Centennials, bicentennials and other organizational milestones are cause for celebration. These anniversaries are ready-made marketing opportunities and prime times for organizations to boldly chart the course for their next chapter.
Embrace your legacy
While many organizations evolve significantly during a just a few decades, never mind 100 or 200 years, capturing the elements of organizational history that make one impactful, invaluable and integral to the audiences/communit(y)(ies) served is paramount. The scope of services may have expanded and geographic reach may look drastically different, to name a couple examples, but the deeply embedded roots of your organization that have cultivated lifelong brand champions must be preserved.
Celebrate your impact
It can be challenging to extract the most significant successes from a legacy of enduring impact but audiences’ short attention spans necessitate it. When reviewing an archive of achievements, focus on:
-Which milestones shaped the organizations future
-Stories that clearly and succinctly define your mission, vision and values
-What pulls at the heartstrings of patrons, donors, volunteers, and more
-Things (artifacts, stories, anecdotes, etc.) that point toward a need for the organization’s bright future
With the right pieces in place, focus on telling stories in compelling and engaging ways, which will likely require a multimedia approach. Video, TikTok, Instagram, email marketing, public/media relations, community engagement, a temporary – and celebratory- logo, microsite with online giving built-in…nothing is off the table.
Preserve what already resonates
Why are donors loyal? What attracts staff to your organization over its competitors? Is there something in particular that makes policy makers – or key funders – vocal and loyal advocates? Digging into the “why” is a significant component of planning a milestone marketing campaign.
While this celebratory occasion may mark the start of a new chapter, preserving what is integral to the brand, essence and mission as key as you begin to blend the tried and true with the exciting and new.
Pro tip: If you’ve recently done stakeholder research, those insights may be helpful in crafting the narrative for your milestone marketing campaign.
Looking for an example of milestone marketing campaign? Check out this lobby exhibit and the accompanying marketing assets we developed for Burke Rehabilitation Hospital to help celebrate 100 years of excellence and impact.
Focus on a bright future
What comes next? While some organizations remain true to their roots for decades upon decades, others evolve their programs and services in response to a host of environmental factors, client demands and funding opportunities. Regardless of which camp your organizations falls into, a milestone anniversary is a great opportunity to not only celebrate the past but get stakeholders engaged in charting a bright future. This could be the announcement of a capital campaign for critical expansion, a merger or acquisition to enhance reach and impact, diversification of services, and more.
As you work to package marketing around ‘What’s next?’ be sure to align it with your organization’s core values, key messages and prior successes. Demonstrating capability and credibility to execute what’s next with the same level of excellence that allowed you to not only survive, but thrive, for as many years as you have is key to maintaining trust with everyone from staff and board members to donors, volunteers and funders.
Keep key stakeholders’ roles in achieving celebratory milestones at the forefront
From the founder to the founding board members, first donor and first employee, there are countless individuals who pave the way for an organization to reach milestones of 50+ years. As you assemble the assets, artifacts and stories for your milestone marketing campaign, keep key people who played pivotal roles in the spotlight. Focus on finding someone(s) who represents each of the key phases in your organization’s past to increase the likelihood of finding people – and stories – with which legacy donors, policymakers, community leaders and others may already be familiar.
Milestones are ready-made opportunities to amp up marketing, PR, donor engagement and digital communications. Whether your company or cause is launching a new capital campaign, unveiling a new program or service, or simply extending a legacy of success in existing services areas, seize the opportunity to increase your share of voice, cultivate new stakeholders and make a lasting impression on both supporters and those you serve.
