Purpose of charity –Working with a charity event can benefit your business. Not only will you be doing something positive, but there are plenty of marketing opportunities for you and your chosen charity.
Firstly, choose a charity you can get behind. If you can get passionate about what they do then it’s going to come across in everything you do for them.
Go for one that is similarly sized to your business. You’re not going to make much difference to one of the larger charities if you only have 0 employees. Also, look for charities that are willing to be part of a mutually beneficial relationship rather than just asking for donations.
The Charity Event Type
This can be anything. It can even be a simple fundraiser where you invite everyone you know and ask them to donate whatever they can.
You could hold a seminar or training course where part of the ticket price goes to your chosen charity.
Another choice is to hold a charity auction. Speak to your clients and suppliers and ask if they’d be willing to donate anything to the cause. This could be services, a product or a high value item. You never know, someone might be willing to donate a boat to charity for instance.
Deals
Mention to suppliers and venues that the event is for a charity; in most cases they will be able to give you some sort of discount. This is especially true for venues; it shouldn’t be hard to find a place to host your event for free or a reduced rate.
The event will benefit the charity but the part that will benefit your business is the marketing and PR that happens before and after it.
The media is likely to run a story about your event if there is a charity element to it, too. You should encourage the charity to put out their own press releases and marketing materials concerning the event. It’s great publicity for you both and will encourage attendance.
After the Event
If you’ve managed to collect information from event attendees, then drop them an email thanking them for coming. This is a good opportunity to tell them about the charity and also mention more about your services/products.
It might also be worth talking to the people from your charity to determine how successful the event was from their point of view. From here, you can plan other ways in which you might be able to work together. There may also be some opportunities for further PR now that the event is over.
About the Author: Jess Shanahan is the owner of a marketing agency that specializes in working with charities.
