• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to secondary navigation
  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • About
    • About RAA
    • Meet Sherry Truhlar
    • What makes us unique
    • Reviews/Clients
    • Press
    • Licensing
  • Contact
  • Client Login

School Auctions, Fundraising Auctions, Charity Auctioneer

  • Services
    • Onsite Auction Services
    • Fund a Need Experts
    • Consulting
    • Onsite workshops
  • Products
    • $10 Trainings
    • On Demand Webinars
    • Books
  • Speaking
    • Why Sherry
    • Keynote and Other Topics
    • FAQs
  • Blog
  • Free Resources
    • Newsletter
    • Auction Item Guide™
    • Recording: Porch Parties
    • Blog
  • Store
You are here: Home / Blog Post / Marketing *after* your benefit auction: 5 reasons to create an auction gala highlights reel
Jan 06

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

Sherry Truhlar Leave a Comment

silent auction package of SPAMHave 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!)

marketing-your-auction-volume-3-book-4Now 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.

Share on Facebook Share
Share on TwitterTweet
Share on Pinterest Share
Share on Google Plus Share
Share on LinkedIn Share
Send email Mail
Copyright © 2015 Red Apple Auctions Co. All Rights Reserved

About Sherry Truhlar

Fundraising auctioneer and education, helping schools and nonprofits plan more profitable benefit auctions. A prolific writer for her own blog and other fundraising sites, she’s been covered in The Beacon-News, Town & Country Magazine, The Washington Post Magazine, Northern Virginia Magazine, Wiley's Special Events Galore!, AUCTIONEER, and other publications.

Reader Interactions

The (free, online) Fundraising Summit is this week! Don’t miss it.
Do you have to collect sales tax on auction items?

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Connect with Me Here

What auction planners say

Sherry, oh, Sherry! You were an invaluable asset to this year’s gala. With your assistance we were able to add so many new elements that truly made a difference in taking our event to another level. This year was the most successful yet! Everyone loved you and the amazing energy that you brought to the event. We look forward to having you again in 2018!

Krystal Fenwick
Read more testimonials

Thank you so much for the outstanding job you did for us on April 1! I have received so much positive feedback from so many who attended. You even earned Sister Suzan’s (our Vice-Principal) seal of approval! Safe travels to all your many events and thank you for making our biggest fundraiser of the year our best ever!

Diane Albano, Director of Development
St. Joseph Academy Catholic High School (St. Augustine, FL)
Read more testimonials

Sherry is flexible and easy to work with. She gives honest feedback and advice throughout the planning and implementation process. Without a doubt, Sherry and Red Apple Auctions has helped take our annual fundraising event to the next level.

Beckie Middendorf, Development Director and Janet Gulla, Development Coordinator
St. Henry District High School (Erlanger, KY)
Read more testimonials

Sherry is “on board” from day one of auction planning, works closely with our steering committee and is only just a phone call away. The night of the auction, we toss her the keys and let her drive the event! We are never disappointed!

Charly Ryan, Director of Institutional Advancement
The Academy of the Holy Cross (Kensington, MD)
Read more testimonials

I was very fortunate to have Red Apple on board for my first auction. Working with Sherry was invaluable. She provided guidance at every phase of planning, from procurement on forward – and she challenged us to make our event more ambitious and more successful at every stage. Thank you, Sherry!

Pete Goldlust, Director of Development
Oak Hill School (Eugene, OR)
Read more testimonials

If your auction needs to upgrade, call any auctioneer you find on Google. But if you want your auction to be impressive, meaningful, and profitable, you need to call Sherry.

Erin Banda
2016 NYUMBANI Board member
Read more testimonials

The auction was entertaining .. proactive … the crowd was involved and felt a part of it,” he said, emphasizing, “The entertainment value was huge.

Darrell, a long-time attendee
Read more testimonials

We plan on booking Red Apple Auctions much earlier for our next event so we can take advantage of more of the pre-event offerings.

Nicole Carr, Director of Grants and Special Events
The Ivymount School (Rockville, MD)
Read more testimonials

Sherry, personally, I can’t even begin to tell you the immense amount of positive feedback that I received having YOU (and Darby) there with is this year! Some of the tidbits: You added EXCITEMENT and ENTERTAINMENT… You added EXPERTISE and FUN… You helped the evening FLOW, in a wonderful and positive direction… You were FUN,… Read The Rest “Anne Livaudais Knudsen, 5th year gala co-chair”

Read more testimonials

Aren’t KK and Michael a cute couple? They liked that I “moved the crowd along … kept the crowd engaged but wasn’t obtrusive or invasive. We were able to talk but still keep track of what was going on.”

Read more testimonials

You have NO idea of how many people came up to me (I know Julie as well) and said, ‘That auctioneer was incredible … she engaged the crowd, … she got the bidders to bid without being rude/pushing, … I loved observing her, I just watched her, … she did a great job.’ It was… Read The Rest “Staci Meruvia”

Read more testimonials

Geri said: “Great job of getting potential donors in the room to step up to the plate and not feel guilty or bad about it. They actually wanted to give more … and that’s not something I’ve seen in many other auctioneers.” The following year, she herself ‘stepped up’ and became one of the gala… Read The Rest “Geri”

Read more testimonials

Irene attended one of my New Hampshire auctions and assumed I must be a radio personality — until I started to chant that fast talk. “I’ve been to this event before with a couple of other auctioneers,” she said, “Your ability to get personal with people in a way that isn’t intimidating — men, women,… Read The Rest “Irene”

Read more testimonials

Most product & consulting remarks are found on their respective webpages, but I’ve listed two below so you’re assured my products are as spot-on as my auctioneering.   Not only was our 2013 auction a blast, but our Washington, D.C. public school raised $67,000 — that’s $25,000 more than last year! The evening went off… Read The Rest “Carolyn Kahn-Hall and Andrea Del Vecchio”

Read more testimonials

As a former Fox News Anchorwoman, I am often called on to perform at auctions. So, I know first-hand that auctioneering can be a difficult job. Sherry Truhlar is one of the best in the business. She is skillful at managing an audience and keeping them focused on the task at hand – which is… Read The Rest “Cynthia Steele Vance”

Cynthia Steele Vance
Guest at The Potomac School 2014 auction (McLean, VA)
Read more testimonials

home | auctioneering | consulting | free item guide | about

 

Red Apple Auctions Co., PO Box 6066, Arlington, VA 22206
Toll free: 888-474-0838 | Email: Info@RedAppleAuctions.com | Copyright © 2005 - 2018

 

Sherry Truhlar • Charity Auctions • School Auctions • Fundraising Auctions • Auction Galas • Benefit Auctions

 

Terms of Use · Privacy Statement