Learn how to make your fundraising event stand out and ensure success with our effective tips.
Hosting a successful fundraiser is essential for local businesses and nonprofits looking to make connections and stand out. A fundraising event is a perfect opportunity to engage with media partners, potential donors, and members of your local community.
If you want to learn how to promote a fundraiser and succeed, we'll go over the best advertising strategies and top tips.
11 ways to get your fundraiser noticed
Getting your fundraiser noticed can significantly boost the turnout of your event. This makes it easier to raise more money for your cause and connect with top supporters.
Let’s take a look at the best ways to make your fundraiser stand out.
1. Use email marketing
When it comes to maximizing online reach, email marketing is still one of the most effective tools available today. Email marketing can be useful for connecting with newsletter subscribers, supporters, community members, local businesses, and past event attendees. With this form of marketing, share details about upcoming events, link to an official press release, invite readers to purchase tickets for your fundraiser, or remind recipients about the event.
2. Add the event to your website
Use your nonprofit website to promote your upcoming fundraiser and share event details. If your website receives a lot of traffic daily, you can attract new supporters to your event. You can also design a landing page that's likely to captivate your audience.
3. Invest in paid ads online and off
Investing in paid ads using a platform such as Google Ads can help you to spread the word about your fundraiser while boosting your website's SEO, or search engine optimization. Using Google Ads and additional marketing platforms allows you to hone in on a particular target audience or demographic.
Additionally, traditional methods of advertising are also effective. This includes billboards, radio and TV ads, and print ads.
4. Leverage word-of-mouth marketing
Word-of-mouth marketing should never be underestimated, as some of the most prominent brands in history began from word-of-mouth or guerilla marketing techniques.
This marketing tactic works best when individuals feel excited or positive about a particular business, brand, or nonprofit organization. A word-of-mouth strategy is even more effective when you have already established a good rapport with some of your supporters and past attendees.
Sharing flyers can also help boost awareness about a fundraiser. If there's a town square where it's acceptable to post handouts, you can do so to spread the word about your event and the cause you're supporting. You can also ask local business owners if they'll allow you to leave a stack of flyers at their establishments. Create a volunteer group to make handing out flyers easier.
6. Promote your event on social media channels
When it comes to digital marketing for nonprofits and businesses, learning how to market on social media is a must. Having social media channels for your organization enables you to hone in on your target audience. As a result, you can quickly generate interest in your event.
If your goal is to learn how to go viral on TikTok, spend time researching relevant TikTokers that are already successful in promoting online and local fundraising events.
7. Use text message marketing
Text message marketing, or SMS/MMS marketing, is another unique and powerful method of promoting fundraisers and cause marketing campaigns. For this tactic to work, you'll have to collect the phone numbers of your supporters, your newsletter subscribers, or those genuinely interested in helping your cause.
This strategy is quick and to the point, which can help spread information regarding your upcoming event in less time. Text message marketing can also be beneficial for sharing surveys and direct links to your official website or event registration page.
When using this technique, only send texts to those who have consented to receive marketing messages.
8. Send direct mail
A less common option is direct mail. Direct mail marketing is still an extremely prosperous tactic when trying to garner the attention of those in your local community. This strategy is more personal and intimate than simply promoting an event using social media. If your goal is to make a connection with prospective attendees, donors, and sponsors, consider sending direct mail.
9. Partner with influencers and local celebrities
One of the most popular methods of marketing today includes influencer marketing. Partnering with social media influencers and celebrities can drastically increase your online traffic, event ticket sales, and donations.
Connect with influencers and celebrities who have a personal connection with your cause or fundraiser to attract those who are genuinely interested in your event. You can create a social media campaign with the help of influencers or invite local figures to your fundraiser.
10 . Reach out to local media outlets
Reach out to local radio stations to share press releases and announce your upcoming event. Connecting with local radio and television stations can give your event the boost it needs to succeed. You can also contact local stations to inquire about advertisem*nts and promotional costs for commercials on-air.
11 . Find and engage with sponsors
When working in cause marketing, contacting local radio stations and prospective media partners is important to help spread the word about your fundraiser. Engaging with local and online sponsors can boost your organization's visibility while providing additional networking opportunities.
Learning how to advertise fundraisers with a successful promotional strategy is a process that takes time and effort. Event promotion and fundraising advertising require you to understand your audience and prospective media sponsors. However, with some work and preparation, you can effectively promote a fundraising campaign and achieve your desired results.
Use the tips below to start building your strategy.
Prioritize planning
Whenever you're thinking of hosting a fundraiser, it's important to prioritize the planning process. Fundraising requires plenty of planning and logistics, especially when seeking donors and media partners.
Set clear goals and objectives
When planning and strategizing, create a list of clear goals and objectives you aim to meet with your fundraiser. Are you attempting to raise a fixed amount of money? Do you want to network with prospective business partners and donors? Consider the objectives you have in mind to help shape the planning process.
Ensure your story is compelling
Thousands of fundraisers and events occur daily. For your fundraiser and organization to stand out, you'll need to develop a compelling story.
Ask yourself the following questions before hosting your next fundraising event or campaign:
- What's the purpose of my fundraiser?
- Who am I trying to attract to the event and why?
- Am I interested in spreading the word about my cause, garnering followers, generating sales, or raising funds for a particular cause?
- What makes my organization's story stand out amongst the rest? How can I demonstrate that my organization or fundraiser is different from others?
- How can I appeal to my audience genuinely and authentically, both online and off?
- How can I incentivize guests to attend my event and sponsors to donate to the cause?
- What marketing methods are used to appeal to the demographics I intend to reach?
Promote your event early
Marketing fundraisers early can make all the difference in hosting a successful event. The earlier you can market a fundraiser, the more likely individuals are to attend. With enough time to prepare, prospective attendees, donors, and sponsors have adequate time to plan for a donation and tell others about the event.
Know your audience
In order to succeed with any fundraising event you'll need to know your target audience. Consider the age range, gender, location, and income level of those you plan to appeal to at your fundraiser. What type of hobbies, interests, or investments do the individuals you're considering inviting possess? Why will they find your fundraiser interesting or unique? Understanding your audience is half of the battle when it comes to hosting a successful event of any kind.
Incentivize with giveaways, raffles, and more
If you want to increase attendance for your upcoming fundraiser, you can do so by providing incentives. Using incentives for guests and donors, such as giveaways, raffles, and other prizes, can motivate individuals to attend out of sheer anticipation and excitement. Offering door prizes and grand prizes toward the end of the night can also encourage attendance.
Make it accessible
Hosting an accessible fundraising event is highly advisable, regardless of the size of the event you're planning. Ensure that your event is in a suitable location for optimal attendance and accessible to those with disabilities.
Another way to host an accessible event is with a hybrid fundraiser. Hosting an event in person and virtually can help sell additional tickets and increase attendance and donations at your event.
Promote your fundraiser with effective strategies
Learning how to promote a fundraiser successfully can provide you with lifelong connections and potential opportunities for the future. Integrating a range of effective marketing strategies and utilizing relevant tools to advertise your fundraiser can help ensure an effective campaign.
Leverage Mailchimp to promote your fundraising event and guarantee a great turnout. Our comprehensive digital marketing tools make it easy to spread the word and raise awareness about fundraisers.
