Exploring New Channels:

Transcription

1 CASE STUDY Exploring New Channels: New Strategies for Marketing the Lupus Foundation of America, Philadelphia Tri-State Chapter s 26th Annual Lupus Loop 1

2 Overview The Lupus Foundation of America, Philadelphia Tri-State Chapter collaborated with the DonorDrive Marketing Services team to create and implement a diverse, multi-channel strategy to boost the recruitment and revenue numbers for their 26th annual Lupus Loop event in Philadelphia. This new strategy focused on four main goals: To increase the number of returning participants from their 2016 event To expand their constituent base and recruit new participants and donors To improve the fundraising results of their already registered participants To increase awareness about lupus and raise support for Philadelphia Tri-State Chapter s programs and initiatives 2

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4 Background The Lupus Foundation of America is dedicated to improving the quality of life for all people affected by lupus through programs of research, education, and advocacy. They are the only national organization focused on solving the mystery of lupus and providing care and support to those who suffer from its brutal impact. The Philadelphia Tri-State Chapter of the organization became a DonorDrive client in early 2012, and has used the DonorDrive platform to host its annual Lupus Loop 5K Run & 2.5 Mile Walk to End Lupus Now for the past six years. Their largest yearly event, the Lupus Loop accounts for 70% of the Philadelphia Tri-State Chapter s annual revenue, which goes to fund research, education, advocacy, and patient & community services around the Philadelphia Tri-State area. 90% of the funds raised for the event stay local to help the 48,000 people living with lupus in the area, while the remaining 10% go to support the Lupus Foundation of America s National Research Program. The Philadelphia Tri-State Chapter also hosts their annual Walk to End Lupus Now in the spring, as well as a handful of ticketed events throughout the year. 4

5 Our walks are a great source of empowerment for our community living with lupus or affected by lupus. In many ways it's the first point of entry in how they connect with our organization, take action, and do something positive. It's a critically important event for the work that we do. - Annette Myarick Philadelphia Tri-State Chapter CEO 5

6 Problem Over the past few years, the Philadelphia Tri-State Chapter has experienced stagnation with the Lupus Loop, both in overall event revenue and in the number of registrations. They, like so many other nonprofit chapters, have a small staff that s responsible for executing a large and varied number of tasks. Resources, both labor and financial, for exploring new marketing opportunities are slim. Historically, marketing for the Lupus Loop was executed through campaigns, direct mail, and with an assortment of social media posts. By partnering with DonorDrive Marketing Services, the Philadelphia Tri-State Chapter team was able to expand their marketing expertise while testing out new strategies. The 26th Annual Lupus Loop was scheduled for Sunday, October 29th in Philadelphia. While registrations for the event opened in early May of 2017, the DonorDrive Marketing Services team didn t become involved until early August. Annette reached out to the team after attending a DonorDrive client webinar focused on recruiting and retaining participants for your events. According to Annette, the webinar made her question that there are tools within DonorDrive that we re probably not using to capacity and what are we leaving on the table as a result of that? At that time, the Lupus Loop had only a 2% retention rate from their 2016 event. 6

7 expand your marketing expertise test out new strategies 7

8 Strategy An initial discovery period brought the two teams together to discuss the Philadelphia Tri-State Chapter s goals, the history of the event, and potential target audiences. With this information in mind, the DonorDrive team proposed a marketing strategy that was segmented into two major phases. Phase one, which would run through August and September, would focus on increasing event registrations, both of returning and new participants. The second phase, which would start at the beginning of October, would center on growing the event s overall revenue both by coaching participants to become better fundraisers, and by connecting with potential new donors. These phases would be implemented across three main communication channels: social media, paid advertisements on Google, and through native DonorDrive platform tools. 8

9 Defining the Audience Once the proposal was approved, the first step focused on defining the target audiences. Defining a specific audience is crucial to a successful marketing strategy - otherwise you risk spending your marketing budget on people who are very unlikely to become involved. By targeting a specific group of people who are somehow connected to your cause or event, you greatly increase the effectiveness of your ads. DonorDrive outlined three audiences for the Lupus Loop - lapsed participants, existing participants, and potential new participants and donors. The lapsed participants, anyone who had registered for the Lupus Loop in the past three years, were targeted in both phase one and phase two - in phase one as potential registrants, and in phase two as potential donors. The existing participants were targeted solely in phase two, with messaging focused on improving their personal and team fundraising efforts. The third group, potential new participants and donors were targeted in both phases. To find these new potential fundraisers and donors, DonorDrive s Director of Marketing Services, Anne Baum, utilized multiple tools including Facebook and Google s lookalike audiences, targeted search ads filtered by location and demographics, and targeted search ads based on keywords, such as lupus or information on lupus. 9

