How do you prepare a solidarity marketing strategy?
Developing a solidarity marketing strategy: Working with the Race for Pancreatic Cancer.
1,800 hearts beating for the same cause: pancreatic cancer research. Since 2015, the Carrera de las Ciudades has been raising money to fund research into this disease. Last December it came to Barcelona for the first time, and at Zinkdo we developed a solidarity marketing strategy for this cause, which was applied during the month leading up to the race. Once the event had taken place, the organisation informed us that it had far exceeded its initial target of 1,000 registrations. In addition, the Instagram channel doubled its number of followers in the weeks leading up to the race.
Pancreatic cancer is the most deadly cancer in the world, the eighth most diagnosed in Spain and the third most common cause of cancer deaths in our country, according to the National Statistics Institute. The reason? It is a tumour that spreads rapidly, is resistant to chemotherapy and radiotherapy, and causes mild and unspecific symptoms until the disease reaches an advanced stage. Late diagnosis is the main cause of its lethality, say the Cities Run organisers. This is why it is so important that the funds raised by the solidarity actions go towards research
Supported by the Pancreatic Cancer Association, the Spanish Association of Pancreatology (AESPANC) and the Spanish Association of Gastroenterology (AEG), the Race of the Cities took place in Barcelona on 17 December. Although this is a solidarity initiative that is known in other parts of the country, as several editions have already been organised in different places in Spain (Alicante, Madrid, Murcia, Tarragona and Villamartín de Valdeorras), it was the first time that it was held in Barcelona and the organisation, led by Milica Mitrovic, asked for the support of companies willing to collaborate in this solidarity marketing initiative in order to promote it and extend the scope of the communication actions that have been carried out so far. Zinkdo accepted. Together we had a triple challenge: to publicise the race in Barcelona, to attract registrations, which at the time were around 500, and to raise awareness of the disease.
Components of the strategy
To achieve these three objectives, we present a digital strategy for the Cursa de Barcelona of the Cities Race against Pancreatic Cancer, developed by a team that worked selflessly and against the clock on this solidarity marketing initiative. Natalia Giles and María Morente focused on the Instagram channel and influencer actions, and Jon Juárez on the web diagnosis and implementation of the proposed SEO and UX/UI improvements.The audiences of the strategy were the potential participants of the race in each of its modalities, set up so that people of all physical conditions and ages could register (target registrations), and the general public (target awareness). Once the objectives and target audiences had been defined, we carried out a diagnosis of Cursa's channels and a benchmarking exercise, in which we identified
- Insufficient focus on conversion.
- Lack of attention to the runners' collective and lack of links to the Cursa website from specialised running portals.
- Failure to exploit the potential of Instagram, low reach and misplaced focus on attracting influencers.
As a result, a plan was presented to optimise the performance of the channels, including proposals for content and improvements to the content published. The strategy also included influencer actions (scouting and management tools) and public relations, promotion of content on Instagram, SEO positioning and web redesign.
The enthusiastic implementation of the actions proposed in this solidarity marketing strategy by Cursa's communications team, led by Milica Mitrovic, contributed to the success of the initiative, almost doubling the initial target of registrations for the race.
Other charity marketing partnerships
This is not the first time that Zinkdo has participated in a solidarity marketing initiative. In 2020, we joined No Estàs Sola Associació in their campaign to stop macho violence, which, following the declaration of a state of alarm by COVID-19, could lead to victims of gender violence being locked up with their aggressor.
After overcoming the pandemic, we began to analyse the website of the Coachability Foundation, a non-profit organisation that empowers women entrepreneurs in delicate situations and with fragile economies. Likewise, since its creation in 2013, Zinkdo has sponsored children in the most disadvantaged areas of India through the Vicente Ferrer Foundation, an organisation for which we have also carried out various digital marketing support activities.
We dedicate these efforts to Joan and Bola, whom we miss so much, so that science can ensure as soon as possible that as many others do not leave as quickly as they did...