Youth REACH MD

Events / Fundraising / Marketing / Campaign Collateral

YouthREACH MD (Reach out, Engage, Assist, & Count to End Homelessness) is a program by the University of MD School of Social Work. The program is working to connect with unaccompanied homeless youth and young adults in Maryland to obtain accurate, detailed information on the number, characteristics, and needs of unaccompanied homeless youth in the state. www.YouthREACHMD.com 

SERVICES:

  • Campaign Development
  • Marketing Strategy
  • Social Media Strategy
  • Art Direction / Graphic Design
  • Content Development
  • Marketing Toolkit
  • Branding

PROJECT OVERVIEW:

We recognized that, first and foremost, this was an information-gathering initiative; consequently, our idea included engaging with audiences through imagery that makes an impression. The youth targeted for this campaign needed to identify with the campaign, and imagery played a key role. We created messaging that resonated with the youth and that spoke to them and not at them. We elevated awareness and empathy by focusing more on the general population and their recognition that youth homelessness does exist — helping reinforce kindness, acknowledgment of the issue, and a basic understanding that homeless youth matter and are a part of our community. We created handout cards, flyers, posters, a Facebook presence, web graphics, and Twitter pages.

We are also proud to announce that this campaign was recognized as the 2017 GDUS award winner.

Another service the client utilized was the marketing toolkit. Youthreach had the challenge of coordinating this count across 24 jurisdictions. That is where the Marketing Toolkit came in. We helped turn all their volunteers into marketers with the tools and resources they needed to make this campaign a success. The result was an impactful, consistent message and visuals across Maryland. If you want to learn more about how a Marketing toolkit can help with your next campaign, call us.

Now that you understand the background of the project, here are the three advantages a marketing toolkit offers your organization:

 

Advantage #1: Organize Your Campaign and Streamline Your Marketing Efforts

As we began working with Youth REACH MD, we took the time to understand their current stakeholders and goals. This allowed us to properly organize the overall campaign and determine the information, tools, and resources each region needed to be successful. This is a vital part of the process; we even identified a new stakeholder group for them to target.

 

Advantage #2: Empower Brand Ambassadors

Youth REACH MD takes a broad approach when defining its “community partners.” It relies primarily on each county’s Continuums of Care (CoCs) and spearheads the local planning and implementation efforts. Other effective partners included a range of service providers—from more traditional community shelters and social services (which may be co-located with the CoC) to local locations where youth may gather, such as libraries and recreational centers. Additionally, each CoC recruits youth ambassadors—volunteers who often have experienced housing instability themselves—who help plan Youth Count events and administer surveys.

With all these different individuals and groups supporting the Youth Count, it was imperative to have consistent messaging and a visual look so the campaign appears integrated (see Advantage #3 below). It was important to empower these ambassadors with the right tools to make it easy to promote the Youth Count.

 

Advantage #3: Standardize Messaging and Graphics Across Stakeholders

This toolkit provided the items needed to support each community partner in promoting the youth count. Consistency in messaging and graphics is key to building awareness and momentum for the ongoing Youth Reach MD campaign. The toolkit included sections addressing general talking points, social media posts and graphics, public service announcements and media contacts, marketing collateral, event planning guidelines, and other information to fully prepare the CoCs for promoting the Youth Count in their communities to collect the maximum number of surveys from youth and young adults who are experiencing housing difficulties.

The Youth Reach MD marketing toolkit was an essential piece of the marketing and communications plan for the campaign. It provided turnkey messaging and graphics that provided a consistent brand — no matter which community partner used it in their local areas. Contact us today if you have an upcoming campaign that would benefit from a marketing toolkit.