We’ve all been there.
It is the middle of the night, and your stomach sounds like it is at the end of a 7/11 Slurpee as it guzzles down whatever is left inside. You only have a quarter-tank of gas and are in the middle of a King of the Hill binge session on Netflix. Reluctantly, yet instinctively your hand goes to the backside of your jeans where you keep your wallet, your cell phone comes out, and before you know it you have an ETA of about twenty-five minutes until your friendly neighborhood pizza guy stops by. The convenience of something coming to you instead of you going to that special something can influence someone’s choices.
When it comes to donating blood, it is already hard enough for most blood banks to meet their current needs on an everyday basis. When a blood donor donates at a specific fixed-site location, such as a neighborhood donor center, it can be of greater convenience for the blood center operating that donor center, but mobile blood drives are what can also help keep a donor base alive.
In my experience as a Conversational Marketing™ Expert (CME), sometimes you have situations where people definitely want to donate and are willing to do so, but the unfortunate long distances they would have to travel to make a donation at a blood center can be off-putting. One thing you really have to think about when recruiting a blood donor is the ease of the appointment? Gas and other forms of travel typically aren’t cheap or free either.
Many blood centers have recognized the need for working in conjunction with local businesses to provide an extremely easy and efficient way to donate without having to leave work. Some employers even offer vacation time or paid time off as incentives for donating blood. My past four blood donations have been when Incept holds blood drives purely due to the fact that I work a second-shift schedule. If it wasn’t for the mobile donor coach (or blood bus) that comes out to the company, I wouldn’t be able to donate as frequently.
Incept is actually holding our final blood drive for the year on December 19th. The reason I even bring up the subject of mobile blood drives is due to the fact that if there wasn’t such a need for blood donors in general, the costs of operating a mobile bus would be unjustified. It truly shows you the great need for blood donors, as many blood centers are willing to come to you.
If your employer or community is holding a mobile blood drive, why not make an effort to donate somewhere that offers convenience?