Getting your message in front of potential blood donors has become increasingly difficult. Getting them to consume your content and engage with your blood center is even tougher. Because of that, we’ve put together a list of 15 new and innovative ways you can recruit blood donors online.
1.) MOBILE APPS
We are not talking about creating your own app per se but about delivering ad content on the apps your donors are using. Some of the hottest trends in apps right now are Facebook, Snapchat, and TikTok. On Facebook, there are nearly 3 billion monthly active users, for Snapchat over 200 million daily active users, and for TikTok one billion active users. Each of these apps has great opportunities to reach donors through your ad content. A good place to start today is checking out Mashable and Social Media Today to learn more about marketing where your donors are. Then, allocate your marketing dollars to have a presence on those platforms.
Related Post: 5 Things We’ve Learned About Recruiting Blood Donors on Facebook
2.) STREAMING SERVICES
In 2020, over 6 million people cut off their cable for streaming services, which caused a disruption for marketing and advertising to broader audiences. So, we need to change how we can recruit donors because streaming services are continuing to take control of the media space. In this article, it is said that 82% of U.S. customers subscribe to at least one video content service, which gives you the opportunity to advertise to donors in trending media service providers, such as Hulu and HBO. For example, I have Hulu, but I don’t pay for the “no ads” plan so every show or movie I watch includes advertisements. Because I can’t fast forward through the ads, I have actually seen some really interesting ad content that impacted me, personally. Expedia has a fun ad that discusses the need for a vacation, and it made me want to book a trip to a warm beach somewhere. So, from my own personal experience, use streaming services to your own advantage!
3.) PRESS RELEASES
We are all doing them, but we need to shift the way that we use them. Press releases offer an effective way of reaching your target audience while creating brand recognition and being cost-effective. Also, when using press releases, engagement increases by 18% when you add photos and 55% when you embed a video. For example, Versiti Blood Center partnered with the Chicago Bears last year for its Thanksgiving blood drive. The donors received a free Bears hat as well as a gift card, while the blood center was able to receive critical blood donations during the holiday season. Get outside of your comfort zone and use your press releases to create your own buzz! Push your releases out on social media and go for viral impact! Press releases should not be for damage control or announcements – be creative and make some noise!
4.) VIDEO
Video ads can help to increase engagement with donors because it forces the audience to stop scrolling to watch what the advertisement is about. Over the summer, Instagram announced that it is now a video-sharing app rather than photo-sharing. This is important because it means the app will now be prioritizing videos over photos on the platform. As a result, your blood center will see increased exposure and impressions when you focus more on creating videos. We've also seen a push for Reels on Facebook as well, which shows the focus on video across all platforms. Video advertisements are beneficial to your team’s donor recruit strategies because it gives the audience more information and storytelling which creates an interesting brand story that the audience can engage with. It is said that videos consistently drove 2-3x higher CTRs than statics, so we can use this as an opportunity to create more video ads to help bring in more blood donors. Since videos can create more engagement for your donor recruitment strategies, it should be an important goal to learn how to create video ads, and you should be adding video to your current social media platform accounts. The good news is that videos can be created easily and look professional using some simple design tools.
Want to learn about the design tools you can use to recruit blood donors? Read more.
5.) RETARGETING
Retargeting is the process of cookie-ing a donor’s web browser and following them around the web serving up ads that keep your message in front of them and continuously inviting them back to your website to schedule their next appointment. It is beneficial to have a retargeting campaign because it allows you to reconnect with donors or people who have visited your website. This is cost-effective, as you’re advertising directly to people who showed some interest in your blood center.
Also, the cardinal rule of advertising is called the rule of seven, which essentially means that it takes an average of 7 interactions with a potential customer before they are ready to take action. Therefore, retargeting is crucial for blood centers because it allows potential donors to see the importance of donating blood multiple times through ads. For example, say a donor visits your site but doesn’t schedule. Later that day, they hop online to do some shopping, and there’s your ad asking them to come back and schedule an appointment. By retargeting harder-to-reach donors (such as donors under 25 years old), your team is able to speak to the audience multiple times without the consequences of potential call blocking. It is a wonderful way to stay in front of donors that are kicking the tires (so to speak).
6.) LIVE CHAT
By now, most everyone has probably used a live chat. Generationally speaking, Millennials and Gen Z are not big on talking, so we need outlets to communicate with them that do not include speaking. By having a live chat, you give customers a way to reach you in the exact moment that they have questions or problems they can’t solve. With live chat options on your website, it gives donors a great option to help them with login issues and also allows a trained representative to urge them to schedule an appointment before leaving the site. One effective way we've seen live chat work is a pop-up in the bottom corner of the screen with a blurb stating, "how can we help you?" This method offers assistance when your donor may need it most, but is not so intrusive that it interrupts their experience.
7.) BLOGGING
Blogging is a great way to disseminate your message in a casual manner. Businesses that blog receives 97% more links to their websites. If you want to see a fellow blood center that is knocking it out of the park with a wonderful blog, take a look at Stanford Blood Center.
