SCENARIO:  The day has come for your youth group's final and biggest fundraiser before their mission trip - a community-wide car wash.  For the past month, the youth have canvassed the community with flyers; you posted ads in the papers and on the radio.  A lot of time and money have gone into preparation and getting the word out to your community.

 The morning of, you wake up only to find overcast skies.  You quickly turn on the Weather Channel to find that there is a great chance of rain.  You think to yourself, perhaps this will be no big deal.  You provide the soap and God will provide the water.  There has to be a few people who wouldn't mind getting their cars washed no matter what the drying conditions are.  Besides, this could be a little fun for the youth as well.  As you're getting dressed, you hear a siren on your TV followed by tornado warnings for your county and you begin to hear thundering.  Now, it seems the car wash has been 'washed out.'

You proceed calling the youth to tell them to meet at the church; the group has to come up with a backup fundraising plan and QUICK.  With the car wash, you had the luxury of time for advertising.  However, the mission trip is only a few weeks away and time is now of the essence. 

QUESTION:  No matter what event you choose, HOW DO YOU GET THE WORD OUT QUICKLY?
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I heard an ad on the radio today that Six Flags is offering student prices on tickets bought online. Smart move. 

How many people visit their web site?  An estimated 1.8 million compared to 500,000 only 5 months ago.  Only an estimated 32% are regular visitors and, furthermore, only an estimated 21% of their traffic visits their ticketing system.¹

How much did their web site cost?  I'm sure a lot cheaper than staff salaries and associated expenses that are incurred with workers in the ticket offices.  Their expenses are also reduced by encouraging families to print tickets from their home computers and consume their own ink and pay for their own paper.

Smart marketing is greater reach with less expense.  What ways can your church reduce overhead and increase reach? Think about it.

1. http://www.quantcast.com/sixflags.com