Have you ever really wanted to let your community know about an important issue that’s near and dear to your charity or non profits heart but didn’t have the funds to get the awareness out? If you’re like many non profits in today’s economy trying to get the most out of your advertising dollars, it might be time to look at some low cost ways to raise awareness of your charity.

Word of Mouth

Spreading the word by simply telling your friends is the easiest and cheapest non profit marketing way to inform the community about your programs. Word-of-mouth non profit marketing encompasses a variety of subcategories, including buzz, blog, viral, grassroots, cause influencers and social media marketing.

Talking among friends and acquaintances has a personal connection within communications that traditional advertisements formally lack. It is believed that product information communicated in this way also has an added layer of credibility. Research suggests that individuals are more inclined to believe word of mouth non profit marketing than more formal forms of advertising methods. The listener or "receiver" of word-of-mouth information tends to believe that the speaker or "communicator" is speaking honestly and is unlikely to have an ulterior motive. In other words, they are not being paid for their opinion or good will feelings towards the charity.

Another important opportunity to create buzz about a social topic is to post comments on discussion boards at Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, and Digg. Blending your message with the people most likely to need it on social networks is a faster way to generate viral growth about the benefits of your charity or root-cause you are organized to promote. With the increasing use of the Internet as a research and communications platform, word of mouth has become an even more powerful and useful resource for consumers and marketers.

Public Service Announcements

A public service announcement (PSA) is an advertisement broadcast for public interest, which is intended to modify public attitudes by raising awareness about specific issues. The most common topics of PSAs are centered on issues connected to health and safety. A typical PSA is part of a public awareness campaign to inform or educate the public about an issue such as smoking, dangers of gangs, protecting the environment, or compulsive gambling.

Public Service Announcements have often been a popular choice for non profit startup because radio stations and television stations are required to devote free time to causes that benefit the public good. With the deregulation of television stations and broadcast, in general there are no longer uniform standards about how much time must be allotted for public service announcements.

Public Service Announcements are generally in 60-, 30-, 20-, and 10-second scripts to conform to advertising standards. It is important to use the right format when writing your script or it may not be acceptable to the station you are presenting it to.

BizCentral USA is a great resource for helping non profits set up materials to supplement word of mouth campaigns and public service announcements. Call us today for more information about how our non profit business review can help you make the most out of your advertising efforts.