Best Publicity Methods to Use

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Permalink Reply by Walkathon Guide (Lee) on November 15, 2009 at 7:38pm

Lots of other ideas too, but a couple favorites of mine:

- Set up a blog, like this one by Booksin Elementary: http://booksin.willowglenextra.com. If you are savvy enough to be reading this you can set up a blog. Then put the web address of your blog on your flyers, newspaper articles, etc. That way you can always have the latest info available.

- If you will hand out T Shirts at the event, make some early and have a great unveiling when your organization is together (if they get together regularly). Wear the shirts ahead of time.

- Banners, posters and even yard signs are always very effective. We recently used yard signs for a town party. While it was not a charity walk, I was amazed how much attention the signs got. I think they would also work for a charity walk.

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Permalink Reply by Roger Carr on November 16, 2009 at 8:38am

Lee,

I like your favorite promotion ideas.

I initially started a blog for a charity walk to encourage sharing between team members. It turned out that it was difficult to get the team members to participate on a blog platform. However, I discovered it was a great promotion tool. You can also use it to promote the sponsors of your walk. If a potential sponsor has a website, it can be an additional incentive to sign up if you promote the business with links back to their website.

Thanks for the ideas.

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Permalink Reply by Roger Carr on November 16, 2009 at 11:10pm

One of the best publicity methods I have found is to submit the charity walk event information to community calendars and other related calendars. This is one of the first places many people look for events to participate in.

Most radio stations, television stations and newspapers have online community calendars. Make sure your charity walk is in every one of those in your area. Also, submit Public Service Announcements to all of them. Several may announce your event as an additional publicity boost.

There are also community websites related to walking or your cause. Some of them have event sections as well that you need to get your information into. This includes the Charity Walks Network! Don't forget to submit your walk in the Events section at http://charitywalks.ning.com/events.

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Permalink Reply by Mark Christopher Davis on March 20, 2010 at 1:57pm

Everybody,

I love the promotional ideas below. I have a few more ideas that might help!

I have been working with several customers to develop promotional strategies through social networking sites. Everybody (yes, I am referring to every EVENT) should have a facebook fan page. One successful one I have seen is the Detroit Hydrocephalus Walk fan page at http://www.facebook.com/DetroitHydrocephalusWalk that a volunteer named Jennifer set up. This is a standard fan page that anybody who is a facebook user can set up. Promote it in and out of facebook and use it as a complimentary tool to your Friends Asking Friends website.

Some organizations may want to invest in more sophisticated facebook experiences. Mike (the event director) hired an outside firm to develop a custom facebook site for his Team to End Aids in Chicago. You can take a look at what he developed at http://www.facebook.com/TEAMTOENDAIDS. The site acts to direct people to his Friends Asking Friends website.

Another suggestion that I have been working with American Heart Association is to make sure that every Heart Walk site has a Tiwtter account. You can use Tweet-ups for team captain recruitment sessions, walker encouragement, or day-of-the-event activities.

Lastly, let's not forget good old email. Every event should have a email schedule lasting at least 6 months of the year (many organizations like Lance Armstrong Foundation deliver targeted emails throughout the year). Your emails should start 6-7 months form the event to become recruitment messages. If you have a database of past event participants, you should send emails to everybody you participated in the last 3 years. You should send one message to past participants and another to past donors with segmented messages. Another should go to past Team Captains to make sure they get started early and are prepared to recruit on your behalf.

I hope this helps!
Mark Davis
Director, Enterprise Internet Solutions
Blackbaud

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Permalink Reply by Walkathon Guide (Lee) on March 27, 2010 at 12:54am

Mark (or anyone),
Can you recommend an article that explains why we all need Facebook Fan pages? Seems like I'd better clue in...

Thanks,
Lee

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Permalink Reply by Mark Christopher Davis on March 28, 2010 at 11:32pm

Lee,

I don't have an article per se that I can point people regarding Fan Pages, but I recently completed a white paper with Charity Dynamics on Facebook tools (that participants uses themselves) along with Twitter and YouTube. There is a lot of good intel on how these tools are great for making paricipants better fundraisers. I hope this helps.

Download the white paper at http://www.blackbaud.com/bb/eventfundraising.aspx

Thanks
Mark

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Permalink Reply by Walkathon Guide (Lee) on May 12, 2010 at 2:02am

Hi Mark,
The article is extremely useful. Thank you.

Other people looking for basic data on what to do with social media and measured results for those who have used it, read the white paper Mark links to, above.

Lee

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Permalink Reply by Walkathon Guide (Lee) on March 27, 2010 at 12:52am

Here is a hilarious video to use as an example of what's possible. It's going to be forwarded among lots of friends I imagine, so it will be great publicity...

http://www.walkathonblog.com/732/the-walkathon-teaser-trailer/

I laughed out loud.

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