May Marketing Tip

Donations and Drives

If you have a truck or a vehicle with your name and logo on it, that vehicle should always be cruising through your neighborhood. Use it to collect goods for a charity.

Here are some ideas for charities:

• Goodwill/Salvation Army
• Clothing/coat/glove drive
• Canned good drive
• Back-to-school supplies
• Toys for Tots
• Holiday food drive
• Women and children’s shelter drive

Use your paper to announce that your truck is going to be in the neighborhood on certain dates. Coordinate with a charity, school or your own team members to come out to help go door to door. If you have a big farm area, hit certain streets during different days.
Team up with advertisers to have their donation boxes in their lobbies. Announce the drive’s drop-off locations in your paper. This also gives an extra little plug to your advertisers—and a reason to come back!

Don’t forget the photo op! Make sure you take pictures of your truck in front of a recognizable street sign or intersection. Then use your paper to promote yourself in your community. This will also help localize your front page. Check with your accountant to see if any of your time or mileage or truck payments can be tax-deductible because of your charitable contribution.

One of the best things about this kind of cross marketing is that you get multiple exposures. When your neighbors see your truck, they will be reminded that they saw the announcement in your paper.