© Pink Sherbet Photography



This morning I woke up to find a Facebook message waiting for me. It was from the Youth Pastor at my church. I volunteer with the Jr. High kids and sometimes teach Sunday school so I went ahead and joined their Facebook Group (appropriately titled "HPUMC completely rocks my face off"). Anyhow, I opened up the message on my phone while I made breakfast. Then I burnt the bacon because I stopped everything to read it entirely after scanning the first few lines.

My church uses Facebook to send a daily devotional reading to all the kids. It's about 500 words, full of worthwhile content and it hits their inbox right about the time their parents drive them to school. So every kid with a iPhone (most of the kids in my area) is getting a Bible verse before first period.

I looked into this a little more. Apparently the Jr. High youth also has a vanity SMS short code. If kids text in they receive updates about events on their phone. I have to admit, I'm impressed.

The problem is, most non-profits/charities/churches are about a decade behind on technology. This usually has a lot to do with their budget. The thing is, occassionally, it will click for a non-profit on a marketing level and they will do something truly unique. My church is trying creative marketing to reach teenagers where they are, instead of expecting them to respond to traditional methods that worked for their parents.

Charities are reaching out in lots of unexpected ways to make the most of technology. Laura's House in California asked people to "donate" their status update for a day. If you got involved, you just put a link on your Facebook or Twitter to their donation page with a quick comment about domestic violence.

So what can businesses learn from this? Its okay to be creative! Technology makes it easy. And a unique marketing campaign doesn't have to be expensive. As long as it reaches people where they're at, in a way that makes them stop and think, you've separated yourself from the rest of your industry.

What creative marketing campaigns have you seen that made you stop and think?