January doesn’t just mark the beginning of a new year. It’s also the start of National Blood Donor Month, which champions people who undertake the noble act of donating blood.
So, if you’re holding a blood donation drive this month, how can you spread the word about it and attract as many life-saving donors as you can?
Try these six tips, which other organizations like yours have used to promote their own blood donation drives. We’ll also share blood drive flyer templates you can use to kickstart your blood donation drive marketing right away!
1. Create a blood donation drive flyer
Whether you’ll be marketing your blood donation drive online or offline (or both!), you’re going to need blood donation drive flyers.
These handy marketing materials share all the important details of your blood donative drive in a neat package, and also include calls to action for interested viewers to sign up. Spice up your flyers with the right eye-catching graphics, and they can be highly effective in getting you more blood donors!
Here’s a blood donation drive flyer by Cardozo High School to spark your creativity:
PosterMyWall offers a range of blood drive flyer templates you can customize using a drag-and-drop design editor. When you’re happy with your flyer’s design, fonts, and colors, you can print it out for distributing to folks or download it for posting online!
Here are some of our favorite blood drive flyer templates to get you started:
2. Address popular misconceptions about donating blood
Some people have misconceptions about donating blood that discourage them from doing so. For example, they may believe:
- Donating blood will make their body weak
- They may fall ill from donating blood
- The blood donated is sold for a profit
(All the above aren’t true, by the way!)
So if you correct their mistaken beliefs, they may feel reassured enough to sign up as a blood donor.
We like this Instagram post by Columbia Asia Malaysia, which debunks various misconceptions about donating blood:
This slideshow-style post concisely explains why each misconception is inaccurate. It also reminds users that far from being a dangerous act, donating blood can help save lives!
3. Record a video appeal for blood donors
Apart from writing the most persuasive promotional copy for your blood donation drive, try filming a short video of yourself (or a team member) asking viewers to donate blood.
Doing so lets users see exactly who is appealing for donations and hence the speaker’s emotions as they convey their message. And if the speaker seems sincere in asking for the user’s time and blood donation, the user may be moved enough to donate.
For inspiration on recording a video appeal for blood donors, take a look at this video tweet by Rodney Wilson of the American Red Cross:
Wilson’s video is short and to the point.
He shares that winter weather has resulted in fewer blood donations, but people all over the country still need blood. He then urges viewers to donate blood if they can and explains how they can do so.
4. Set up a Facebook Event page
When organizing a blood donation drive, it’s helpful to know how many people plan on showing up. This way, you can prepare the necessary resources and manpower to attend to all donors. But how can you keep track of potential signups?
Try setting up a Facebook Event page. This is a special type of Facebook page where users can RSVP for events.
To promote its blood donation drive, for example, the Omni Health & Fitness Center set up this Facebook Event page:
The organization has listed its blood donation drive’s key info on the Facebook Event page, including the date and location. It also made sure to mention that it preferred donors to make an appointment in advance and provided the relevant appointment booking link.
5. Feature highlights from previous blood donation drives
Did you take photos and videos of the happenings of your previous blood donation drives? Then don’t just park such media in cold storage!
Pull out the best photos and clips and use them to promote your upcoming blood donation drive. This Facebook post by First United Methodist Church Grapevine illustrates this tip in action:
Showing how professional your staff was at running the previous blood donation drive, and how at ease donors were while their blood was being collected, can go a long way in encouraging sign-ups for your next donation drive. This is especially among users feeling nervous about the blood donation process.
Just be sure your donors have agreed to be featured on your marketing collateral. You can get such consent by having them sign a consent form before they enter your blood donation venue.
6. Make an animated social media post
Many social media posts consist of static images, so publishing an animated one will help your post stand out like no other. And the more eyeballs you have on your post, the more sign-ups for your blood donation drive you may get!
Here’s an animated promotional post for a blood donation drive organized by radio DJ Dylan Black:
The animated post is just five seconds long, and its smooth animations draw your attention to the name of the blood donation drive and where it’s being held.
And no, you don’t need expensive motion graphics software to create similar animations for your social posts.
PosterMyWall’s design editor includes a range of animations you can add to your designs. Just click the text or image to be animated, then select the animation you want to apply to it.
(More info on adding animations to a PosterMyWall design here.)
Use these 6 tips to draw in more blood donors
Marketing a blood donation drive can feel like getting blood from a stone if you aren’t sure how to go about it, but we hope the six tips shared above have pointed you in the right direction!
Many of these tips call for designing marketing collateral such as flyers, animated social media posts, and Facebook banners. Using PosterMyWall’s blood drive flyer templates, other graphic templates, and beginner-friendly design editor, you’ll have such collateral created in no time.
P.S. Do you run a non-profit organization? If so, you may find these articles a useful read:
- Make a difference in your marketing so your charity can make a difference in the world
- How to single-handedly market your nonprofit organization
More articles like these are available on the Gradient blog, so check it out for more tips and tricks on leveling up your marketing!
Senior editor at PosterMyWall.
