Wayne Elsey, founder and CEO of Soles4Souls, a Nashville-based nonprofit organization that donates shoes to those in need around the world, spoke yesterday to NAMA, the Nashville chapter of the American Marketing Association, about Soles4Souls, its marketing strategy and its keys to success.
Soles4Souls, which now donates a pair of shoes every seven seconds to someone in need across Africa, in Haiti and even New Orleans, La., among other places, utilizes a blend of marketing tactics to elicit donations and recruit evangelists. The mix includes cause-based marketing through major retail shoe outlets, such as Shoe Carnival, Inc., print advertising in major consumer magazines, a bus tour that travels the U.S. collecting shoes, as well as a slick Web presence. But, according to Elsey, his decision to hire a full-time employee to handle his Twitter account was the best money he ever spent.
Rather than using Twitter to broadcast promotional messages or blanket the Twittersphere with links to Soles4Souls info and events, Elsey uses a much more clever strategy. Soles4Souls scans tweets searching for people who indicate that they have recently purchased a new pair of shoes. Soles4Souls follows up with a quick message asking them what they plan to do with their old pair.
Talk about relevancy.
More often than not, Elsey said, they not only get a pair of shoes, but they make a personal connection with someone who probably hadn’t heard of Soles4Souls’ mission. That person is now much more likely to connect on Facebook, subscribe to the organization’s eNewsletter, donate their time or, increasingly, donate their time to travel with Soles4Souls to help out.
How could you be utilizing Twitter more effectively to further your mission?