Throughout the year, there are so many opportunities to develop a cause-related marketing campaigns for your imaging center aimed at spreading awareness. Encouraging your local medical community to get involved can be a challenge, but it seems like there is something to celebrate or spread awareness of each month. The key to getting engagement is having your radiology marketers develop strong, personal and emotional campaigns related to these causes.
List of Awareness Months:
January – Weight Loss Awareness Month
February – Black History Month & American Heart Month
March – National Nutrition Month & Women’s History Month
April – Autism Awareness Month
May – ALS Awareness Month
July – Sarcoma Awareness Month
September – National Childhood Cancer Awareness Month
October – Breast Cancer Awareness Month & Colon Cancer Awareness Month
November – Prostate Cancer/Men’s Health Awareness Month
>> Read On For More Awareness Months
Once you’ve built time into your annual marketing schedule and set aside a budget to promote your marketing campaigns, how do you make sure that you are ready for radiology marketing success?
Explore these do’s and don’ts of cause-related marketing campaigns:
- DO encourage action and engagement with your campaign as opposed to asking participants to just make a donation or purchase a product. Donating to these causes is of course important, but to make a lasting effect create an opportunity where people can truly get involved by volunteering time or attending an awareness event.
- DON’T pick a cause just because everyone else is jumping on the bandwagon. Your message will fall flat if you’re simply trying to copy others around you and it won’t have the impact you imagined.
- DO select a cause you and your staff feel passionate about. The more dedicated you are to the cause, the more effective your campaign will be because people will be inspired to get involved when they see how much it means to you.
- DON’T try to push your own agenda using the campaign as a vehicle for your own benefit. If you’re going to launch a cause-related marketing strategy it should be genuine and contribute to someone other than yourself.
- DO pick something to support that can reach people on a personal level and make it easy for people to participate. Launching a social media campaign would be a good start but give people various ways to get involved. If you only leave them with one option, it’s likely people won’t be as inclined to get involved.
- DON’T be afraid to go big with your campaign and think about how this can turn into an annual activity. Think long-term about how your actions can contribute to the cause you are supporting.
