Google Ads for associations.

Google Ads campaign optimization

So, today I've removed keywords related to user queries. In fact, in order to properly target ads to users' searches, it's just as important to give Google information about the queries we don't want to rank on. It's almost as important as choosing the right keywords!

To clarify my point, here's a concrete example. Our customer is an optician, so he sells glasses. Some people will type "lenses to change" into the search bar. I have to think that we don't want our customer's ads to be visible when someone types "wine glass". After all, the two searches are very similar and Google sometimes doesn't understand certain nuances. So it's my duty to exclude all keywords that don't serve my client, such as "wine glass", "beer glass", "water glass", etc., from the search results.

The proximity effect, such an important pedestal

The organization's geographical reach is crucial to detect, in other words, the impact of its community on the market. This exercise involves putting yourself in the shoes of the future sponsor, and interpreting what he might gain from this new collaboration.

Strategically, the first step is to approach companies present in the region of activity or area of influence. In fact, a sponsor base that is more easily accessible and already familiar with the association gives credibility to the offer before embarking on canvassing on a larger scale. Working the contacts of all active members and the database can certainly yield some nice surprises, as more than one company director is undoubtedly already present in this network. If you are unsuccessful, review your strategy and your offer. Failure is nothing to be ashamed of, but a better way to leap towards success! If the organization's contacts have all been made with a high acceptance rate, the prices quoted can probably be revised upwards. A few thousand francs more through a justified and well-argued increase won't hurt the wallet.

Exploring new avenues with a coherent global strategy

The soul of an association is categorized by its history, its successes or failures. A philosophical change is therefore often detrimental. Indeed, care must be taken in how such a change is presented to the association's members, friends and family. Fund-raising strategy is a crucial point in the success of future fund-raising. However, it is at this very important moment that you need to surround yourself with specialists, in order to create enthusiasm for the partnership offer. There are hundreds of possibilities for producing a plausible and commendable strategy for prospects. Today, there's no room for unprofessional approaches. Building a detailed offer with attractive quid pro quos has become mandatory. The following points should be borne in mind when devising a winning sponsorship strategy:

• Visibility for potential partners
• Diversified communications on multiple platforms
• Access to association member database
• Broken promises destroy reputation
• Events with an impact on the area of influence
• Long-term vision, even if it means changing the association's foundations
• In-kind contributions are increasingly accessible (many companies prefer this method to financial support).

Reputation, ability to bring people together, professionalism, brand image and positioning are all factors that are widely considered by most potential partners. Admittedly, they don't necessarily have a sponsorship department, but they automatically evaluate these aspects. It is therefore imperative to consolidate these prerequisites. Shaping positioning (mission, vision, values), fine-tuning communication and creating precise, transparent and professional documents are all ways of convincing and justifying a collaboration.

A perfect balance between strategy and salesmanship, fund-raising has become a time-consuming task that often requires associations to hire or commission qualified people who are ready to really invest in setting up the fundamentals of a forward-looking project.

What are the limits of volunteering? Are we at a turning point where we need to rethink our good old vision of the associative model?

L’Agence BB® Switzerland est très active pour le compte de nombreuses associations/fondations dans le but de les accompagner dans leurs recherches de fonds.