Marketing *after* your benefit auction: 5 reasons to create an auction gala highlights reel

Have you ever pulled together a video of your gala to use as a marketing tool for your auction the following year?

If not, here’s a typical example of a video you might wish to model.

A couple of months ago (November 2014), one of my first-year clients was St. Marcus School, a private school in Milwaukee, WI. The school has been widely touted as a national model for inner city education.

(You can read newspaper articles about the school’s approach and philosophy.  Most students attend as part of the Milwaukee Parental Choice Program.)

This event broke records in attendance (it sold out) and in fundraising, raising nearly $550,000.

About three weeks after their fundraiser, the team posted this video on YouTube.

Here are five ways how an auction gala highlights reel can recap and relive the excitement of your event.

1. Posting the video gives you yet another reason to reach out and thank supporters. “The video is done,” you will email, “you helped us raise $550k while looking like Hollywood stars!”
2. Guests who attended will watch the video to see if they are in it.
3. Supporters who didn’t attend may view it to see what they missed, especially if you point out certain elements to watch in the video.
4. Depending on how you shot the video, you can use it to encourage sponsorship support the following year. If you make a point to include sponsors in some fashion, you can use that as a recruitment tool for new sponsors next year. “Look at how well we treat our sponsors,” is the message you will send. (This particular video doesn’t emphasize sponsorship heavily, but in my Sold Out Event Sponsorship course, you’ll see real-life auction-related videos that more directly promote sponsors.)
5. You can use the video next year, hyping guests to attend your event. “Here’s some of what we did last year,” you might say, “Expect more fabulous stuff this year.”  Or, “Forgot what you wore? Review the video to jog your memory.”)

Here are some images you might want to keep an eye out for:

• Shots of the silent auction, live auction, sponsor acknowledgement, layout (held in the two school gyms), student entertainment and speeches in this video.
• That Spam silent auction package? It sold at the max bid price.
• See a glimpse of me working in the crowd starting at 1:40. (I was sicker than a dog that night with fever and chills. Boy, I couldn’t leave fast enough after I got off stage!)

Now of course, it’s much better to market your auction BEFORE your event than after it. To that end, check out this course I taught last year, called Marketing Your Auction. You’ll get a DVD showing me presenting the material, a substantial workbook, and access to a private webpage with more tools. Learn more on this page.

Got any thoughts?  Post them below.