Yorkshire based agency, Call Me Sunday Advertising has provided free training in social media advertising to support local charity, Aphasia Support.
The charity supports those with language difficulties which often follow a stroke, and, like many charities, they often struggle in finding funding to champion their cause.
Paid advertising is a powerful tool in engaging new donors and volunteers, but with a limited budget, Aphasia Support is unable to afford continual support from a paid advertising agency.
Aphasia Support CEO, James Major, said, “We rely on funding to be able to support the 360,000 people in the UK who suffer with aphasia, but paying for advertising has never been something we’ve been able to do.”
Mary Donne of Call Me Sunday Advertising said, “When I met James, his cause really resonated with me, and I wanted to do what I could to help make a difference.”
She added, “Aphasia Support doesn’t have a huge advertising budget, but I could certainly offer to train their staff free of charge, enabling them to run their own successful social media advertising campaigns.”
“Organic social media posts can only go so far, and even if you have a large network, only 5% of them will actually see your posts. Online ads can increase brand awareness by up to 80%, but only if they’re done properly. Many businesses try to do their own without any training and 76% of these lose money by doing so.”
Mary has worked in advertising for over 20 years, working on one of the first ever digital campaigns, and she’s happy to share her expertise with those who will really benefit from it.
She commented, “I make sure my training is highly practical with plenty of real world applications and examples. That way James and his team will have an actionable plan to really attract their much-needed funding.”
James added, “We were thrilled to receive such a generous offer from Mary and Call Me Sunday Advertising. It’s estimated that 85% of the UK population don’t even know what aphasia is, so advertising will really help to raise the awareness.”
“A third of the UK’s 1.2 million stroke survivors will be affected with some form of aphasia. This will really give us a chance of reaching them, and those who want to support with the fundraising that’s so vital to keep our charity running.”
The team at Aphasia Support were delighted with the training, commenting, “Mary made it really easy to understand and has given us so much that will help us to really engage with new funding opportunities and volunteers. It’s the simple things that can so often make a big difference, and Call Me Sunday has definitely done that for us.”