Thank You for Participating in the Presents 4 Pets Program

Tips for a Successful

PRESENTS 4 PETS

Campaign

INTRODUCTION

Thank you for participating in the Presents 4 Pets program.

Please take advantage of all that your association offers to assist you in your campaign. On the P4P section of the NAPPS Web site you’ll find lots of tools, forms and documents to assist you.

A special thanks goes to those NAPPS members who shared their tips for this document.

NOTE: For ease of use, this document is set up in sections which correspond to the hosting of a P4P campaign. This will help you refer to the section that relates to the area of your campaign on which you are currently working.

Good luck with your campaign!

PLANNING

Plan ahead. Your campaign will be as good as the amount of planning and time and effort that you put into it. Remember, your campaign will benefit both the homeless animals in shelters in your local community AND will help market your business. Hosting a P4P campaign is a WIN WIN proposition!

Begin by reviewing the documents available for your use on the NAPPS Web site.

Make lists….of EVERYTHING! Keep an updated list of businesses that can be contacted to act as drop-off points, possible in-kind donors for printing, storage, boxes, etc., volunteers, shelters/rescue organizations that could be recipients, media sources for sending press releases, and the list goes on. The more thorough and updated your lists are, the less work involved in the long run.

Write out clear goals for your campaign. You’re more likely to hit a big total if you have a written goal that includes a big number. Your goals don’t have to be value-based. It could be as simple as “collect 27 leashes” or “collect 100 pounds of cat litter”.

Begin printing and posting your flyers, posters and marketing materials as early as possible. Don’t wait until it is time to accept donations. Contact businesses and individuals who may help by hosting a donation box or making donations at least a couple of months BEFORE you need them to assist you. This gives them time to plan and decide how to help you.

CHOOSING DONATION RECIPIENTS

Research the animal shelters and rescue groups in your area to determine which ones you would like to be recipients of your P4P donations.

You don’t have to limit your campaign to a single recipient or even a recipient in your area. Choose one shelter and one rescue group, or one cat rescue and one dog rescue, or even more than one shelter. Look for the groups that really need the help.

Once you’ve chosen your potential recipients, contact the director and introduce yourself. Explain what P4P is and that you are hosting a local campaign. Ask them if they would like to be a P4P donation recipient. If they answer yes, then discuss their specific needs. You don’t want to waste your resources collecting items that won’t be used.

It is always advisable to visit the shelter, if possible, to see in person if it meets your standards of care for the animals and to meet the staff in person. Also, seeing the location in person can help you to tailor your donations to their specific needs and location.

If possible, obtain the shelter’s permission to use their name as a donation recipient in your marketing efforts. People always like to know where their donations are going and it encourages them to donate more.

Stay in contact with your chosen shelters throughout your campaign. Let them know that donations are coming in and encourage their staff and visitors to participate in the campaign, as well. This will help get them excited about the campaign, and will encourage them to remember who you are throughout the year. Remember, the animals at these shelters often find homes – and then may need your services. Shelters that know you will refer to you.

Once you have donations coming in, discuss the delivery of items with the shelter or rescue director. Do they want items dropped off as they’re collected or would they prefer one big delivery? Make sure you schedule an actual time for delivery that will be convenient for the shelter.

DOCUMENTING YOUR CAMPAIGN

Take photos of your campaign from day one. Create a photographic story of your campaign that you can use for marketing the following year, or for post-campaign press releases.

Save all articles about your campaign that appear in local papers. If a link to the article is available, post it on your Web site for your clients and potential clients to view.

Post information about your campaign on your Web site. Marketing studies show that people are more kindly disposed toward businesses that are involved in charitable efforts. They are more likely to remember the businesses name and to utilize their services than other businesses that don’t do community service work.

As donations come in, and you tally up your totals, keep your Web site updated with this information. It shows that you are hosting an active community service effort and will encourage more donations.

If your campaign is mentioned on the TV or radio, document the occurrence. This information can be used to provide a record of your campaign for historical and even marketing purposes.

Keep records of your donations: the types and amount of items donated, the campaign totals, which shelters received the donations, thank you letters from the shelters, etc. This information will come in handy for planning and marketing your campaign next year.

MARKETING YOUR CAMPAIGN

Refer to the P4P section of the NAPPS Web site for P4P logos, flyers, postcards and press release templates to help you get started with your marketing. These documents can be downloaded and customized to include your business details and logo. They are a great way to market your campaign and will save you lots of work!

Send out press releases! Send them early and often! Don’t just send them to the big daily newspapers. Often your best print resource will be a local weekly paper that covers your service area. Think outside the box and contact editors of local group newsletters, online newspapers, radio stations, television stations and online press release sites. There are several tools available on the NAPPS Web site that will help you with marketing your campaign with the use of press releases.

There are both pre-campaign and post-campaign press releases available on the Web site. Both can be downloaded and customized to include your business name and information. Feel free to make any changes to the text of the press releases to help them better serve your needs.

Contact media outlets and offer to do an interview or speak on-air about your P4P campaign. You would be surprised at how many press outlets are looking for just such a “human interest” story.

