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Writer's pictureCharlotte Tenebrini Steckart

GOST - Golden Pets PR Project

Updated: May 9



COMM 350 | Cassie Tebo, Charlotte Tenebrini Steckart, Erik Yang, Emma Plank 


For this assignment, we are looking into an incredibly important topic that plagues the welfare of animals at Golden Pets Shelter. Medicine for animals can be expensive and currently, Golden Pets does not have enough resources to function properly. They require funds for medicine, and medical procedures to treat injured animals that come into the shelter. Unfortunately, many animals will pass away if they do not receive the care they need or are unable to become adopted into loving forever homes. 

  

Supporting:  Golden Pets  

 

Mission: Raise awareness about Golden Pets mission, raise money to donate medical supplies for the animals that are in need of care, and recruit volunteers who will donate their time to support our very important cause. 

 

Goal 1: Attract and Retain Medium and Small donors. 

Objective: Attract organizations or people that feel they have enough money to donate. 

Target audience and Strategies:  

Audience 1: Local businesses and Organizations in the area that are willing to donate. 

Strategy 1:  To promote Golden Pets to medium and small donors, our group has decided to use social media strategies. We believe that using cites like Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter would be the best place to start. This is because many people have cellphones and computers. In addition, this would help us to connect with our donors and other organizations that would like to become a part of what we have created. If more people see Golden Pets, then eventually it will find the right people that want to help those in need. 

 

Audience 2: Middle class income households who can donate money. 

Strategy 2:  To reach out to those in middle income households, members of walk for water can go from door to door asking people for donations. Not only will people recognize the time spent for the cause, but they will remember the time spent talking to our members. By simply garnering their attention for a couple of minutes, it could go a long way down the line. People live remarkably busy lives, but for someone to personally approach their house it is hard to turn away. 

 

Tactics:  

Social Media: 

  • Create surveys that people can fill out. 

  • Facebook page with a fundraising link. 

  • Make a video interviewing the employees who work at Golden Pets  

  • Update donators frequently on how many supplies have been donated. 

  • Start hashtags or trends that supporters can use. 

  • Read google analytics to see where the most website traffic comes from. 

  • Business sponsorships via calls and solicitation letters. 

 

Home to Home 

  • Supply a brochure or a pamphlet describing what Golden Pets is, who we are, and what we do, and why we need help. 

  • Make T-shirts that feature the Golden Pets logo. 

  • Walk home to home with the dogs that are awaiting adoption. This will gain immediate attention for specific pets and surely pull at people's heartstrings. 

 

Goal 2: Recruit and Retain High school and College aged Student Volunteers 

Objective: Reaching out to the next generation that could make a difference. 

Target Audience and Strategies: 

Audience 1: Highschoolers looking to get involved in world issues. 

Strategy 1: The best way we thought of to reach highschoolers was holding an assembly. If schools allow us to present our cause and what it is all about, then students might feel the urge to get involved. They do not need to donate any money to be a part of Golden Pets. Simply spreading the word to others would be a great help. The more people hear about our cause, the more awareness we can raise. Furthermore, teaching highschoolers that there are animals struggling with injuries in shelters.  

 

Audience 2: College students that study veterinarian medicine  

Strategy 2:  Since we are college students, we could create a student organization. This would allow us to advertise on campus as we see fit, and get in contact with other students. A great place for this would be OrgSmorg. Simply by having an organization formed, multiple minds would be working to generate new ideas of how to raise money and advertise our cause. In addition, students could reach out to other universities as well. Encouraging these young professionals to participate and get involved would help to cultivate lifelong donors to Golden Pets. This is the ideal target market to start getting them involved, because after college, they will have a upper class income level and also many of them will start their own businesses; which will yield both individuals donors and business sponsorships.  

Tactics: 

High School Students: 

  • Collect change from students. The classroom who collects the most wins a pizza party (the pizza is donated from a local business.) 

  • Create a PowerPoint that explains what our cause is and what we are doing. Have the power point feature beautiful images taken by a local photographer who donates their time. 

  • Have people talk in front of students about their personal experience working in the shelter and talking about how it has changed their lives.  

  • Speak to high school advisors to create a project that they can participate in.  

 

College Students: 

  • Create posters to post around campus. 

  • Ask professors to promote our cause to their classes if it pertains to their subject of teaching. This pertains specifically to pre-veterinarian medicine.  

  • Ask professors if we could speak about Golden Pets in their classes. 

  • Hold meetings weekly for people that join the organization. 

  • Speak with college advisors about getting a group of students to volunteer with Golden Pets at animal shelters. They would help walk, tend to the animals, and play with them.  

 

Goal 3: Recruit and Retain Senior Citizen Volunteers 

Objective: Reach out to animal loving retired senior citizens in hopes of recruiting volunteers & donors 

Target audience:  

Audience 1: Elderly people that live in nursing homes. 

Strategy 1: To reach out to senior citizens. Go to elderly care centers and educate them about Golden Pets and their mission. We hope to create a bond with these individuals and feel this would help inspire the older people to join our cause. In addition, if they have family members, they could reach out to them as well. Since they are limited to living in a nursing home, we are giving them something to keep themselves occupied. They will be able to watch as our cause grows and help save the lives of animals in the shelter.  

