Nonprofit Advocacy Campaign
The Gist of It
Generate support for policy change with a website, emails, social media posts and landing page. Encourage people to take action.
Use a microsite to direct multi-channel traffic to the campaign
Continue to email and post new and repurposed content. Motivating more supporters to advocate for the cause.
Transcript
Change isn’t comfortable or easy, but that doesn’t stop nonprofits. No, that only gets us going, makes us jump out of bed each morning.
Individuals, communities, the world need to change. To make change happen, though, we must advocate for it. Because, change is hard.
The campaign we will look at now highlights a difficult subject, pornography and its effect on children.
Introduction
Welcome to Behind the Campaign.
A showcase of the best nonprofit campaigns. Here you will get ideas, tips and strategies to create successful campaigns for your organization.
Exodus Cry
Today, we will look at an advocacy campaign from Exodus Cry, called Protect Children Not Porn.
Exodus Cry is holding Big Porn and Big Tech accountable for raising our children on porn. They demand a stop of child exposure to adult content.
Exodus Cry fights all forms of sexual exploitation. They shift the cultural perception, using video, audio and written content. They also work with governments around the world to enact laws.
Their films have reached 35 million people and their past campaign helped to end some of the criminal sexual exploitation on PornHub.
Now, they turn their attention to protecting children.
Microsite
Exodus Cry created a microsite for the Protect Children Not Porn campaign. It exists apart from their main website.
Why a microsite? The microsite removes much of the extraneous information, allowing the user to focus on the goal.
Right away, the content and design of the website tells a person what to do. How they can get involved and stop children from accessing explicit content.
The main section with headline, sub-head, and text draws the supporters attention down to the button. The button has a small signature image and the text flashes in neon. These subtle design elements help increase the engagement.
The site has striking testimonies from children, horrifying stats, and more resources. But the “sign the petition” cta is used again and again as you scroll down the site.
The main goal of this campaign is advocacy, to generate support for policy change. In this case, it is to encourage people to take action and sign a petition.
Other goals include cultivation and fundraising. Exodus Cry provides resources, content and ways to donate throughout the campaign. But it all points back to advocacy.
One of the ways they direct supporters is through email.
The subject line is what caused me to open the email. It is not fancy or clever, instead it explains exactly what to expect. The preheader goes into more details.
As soon as you open the email, you see it is not a typical nonprofit email. The first thing I noticed is the black background. This helps it stand out and matches their brand.
They use a gif, with a flickering image, matching the site. And the call to action follows the image, for those ready to sign.
There is more content, story-telling and explanation. They use powerful images of a child and illustrations. Some of the text is highlighted and bolded to make more impactful statements. The copy and images direct you to sign the petition.
If a person needs more context, then the post script includes a link to the website.
This was the first email of the campaign. Exodus Cry continues to send emails with different calls to action. No matter the main goal of the email, they include a link to sign the petition.
Now, let’s see how Exodus Cry uses social media to gain support for the petition.
Social Media
Social media can help nonprofits more than through brand awareness and cultivation. Use it to gather your community to advocate.
One study learned 25% of people contact their political representative either by phone, letter, or email after engaging with a cause on social media.
Exodus Cry uses Facebook, Twitter and Instagram to promote this campaign and encourage people to sign.
They posted about the campaign on the day it went live.
After a few days they shared updates on the number of signatures.
Some of their posts include content so you can learn more about the problem. This post has their newest video but also a link to sign the petition.
Exodus Cry uses a branded hashtag for the campaign, #ProtectChildrenNotPorn. This makes it easy for others to get involved and share posts on their pages.
With all this talk about the petition, let’s see what the landing page looks like when you click the link from the website, email or social media accounts.
Petition Landing Page
Right away, the automated tracker captured my attention, showing the number of people who have signed. This adds social proof.
You feel confident knowing other people have signed the petition, too. But it also conveys trust. Some studies show that social proof can boost conversions by 15%.
The tracker is real time, so the number constantly changes.
If you still need more assurance before signing, Exodus Cry goes into more detail.
They further explain what the petition is about, share another terrifying story and provide stats to support it.
The form is easy to complete. But once you click “sign this,” the advocacy doesn’t stop.
You receive a confirmation page with two more calls to action. Exodus Cry asks you to “chip in,” a creative way to say donate. They also ask you to share the petition with people you know.
Once you say you will share it, you get directed to another page.
Here you see more social proof, people who have shared the petition. They include options to share via social media or email.
Conclusion
Exodus Cry has created an intricate multi-channel campaign that centers around advocacy. They present the need for change and ask for help every step of the way. From big elements (like the landing page) to small (like animation), this campaign propels a person to action.
Bravo, Exodus Cry, Bravo!
