1. Think, think, think. Plan, plan, plan. Review, review, review.
    These three point will be essential to the campaign that you build

  1. A small charity is as big as the biggest charity around if you can execute a clever tactical campaign that can get your charity noticed. It's how the big guns got started and it’s what the big guns still do to this day, so don’t limit yourself to size.

  1. Size doesn’t matter, but budget certainly will, although it needn't restrict what you are able to do. Your campaign may not raise the millions you hope for, but you can be creative with what you want your message to say and achieve. If you get that message right, you can strike a chord with your supporters and potentially recruit some new ones.

  1. Get your message right — make it memorable, make it mean something, something people can engage with. You have to think of your audience, think like your audience, so ask your audience what they think. You also have to go that extra mile too and listen to your audience. Listening to your audience is perhaps the single most important thing you can do… that any business can do.

  1. Get a Twitter account if you don’t already have one and use it to spread the words of  your message, but make sure there is a link in your 140 characters that leads back to a page where there is a donation button or volunteers form. If both of those are not your aim be sure the link points back to a form that will collect those supporters who are engaging with your campaign.

  1. Use Facebook and get ‘Likes’, this is an easy way to get your audience to join in. It’s also a great way to take advantage of the opportunity to share what you’ve done.

  1. Show a mix of personal images and stories. Not everyone has a celebrity in their back pocket, but if you can include such a person or persons of popular standing, then utilise their status and ask them to post a personal message on your site or with your message. It’s surprising how many people think this is important.

  1. Popular and established charities often use fun in their charity campaigns to communicate their message and it works. You must be sure, however, that you are in-tune with your audience, before setting out on this path. The fun element can backfire on you if you get this wrong. So the message here is to follow in the big guns footsteps but take care in doing so.

  1. Whatever media outlet that you use, ask people to share your story, it will increase your views, influence others and may exceed your expectations. Raised awareness equals increase traffic and profile for your organisation.

  1. Create a short video and post it on YouTube. If you are running a low budget video ie. from your mobile phone we suggest pointing this out to suggest the real need for monetary support. Videos often makes you audience want to get involved, so no matter how poor your budget for providing video footage, break out your smartphone as a last resort. It’ll be worth it.

  1. Plan how you will use your social media channels, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Blog, Instagram and any others that you may have and be sure to make them prominent on your website. Be sure to always show how people can join in through the right channels for your message and your audience.

  1. Don’t forget the real world, where you can, make use of all the types of media that you can, be that print, audio or visual. Getting your message printed in real world media , ie. radio, television, newspapers or magazines can often have just as big an impact on your campaign or bigger, than that of the virtual world of the internet.

  1. Use Flickr and Instagram to post images of your campaign lest you forget; a picture tells a thousand words. By placing a short two sentence description underneath each image, you really bring that image to life.

  1. Established charities think very carefully which channels to use to filter their message with regard to that particular audience. They may not do the same thing everywhere, but they do cross-promote and you can too.

  1. Be very clear about what each channels is used for and don’t mix them up.

  1. Use Twitter to get facts out quick, use Facebook to monitor what people are saying, use Flickr or Instagram to evoke emotion and curiosity (a way of leading to interest). Use YouTube to visualise your message even if the video does simply contain text and graphics played to music. Use a variety of ways to get people  involved.

  1. The big ask. Once your audience understands you are asking, you need to make the process of giving easy. Use PayPal or a charitable crowdfunding site like Just Giving. The power of crowdfunding can be lucrative if you already have the audience to first target. Expect only 5% of your targeted charity crowdfunding audience to donate.

  1. Make use of testimonials from people if you have asked for them or even if someone has simply praised your efforts – ask them if you can quote them in a testimonial.

  1. Show where the donations will be going and on what. Create an investor's programme for those people who wish to make regular subscriptions. Be really clear and engaging about the longer term commitment of your aims.

  1. Gift fundraising was innovative in the mid-2000s, but it is still strongly replicated across many charities and you should include this form of fundraising still today.

  1. Having a clear ask can establish what you can do if you get a certain amount from your donors, so be clear about why you are asking for a particular amount. “By giving ‘X’ amount, we can do ‘Y’ things. Utilise other ways of asking too with a strong call to action - join now; invest now; add to basket; these sorts of things.

  1. Find new and innovative ways to  fundraise. This won’t easy, but when you do hit a winner, it’ll be just that — a winner.

