Organization Newsletter

Creating buzz in the schools or churches is probably the hardest part of the awareness program.  Organizations that are able to get buzz going are much more successful than those who don’t.

What is buzz ?  Especially with CCM ?  It’s the hallway conversations about who found what interesting stores and what they have to offer—or it’s the talk about how many relatives someone was able to remind about their birthday …. And especially when the reminder paid off.

Buzz is the excitement and common interests that people talk about, and that gets more people investigating it, and using it.

Buzz is the excitement about how many people each person was able to collect and email about the program.

If buzz takes off, it has a snowball effect, it gets bigger and becomes unstoppable just as if rolling a snowball down a mountain,  it keeps gathering more snow and gets bigger and that gives it more momentum, and it becomes unstoppable.

If it doesn’t get a good fast start, then building the momentum takes a degree of perseverance and patience and builds using all the techniques which we employ.  Over time it becomes a major force.

Create awareness and remind people often and the buzz will grow.
 

Sometimes it is important to designate the required funds for a particular cause or purpose and utilize other fundraisers for unique purposes. 

Having a cause often inspires extra efforts by those who highly regard that particular cause.

If you do decide to select a cause please be sure to announce it loud and clear, as the enthusiasts of that cause may be your best allies in your quest for awareness and riches. 

Whether it be a scholarship, or a new picnic table, those with a vested interest are always more engaged when they know its for them.

The  resources page has a wealth of new material this month.

Just about everything has been recently updated.

Look for:

· New brochure

· Updated PowerPoint overview slide set

· New email examples

· New flyers for both handing out and posting

· New collection worksheets for participants

· New press release

Its almost getting too full to find things.

As we know there are many steps we need to take to create the total awareness that is needed for a successful program.

The difference between programs is usually the difference in really taking the action to do all the things needed, because just about everyone is very willing and interested in helping—once they know about it and know how to help.

Don’t forget to use the public announcement system in schools and churches.  A little reminder is important.  Studies show that often people need to be told 7 times about a program before they respond, so perseverance is needed. 

How do we get the children to send out the emails ?  They don’t seem to be interested ?

This is a common issue and a favorite question.  It helps if the teachers are aware of the program, and can somehow inspire this activity to be on homework assignment.  It also is critical that the parent know about it, and that they can help by filling out the names collection sheet from the resource page.  This collection sheet is intended to put some real goals and bounds on what might be perceived as an abstract goal.  They should be asked to send out a certain number and with a real date on it.  Parents will always need to reinforce this as it doesn’t just happen. 

Parents might reward sending them out with perhaps an iTunes song for every five names.  Or even every name if you can handle it.  It’s a nice reward.

Why are we collecting birthdays ? 

It seems unrelated to supporting our favorite schools but collecting birthdays in part of an upcoming service that we hope to roll out in 2008.  We plan to be able to eventually create a friends and family concept whereby friends and family will be notified when you or your family has a birthday, as a reminder—so that at you can send an e-card, flowers, or even a gift.

Watch for more on birthdays in the coming months.

A grade school or church can have a coloring contest, whereby the students must draw in one benefit of CharityClubMall.com to your school.  Use our name on the drawing and the best drawing will be used on our website and on a postcard.

We use postcards for some of our direct mail advertising so a winner may have their work go out to hundreds of people around the country.  And we'll save a few for you.

Now that creates excitement. Email us if you are interested.

Any other ideas ?