Google Adwords is a highly customizable, highly efficient way to purchase keywords in Google’s search engine, so that your ad appears when people search specific key words. This will be used to hit the “common user” looking for information. There is no specific type of person that uses Google, so this isn’t a concentrated effort, but a good way to start is by choosing 62 keywords to start a campaign with keywords that will hit all demographics of one’s target market. For the remainder of the article, I will be focusing on the way to advertise and use Google to hit a target audience for foster care. I will also be approaching this from a group standpoint, rather than an individual standpoint.
The selection of keywords is broad range that hits anyone looking for any kind of information about fostering and it is localized to Los Angeles that Orange County. We have chosen words like “foster homes”, “I want to be a foster parent”, “gay adoption statistics”, and “fostering teamwork”. This will help ensure that anybody in your target region looking for information regarding fostering will have access to your site.
KRLA Radio Ad
Baby Boomers have the largest philanthropic population of any other segment in the United States. “Combined with their larger pocket books and need for action, Independent Doers contribute to many charitable causes — both financially and through volunteerism.” Independent Doers are one of four segments of the Baby Boomer population. (http://sparxoo.com/2010/03/02/examining-baby-boomers-stats-demographics-segments-predictions/)
This is Elaine, she is a 58 year old stay-at-home mother in West Hills, California. She has a loving husband named Howard who has worked for the Los Angeles Police Department for the last 30 years. They have 2 children that have already left the house, one is getting married in the spring. Howard and Elaine are conservative, religious, and have a stable income.
Ever since their children have left the home, Elaine has spent a lot of time in her garden while listening to the radio and frequently plays tennis with her friends in the community. Lately, she has been feeling nostalgic about the days when the house was full and there was always something to do. Lately, Elaine has been feeling lonely. Elaine is our primary target with the our radio ad with KRLA.
The target audience with this advertisements are “empty nesters” that are seeking reinspired fulfillment in their lives. According to 3rd party surveys, 87% of KRLA’s audience are homeowners, 61% earn $75,000+, and 70% are between the ages of 35 and 70. These are ideal conditions for the homes that we want to match up with the foster children. Additionally, these families are more qualified to become foster parents, so we predict that the conversion rate of a phone call to becoming a foster parent, will be much higher.
“Empty nest syndrome is a general feeling of loneliness that parents or guardians may feel when one or more of their children leave home; it is more common in women.” (Wikipedia.org) Our primary target will be Elaine and people like Elaine, with the expectation that they will feel inspired and take actionand “answer their calling.” In this case, we will tell her to visit www.SaveALifeKRLA.org. In most cases, they will probably talk to their husbands about getting involved and maybe adopting a foster Child.
Our Secondary target is Howard and people like Howard. We don’t think that Howard will immediately feel a call to action, but we hope that he will have heard the ad and at least be aware of the topic before Elaine approaches him. We intend that Howard will be more open to the idea of helping “save a life” after hearing our radion ad.
Finally, our peripheral target is anyone that hears the add. KRLA puts links to their advertisers on their website for anyone who wants to refer to an ad after they hear it. This way, KRLA will act as an affiliate marketer for Rosemary Children’s Services because they will refer listeners through their website. In case someone knows someone that wants to adopt, people can refer to the ad they heard on KRLA and go to www.SaveALifeKRLA.org
Webinars/Blogs
We’ve suggested starting a blog linked to a weekly webinar on your site. There are already Foster care blogs, like http://foster-care.adoptionblogs.com/, but there is a gap in the market for popular blogs for 2 reasons. First, this blog, like most other blogs, started posting consistently and then stopped over 6 months ago. Mostly, this happens because of a lack of interest or a lack of instant results, but that’s why we recommend to keep up with it for at least a year, it will attract traffic that is interested.
The second gap comes from the actual blogging concept. People like reading blogs, but more people like watching videos. This is why we recommend that you do the blog, but add a 1-2 minute Webinar that summarizes the details in the blog. If people are interested enough, they will read the blog as well. Keep the Webinars brief and interesting with broad and specific topics like the 10 possibilities listed:
“On Thursday, September 30, Governor Schwarzenegger signed AB 12, the California Fostering Connections to Success Act!
With this legislation, 1 in 5 youth who “age out” nationally will receive the support of the foster care system to age 21, ending an era of neglect and providing youth in foster care with the same common-sense assistance provided to children from in-tact families. Thousands of relative care providers will participate in the new, federally-funded subsidized guardianship program, providing much needed support that promotes stability among children.” (http://cafosteringconnections.org/)
What makes the best foster parents
What to do with an abused foster child
What age we should talk to them about sex
Fan mail answered with a therapist
How do I get them to open up?
My foster child isn’t making friends at school, how do I help him?
State budget cuts on foster programs
Ode to a former foster child: Marilyn Monroe
Ode to a former foster child: Michael Bay
To add a blog to your site, you simply need to visit http://wordpress.org/download/ and download the software. Then your website manager needs to add it to a page on your website, which can be called Rosemary’s Blog.
In order to add your YouTube videos to your blog, you need to copy the “embed” code at the bottom of any YouTube video. Then, go to your WordPress admin login, or “dashboard”, and click “add new” under “posts”, where it will bring you to an editor page. Then, change the tab on the top right from “visual” to “html” and paste the embed code. Switch back to “visual” and post it whenever you are done with the text.
Above are all potential topics that can interest the fostering community and build up your searchability on Google, WordPress, and Youtube. The reason we recommend WordPress is because is an excellent platform that is optimized to build internet traffic and it is very user-friendly. Finally, you will be able to reach foster parents and offer your expertise to help them with the problems that they might be facing, but that is just an added bonus.
Websites
We want to attract couples that are infertile to become foster parents. This website will not directly hit infertile couples, but this will gain the most brand awareness in the community they want to be in. Jenslist.com has over 15,000 subscribers who are all located in the San Fernando Valley. Our target with the Jenslist.com is the young mothers that know other mothers or potential mothers.
“Jen was born and raised in Encino, CA. She attended Birmingham High School and graduated college from San Diego State University where she was an active member of Gamma Phi Beta. She has 4 brothers, 2 of which are married with children and live in the Los Angeles area. Jen met her husband Mike in 2000 & they were married in 2002. Their first son was born 9 months later. In July, 2005, they had identical twin boys and another set of identical twin boys were born in May, 2008. In addition to organizing and writing the Jen’s List newsletter, Jen is a stay at home mom for her 5 boys. They are very family oriented and love being together on the weekends. They have a chocolate lab named Daisy and a kitty named Ralphy, along with 2 fish! Jen wouldn’t change a thing about her life. She considers herself very lucky and loves every (well most every) minute of it!” (http://jenslist.com/about/)
Jenslist has daily email blasts to subscribers that offer information on interesting and relevant topics from local family activities to the “Nuddle” blanket. The typical subscriber to Jenslist is like Jen, involved in the community, social, and family oriented. If an infertile couple in the area is looking to be in that community, there is a good chance that they are a subscriber to Jen’s list or friends with a subscriber.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 7.4% of women between the ages of 15 and 44 are infertile. (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/fastats/fertile.htm) This means that if every mother is friends with 20 women, about 1 ½ of them will be infertile. Furthermore, there is a strong likelihood that they will be exposed or referred to this ad.