THINKing » Charity

A Cause Marketing Christmas

Harry Hoover — Wed, 15 Dec 2010 19:24:59 +0000

We’ve run across a few articles concerning cause marketing during the Christmas season that you might find of interest.

Cause Marketing Christmas – As a holiday, Christmas is surprisingly challenging to cause market around, but a local homebuilder has the bones of a good campaign based on a gingerbread house-building contest.

Trees For Troops – How several organizations supported Trees For Troops.

Southwest’s Check-In Cause Marketing – Southwest Airlines is combining Facebook Places and charitable giving to the Make-A-Wish Foundation to encourage travelers to check into Southwest when they get to the airport.

5 Social Good Campaigns This Holiday Season – Mashable has highlighted 5 social good campaigns that have used social media as tools of engagement around causes.

Give It Up

Harry Hoover — Tue, 30 Nov 2010 12:05:51 +0000

It’s been a tough year for everyone, but especially non-profit organizations. Are you doing any cause marketing during the holidays to benefit your favorite charity?

If so, great. If not, I’d like to encourage you to help either through direct donations or by providing marketing and PR support. Why? Charitable donations and corporate sponsorships have a measurable effect on a business’ bottom line. Charitable activities have been show to:

- increase sales

- improve consumer loyalty and employee morale

- enhance brand awareness

Here’s what I’m doing this year. I’m donating up to $1,000 to Crisis Assistance Ministry, $1.00 for each new enewsletter subscriber I get. So, please sign up and help Crisis Assistance. I’m promoting this via Twitter and our Facebook page, as well.

Additionally, each year I encourage my friends, family and business associates to donate to the charity of their choice instead of buying me a Christmas gift. This year, I’m requesting that they give to Crisis Assistance.

Tell us what charitable activities you have developed for this holiday season.

#tweeta20 – That’s A Wrap

Harry Hoover — Tue, 11 May 2010 21:12:52 +0000

Well, #tweeta20 – the social media project designed to raise awareness and funds for Thompson Child & Family Focus - is behind us now and I think it was a success. I think we raised more awareness of the good work that Thompson does than we did money. Although we raised at least $4,000 via social media at last count.

Here’s how it happened. Friend Kathy Rowan (@PRQueen) works closely with Thompson and has for a longtime. She asked me to help with the project she had conceived.

First, we recruited a great group of Charlotte Twitterati to participate and I’d like to recognize them once more. I hope you will follow these wonderful people:

Next, we decided upon a catchy hashtag – #tweeta20 – to help track the stream.

Then, we:

- rounded up some Wicked tickets for a drawing from the pool of online #tweeta20 donors (oh, by the way, the winner was @ppnc09)

- pre-promoted the May 11 event to friends and followers to try to prime the fundraising pump

- developed Tweet Cheat Sheets for our 10 Twitterati to utilize and to keep us on message

- mounted a media relations effort to garner media interest, and this paid off with pre-event publicity from The Charlotte Observer and Fox News Rising. The momentum continues: WCNC-TV visited the facility the day after the event, spending two hours there filming.

- set up a Twitter account for Thompson and began following Charlotte, NC area people with the account

- set up a Thompson cause page on Facebook to involve our non-Twittering friends

During Thompson’s May 11 annual luncheon, its big fundraiser for the year, our group sat at the Twitter Table, twittering like crazy, utilizing two 4G Overdrive hotspots that @Sprint provided.

We’ve learned a lot about how to use social media for nonprofits, and I want to figure out how to translate this knowledge to other charities in our area. I’ll get back to you on that once I’ve figured it out.

