Recruiting new donors is always a challenge for blood centers. At Incept, we specialize in helping blood centers bring in more donors, increase repeat donations, and expand their overall blood inventory. How? By creating a targeted, focused multi-touch marketing strategy.
This strategy incorporates organic social posts along with paid digital ads and personalized text outreach. We also often recommend email and phone calls alongside these strategies for maximum effectiveness. Why? Read on to learn more about multi-touch marketing and why it’s a great way for blood centers to drive donor recruitment.
Build Awareness With Paid Ads Plus Organic Social Media Content
When it comes to digital marketing for your blood center, we find that a two-pronged approach focusing on both paid ads and organic social media content is the best strategy. This is because organic and paid content work hand-in-hand to help you reach more potential donors:
Organic social media content – Creating organic social media content like Instagram posts, TikTok videos, and Instagram Reels helps build brand awareness and goodwill. However, it typically doesn’t lead to donations on its own – which is why paid ads are an essential part of the “sales funnel” for blood centers.
Paid digital ads – Paid ads on social media, websites, and search engines like Google are ideal for exposing your donation center to new audiences. And with modern ad remarketing strategies, it’s easy to track people who have visited your website with a cookie and serve them ads reminding them about donation opportunities.
If you’re focusing mostly on paid social media ads, another benefit is that it’s easier to target specific demographics. As we discussed in a previous blog, Gen Z spends a lot of time on TikTok, while you’re more likely to find Millennials on Instagram and Baby Boomers on Facebook.
Combine that with the powerful, granular marketing data available on each platform, and you’ll be able to do much more with your marketing dollars.
Make Things Convenient With Personalized Text Outreach
Along with paid digital and organic social content, we’ve found that reaching out to potential donors via SMS message is the most effective. Why? Text messages have an open rate of about 98%, which blows other channels like email. Simply put, the chances are that if you send a text message to a previous donor, they’ll read it.
But that’s only half of the battle. Once you get a donor to read your message, you need them to take action and book an appointment. That’s why we recommend well-timed, personalized SMS messages. Here’s an example:
Hello, [name]! I see you last donated blood four months ago and are eligible to donate again. Reply “Yes” to schedule now or respond to this message for more info.
By addressing potential donors conversationally and making it easy for them to schedule immediately – or engage with your team and get answers to their questions – you make them more likely to actually schedule a blood donation appointment.
Tell Donor Stories And Send Incentive Reminders Via Text, Too
Text messages are also a fantastic medium for telling donor stories and sending incentive reminders. For example, you could take a picture of someone who received blood, write a brief text about why they needed blood and how much they received, and include a link for donors to schedule their next appointment.
If you want to tell a longer story, you also have the option of including a link to a blog post within the text messages – since text messages are almost always opened by the recipients, there’s a good chance they’ll open it and want to read more!
Also, SMS messages are a great way to send out incentive reminders for donors. For example, if you’re running a Christmas donation incentive for a $5 Starbucks card, you could send out that info along with a funny Santa Claus GIF and a link to sign up for an appointment.
The last thing we’ll say is that, while SMS is a powerful way to reach donors, you want to use it sparingly. Limit yourself to max one message per week, or 4 per month at most. If you “blow up” a donor’s phone with too many texts, they’ll start to ignore them or may even unsubscribe – which would be counterproductive for obvious reasons.
Reach Out With Personalized Phone Calls And Voicemails
Social media and texts are great, but good old-fashioned phone calls and voicemails are also good ways to stay connected with donors. On average, it takes about eight marketing “touches” to make a sale – in this case, to set up a donation appointment. So adding more “touches” into your marketing strategy is never a bad thing.
If you’d like to incorporate phone calls into your marketing strategy, we recommend placing one or two phone calls per month. Americans receive more than 2 billion spam calls per month, so it’s important not to overdo it – the last thing you want is for a donor to block your number!
Also, don’t be discouraged if donors don’t pick up. According to the Pew Research Center, 80% of Americans don’t answer calls from unknown numbers. The good news is that with an effective voicemail message, you can still get in touch even if a phone call recipient doesn’t pick up. 67% of people will listen to a voicemail from an unknown number, even if they don’t answer the call.
When you do leave a voicemail, make it brief and keep it simple. Address the recipient by name, mention your own name, and give them the relevant information about scheduling their first appointment or coming back for a recurring donation.
Need Help With Multi-Touch Marketing? Incept Can Help
At Incept, we’re experts in multi-touch marketing strategies. Based on your blood donation center’s location, demographics, and other data, we can develop a customized approach that will help you reach your blood donation goals. Interested in working with us? Book a free consultation online now, or feel free to give us a call at (330) 649-8000.