  1. Utilise text donations through providers such as JustGiving.

  1. Charity Checkout (www.charitycheckout.co.uk) is an online payment system for good causes and make the process of giving easy for charities not able to collect direct debits through their own systems online.

  1. Your project has a timescale, stick to it, whether that be speakers you have to address your audience (don’t let them go over) or entertainment you have scheduled for a performance (make sure they’re on time). Whatever happens stick to the timescale, one minute out now could lead to hours out later on.

  1. Fundraising doesn’t just have to be about money, well of a sort, because time is money too and therefore winning volunteers could prove just as valuable to you, perhaps even more so, than the donation you thought to seek.

  1. Build a mobile application that revolves around your campaign that people can download, if you can, it’s a great way to interact with people on the go.

  1. Say thank you to all those that support your cause and involve them so that they can  do other things too as well as celebrate the things they do.

  1. Contribution often does not stop at the donation, people are likely to do something else once they have contributed, formulate another ask, but this time make your ask an email containing a lead form to your contributor asking for your email to be forwarded to one referral encouraging them to support you too.

  1. Show a daily running list on your homepage to show the changes that are happening as a result of the support you are getting, when things are seen to be changing daily, potential supporters get excited and feel that they should actually be contributing and often do at that stage. Public thanks saying you value the support makes others want to contribute also.

  1. Send out an immediate thank you after your campaign is done, but show how people can continue to support you and tell them why it is important to continue. This sort of interaction with your supporters keeps them warm.

  1. Utilise your blog post to inform on the progress of your campaign and what it raised and ensure your Twitter follows are pointed at the link. The author’s tone of voice makes a reader feel connected, so it important for the author to feel every word they write for the excitement and heartfelt thanks for every contribution will get through ti the reader. This in itself will generate further donations.

  1. You can promote and celebrate content generated by others, just because your logo may not be on it, it doesn’t mean it can’t work for you.

  1. Word of mouth — the most powerful marketing tool in the world. Get your campaign talked about and get people to link to it. Make some noise about it, seek out conversations you can join with to affect the spread. The key here is collaborate and use Twitter #hashtags for greater impact.

  1. Making noise with Twitter can increase your followers two fold from where you start out, you hit count can be huge in comparison and retweets can be just as effective especially if picked up by celebrities. Tweets per day are in their millions so tweeting is well worth the effort

  1. Form coalitions, they are another way to get heard and noticed.

  1. Lookout for TV documentaries or shows using Twitter #hashtags on a topic of conversation that you can get in on, this can be lucrative subliminal promotion that can win you real hot support. Keep an eye on the program guides to see what's coming up and if it suits you and see if you can find out before hand if they’ll be a Twitter #hashtag in use regarding the subject.

  1. Don’t miss opportunities, don’t close your eyes or ears always listen out as well as lookout for opportunities that you may be able to jump on and benefit from like a TV documentary that is being talked about that covers your topic even if there was no Twitter #hashtag, you start one. Missed opportunities are a crying shame, because they are often seen (in retrospect) as potentially lucrative.

  1. Analysing data is so important in to this age of technology and you should measure the effectiveness of your campaign at its end to see what worked, what didn't, what could be done better, what turned out to be a good choice and what turned out to be a poor choice, what was ‘Liked’, viewing numbers, donations, volunteers and other signups. It is then prudent to tell everyone about your successes.

  1. Measure your tweet count and analyse the number of retweets, mentions and direct messages you got through twitter. It will help you to understand the supporters you won and what messages influenced them.

  1. Find a site that can measure traffic if you do not have the infrastructure to do that yourself.

  1. Seek out fun and interesting stats when analysing your data, it may help with your next fun filled campaign and will definitely be worth pursuing if the stat is surprisingly high.

  1. Be sure to come away with some sort of footage of your event, campaign or cause, you can always use that footage to show to people after the event has long gone, what went on and still ask for donations on the back of it to keep you going with newer events later on.

  1. Conclusions — think about your message, plan your message and review your message. Involve your supporters and target audience. Make lots of noise, get noticed. At the end, measure the effectiveness.

  1. Let Charity Needs know how well this works out for you through our Build A Campaign Feedback Form and certainly tell us where we can improve. We’ll be listening.

This list was inspired by Madeleine Sugden and Damien Clarkson of KnowHow NonProfit.

How Small Charities Can Apply The Techniques Of Big Campaigns