• My tags

Community support

Marketing a community organisation

Through good marketing you can build positive awareness of your organisation and the work you do. Some of the benefits of marketing include:

  • building loyal and long-lasting relationships with clients and customers
  • increasing the number of people that support your group
  • establishing a brand image that people know and trust
  • recruiting new volunteers.

On this page you will find information about:

Types of marketing
Councils and other community services
Marketing resources
Marketing grants

Types of marketing

There are different methods you can use to market your organisation.

Online

Using the internet to work online can be a quick, easy and effective way of letting others know about your community organisation and its events through blogs, websites, social networking and online forums.

Print

Through dialogue and regular contact with the news editor or journalists from your local newspaper, your community organisation can enlist their help to publicise activities and events.

Customer focussed

You can use a variety of marketing activities such as loyalty programs, thankyou cards, customer appreciation events and free gifts to build long-lasting relationships with your customers.

Radio and television

Radio and television can help to extend your community organisation’s reach to a wider audience. Your event or story can initially be pitched through a media release, by phone or email to a news editor or journalist.

Mobile phones

A community organisation can use mobile phones to notify people about their forthcoming activities and events via sms.

Banners

Banners are a cost effective way of promoting a community organisation or event. They are generally eye-catching and placed in strategic locations to draw people’s attention to them. Permission should be sought from the local council or a landowner if, for example, they are to be placed in a public park or a shopping centre.

Poster or flyers

Posters and flyers are easy to design and distribute. They may include:
  • branding or logos associated with the organisation
  • a brief description of your main message
  • the location of the venue 
  • the organisation’s contact details or website.

    [top of page]

Councils and other community services

Community organisations will often find support from local government, especially when both groups share a common interest to serve members of their community. The Local Government Association has established a Local Government Media Centre where news events and media releases from various councils can be found. Councils can be located through the Local Government Association website.

Centrelink also offers community organisations the opportunity to display brochures, posters and information leaflets in their customer service centres but documents must comply with certain conditions.

Marketing resources

Marketing grants

Through the Community Voices grant program, community organisations work closely with students from the Screen Studies Department at Flinders University to develop television commercials or short films for promotional and marketing purposes.

Every year Australian Government grants are made available for volunteer-related activities that may include marketing initiatives. All applications are assessed on their merits and potential benefits.


More information

On this site
What is marketing?
Research your market
Prepare your marketing plan
Writing a media release
Advertising
Resources for community organisations
Managing a community organisation

[top of page]


How likely are you to recommend this web site to someone else?
Thank you for your feedback.