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11 Messaging With the target audiences defined, the DonorDrive team moved on to crafting the messages that would be shared in the ads, social media posts, and communications. These messages were divided into four main themes: Knowledge about what lupus is and its impact, conveyed mainly through statistics These messages were deployed via Google Display Ads, Facebook Ads, and Instagram posts, targeting all three defined audiences. Information about the programs and initiatives funded by revenue from the Lupus Loop Again, these were shown via Google Display Ads, Facebook Ads, and Instagram posts, targeting all three defined audiences. Event Updates Featuring information such as the total amount raised for the event, the number of participants, and new event features such as achievement badges and incentives, these ads were largely siloed to Facebook and Instagram posts as well as through DonorDrive s Scheduled Messages. Fundraising tips and past fundraiser success stories Shown to existing event participants to improve and motivate their own fundraising efforts, shared on Lupus Facebook and through DonorDrive s Scheduled Messages. 11

12 To create the individual messages for these four different tracks, the Philadelphia Tri-State Chapter provided DonorDrive with detailed information about their various programs and treatments and completed a Creative Brief so that DonorDrive could become familiar with the language and tone affiliated with their brand. Creating continuity between your marketing messages and your overall brand voice is crucial to not confuse your users. Working with the Philadelphia Tri-State Chapter was the perfect example of a successful relationship. They are an amazing team and we felt lucky that we were able to complement their team by adding resources and expertise to strengthen their event marketing. - Anne Baum DonorDrive Marketing Services Director In addition, the DonorDrive team conducted supplementary research, searching accredited medical websites for the most up-to-date statistics about lupus and its effects, as well as digging through social media to identify the most popular hashtags and accounts associated with lupus and the Lupus Loop. 12

13 Really being able to talk to someone with marketing expertise and fill in the gaps that we have, I thought it was just a tremendous experience. - Annette Myarick Philadelphia Tri-State Chapter CEO 13

14 Design With a plan now in place, DonorDrive began taking steps to put their strategy into motion. Roping in their Design Services team, DonorDrive created an assortment of design assets to display on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Google, all using the newly created messaging alongside striking black and white imagery. To ensure the visual elements properly represented lupus and the groups most affected, DonorDrive used imagery that predominantly featured women and people of color. The Philadelphia Tri-State Chapter also shared past event photos with the DonorDrive team, which were then recycled into weekly #throwbackthursday postings. Fundraisers loved seeing themselves featured on Lupus s Instagram, and these #tbt posts often drew the most likes and comments. Annette shared that many other members in their community reached out asking if they too could share their story after seeing the new story-based posts. 14

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16 Results Created a Positive Return The marketing tactics implemented by DonorDrive drove registrations and donations. Every $1 spent on marketing returned $2.50 in revenue for the Lupus Loop. Increase in Average Raised Per Participant By communicating with event participants after they registered with fundraising and team focused messaging, we saw an increase in the average amount raised per participant and team: The average participant raised $70.20, up from the average $68.79 raised in 2016 The average team raised $646.32, up from the average $ raised in

17 I was really pleased with not only the quality of what you put together on our behalf, but you totally clicked right in with our brand, our tone, our voice. - Annette Myarick Philadelphia Tri-State Chapter CEO 17

18 Retained and Recruited Participants To increase retention rates and attract new participants we delivered unique messaging to lapsed and potential participants using custom audiences in Facebook: At the beginning of the project, the percentage of returning participants from the 2016 event to 2017 was at 2%. By event day, that percentage had increased to 28%. 56% of the participants obtained from the new marketing efforts were new to the Lupus Loop. Drove Donations DonorDrive applied custom audiences to deliver donation specific messaging to past donors, encouraging them to support the Lupus Loop: The paid Facebook and Google advertisements generated donations that averaged $46 each. 18

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20 Increased Event and Chapter Awareness Planning out a communication strategy with unique messaging by audience and purpose ensured the posts and ads were right for the Lupus Loop audience. Overall the Facebook advertisements were shown to 60,564 users, generated 2,268 post reactions, were shared 505 times, and resulted in 143 page likes. Philadelphia Tri-State Chapter s Instagram followers increased from 500 to 569, a growth of 14%, and their Facebook followers increased from 4,669 to 4,932. While the overall event revenue and registrations for the 26th Lupus Loop did not increase from 2016, both metrics rose steadily after the implementation of the new marketing initiative. The new strategic approach to their event and organization marketing helped the event grow and improve in multiple measurable ways and set them up for even more growth moving forward. 20

21 I think that s the real success, the stepping stones that were put into place to help us next year and really across all our walk series. It pulled us to a higher level in terms of the assets that were created, the messaging - really getting the buzz and attention. Our national office even called me and said oh this is really great! - Annette Myarick Philadelphia Tri-State Chapter CEO 21

22 Are you looking for more ways to utilize your digital channels for your Peer-to-Peer fundraising events? let us help Nonprofit organizations come to us when they have limited marketing resources in-house. We help them prioritize and manage online marketing efforts to drive retention and participation. The result? Teams are able to focus on running successful events while we run the marketing. 22

23 Solutions that power your mission Solutions that power your mission Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Software Innovative software makes it easy for your nonprofit staff to manage events, fundraisers to achieve their goals & donors to give. Marketing Services Diverse marketing strategies retain past fundraisers, recruit new supporters & raise revenue for your nonprofit organization. Design Services Powerful designs bring your nonprofit s mission to life, creating an environment that motivates your supporters to take action. DonorDrive.com 23