Do Charities Need To Advertise
The simple answer to this question is yes, in order to gain exposure and let the UK public know about their cause. One of the most popular times for charities to advertise is during the Christmas period as (hopefully) people are in a more charitable state of mind than during other times of the year.
The problem is that charities are funded by donations, so the donors would be paying for the advertising campaigns (and everything associated with them) which does cause discomfort with many donors. The main reason being that advertising is expensive, and some of the costs would be taken up as profit margins for commercial advertising and marketing; but there is really no alternative for charities to gain market exposure.
Who Are The Main Charities Advertising
There are a number of larger charities that do have quite active advertising campaigns and do appear fairly regularly in the mainstream media.
These charities do use a variety of advertising strategies to generate exposure, but the main channel is TV advertising:
- McMillan - Cancer charity
- WaterAid - Providing clean water in third world
- Oxfam - Support for global poverty
- Red Cross - Support for third world
- RSPCA - Animal welfare
- NSPCC - Child protection
- Cancer Research - Cancer charity
- Children In Need - Children's charity
These are the main charities that advertise on a fairly regular basis (and all do a lot of paid internet advertising) mainly on TV, but there are other smaller charities that do ad hock campaigns as and when.
Forms Of Advertising Available To Charities
There are various forms of advertising available to charities, but normally charities tend to opt for highly visual adverts, as these can create the strongest emotional impact. The adverts for charities need to do more than just create brand awareness (which is more a PR related objective) but to tug on heart strings, to appeal to peoples consciences and the charitable nature that is deep inside every human (The Good Samaritan) to help his fellow man (Luke 10 25-37).
For this reason, the main channel of advertising that charities opt for is:
TV Advertising For Charities
TV is a very powerful form of advertising as it engages the mind and ears, impacting and emotional they are designed to stimulate as many human senses as possible in order to create a lasting impact. TV advertising for charities is widely used as they can convey the message of the charity in the most powerful way. TV advertising is the most expensive form of advertising available and for this reason is a big gamble for many charities, however the potential results are that the charity will receive good awareness and exposure resulting in more donations.
TV advertising is sought by most charities due to the impact it causes; however because of the cost associated with advertising on TV, many cannot justify the spend and opt for alternatives:
Radio Advertising For Charities
Radio advertising can be a powerful form of marketing for charities. The downside of advertising on radio is that only a small percentage of people listening will be the right market to reach (adults) and ones that would be in the right spiritual place to donate. Radio advertising for charities can be very effective and is a lot more affordable than many other forms of advertising. Another benefit with radio advertising is that it can be regionalised (so targeting specific areas of the UK) so as to impact on areas of wealth or affluence.
Visual Advertising For Charities
Charities need to have impacting and thought provoking adverts (adverts of malnourished children work well, or poverty stricken old people) however a marketing angle is needed (as people have become accustomed to signs of poverty and have switched off) in order to create some new emotion. Visual adverts, banner adverts, billboard adverts, scrolling media are all used by charities as they can be seen by millions of people each day.
Magazine Advertising For Charities
In the same way as visual advertising, magazines can be a great tool for raising awareness of the charities cause. Many charities do use magazine advertising to market themselves and most magazines offer a discount for charitable causes.
Choosing An Advertising Company For A Charity
For any charity, the problem is which advertising agency to select; someone local, someone national. There are hundreds of advertising agencies around the UK ranging from small agencies scattered around the country up to top advertising agencies in London (that deal with global brands).
Who to choose is difficult, as most advertising companies seem to say the same 'we will get you great returns on your advertising'; how do charities find the best advertising agency for their campaign?
The best advice would be to talk to advertising agencies that are used to conducting advertising campaigns that are for charities; as they should know how to structure the campaign to get the optimum results.
The risk is that millions of pounds of donations are spent, and no fruit is produced, the only ones that benefit are the commercial media and the advertising agency. For this reason, charities do need to select with care and ask for reports on progress. Guarantee of results for advertising is not possible, as much is in the hands of the audience (you and I) and how the campaign stimulates giving.
Compare Advertising Prices For Charity Advertising
Advertising is expensive, even if discounts are given to charities, they can still cost thousands, tens of thousands (or millions for some of the larger charities) and charities are under an obligation to be good stewards. From every £1 donated, the £1 does not go to the cause, much of this is given to administration, advertising etc. leaving around 20% of every £1 donated reaching the cause. For this reason, shopping around for prices on advertising is essential for charities.
The cheapest advertising company is not necessarily the best, but neither is paying the most expensive advertising agency going to get the best results. Charities need to get the best results for their advertising spend while keeping running costs to an absolute minimum (which is difficult).
Advertisng is hard during times of recession and certainly for charities, getting value for advertising money is hard as most UK people do not have 10% or 20% to give to charity.
For free advice and quotes from advertising agencies that have experience in working for charities and NPO's, just fill in the form above.