The Real Seven-Headed Beast At Boston Medical Center’s Halloweentown

Have you ever felt like your non-profit has seven marketing heads that don’t listen to each other?

You focus on print media, then Board networking, then Twitter, then Facebook, then Email newsletters… Oh, and don’t forget those donor phone calls.

Wouldn’t it be amazing if these heads started talking?

This way, you could create a powerful event-focused marketing campaign – that get’s results!

Joe Waters, whom I have interviewed in the past, recently sent me his “seven-headed monster” marketing plan for Boston Medical Center’s annual “Halloween Town“:

Pin-ups: Great idea! Read more here.
Corporate ticket sales: This serves two purposes. First, we raise $75k to send needy kids from the community to the event. Second, it’s a great way to promote the event within companies. Major employers like Fidelity actually create a special web page on their intranet so employees can buy tickets.
Coupon pads: Available at retailers all over Massachusetts they will offer special discounts off admission at Halloween Town. This differs from last year’s strategy which had a discount at only ONE retailer. See tomorrow’s post for a further explanation.
Mommy blogs: Working with Boston Globe’s BoMoms among others to promote the event with moms.
Globe Print Ads: The Tuesday before Halloween Town the Boston Globe will publish a 16 page guide to Halloween Town that will be distributed to 450,000 subscribers.
Promos: and PSA’s on Jam’n 94.5, Kiss 108 and Channel 5.
Search: Web site with SEO both on the paid side and the organic.