Marketing for a child-based non-profit, need advice!?

Question

I sit on an advisory council for an educational agency that runs multiple Head Start centers in eleven different towns that are mostly rural. I am working on a new marketing strategy based upon brand recognition by strategic advertising saturation. We are trying to increase awareness of our programs so that more children can be served.

Where would you advertise for greatest effect? I'm thinking of flyers, outcome brochures, maybe community service announcements on local TV stations, etc, placed at stores, restauraunts, DHS, WIC program, etc.

How would this be best achieved with a laughably low budget?

Does anyone have other ideas that I haven't thought of, or differing strategies?

Any and all help is greatly appreciated.

Answer 1

You can set up a free blog on Blogger.com or some other blogging network. Make sure you set it up with good keyword phrases, which will draw traffic to your blog. After this, go and make posts on related blogs with a link back to your own blog.  In time you will get more and more traffic.

Good Luck,

http://www.ebusinesswiz.com

Answer 2

I don't know that much about the head start program, but I'm guessing it has something to do with helping school aged children in some manner. If I am correct in this assumption, then a suggestion which wouldn't cost you much but might have great results is to have coaches at local schools refer his/her kids to your program, and thereby would earn points good for merchandise at participating local stores. Coaches are always scrambling for money for their sports program and by doing this, you'd have someone with influence in a kids life recommending your program to them, thus giving you instant credibility and you'd have local merchants advertising your program with in-store promotional information about your program and how it benefits from their company's involvement.

Answer 3

ask ,ask ,ask sites how much they charge for banners but keep in mind that as they might be affordable ,also they can be useless to you if they don't "bring you"  the kind of people you need.

find local channels and either convice them to make a story about the project or make community service announcements.

Find local newspapers if there are any and have  articles written in them.

Arrange small conferences in the towns mentioned where people could be informed of what you represent.important people of the towns should be encouraged to contribute to a non-profit cause; a "Face to face " meeting will help them decide.