Do These 10 Things Today

Harry Hoover — Mon, 10 May 2010 13:55:15 +0000

Are you looking for ways to build your business? Sometimes we become paralyzed because there seems to be so many things we could and should be doing to market our companies. Longtime readers know I’m typically a strategy first guy, but sometimes you just need to do something to get things rolling. So, here are 10 easy marketing ideas you can start on today:

1. Plan a speech

2. Start a marketing calendar, listing all of your scheduled events in categories like advertising, direct mail, networking

3. Write five thank you notes and send them to your best customers. Repeat tomorrow.

4. Review your LinkedIn profile (you do have one, right?) to make sure it is complete.

5. Connect with me on LinkedIn

6. Sponsor a charity event

7. Write a press release. See my article: 33 Reasons To Do A News Release

8. Sign up for my enewsletter on marketing

9. Line up a college intern to help you with your marketing this summer. As a UNC-Chapel Hill grad, I suggest UNC’s intern program

10. Read my series on New Business

Got any more ideas? Comment, please.

Meet The Tweeters

Harry Hoover — Tue, 04 May 2010 18:18:54 +0000

We talked recently about #tweeta20, a social media project in which I’m participating along with @PRQueen.The project is for Thompson Child & Family Focus, aka @ThompsonCFF.

A number of prominent Charlotte, NC tweeters have graciously volunteered their time to assist in this worthy cause. Please follow these good folks:

As a thank you, I’m profiling our social media volunteers as their bios come in. Let’s get started:

Crystal Dempsey, @CrystalDempsey, 45, owns From The Hip Communications, a Charlotte-based communications consulting company that works with nonprofits (Crossroads Charlotte, Dress for Success Charlotte) and businesses. During her 20 years at The Charlotte Observer, Crystal was an editor (Style, Eye, UCity), writer (fashion/lifestyle), page designer and copy editor. She continues to be a contributing columnist for the Observer’s Style section. Crystal serves on the TEDx Charlotte steering committee and on advisory boards for Charlotte Community School for Girls, UNC Charlotte’s Women’s and Gender Studies Program and the Women’s Inter-Cultural Exchange.

Scott Hepburn, @ScottHepburn, is a father, transplanted New Yorker (who isn’t, really?), and PR and marketing veteran. His consulting firm, Media Emerging, provides social media training, content marketing strategy, and copywriting for agencies and mid-sized business. He once wrestled a bear. No, not really, but wouldn’t that be cool? He’s an avid trail runner, coffee lover, and debater.

@prettyannoyed prefers anonymity. She is a Charlotte resident who, despite spending time micro-blogging about the annoyances we all encounter in our daily lives, enjoys spending free time helping worthy causes such as Thompson Child & Family Focus.

Becca Bernstein, @BeccaBernstein, is a Senior Content Developer and Social Media Strategist for Lowe’s Home Improvement. A writer and a graduate of the Portfolio Center, Becca has worked at several of the top agencies in Charlotte. She was also the Co-Founder of the Dave Thomas Fan Club. When she’s not working, Becca spends her time with her husband, her daughter and a dog that looks like a cow.

Brandon Uttley, @BrandonUttley, is a social media strategist for Wray Ward, helping create conversations and connections in the social media space. Uttley has a practiced perspective on social media and, as a 20-year veteran in the fields of marketing and public relations, brings a keen understanding on its role in integrated marketing communications.

Tweeta20 – A Non-Profit Social Media Pilot Project

Harry Hoover — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 12:59:15 +0000

On Tuesday, May 11, nine Charlotte social media folks and I will spend an hour trying to raise money for Thompson Child & Family Focus, an organization that has spent nearly 125 years providing education, treatment and support for children traumatized by sexual abuse, domestic violence or rampant neglect.

During Thompson’s annual meeting at noon May 11, we will sit at a Twitter Table and encourage our followers to Tweet A $20 or more. Each contributor of $20 or more will be entered to win two tickets to WICKED at Charlotte, NC’s Ovens Auditorium.

We’re using the hashtag #Tweeta20 in all of our social media postings so we can keep up with the social stream, primarily from our Charlotte area social followers.

How can you help? I’m glad you asked.

Follow Thompson on Twitter @thompsoncff
Become a Facebook fan of Thompson Child & Family Focus
Share news on your blog, in your tweets or Facebook status updates about the promotion and use the #Tweeta20 hashtag
Follow our Tweets from noon to 1 p.m. on May 11 and please RT our #Tweeta20 tweets
Go ahead and #Tweeta20. We’re taking donations!
Send any other ideas you have to tweak our #Tweeta20 promotion.

