Digital Ads Outperform Goodwill’s Expectations

Digital Ads Outperform Goodwill’s Expectations

Digital Ads Outperform Goodwill’s Expectations

In an effort to gain a deeper understanding of the effectiveness of their most recent ad campaign, Goodwill ran a detailed study to determine which forms of media were the most impactful.

From September of 2013 to April of 2015, Goodwill and the Ad Council ran a series of Public Service Advertisements (PSAs) that explained how donating items to Goodwill can support individuals having difficulty finding employment. With this campaign, Goodwill wanted to emphasize that, through individuals donating gently used clothing and other household items, they can continue to provide support to those searching for employment opportunities.

“Every 27 seconds of every business day, Goodwill helps someone find employment”source donation-pick-up

With this campaign, Goodwill’s advertising media spend breaks down as follows:

  • Digital – 5%
  • Spot TV – 69%
  • Radio – 16%
  • Print – 10%

In their study, one of the most shocking statistics arises from the Digital Media component. Despite the fact that Digital Media was given the least amount of monetary attention, a whopping 49% of all donations came from this platform…that’s more than Spot TV and Radio combined! Goodwill’s media breaks down even further when you compare the percentage of the advertising budget spent on each platform (above) vs the percentage of total donations that came from each platform (below).

  • Digital – 49%digital-marketing
  • Spot TV – 33%
  • Radio – 11%
  • Print – 7%

So what does this data tell us? Clearly, there is huge potential with digital media, but how should organizations break down their media advertising mix to take advantage of it?

While there may not be one universal “right” answer to this question, according to a recent article in Adweek, “the best media mix is a balanced one.” Since we live in a constantly changing and evolving society, it is increasingly important for organizations to advertise accordingly. For Goodwill, that means upping their spend on digital media, and scaling back their spend on television. By examining how many donations that came from each form of media, Goodwill was able to develop an alternative “media mix” that, according to the study, could increase their donations by 7-12%.

With the evolution of social and digital media, there has never been a more exciting time for social causes. However, it’s important to do the research to identify the best opportunities to reach your audiences and achieve your goals.” – Ellyn Fisher, SVP of Public Relations and Social Media at the Ad Council

If you’d like to get started increasing your organization’s digital media presence, let our experts at Cause Inspired Media create a successful Donation Landing page to convert your website traffic and increase your donations. Click here to learn more, or contact us here. 

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By: Emily Dietz, Business Development Strategist