Making a Difference: How to Raise Awareness for Your Cause

Do you want to raise awareness to support worthy causes?

Are you trying to raise funds for a GoFundMe or Kickstarter campaign?

Getting people’s attention, even in an online and constantly connected world, can feel impossible at times. You could have a great poster and a nice Facebook page and still not see any comments or visits.

Don’t worry,  we’re here to help.

Let us walk you through a few ways to raise awareness of your cause.

1. Organize a Fundraising Event

If you want to boost awareness for your cause, organizing a fundraising event is a great way to start..

The event should be engaging. You can launch concerts, tabletop game events, a potluck for the community, or a competition, to name a few examples.

2. Launch a Viral Video Campaign

Among the best ways to bring awareness to a cause are viral challenge videos.

Remember the Ice Bucket Challenge to raise money for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease? That went viral and it led people to discover and support the cause. The campaign helped boost its research financing by 187%.

You can launch a video campaign, too.

It must be a quick challenge that anyone can do and share on social media or YouTube. This helps make it easier to grow in popularity. You should also make sure it’s a safe video challenge, to avoid any controversies.

3. Run a Photo Contest

You can also raise awareness on Pinterest or Instagram with a photo contest.

Here’s a quick example of what you can do:

Make a new board on Pinterest. Fill that board with images related to your cause. Announce that you’re running a contest and encourage people to look at the sample board.

People joining should make their board and fill it with other related photos. To qualify, they must share that board and get people to like or share your social media pages. This last step is the most important because it drives online traffic to your cause.

4. Wear Promotional Accessories and Clothing

If you support a cause, wear it!

Hollywood celebrities did when they supported the #MeToo movement, which centers around the struggle against sexual violence. Celebrities involved in the movement or those who wanted to raise awareness wore #MeToo lapel pins.

Pins are among the most popular promotional accessories to raise awareness. People commonly associate lapel pins, particularly ribbon-shaped pins, with a charity or foundation. That’s how popular lapel pin accessories are.

You can use other forms of promotional wear too,  such as hats, shirts, or even ID lanyards. They might not be as successful as lapel pins, though — they’re sometimes either too expensive or not as prominent. 

5. Run Social Media Ads

To truly widen your reach, run social media ads.

If you have a Facebook page, it’s time to invest in paid ads. Get people of a certain demographic or area to see your posts and updates.

Platforms such as Instagram and Facebook give you full control over your paid ads.

You can set a budget limit, dictate which days and what time the ads appear, and specify your target audience. You should use this strategy if you plan to organize a fundraising event or if you sell promotional wear.

6. Walks for a Cause

Yes, parades and walks for a cause still garner attention.

Who wouldn’t pay attention? Your group closed the street and you rallied a bunch of people to lift promotional banners and discuss your cause.

Some towns and cities might make your walk a big event, increasing the probablity of media coverage. This is even more useful because it lets people not in the immediate area learn about your cause. You might even get more people to join the walk!

7. School Campaigns

Promotions in schools always help raise awareness.

It can be as simple as discussing your cause with the students to handing them pamphlets and promotional wear. The students might share these items with their friends and family, further increasing good word-of-mouth.

Some schools turn these into educational campaigns. Teachers might encourage students to sell promotional wear or attend a walk for a cause.

8. Influencer Marketing

Learn how to raise awareness for a cause through social media influencers.

These are people on Instagram, Pinterest, or YouTube with thousands or even millions of followers. When they endorse something, their followers take notice and other influencers might follow suit.

Be aware that influencers typically don't work free.

Some accept direct payment while others request freebies they can showcase on their next post or video. These are the best people to contact if you want to boost promotional lapel pins or launch a successful viral video challenge.

9.  Optimize Your Website

You can’t raise awareness if you don’t have an optimized website.

You can’t rely on a Facebook page or YouTube channel alone.

Maintaining a good website enables you to keep visitors and subscribers updated through blog posts and newsletters. You can use PPC ads and SEO strategies to keep your site and its content up to date and visible online. It also gives your social media followers a platform they can visit to support you.

An optimized website also gives people not active on social media a means to contact you. You can link all your social media accounts there too. If your cause has a Kickstarter or Patreon account to raise funds, you can link it to your site.

Raise Awareness for Your Cause Today!

If you support a cause or run an important movement, don’t settle with small talks and mini-fundraising efforts.

Use these tactics to raise awareness and get more people to notice and support you.

You can start with great promotional wear. We offer amazing lapel pins that you can use to boost awareness. Check us out here and get a free quote today!