Every time you publish a blog, it's one page on your website, which means one more opportunity for you to show up on the search engine results page (or SERP) and more organic traffic to your website. Blogging is a great opportunity for your blood centers to stay present on social media and generate engagement to your website, and it allows you to diversify your marketing efforts against other blood centers.
8.) EMAIL
Most blood centers already implement email marketing, so we won’t spend much time on this, but consider a couple of tips. First, make sure you are including social sharing buttons on every email and build your content to be shared. You’ll see higher clickthrough rates – sometimes up to 150% higher! Also, if you aren’t already doing so, look at incorporating triggered emails. A trigger email campaign is a series of emails that are sent automatically to recipients based on specific actions they take. For a blood center, these activities include signing up for a newsletter or getting thank you messages after donating blood. In an article, businesses were surveyed about the importance of email marketing, and it is said that 79% say it’s “important” or “very important” to their businesses. The use of email marketing allows you to reach out to donors about blood center news, upcoming events, or remind donors to schedule an appointment at a time that is convenient for them in their inbox.
9.) GOOGLE ADWORDS
Simply, Google Adwords is an effective way to drive traffic from the search engine to your website. If you have tried utilizing Google AdWords in the past but didn’t have success, we have some good news for you! The good news is Google has changed the game completely, and it allows you to take advantage of the benefits of advertising to donors online: show your ads to the right people, in the right place, and at the right time. Most terms for blood banking are very reasonable, and you can get in the game for a very low investment.
Google Ad Grants work just like Google AdWords online, but if you qualify, you can get up to $10,000 of in-kind AdWords every month! You need to apply and qualify, so it’s not for everyone, but there’s a tremendous opportunity for both awareness and savings if you do qualify. Make sure you write this one down on your list to research!
10.) DISPLAY ADS
Display ads are a great way to reach a broad audience without them actually searching for your blood center. The Google Display Network covers over 2 million sites and reaches over 90% of the people on the Internet which gives blood centers the opportunity to reach a wide variety of potential donors. Also, display ads are useful to create brand awareness for potential donors and retarget new and current donors. Ads are shown to audiences even if they have not engaged with your website, and those ads can also be a strategy in your retargeting campaign because it displays ads on a variety of websites to people who have engaged with your website, products, or services.
11.) PODCASTS
Podcasts are interesting because we struggle to come up with any riveting content that we could produce regularly for a podcast. But what we do think is a great application is advertising on a podcast. Over 100 million people in the United States listen to podcasts, and those users trust the podcasters they are listening to. So, your blood center has a wonderful opportunity in advertising because there is a large audience that trusts the podcast and tends to use the products or services offered by that podcast. According to an article, 78% of the consumers surveyed don't mind hearing podcast ads, and 62% would consider buying a product after hearing an ad. Therefore, you should find local podcasters with strong followings and craft a message to their listeners!
12.) SOCIAL MEDIA
Just about everyone is on social media, so please don’t tune me out here. We’re not just talking about having a Facebook page and Snapchat account. As an industry, we are there, but it is not enough – not even close. Every day there are 500,000 new users on Facebook and six new profiles every second. I only give that stat because I love it, and we think it’s important that everyone knows that Facebook isn’t just a place to throw up a message or a picture every now and then. In the United States, the average person spends 2 hours and 3 minutes on social media every day. With 1.3 million pieces of content being pushed out each minute, you need to make yours stand out! Ad prices have risen considerably, but you truly can’t afford to not advertise on social media. That said, it has to be done with precision. You have to know your segments and tailor your ads to meet their interests otherwise your content won’t be seen.
13.) APP CREATION
This one is referring to creating your own app. The key to a successful app is getting adoption and making your app a part of the donor’s everyday life. This is particularly difficult when our call to action is every 56 days. Incorporate games, music, downloads, and anything you can to keep your donors from opening your app. Canadian Blood Services has a wonderful app if you are looking for an example of a great app structure.
14.) USER-GENERATED CONTENT
“Instead of creating content, we should be creating opportunities for content creation: Instagrammable moments, inspiring experiences.” - Sophie Turton
Ask donors to provide reviews. Post to their pages. Give them photo props to use for taking selfies in the chair. Have a costume for selfies. Be silly, embrace the fun side of social media, and give your donors something to talk about. In an article, it is said that 92% of consumers trust organic, user-generated content more than they trust traditional advertising, so user-generated content should be a top-of-mind priority to your blood donor recruitment strategies. Also, 68% of consumers say positive reviews make them trust a local business more. User-generated content can help you get the community connection back to your donor centers. Leverage relationships to get great content!
15.) TEXTING
If you aren’t using texting yet, my only advice is to begin right away! Texting your appointments will increase your show rates. Also, text marketing integrates seamlessly with other marketing tactics, therefore it can help you with your strategies and other multichannel approaches. It’s perfect for canceled drives, drive reminders, and urgent needs. The response is still small (as a percentage), so be very careful not to use texting for blasts. This is an example of watering down your content. Use it very specific and targeted.
Learn more about the importance of Multichannel blood donor recruitment.
I certainly don’t suggest taking all 15 of these and implementing them tomorrow. Instead, choose one or two of interest and start testing them out. If you have any questions, don’t hesitate to send us a message!