Who speaks for you?

There’s one spokesman who’s caught my attention.  Nope I’m referring to the Old Spice guy, although he’s hilarious.  This spokesman is giving the Gecko, Flo and good old State Farm lots of mayhem.

Every time I see an Allstate commercial starring Mayhem, I actually think about switching my insurance.  Not because I’m unhappy or that I have bad car insurance.  It’s purely because Mayhem is hilarious and I want more commercials.

These commercials stand out because they’re real life experiences with a twist.  Have you ever almost hit a deer? Or, has your pet destroyed your car? But, my all-time fav is the GPS commercial.  Do you update your maps?  I never do.  Check it out, I laugh every time.

Instead of trying to find a big name celebrity or a local celeb to speak for you, how about asking the people you serve?   Or, how about a top fundraiser?  We encourage participants to share their reasons for getting involved on their fundraising webpages and in email solicitations because it will inspire others to join or donate. Why not feature these same stories on your event website?  Why not build your event marketing campaign around real people making a difference for your cause?

While we live in a celebrity obsessed world, everyday people are usually the ones making an impact.  In the non-profit world we actually have a leg up on corporate marketing; we don’t need a character to tell our story.  What do you think?  How can you infuse real life stories into your fundraising campaigns?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Amy Braiterman

Amy Braiterman, principal strategy consultant at Blackbaud, supports customers with their peer-to-peer fundraising events with a process she refers to as “data-driven strategy.” Amy’s data driven strategy analyzes how effective event participants are using online fundraising tools and takes those results to develop an event fundraising plan. Prior to joining Blackbaud, Amy earned her fundraising stripes managing events for The Leukemia & Lymphoma Society, Alzheimer’s Association and Share Our Strength. She shares her fundraising know how here on npENGAGE, by hosting educational webinars and speaking at customer conferences