Have you seen our 60+ Ride billboard on northbound Hwy 85 in LaSalle? Or our ads on the backs of Greeley- Evans Transit busses? The bus backs have been elusive for me, so I’ve only seen them in a photograph, but they look great! And there’s more to come, but why? Why marketing?
VOLUNTEERS: Our biggest ongoing challenge is to
recruit enough volunteer drivers to meet client demand,
and all of our marketing is to that end. The generosity of
our volunteers is what allows us to offer our services
free of charge, regardless of income, throughout Weld’s
expansive 4017 square miles. It also allows us to
assure donors, sponsors, and funders that we are using their dollars wisely and efficiently. Our current marketing campaign, the largest to date, is funded by grant awards from Daniels Fund and Next50 Initiative.
CLIENTS: As with all we do, better serving our clients is at the center of our marketing efforts. We continue to expand our capacity to serve Weld’s aging population both numerically and geographically, but we dream of the day we have enough volunteers to shift our focus from recruiting volunteers to reaching out to those who need us but don’t know we exist. Clients currently hear about us through word of mouth, referrals from medical care providers and other agencies, and our volunteer recruiting efforts. We’d like to have the luxury of purposefully recruiting clients.
VISIBILITY & AWARENESS: Marketing by-products in the form of visibility and public awareness of the aging population’s needs will help us build into the future. Telling the largely untold story of the often-invisible needs of our older adults can only increase support in the form of volunteers, donors, sponsors, and funders over time. And, again, that will help us better serve our clients.
Why marketing? It’s the same answer as for every other question around our 60+ Ride program. I’m guessing you know the answer, but please indulge me: to better serve Weld County’s aging adults. Everything we do is toward offering them the opportunity to maintain their physical, emotional, and mental health while living independently, and we’re deeply grateful for your help making that possible.
Smiles and blessings, JB
