PDC-17: Charity Awareness: The fine line between Awareness and Marketing

PDC-17: Charity Awareness: The fine line between Awareness and Marketing

 

Is charity awareness the same as marketing? Though it might sound similar, it is not. To understand the differences between the two, let's keep interchanging our hats of marketing and awareness and analyze how each of them would approach the same scenarios.

 

Marketing, as we know is the forerunner of the sales process. Before a product is launched, an aggressive marketing campaign is launched.   The effectiveness of marketing is indicated by the sales numbers. Marketing expects immediate results in the form of sales. As the product matures, the marketing campaign tapers.

 

Awareness on the other hand is a continuous initiative and does not expect immediate results. As described earlier, the purpose of awareness is not to make people donate. Hence, it is not launched when we need donations. Its purpose is to make people passionate about a cause. The dollars that the charity gets should not be the criteria used to measure the effectiveness of awareness.

 

I am sure everyone would have at least seen one of the ads in which a movie star tries to market pan masala or a brand of alcohol. Regardless of the effects of the products, marketing tries to hypnotize the common man with the sugar coating of celebrities to make the common man believe that the product is best for him or her.

Marketing tries to convince the common man that he is getting a value product in return for his money.

 

Awareness tries to portray a cause that needs attention. It merely presents the facts about the needy and does not force anyone to participate. It helps the common man to understand that he has the power to make a difference in the lives of the needy. The transactions do not follow a sale model and hence does not have to involve money.  

 

The cost of such ads with the celebrities cost a fortune. Marketing can afford it because a big piece of the sales revenue pie is spent on marketing.

 

Can charity afford the same?  Absolutely not! Awareness for charity has to be extremely cost-effective. The charity pie is for the poor and the needy. Though it might be extremely difficult not to pick a small piece of the pie for the purpose of overheads, an ideal charity would try its level best to ensure that the piece is the smallest possible.

 

Awareness cannot rely on the glamour of the stars. Awareness relies on the selfless volunteers, who have the power to make a difference at the cost of nothing.

 

Marketing is a fixed-price concept. For example, if an iPOD costs $300, marketing for iPOD is interested in the target audience that is willing to pay $300. It is not interested in a target audience that is willing to pay $100.

 

Awareness is an open ended concept. Awareness tries to encourage any form of help. For example, the help does not have to be the dollars, it could be the prayers for the needy, it could be your time in volunteering, and it could be your talents in furthering the cause. Even if it was the dollars, there is no fixed price concept, every cent counts. The target audience is not restricted. It is everyone and it spans across boundaries.

 

All in all, charity awareness must not be undertaken like a marketing campaign. It must be a cost effective information sharing protocol that uses the potential of the volunteers to the limits.

 

To be continued…

The next two topics:

 

PDC-18: The transformational effect of Awareness: Information and Timing

PDC-19: The transformational effect of Awareness: Rearranging the puzzle

 

Thanks,

Rajesh Vargheese

http://www.stgregoriosaustin.org/