Feeling Charitable

Harry Hoover — Thu, 03 Dec 2009 00:03:56 +0000

I need your help. I want to get more people signed up for the My Creative Team monthly enewsletter. So, I’ve decided to donate a dollar to charity for every person who signs up between now and Christmas Eve. Even if you decide to opt-out after Christmas, I’ll donate up to $1,500 to the Crisis Assistance Ministry. Why Crisis Assistance Ministry? Because, as they say on their website,

When there is nowhere else to turn, we provide emergency financial assistance, clothing and household goods to families in need.

The need this year among the so-called “working poor” is profound. Because they are actually working and making some money, they get very little, if any, government assistance. The help of Crisis Assistance often means the difference between eating and not eating.

Will you help me reach my goal of 1,500 new subscribers so that together we can help the truly needy? Sign up here.

Please spread the word to your friends, particularly those in marketing and HR at Fortune 1000 size companies, since that’s our target market. Additionally, feel free to share this across your social networks like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn.

Thanks for your help. Are you doing anything charitable this year? Tell us your story.

How About Giving Charities A Holiday This Year?

Harry Hoover — Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:36:16 +0000

Despite a recession, Americans spent more on holiday shopping in two months in 2008 than they did all year on charitable giving. Holiday retail sales for November and December 2008 in the general merchandise category totaled roughly $460 billion, according to the National Retail Federation. Charitable giving for 2008 declined to $307 billion from $314 billion in 2007.

Don’t get me wrong – I am pro-capitalism. But I think that Americans should be giving at least as much to charity as they are spending on holiday gifts. So, we started a program called Holiday For Charity in 2002, and once again My Creative Team is promoting the program that provides some simple ways to help the less fortunate.

The number one thing you can do is ask friends, family and business associates to donate to charity instead of buying you gifts. Here’s why: a lot of people would donate to charity in someone’s name but they don’t feel right doing it unless they have that person’s approval. So, give them your OK and help someone who needs it more than you need a Christmas gift.

Here’s how Holiday For Charity works:

1. sell the holiday gifts you receive online at eBay’s GivingWorks, and donate the proceeds to charity

2. register and shop at iGive.com, whose merchants donate a portion of each transaction to the charities of your choice

3. offer to do volunteer work in lieu of buying holiday gifts

4. donate directly to charity in lieu of buying holiday gifts for clients and customers

Use The Neglected Weapons In Your Marketing Arsenal

Harry Hoover — Wed, 18 Mar 2009 19:37:20 +0000

Business marketers have a lot of weapons in their arsenals but they often overlook some very important ones. So, let’s do a quick inventory.

Of course, you already have a company name, a positioning statement, logo, stationery, business cards and a website.
Right?

The next thing I suggest is an employee survey. Ask them about what’s happening where the company meets the customer. Find out how employees feel about the company. A recent survey shows that employee attitudes have a huge impact upon a company’s bottom line. Motivated employees provide great service, and great service can separate you from your competitors.

Next, develop a customer retention program. It costs five times more to develop a new customer as it does to keep an old one. E-newsletters are an essential part of my customer retention program and should be a part of yours too.

Finally, here is a random list of other items that can be considered part of your marketing arsenal.

- your reputation

- advertising

- consultations, demonstrations, seminars, samples

- community involvement, cause marketing, philanthropy

- media contacts, bylined articles, op-ed pieces

- guest speaking program

- great working environment

- employee training & development program

- networking, referrals

- contests

- customer surveys

- special events

If your time for marketing related tasks is limited, take some advice from my marketing mentor: pick three things from above and do them right.

Are you using any of the neglected weapons? Tell us about it.

All About Email

Harry Hoover — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 16:09:04 +0000

I’m a big believer in email for customer retention, so I’ve been reading a lot about it recently. Thought I’d share some links for you. If you are interested, My Creative Team produces a monthly enewsletter. Here’s our latest.

Your 2009 To-Do List

Start Planning For 2009 Now

Email Is The Most Popular Online Activity

Email Fundraising Success Story

How To Sync Email With Customer Lifecycles