The more people in your target audience that know about your fundraiser, the better. But how do you reach them? And how do you make them want to sign up once you do? A well-thought-out and executed awareness campaign can help.
An awareness campaign is a way to promote your fundraiser, cause, or organization. It can be tailored to your unique specifications and, if done correctly, incredibly effective.
Learn about awareness campaigns here, along with the steps to create your own, mistakes to avoid, and how Bid Beacon can assist.
What Is an Awareness Campaign?
Businesses commonly use awareness campaigns to get the word out about their organization, products or services, mission, or event to drive a particular action from an intended audience. These campaigns often run for a limited time, leading up to an event or product launch, and generate excitement and interest.
For example, say a local charity is hosting an online silent auction to raise funds for a community project. To help generate awareness, it launches a two-week campaign before the event. It creates social media posts that showcase high-value auction items, emails invitations to past auction guests, and encourages participants to pre-register on the auction platform.
For nonprofits holding a fundraiser, an awareness campaign may educate an audience about an organization, its mission, values, and intentions of the event. Awareness campaigns vary by organization and event to event, depending on factors such as:
- Target audience demographics
- Type of product, service, or event being promoted
- Campaign goals and objectives
- Available budget and resources
- Event timing and location
- Key messages to be communicated
- Preferred media channels and platforms
- Partnerships and collaborations
Benefits of Creating an Awareness Campaign
There can be many different benefits of running an awareness campaign for your fundraiser, including:
- Boosting organization or event visibility
- Generating a positive perspective of your organization
- Educating the public about an important cause
- Encouraging community participation in a cause
The main benefit you may be seeking is the potential increase in event participation, which will, in turn, help raise more money for your cause.
Common Awareness Campaign Goals
In general, typical goals for awareness campaigns include:
- Increasing donations or sign-ups
- Expanding audience reach
- Educating the public
- Driving event participation
- Building long-term support
- Boosting social media engagement
- Attracting sponsors and partnerships
- Promoting volunteerism
- Highlighting impact
- Creating urgency
Each goal will be unique to your organization, cause, or fundraiser and can be as specific as needed.
How to Create an Awareness Campaign
Now that you know the importance of generating an awareness campaign, we’ll dive into the steps of creating one for your fundraiser.
1. Define Your Goals
What would you like your awareness campaign to achieve? Are you aiming to attract more event participants or increase general awareness of your cause? Setting goals shapes your strategy, so getting real about your goals is a logical place to start.
Some examples of specific goals include:
- Get 500 people to register for your online silent auction
- Increase social media followers for the event by 20%
- Raise a total of $5,000 for your cause
2. Know Your Audience
Who is your target audience? Understanding not just who they are but what motivates them, which social platforms they frequent, and the values and interests they have is important. When zeroing in on your target audience, consider:
- Demographics: Age, gender, location, etc.
- Interests: What causes do they support, what events do they attend, and what are their preferred social platforms?
- Pain points: What problems are they passionate about solving?
3. Craft a Compelling Message
The right people will want to support your cause. But sometimes, we all need a strong call to action. Creating a clear and emotionally resonant message that explains why your fundraiser matters and how people can help will encourage them to sign up or donate.
Some tips to do this effectively include:
- Make it easy to understand the cause and the action you want people to take.
- Show how their support will make a difference.
- Include a call to action—make sure you’re direct!
Here’s an example of what that message might look like: Ready to make an impact and score exceptional items? Sign up for our silent auction today—your bids help fund life-changing programs in our community.
4. Choose the Right Channels
Once you know your target audience’s preferred social platforms or where they find out about events (e.g., Instagram or Facebook, radio or community bulletin boards, etc.) you can reach them there.
Some common channels include:
- Social media: Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, X, TikTok, or other platforms.
- Email marketing: Newsletters.
- Events: Fundraisers, galas, or webinars.
- Local media: Press releases, radio ads, or community bulletin boards.
- Partnerships: Collaborations with influencers, local businesses, or other organizations.
Pro tip: Use a mix of online and offline channels to help maximize your reach.
5. Create Engaging Content
Not all content is effective. Because we live in such a visual and digital age, including a mix of engaging graphics, videos, and written copy can help keep your campaign fresh and interesting.
Some content ideas include videos like testimonials and impact stories, while infographics show visual representations of donation impact or fundraiser goals.
Viral awareness campaigns like the #IceBucketChallenge encourage sharing on social media, in which social media updates report progress to keep people engaged.
6. Set a Timeline
By outlining your campaign’s start and end dates, you can place key activities along the way and create urgency to keep your campaign on track. An example timeline could look like:
- Week 1: Launch announcement, email blast, and social media posts.
- Week 2: Mid-campaign update, share stories of impact.
- Final Days: Countdown posts to encourage last-minute sign-ups.
7. Engage & Interact
Posting content is just the first step. You must also ensure you engage with your audience by responding to comments and encouraging people to share your message.
Some fun and creative ways to engage with your audience include interactive posts like polls and Q&As or using a campaign hashtag.
8. Track & Measure Results
It’s important to know what’s working for your awareness campaign and what’s not. Use analytics tools to measure engagement, sign-ups, and overall reach. Keep an eye out for:
- Amount of sign-ups
- Social media engagement (likes, shares, and comments)
- Website traffic and conversion rates
9. Celebrate & Thank Supporters
When your awareness campaign is over, thank everyone who contributed and let your audience know about your achievements. Whether your goal was to get more sign-ups for your silent auction or generate a general awareness of your organization and cause, it’s important to celebrate any achievements the campaign helped you attain.
10. Reflect & Improve
Even if you reached your awareness campaign goals, there are always ways to improve so you can generate even more sign-ups or donations next time. Some questions to ask your team include:
- Did we meet our goals?
- Which channels were the most effective?
- What content resonated the most with our audience?
- How can we improve for next time?
How Bid Beacon Can Help with Your Next Fundraiser
Bid Beacon is an online silent auction platform that simplifies fundraising events and boosts engagement. By hosting your silent auction online with us, you can reach a broad audience beyond those in your area, meaning the potential for more participants and, ultimately, more bids and money for your cause.
Here’s how else Bid Beacon can help with your awareness campaign:
- Custom shareable links: Create custom links and QR codes for your silent auction and items for easy sharing on social media, websites, and newsletters.
- Guest list import and invitations: Import your guest list to send email invitations en masse to let your supporters know about the auction and create accounts in advance.
- Sponsor promotion: Promote your auction sponsors by adding their logos and URLs to your auction page for credibility and to encourage sponsors to share the event.
- Mobile-friendly access: Our platform is optimized for tablets, smartphones, and computers, so participants can easily register and preview auction items from any device.
- Generate pre-auction buzz: Bid Beacon allows you to showcase auction items ahead of time, creating excitement and anticipation among potential bidders.
- Free Item Consignment Service: Gain access to hundreds of unique, high-valued trips, experiences, and jewelry to elevate your silent auction at no upfront cost!
Ready to get your next fundraiser started? Sign up with Bid Beacon today or view a demo.
