10 tips on advertising your grants
Understanding your organisation and your audience, networking, story-telling and long-term planning are all important aspects of a strong advertising strategy.
- Be very clear about your organisation's identity. What motivates you? What drives you? What are your values?
- Know your audience. The stories you tell about your grants need to be relevant to them.
- Use every opportunity, and use it well. Consider every possible outlet for your message, every stakeholder who would offer you space in a newsletter.
- Take your story to your audience. People want to hear about what they want to hear about at a time that suits them and in a place that suits them.
- Get others involved. Grantees and other stakeholders may be more enthusiastic than you expect about getting involved in the campaign.
- Be part of your grant recipients' landscape. They may well be happy to advertise your brand.
- Make it easy for partners to communicate your message. Have signage, brochures etc at your fingertips to provide to anyone who is happy to advertise your grants.
- Think long term. Long-term partners are usually trusted partners.
- Take it seriously. Consider the risk involved in aligning your brand with another organisation.
- Celebrate your relationships and bring others into the mix. Introduce people you know to each other - doing so might have very productive results.