Search:

Important Marketing Example re: Homeless Kiddies

Dr Barnado set up his first orphanage for homeless children in England during Victorian times. His homes now operate in many countries.

But what I did not know until recently is that the good Doctor was also a marketing whizz.

Here's the story:

In England during the reign of Queen Victoria, there was a huge number of displaced and orphaned children. Multiple thousands of them in London alone. More throughout the country. Their parents had either died (life expectancy was much shorter in those daysor they could not afford to keep them. In the late 1800s, life was tough. Much tougher.

So there were hordes of homeless kiddies of all ages.

Dr Barnado's compassion wanted to do something for these unfortunates. After all, it wasnt their fault that they were homeless.

Need a mental picture? Think of the times which Charles Dickens wrote about. Think of urchins. Think of the stage play Oliver.

But now switch to thinking about this. How would YOU raise the vast amount of money to feed, clothe and house this army of children of all ages?

Yes, how indeed?

As it happened, the good Doctor was also interested in photography which was in its infancy. So what he did was take 'before' and 'after' photos of the kids.

BEFORE

The before shot was a ragamuffin kid straight out of Dickens. Face dirty. Hair straggly. Clothing shabby. And looking either wild eyed or fearful.

AFTER

The after shot was a well dressed youngster with a newfound confidence.

His fundraising method was simple and effective. He placed the before & after photos side by side on a page, and on the back he printed an ad for Dr Barnado's Childrens Homes. These were sold to the growing middle class for 5 shillings.

And his clever fund-raiser worked. Looking after the kids in custom-built villages would be hard enough, but raising the funds to do this on a massive scale called for marketing genius on an extraordinary scale.

Now... how can we apply this same sort of no-limits thinking to our marketing work?

MARKETING RESOURCES

Secret Article Profits

Instant Article Wizard

Micro Niche Finder