call to find out more information. Make it easy for them to find you.

Your website should likewise talk in the same benefits-based language as your advertising. However, as people click through your site to find out more information, you speak more in details. Provide lots of examples, white papers, testimonials, videos, etc. Anything that can help people feel more confident in your company. You’re building trust.

How Can I Create A Online Classifieds Website?

I’m starting up an online paid classifieds advertising website and am looking for some marketing and advertising ideas that are outside the box.
Believe it or not Craigslist doesn’t cover our area, we only have one newspaper which has a monopoly on advertising to a county of 130,000 souls.

Currently the county residents are being squeezed by the local paper, I think I can do better and have already received commitments from local businesses committing to banner advertise on the homepage, so we are beyond break-even before we ever launch.

My real question is as to how to think guerilla in launching my attack on this newspaper that so many residents and business owners have already voiced their disdain for?

###

Let’s set aside the issue that Craigslist can quickly take over your market from you (and in fact, if your goal is to fight the local newspaper, this might be the easiest path — contacting Craiglist) as well as having the newspaper launch an online component to their printed advertising.

You’re asking how to advertise your site when the main form of advertising is your competition. I would suggest starting with the early adopters of online searching. Focus on the under-30 crowd (whether they be at high school, college, nightclubs, bars, music stores, book stores, video rentals, and movie theatres) first. Provide not just advertising, but weekly summaries of “what’s happening” (with the ability for them to post free upcoming community events). That will help start the “buzz”.

Should We Include www Or http:// In Our URL?

I was wondering if there are advertising industry standards on displaying website URLs in print ads? (for brick & mortar company having a website).

###

Definitely not http://

If you omit (the redundant) www you can increase the text size of the URL in your ad.

I have seen some less tech-savvy folks not understand that www. is optional, and couldn’t find a URL in an advertisement.

So it depends on who you’re targeting – tech savvy or not. If you’re not sure, put in the www.

For a second opinion, check out: GoodURLBadURL.com

What Is A Good Fitness Shirt Slogan?

I was hoping that I can get some help on a real edgy tagline to go on the back of a T-shirt for a fitness trainer. Something that can be viewed by many and be a hook of some sort. Some examples are Nikes just do it. Suck it up. Muscle Mechanics. Make it burn, etc. Something edgy that grabs you. This can be on the T-shirt and business card.

###

  • Want My Body?
  • What’s Your BMI?
  • Want A Piece Of This?

How Can I Market A Water Purifier?

One of my friends is working as marketing trainee in a company manufacturing water filters. As a trainee, she is working on devising new promotion strategies to promote the brand and giving training to the sales and distributors team. How she should start her work in the field of marketing for a water filter brand (used in households) and what could be other ways to keep distributors happy about the product? Of course, the ultimate aim is to get more sales and give quality to consumer.

###

Start with the product itself. Is it a top product compared to its competition? What makes the product unique in the marketplace – size? availability? pore size? independent water tasting results? installation ease?

Next, who are you targeting? Home owners? College students? Day care? Gyms? [you mentioned households, but that’s not specific enough]

Once you’ve positioned the product with the proper marketing message, then share it with the teams. Help them to focus on the message clearly, sharing the benefits, clearly highlighting a comparison between other choices the consumer has. Focus on the key points: taste and safety.

You want the consumer to feel that buying your friend’s product is the obvious choice for their family. The distributors could focus on school PTAs (perhaps having the children sell them as a fund-raiser), health fairs, health clubs, and gyms.

How Can I Get Advertisers And Sponsors For A Website?

I have a fun website that is free for everyone to communicate within the community. I am in need of help on how can I get advertisers and sponsors to be on my website. This is my first time and I need to know what do I do first.

###

The key to getting advertisers/sponsors is answering the question, “Why should they pay money to be on your site?”. When you approach a potential advertiser, you’ll want to have such information as the following on hand:

  • How many people are registered?
  • How many are active?
  • How many unique visitors do you get
  • Do you have their email addresses? (i.e., can you contact them?)
  • How much profile information have you compiled (age, sex, location, income, etc.)

The advertiser is going to think, “How much is it worth to have my product/service in front of this group?”. You need to help them to figure out their ROI. They’ll also care about ad placement/size, click-through, viewing stats, competition, etc.

Before you accept an advertiser, you’ll also want to answer, “How much will it help/hurt my site to have this product/service advertised?”. The wrong ad will turn off your hard-won traffic.

How Can I Improve My Real Estate Advertising?

I’m helping a real estate company with their newspaper advertising. They are a small fish in a pond dominated by a large, national real estate company. My client is doing the same old real estate home display ad home listings that the big company is doing, but with mediocre results. I’m considering a campaign that would pull out the home listings and brand them as the smaller, local real estate company that really knows the community (bold headlines supported with 5-10 lines of copy), and then ask the readers to go to their website to see the home listings (i.e. “we have too many listings to fit in this newspaper ad”). I’m new to working with a real estate company on their advertising, and they’re a relatively new company — opinions on if this is too risky to pull their product out of the ads and try something non-traditional to stand out?

###

Instead of pulling all-out, change the ads. Instead of a full page, how about a number of 2×2 ads throughout the paper (1 per listing)? Highlight the “small” aspect of the company (we’re small – we give better service – we have to).

I wouldn’t make someone read a printed ad and then go to the website to find a listing. That should happen naturally (if they have the technology and interest). What you really want to happen is for a prospect to call you. Show a home for sale. State what makes the company unique (besides smaller) – Better service? Better connection to the community? Donations to local charities? Lower margins?

The ad has a secondary value – you want to place the name in the mind of someone who’s thinking of listing their home.

Definitely don’t play “me too” in the ads – you’re getting mediocre results right now. Make sure that you’re paying attention to which ads are generating leads. Keep tweaking your ads until you’ve gotten a desirable return on investment.

What Are A Call Center’s Compelling Home Page Headlines?

I read this on a marketing website “If you want people to read what you have to say on your website, you must start each webpage with a compelling headline and use sub headlines to keep your visitors reading your text”

I am developing a web site and need to headlines for the front page. We are a call center for outsourcing telemarketing inbound and outbound services. We are nationwide and have the top technology in the industry. Our service is superb and we have a state of the art facility.

Any suggestions for headlines to the front page introduction to us headline, then a secondary headline with what content would be most important? If you were going to outsource to a call center what would you be looking for?

###

Is Your Business Overwhelmed With Phone Calls?
Tired Of Answering The Phone?
Tired Of Cold-Calling?
Rather Be Working Than Calling?
Wasting Too Much Time On The Phone?
We Love To Find You New Customers
Because Calling Isn’t Everyone’s Cup of Tea
Leave Phone Calling To the Pros
Do What You Do. We’ll Answer The Phone.
Stop Phone Interruptions.

How Can I Advertise A Job Fair?

We are having a job fair in 2 weeks and I need to find a way to advertise it on a very limited budget.

###

If you have a million dollars, how would you advertise it? Would you get a front page ad in your local newspaper? Student newspaper? A sign at every bus stop? A billboard on every bus?

Who do you want to read the advertisement? Why would they want to come? What makes your job fair of value to them? These are key marketing strategy questions.

Once you have your answers, scale down the million-dollar budget. Where are your likely attendees likely to see your ad (or hear it)? What do THEY have in common – a form of transportation? A common market they shop at? A radio station? A governmental agency? Place the ads in places they are with the reason that this is a good use of time.

2 weeks isn’t a lot of time, but it is do-able. Work smart.