Advertising Your Benefit Fundraiser - Know Your Target Audience

Whenever a group of people asks for my help with advice and direction on putting on a benefit fundraiser for a friend or loved one with an illness or debilitating injury who is facing financial catastrophe, one of the first questions they ask is, "How do we advertise this benefit?" They ask about taking out an ad in the newspaper, on radio and even television. But my answer usually surprises them because my advice is you don't need to advertise it but you do need to get the word out - and there is a difference.

The first thing to keep in mind is that except in rare occurrences, strangers are not going to come to your benefit! This may sound harsh, but use yourself as an example. I am sure you've seen newspaper ads for a benefit or heard one on radio or TV. And how many times have you walked into your local convenience store over the years and have seen a poster advertising a benefit? Did any of these ads ever entice you to go to the benefit? I'll bet not and it's not because you're hard-hearted, but rather, you don't know the person for whom the benefit is being held.

With that in mind, let's change our advertising approach to make sure that on the day of the benefit you've got a line out the door of people waiting to get in! The key is to simply make sure the word gets out to the family, friends and co-workers of the person the benefit is being held for. If the benefit is being held for a child, get the word out to all of mom and dad's co-workers, their friends, both sides of the family as well as the child's classmates and their parents. Bottom line - make sure everyone in that person's life circle is made aware of the benefit. If you can cover that base, you'll have a full house.

To get the word out, begin with the obvious - email, Facebook, Twitter and whatever other internet social network you may be a member of. Ask everyone you know if they might possibly be able to post a company-wide email at work. Contact the local newspaper (especially the smaller community newspapers) on the outside chance they would advertise your event for free. At the very least, be sure all of your local newspapers, radio and television stations receive a flyer or news release about your event for their Community Calendar. Sometimes news departments pick up these items to use as 'filler' stories. If you want posters, try contacting the local beer distributor (Miller, Budweiser). These companies will often front $500 worth of the cost of printing the posters as long as their logo is prominently displayed.

All of these advertising vehicles are meant to do one thing - to remind family, friends and co-workers that, "Oh yeah, mark the calendar - it's Bob's benefit that day."