Advocates are messengers. They are faces in the community who are sharing your mission with the people they know. Their goal is to spread the word, which is word of mouth marketing.
Once an Advocate gets involved they invite others to work alongside them. This involves inspiring people to move up the ladder because there are LEVELS within your advocate program. When one advocate brings another on board there are benefits for them. An example of advocate levels are:
Advocate –> Major Advocate –> Progressive Advocate –> Competent Advocate –> Distinguished Advocate.
- Once there are two advocates under an advocate he/she becomes a major advocate
- Once there are five advocates under an advocate he/she becomes a progressive advocate
- Once there are fifteen advocates under an advocate he/she becomes a competent advocate
- Once there are thirty-five advocates under an advocate he/she becomes a distinguished advocate
When your organization provides benefits for reaching advocate levels it is proactive marketing. Yesterday we learned about “GROWING Networks for Fundraising” by creating an adequate motive for people to become advocates. Here is the link if you’d like to catch up.
Today, we look at step two in this article – adding value to advocates for their involvement with your mission. Tomorrow, the message for maintaining consistency will be shared, which is step three. The steps again:
- An adequate motive for people to begin
- Added value for involvement
- Consistency
Adding value for involvement
Begin by making a list of twenty marketing benefits your advocates will receive because they tell people about your mission. Narrow your list of twenty down to the most important and beneficial. The reason you list twenty to begin with is because a long list allows ideas to develop. It is a creative strategy for thinking outside of the box. You can do this brainstorming process with a group of people. SOAR recommends staff and volunteers working on it together. This brings in different perspectives.
Advocate levels include marketing opportunities, which is cause marketing. This is key! The list below is an example you may consider. As your advocates increase their level of involvement the benefits coming back to them also improve.
- Advocate (telling people about your organization)
- Printed nametag for events
- Invitation to quarterly event
- Mentioned on social media
- Major Advocate (2 advocates in down-line)
- Printed nametag for events
- Invitation to quarterly event
- Mentioned on social media
- Opportunity to be involved with events as a greeter
- Ribbon added to nametag (“Major”)
- Progressive Advocate (5 advocates in down-line)
- Printed nametag for events
- Pin/emblem/special design for nametag
- Invitation to quarterly event
- Mentioned on social media
- Opportunity to be involved with events as a presenter
- Ribbon added to nametag (“Progressive”)
- Presentation and training opportunities
- Logo on website
- Competent Advocate (15 advocates in down-line)
- Engraved – real nametag for events
- Special bar or pin
- Invitation to quarterly event
- Mentioned on social media
- Opportunity to be involved with events as an honored guest
- Ribbon added to nametag (“Competent”)
- Presentation and training opportunities
- Logo on website
- Featured in newsletter
- Bio displayed in office
- Distinguished Advocate (35 advocates in down-line)
- Engraved – real nametag for events
- Special bar or pin
- Invitation to quarterly event
- Mentioned on social media
- Opportunity to be involved with events as an honored guest
- Ribbon added to nametag (“Distinguished”)
- Presentation and training opportunities
- Logo on website
- Featured in newsletter
- Bio displayed in office
- Name added to plaque
SOAR with Network Fundraising coaches organizations on creating effective processes for fundraising. Situations within communities will shift the way things are done, this is true. The one thing EVERY community has are people with desires and most of them are connected to a business in some way. You are seeking ways to grow and they are too. SOAR offers education and 1:1 coaching.
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