Marketing Done Right

While on our drive to visit United Way of Rock River Valley in Rockford, Illinois, we noticed an awesome billboard about a back-to-school clothing drive for homeless students promoted by The Salvation Army of Winnebago County. It got my attention and I immediately put The Salvation Army of Winnebago County’s Web site URL into my phone and pulled up their Web site. On the home page of their Web site was information listed about the clothing drive. Not only did they make it easy for me to find more information about the clothing drive by providing their Web site URL on the billboard, but they also made it easy for me to locate the information on their Web site.

This is what I found when I pulled up their Web site:

The billboard and Web site are great examples of marketing done well. The billboard got my attention by including the issue being addressed (homeless students who need clothes), the importance of the issue (the fact that Rockford has 900 homeless students), and where I could get more information. The Web site connected me to what I was interested in learning more about, and provided me with information about the clothing drive and how I could help out.

When communicating with your community, remember the importance of communicating your issue and what you are doing to address the issue, as well as the importance of keeping it simple and including information about how people can get involved. Don’t just tell your community to “Live United” – show them why it is important to live united and how they can help out.