How do you get your business or brand out there with a small or limited marketing budget? On this episode of the Marketing Strategy Show we will be discussing the best tips for marketing on a tight budget and to discuss this Kym is joined by David Peach, CEO of the Black Dog Ride.
David Peach Background
- Spent 28 years as an IT professional setting up and running his own businesses, but recently joined the Black Dog Ride
- Black Dog Ride combines two of David’s passions raising awareness of depression and suicide prevention with riding bikes
- The Black Dog Ride is a health promotion charity focused on supporting mental health wellness and spreading awareness.
- David joined the Black Dog Ride (BDR) in June
Challenges with running a non-for profit
- Co-ordinating riders, donors, supporters, volunteers, health professionals as well as media and all these people need to be in the know
- Having accountability for not just yourself (as it would be in a self-run business) whereas in a non-for profit you are accountable for a whole lot of different people.
- Managing the running costs of auditing, insurance, operations and wages as well as striking a balance between keeping a lean team funded but also doing the work you are committed to do
- Every cent spent is under the microscope, anybody can look at where the funds go and make assumptions based of it
Marketing Basics in a non-for profit
- Knowing your market is vital if you are marketing on a tight budget. In the case of BDR they want to attract their riders who are mostly middle aged men
- The average rider tends to be forty and up, reasonably well off (in that they can afford a motorbike and can spend some time off work). These people tend to have networks as well so they can draw in people who are interested in supporting them in their quest
- You’ve got to build a marketing database which is an extremely important marketing tool
- By having his contacts segmented properly, BDR can search for bike shops in one geographic location and send content exclusively to them, the same can be done for riders and media contacts
- BDR records as much detail as possible about their riders from their age to their gender to how many rides they’ve been on even to what type of bike they own. By having this info BDR can better communicate with his riders for example if he knows there is a sale on Harley Davidson products BDR can look up all the riders who have Harleys and let them know about the promo
- Video is a great way to communicate and it doesn’t have to be expensive. They created 30 second video explaining what the Black Dog Ride is about and use this to get the message across quickly without a lot of words. This help people who come across their website better understand what they provide.
- Creating your story connects with people. If you are running a start-up or a small business think about your story that will make people relate to you / want to do business with you as people can connect with stories.
- Having consistent marketing material can also greatly help you as if any sees anything from your brand it is the same message so they should have the right idea as to what your business does
- Using a CRM is essential in the case of BDR as there is offices in different states and local rides organised all across Australia and organising the data from these offices as well as the branch co-ordinators would be impossible without a competent CRM
- Having a well-managed CRM is also crucial to the BDR as they need to easy access to the contact information for riders, media contacts and health providers
- Facebook Advertising can be very cost-effective. Recently BDR did a Facebook video advertising campaign for four hundred and fifty dollars and it reached more than fifty thousand people
- Outsourcing for small budgets. Because BDR is under intense scrutiny with funds and needs every dollar to work hard, BDR looked at outsourcing overseas. They engaged a sub-contractor on Fiverr and a contractor was able to produce a thirty second animation for less than us$100.
- The animation featured a google map overlay with all the different routes on the road showing day by day where the organisation was meeting and showing all the groups converging in Melbourne and ferrying down to Hobart, then a little bit of information about what the group was doing in Hobart and a call to action linking to the website. This can be found on the Black Dog Ride National Facebook Page (link in resources)
Resources
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