Web marketing thoughts for small businesses

Welcome to Triune Designs‘ 2008 Blog Action Day post. This post will talk about poverty from a web marketing perspective.

Extreme poverty is an issue most people either do not know much about or they simply ignore thinking about it at all. Coming from a marketing perspective, one of the major problems when addressing people’s awareness of poverty is that there is no demand for discussion about the poor. Bono, however, is one person who is using a multifaceted approach to create a demand for awareness of the people that live in extreme poverty.

One of Bono’s tactics in raising awareness about poverty is using a web marketing approach. Whether Bono is blogging or making videos that can be watched on YouTube, he is creating content that is made for the web. Additionally, Bono is cashing in on his fame to assist him in spreading information about the issues surrounding poverty all over the Internet. Because of his fame, Bono does not have to spend countless hours spreading his information about poverty. He creates it and his fans and supporters spread the information. What follows are a few examples of Bono’s web marketing successes.

Blogging
Bono is a blogger for Financial Times. His goal in blogging is to bring about an awareness concerning poverty and to also report on what is happening during high-profile meetings he attends (e.g. the Millennium Development Goals summit). In one blog post Bono talks about preparing to meet with EU representatives to talk about the poor:

It’s hard to fight for increases in aid at times like this – but that’s what I’m here for this week… stick with me, while myself and others make our case that now is precisely the time to invest in the world’s poor. I’ll keep you posted.

In another blog post Bono talks about some of the victories that have been made in helping the poor:

Since the turn of the millennium, 29m more kids are in school in Africa.

Since 2002, 2m Africans are on lifesaving ARVS.

Since 2003, 59m bednets have been distributed in Africa. In the last 2 years, Rwanda and Ethiopia have cut malaria cases and deaths by more than 50%.

Bono’s blog posts bring about awareness of what is happening in the fight to battle extreme poverty, but because of his fame Bono is able to go one step farther. Bono’s blog posts have been referenced all over the web (e.g. ONE). This spread of issues surrounding poverty helps to increase awareness by reaching more people in different areas.

Social Networking
On Facebook you will find Bono talking about one of his songs, Waves of Sorrow. Before previewing the song for people in a video he takes the opportunity to talk about the poor in Africa, and further attempts to raise awareness to a potentially different audience than those who read his blog articles (view video).

Social Media

Look on Flickr and you will find pictures and images with Bono that are aimed at raising awareness about poverty. One such example is this image of Bono talking about extreme poverty at the World Economic Forum. (The photo is courtesy of World Economic Forum.)

Another example of Bono utilizing social media for a strong web marketing approach is found on YouTube. Conduct a quick search and you will find plenty of videos featuring Bono where he talks about poverty and the poor. Granted, most of these videos are not directly posted by Bono himself, but they are made freely available for others to put on the video sharing site.

Finally, here is an interview Bono did on CNN that addresses poverty and some of the issues global campaigns have helped to address. Again, this video probably reaches a different audience than those that might find him on Facebook, Flickr, or YouTube thus expanding his reach to bring awareness of the poor.

If we are to win the fight against global poverty, a solid web marketing strategy must be used. Bono definitely knows this; however, he is just one person among millions who has a heart for the poor and impoverished. Furthermore, he is just one person out of thousands who is taking action. An example of other people taking action (and using a web marketing approach) is seen in Blog Action Day, which has over 11,000 participants who are blogging about poverty. It is estimated that these bloggers will reach an audience of over 12,000,000 people.

So, what can you do?
If after reading this article or viewing some of Bono’s videos you want to get more involved here are a few ways:

• ONE – Aimed at helping raise awareness about global poverty.
• Samaritan’s Purse – There are many ways to help the impoverished through donations.
• Second Harvest Food Bank of Metrolina – For anyone who wants to give locally around the Charlotte, NC region.

Tags: blog action day, blogging, poverty