Many advertising channels cost a lot of money, like TV commercials, leases of big billboards, or PR articles in newspapers or specialized sites. Those marketing techniques are not suitable for charities that don’t have much budget to spend on advertising.
Luckily, there are plenty of sources that cost very little or no money at all. Here are several tips on how to advertise for free and what opportunities are available for charities.
1. How to Advertise for Free
Carefully plan a marketing strategy for your charity
By optimizing the time that will be used for the promotion of charity, you will significantly decrease the costs of the whole campaign. Although you will be using the cheapest marketing options, your time also has value. If you can properly allocate it to various tasks, you will keep total costs at an acceptable minimum.
The wastage of time will be decreased if you align all of the marketing activities with your charity goals. That includes identifying your target audience and which advertising channels will be best to reach them.
Keeping in mind what you are trying to achieve, you should focus your advertising efforts on the right audience. There are several key points every charity needs to cover, but in the order that suits them the best. Among those points are recruiting more volunteers, collecting more donations, or raising awareness among people.
Start with the basics
The search engine is your best friend. Because the majority of search queries are going via Google, use its free services to boost your visibility. Start with registering your charity on Google My Business to ensure that your physical location, phone number, and website shows up in search results and Google Maps. Enable the showing of comments so people can rate your services. Also, keep an eye on possible questions and answer them promptly.
Use online directories to list your charity. Online directories like Yelp and Yellow Pages (or specific ones for charities, such as CharityChoice) allow you to list your business for free. They improve your local SEO, making your business more visible in local search results.
It goes without saying that your charity already owns a website. You can use it to increase the reach by updating its content. Research proper keywords and create content around them. It must be kept up-to-date with your latest information and contact details. Start a blog section and regularly post high-quality content with relevant images and videos.
Leverage the use of social media. Create accounts on the most prominent ones, such as Instagram, Facebook, Twitter, or TikTok. The social media presence is a great way to connect with existing and new audiences for free. Ensure your profiles are complete with all the relevant details and links to your website.
Now you know the first step on how to advertise for free, and you can upgrade your marketing strategy further. Don’t forget to keep all necessary information about your charity up-to-date and consistent across all media channels so people can reach you.
2. Where to advertise for free
Post on social media
You don’t need to pay for marketing campaigns on social networks if you use their features to your advantage. By choosing the right keywords and hashtags and properly scheduling posts, you can successfully advertise your charity for free.
Carefully plan what type of content you will publish and on which platform. People usually love to see successful real-life stories, so you can post heartwarming experiences with testimonials on Facebook. Or you can post fabulous images of charity work impact on Instagram. Instagram Stories is a good place to post fun videos and eye-catching content that will engage with your followers without the need for professional filming or advanced photo editing skills.
Use social media to announce your events and activities and include a call-to-action for supporters (donors or volunteers). Include behind-the-scene updates and interviews with participants.
Regularly post engaging content, interact with your followers, share industry-related news, and utilize features like stories or live videos to reach your audience. With that, you will quickly increase the visibility of your charity.
Join online communities
Social media isn’t the only resource for online advertising. You can also join industry-related forums or online communities like Reddit or Quora.
By actively participating in discussions, you can raise awareness about your cause and even recruit new followers. But be careful, the aim of your answers isn’t to promote your charity directly but to add value to the topic in place. If you’re posting too often, being too promotional, or getting involved in arguments, it’s going to have a negative impact instead.
You can pose as the expert on the given subject and give advice and insight. When writing from the point of the expert, and when the community validates you, there you can talk about your real-life experiences and how your charity impacts the environment.
Share your expertise live
If you have enough experience with charity work, you can speak at events held by individual or (non) profit organizations. It doesn’t necessarily have to relate to the cause, but it could be relevant to the industry they work in or their specific role.
When advocating for certain causes publicly, you will draw attention to your charity, and people will start looking into your work.
Online contribution
Besides writing your blog, you can offer guest posts to relevant blogs from your niche. In those posts, you can write about your cause and raise awareness among people. Don’t forget to add links to your website or your social media in guest posts.
You can also create an email newsletter. The easiest way to do so is to compile all customers’ emails in a tool like Mailchimp and start engaging your audience.
3. Free advertising ideas
Partner with a local business
By managing to find a local business willing to partner with your charity, you will benefit in several ways. You will get free advertisement among its clients, and gain access to its network of customers and suppliers.
You can organize joint events on social media, such as giveaways, or real-life charity events sponsored by those companies.
Local companies can mention your charity in their marketing activities and include links to your website to help you raise more funds and increase awareness about your cause.
Google Ad Grants
Google Ad Grants Program for charities, which provides free Google Ad spend of up to $10,000 per month. This can be used to run PPC campaigns for donations, to raise awareness of the cause, or to advertise for volunteers.
You do have to go through an application process, and there are certain requirements you need to meet, but Google Ads is one of the most effective ways you can reach your target audience online, so it’s a good opportunity.
Networking events
You can use fairs or industry events to meet people, spread the word about your charity, and build a strong network. They can confirm as crucial for your marketing efforts.
When looking at how to advertise for free, seek any networking events in your surrounding that are relevant to your charity work. Don’t miss any chance and try to get an invitation to all of them. If you can get your place for a stand, even better.
If not, just go there and start talking with people and promoting your cause. Give them business cards and invite them to check out your website to see your achievements so far.
Networking is an excellent way to meet potential contributors, build relationships with other people in similar industries or roles, and learn from others about how you can grow your organization.
Creating YouTube videos
YouTube is the second largest search engine after Google. By creating and posting videos there, you can significantly increase your reach. To utilize the power of YouTube you need to combine previously mentioned techniques.
You need to create high-quality, relevant videos that will back up your story and engage people who see them. Also, you need to research appropriate keywords and charity hashtags to create descriptions and captions that will increase the visibility of your videos.
Email marketing
We already mentioned that email marketing campaigns can contribute to your charity efforts. Creating an email list is the first step in exploiting this marketing channel. Compile emails of all your supporters, volunteers, and other people included in your network to create an email list.
After that, create an appealing newsletter that will be distributed among interested parties. Regularly send updates about your charity and upcoming events.
This is also a free marketing channel because you can find many free tools for collecting emails, creating a mailing list, or creating appealing newsletters with information and appropriate visual identity.
Look out for the results of your email campaign and make necessary adjustments when needed.
4. Cheap Advertising Ideas
Social media ads
It is always a good idea to combine regular posting on social media with paid ads. If you can afford the budget for campaigns, that will be great for your marketing effort. Launching an ad campaign will speed up the process of reaching people and raising awareness.
To start, focus on the social network where the majority of your audience has their accounts. Target people based on their age, location, and interests. With a small budget, you’ll be able to specifically target people who are likely to be interested in your charity.
Create and share a video
Besides the YouTube channel which is a free advertising option, you can distribute your videos through several other channels. You can even employ a professional who will shoot and edit outstanding videos for your charity. It can cost a lot, but if you distribute it efficiently, you will gain significantly more.
When looking for a video professionals you can go on freelance sites like Fiverr or Upwork and search for high-rated freelancers. Your charity videos need to be impactful, tell the story about your cause, and engage people to action.
Local advertising
Your charity surely won’t work globally upon creating an online campaign. That is why you cannot neglect local advertising. For a minimal cost, you can design and print off flyers and posters that can be shared with local businesses, put on notice boards, and posted through letterboxes.
So, when asking yourself “How to advertise for free?” first look around yourself and see where you can put your posters to introduce your charity to the people. Search for the most prominent places where your target audience tends to gather.