Social Purpose Enterprise and The Frugal Marketer….

In this sluggish economy, nonprofit organizations like The Nezinscot Guild are struggling just to get by. We are operating free of state and federal dollars and relying on our products and services for survival. There is no budget for advertising, marketing or even creating more awareness of who we are and what we do. We at the Guild have employed a new strategy, Frugal Marketing. We have contacted local businesses that incorporate social responsibility into their corporate culture. This method is time consuming but pays dividends in the end. Caveat: Be prepared for a few rejections and some businesses may not respond at all, press on. This late spring and early summer I contacted over 20 local (Maine) companies for assistance with our mission. I was not looking for donations or funding in anyway, (though we do appreciate both), I was looking for assistance with advertising and creating more awareness of our mission by simply posting a small add and link on their websites to ours. I focused primarily on businesses involved in the lobster and seafood industry as I thought that was the most relevant to our new product The Original Maine Lobster Kit. A few Maine businesses have responded favorably. Simplylobsters.com, a Lewiston Maine company has included a link from their website to ours, where we are selling The Original Maine Lobster Kit to support our mission. Simplylobsters.com is a local company that ships live lobster and fresh seafood across the country over night. We have enjoyed a tremendous increase in traffic to our site since Simplylobsters.com included us on their site. The only thing that simplyslobsters.com asked in return was a link to their site. Another Maine company Down East Magazine, has provided us two months of free ad-space in their “Good Things from Maine” section of the magazine. The circulation is over 131,000 so this will provide us with great exposure. During my communications with Down East magazine I found them to be extremely willing to help us with every aspect of our advertisement. The campaign moves on and the search for socially conscious local Maine businesses continues. I believe that this strategy of “frugal marketing” is a win-win. There are many companies across the State of Maine that are socially responsible and believe in our mission at The Guild, but they too are struggling with this economy. Inclusion on corporate websites is a low cost or no cost way for socially responsible companies to assist nonprofits such as The Nezinscot Guild. Thank you simplylobsters.com and Down East Magazine for your help and your support. Kevin Ellingwood