Tactics:  

Nursing Home: Have an interactive bingo night where the playing cards feature the faces of actual pets at the shelter. Winners will receive plush puppies (that are donated from a local business) as a keepsake.  

  • Have them participate in baking cookies for a fundraiser. All proceeds will go to the Golden Pets organization.  

 

Goal 4: Create Awareness in the Community about the Mission of Golden Pets 

Objective: Create a community dedicated to furthering Golden Pets. 

Target audience:  

Audience 1: People that live in the city Green Bay. 

Strategy 1: Although our cause would start off small, we could host an event somewhere popular like Lambeau field. By holding it at the football stadium, this would create commotion around the city. Because the Packer Stadium is so well known, it would get the attention of those near the stadium and the area around it. In addition, we could also target local businesses that surround the stadium as well. Furthermore, we could ask for donations for them as well. We understand that not everyone will participate; however, having 1 or 2 businesses help would go a long way. 

Tactics: 

  • Create ads and put them in the stadium. 

  • Ask local businesses to advertise our cause. 

  • Sell brats, hotdogs, chips, and bottled water at the event (these items are also donated.) 

  • Have mini games and interactive booths for people to win prizes. 

  • Speak about the cause halfway through to educate people about Golden Pets and why they are at the stadium.  

 

Campaign GOST: “Be a Life-Saver” 

By: AKC3 Public Relations

Campaign Mission: Raise awareness for Happily Ever After Animal Sanctuary (HEA) through a “Life-Saver” event.

 

Who: Local community, past and present HEA volunteers, and supporters 

What: Life Saver Campaign Fundraiser and gathering 

Where: Wallace Park in Marion, Wisconsin 

When: August 26, 2024 – National Dog Day 

Why: To raise funds and awareness for HEA and meet our goal of obtaining new foster families through the promotion of our creative and unique event. This event will feature select donated items from generous local businesses as well as individual donors which will be raffled off as prizes. Swag bags will be given for the first 20 attendees. We will create buzz by talking about this event on Facebook and Instagram. The mission of this event is to bring attention to HEA’s special advocacy for animals and that they are a no-kill sanctuary. The act of adopting and/or fostering an animal with HEA equals literally saving a life, henceforth becoming a “Life Saver.” 


Goal 1: Have at least 20 new faces attend the event.

Objective: Have returning foster families attend in order to answer questions

Target Audience: Current HEA community/foster family members

Strategy: Bring someone new to the event

Strategy Rationale: People are more likely to attend an event if they know someone who is familiar with the event and organizations


Tactics: 

  • Have a billboard donated by a local business to promote the event

  • Get individually wrapped “Life-Saver” candy donated by a local business to pass out at the event


Goal 2: Inform the Waupaca County community about the “Life-Saver” event.

Objective: Inform as many county members as possible to have the highest turnout

Target Audience: Waupaca County community members

Strategy: Reach out to local businesses about putting up flyers with information about the event

Strategy Rationale: A cost-effective way to advertise for the event since the budget is very limited. Flyers are the most reasonable option and many local businesses support non-profit flyers hanging up already


Tactics: 

  • Advertise the event on the HEA Facebook and Instagram and encourage people to share and bring friends to the event. Because there is no money for paid advertising, we will be using word of mouth and flyers to hang up around town

  • Flyers will be put up at the local library and grocery stores, as well as coffee shops that frequent customers use to telework at

  • Reach out to other non-profit organizations in the community to share the event information on their social media pages. For example, churches would be a good place to share flyers since many different types of people go there


Goal 3: Show examples of animal rescue and rehabilitation through fostering with Facebook and Instagram posts. 

Objective: Teach people how to be a foster owner through online content

Target Audience: People between the ages of 21-40 who spend time on social media

Strategy: Recycle other people's informational content with attribution

Strategy Rationale: Social media is free. HEA doesn’t have the time to create its own content, so recycling with attribution is a good way to get the information out there while crediting loyal clients


Tactics: 

  • Create a custom hashtag: #HEAlifesaver for past foster homes and current volunteers to use to share their photos of their experiences


Goal 4: Raise money through donations/fundraising which will be used to support the foster program.

Objective: Earn $200 dollars through donations

Target Audience: People attending the event who want to contribute to the campaign

Strategy: Raffle at the end of the event that you have to pay three dollars for every five tickets

Strategy Rationale: Providing various incentives for multiple audience types


Tactics: 

  • Swag bags to the first 20 attendees featuring products and coupons that are donated by local businesses

  • Sell raffle tickets so participants can win prizes


Goal 5: Provide attendees with information on other volunteer opportunities at HEA. 

Objective: Spark interest in people attending the event

Target Audience: People attending events that aren’t able to foster but still want to be involved

Strategy: Create and print pamphlets and brochures about HEA and the various opportunities that HEA has for volunteers

Strategy Rationale: There are people who want to help but aren't capable of taking care of an animal. Printing pamphlets is a cheap option to spread the word as well


Tactics

  • Pass out pamphlets at the event and leave them with local area businesses that are pet-friendly

  • Promote the event with a free press release sent to local news agencies

  • Pass out individually wrapped Life Saver candies at the event which are stapled with information about HEA’s mission and website attached

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