Offer to speak about your P4P campaign at local schools, churches, and business or civic organizations. You may end up with some unexpected partners to help in your soliciting once they hear about what you’re doing!

Ask local pet-related businesses, animal rescues and shelters to include an article about your campaign in their newsletters and links to the P4P page on your Web site on their sites.

Attend pet-related events and pass out flyers.

Post flyers at your local dog parks and at other pet-related businesses with donation drop-off locations or event details.

Don’t limit flyer distribution to just pet-related businesses. People with pets go to lots of places so get flyers up on community bulletin boards at grocery stores, libraries, hair & nail salons, recreation centers, colleges, basically any place where pet parents are likely to see them.

Provide local businesses with flyers to distribute to their employees and offer to come back and pick up any donations on a specific date.

Use social media to promote your campaign (Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Flickr, etc.)

Create a YouTube video with information about P4P, your campaign, your recipients, requested item list, drop-off locations, and any other information you’d like to include. Link the video through your social media networks.

Make coupons on Google Places, Yelp, Merchant Circle, etc. to offer small discounts on your services for donations of $XX amount. This will also improve your search engine rankings and more traffic on your Web site means more business!

Plan to spend about 2 hours a week distributing flyers, posters, etc. The more your flyers are seen the more likely you’ll receive donations and the more recognized your business logo becomes in the community.

Have professional posters printed to hang in the storefronts of the businesses that are hosting collection boxes. Professional printing gives your campaign a much more professional image than home-made posters.

Recognize the businesses that are participating in your campaign in all press releases and publicity. They want to receive the same free marketing that you’re receiving and they want to be recognized in the community as a company that supports a good cause.

Don’t forget your clients when you’re marketing! Make sure you include articles in your own company newsletter and drop off flyers at their homes (leave extras for them to share with friends and family).

Utilize all your resources. Always print on both sides of the paper. Make your flyers half sheet and double-sided. You get the same amount of information out there while using half as much paper.

Start a P4P blog to highlight your campaign progress. A good free site is www.blogger.com.

SOLICITING DONATIONS

Refer to the P4P section of the NAPPS Web site for a business solicitation letter and donation receipt form, which you can customize with your company name and logo.

ASK EVERYONE! Don’t assume that a business will say no to hosting a donation box or donating goods. Don’t assume that a client or friend will say no to donating. IF YOU DON’T ASK THEN THE ANSWER IS ALWAYS NO!

Inform your clients of your P4P involvement early and ask them to start collecting things to donate later. There are several flyers and a postcard available on the NAPPS Web site that you can download, customize and use for this purpose.

Ask your clients to tell their friends and family about your campaign. Provide them with copies of your fliers so they can help you spread the word.

Ask your friends and family to donate or host donation boxes in their places of business.

Offer discounted service for potential clients who make a donation through an existing client.

Contact local pet-related businesses and ask them to donate pet care items to your campaign. Point out that on many of their close-out or overstock items they would be better off donating them for a tax break than selling at a loss!

Contact manufacturers of pet related items and pet food and ask for a donation. You’ll be surprises at how many of them want to donate to local grass-roots efforts, especially when it involves shelter pets.

Approach local civic or business organizations as well as schools and churches and ask them to partner with you by doing their own collections to benefit your campaign.

When you approach a business or group as a possible partner make sure you provide complete information about your campaign including history, goals, recipients, etc.

Always speak to the business owner or general manager when soliciting a business to host a donation box or make a donation. Others may not have the authority to commit to the campaign.

Always leave information about your campaign with the business, so they know what the campaign is about, can consider how to help you, and inform others of your efforts.

If you don’t already have a good working relationship with a local pet supply retailer now is a good time to form one. They can be your absolute best ally in your campaign.

Don’t assume that only pet-related businesses will host a donation box. Consider banks, grocery stores, coffee shops, restaurants, libraries, and any business where people gather.

Use your personal contacts with local businesses. Ask your hairdresser, your dog groomer, your bank, etc. to host a donation box. This is often one of the best ways to place boxes, as these businesses already know you and thus may be more willing to help.

If a business says no to a donation box ask if you can leave some flyers instead.

Schedule time at the beginning of your campaign to personally call each of your clients to tell them about your campaign. Don’t assume that emails and newsletters have made your point.

Try to solicit your donation boxes from moving companies, mini-storage facilities, box manufacturers or big-box discount stores (used boxes are OK as long as they’re still in good shape).

Before you set out your donation boxes decorate them so they’ll grab attention. Use wrapping paper and bows, paint, craft stamps, or come up with your own ideas. Visibility is key!

Contact local businesses that sell wrapping paper, bows, etc. They may be willing to donate these items for you to use to decorate your boxes, especially if you offer to include their name as a donor in your marketing efforts (and/or on the box itself).

Consider making twice as many boxes as you have locations for. That way you can just take a full box and leave a new, empty one in its place.

Check your donation boxes often. The hosts don’t want their businesses cluttered with overflowing donations so be considerate and keep the boxes emptied.

Contact mini-storage facilities, portable storage “pod” companies, or even retail space management companies and ask if they can donate space to store everything in until you can deliver to the recipients.