Marketing/Communications | Murray's Light Foundation
I currently manage the marketing and communications efforts for the non-profit the Murray's Light Foundation. 2019 was the Murray's Light Foundation's first year as a 501(c)(3) non-profit, so it was a very exciting time to be involved!
In this role, I have the opportunity to learn the ins and outs of what goes into a full-scale marketing campaign for a 501(c)(3) organization. While serving in this position, my responsibilities have included creating a website for the foundation, spearheading the Marketing strategy, and designing an event marketing campaign for a 500+ person event.
One of my main undertakings in this position was to create a functioning website for the foundation. To do this, I used Wix because of its user-friendly features. The website allows for interested parties to learn more about the mission of the Murray's Light Foundation, as well as documents events happening through the foundation. I created a homepage that outlines the foundation and gives information on volunteering and donating. For donations, I created an option to donate directly to the foundation through Paypal, creating a convenient option for those who are unable to attend events. On the website, I also included pages showcasing past events, as well as options to purchase tickets to the 2019 Murray's Light event. The 2019 event page displays event details, links to the event page on Facebook, and offers information on the event's sponsors. For the website, I also created a shop that is ready for rollout once future merchandise is ready for sale. This shop will allow users to create an account on the site, which will also give them an option to subscribe to our mailing list, allowing them to recieve our newsletter via email.
Marketing Strategy
For the Murray's Light Foundation marketing strategy, I primarily focused on marketing the foundation's annual Murray's Light event. This involved creating a multifaceted marketing campaign involving multiple media sources, as well as creating physical ad materials, merchandise designs, and coordinating with the MLF's community Fundraising manager regarding sponsorships and ticket sales.
My first step to begin our marketing campaign was to design marketing materials to be shared via Instagram and Facebook, as well as to be physically distributed to local businesses in physical flyer form. These materials included a logo for the foundation, as well as event flyers and promotional videos.
Logo
For the Murray's Light Foundation logo, I decided to design something very simple and basic so as to clearly showcase the foundation's name. The logo is used as the profile pictures on all social media accounts, as well as the official logo on any MLF merchandise. I designed the logo using Canva.
Event Flyer
I designed the Murray's Light event flyer using Canva. The creative concept behind the flyer was to mimic the venue, which was an outdoor space with a lot of grass and edison bulb lights strung. The flyer was distributed both digitally and physically, and was also used as the concept behind creating the sponsor banner.
Sponsor Banner
For the event sponsor banner, I designed a banner that could accommodate the logos of all event sponsors. For this, I whited out each logo using Photoshop, then arranged the logos on the banner in Canva. The banner was then printed by a local business and hung at the 2019 Murray's Light event.
Our primary source of marketing was using organic social through Facebook and Instagram. Due to the fact that this was the foundation's first year, this was the most cost effective strategy. To do this we enlisted the help of local community influencers to help share materials. We also included social media and website acknowledgment for our sponsors, which increased engagements on our posts.
Merchandise
Another one of my responsibilities while serving in this position was creating merchandise for the Murray's Light event. This involved me creating t-shirts and decals to be sold before and during the event.
For the t-shirts, I worked with a local business to design a shirt that would feature the Murray's Light Foundation logo on the front, and a list of our event sponsor's on the back. As for the decals, they were simply the logo printed in decal form. These merchandise materials were designed to increase visibility of the Murray's Light Foundation name and the Murray's Light event.
The Event
The 2019 Murray's Light event took place on Saturday, December 14 at the Society Garden in Macon, Georgia. The event was a huge success! As a foundation, we raised almost $15,000 between sponsorships and event donations. We also collected almost 200 toys to donate to the Beverly Knight Olson Children's Hospital to provide Christmas gifts.
Murray's Light Foundation's first monetary donation was $1,400 to The Methodist Home for Children & Youth to provide Christmas Gifts.
The 2019's Murray's Light event had 19 recognized sponsors, as well as many other individual donors.
