Food Pantry Marketing Tool kit

We’ve made it easier than ever for your pantry to share projects (and recruit volunteers) to your social network! Scroll to find copy/paste messaging and marketing templates to rally your community and supporters across email and social media.

Email + NEWSLETTER:

Here is a quick little blurb you can use to copy/paste and forward to your volunteers, donors, or anyone you think that might want to get involved on the action!

THE PERSONAL EMAIL can be sent to volunteers that you’d like to invite to register for a project.

THE NEWSLETTER can be sent on a weekly, bi-weekly or on a monthly basis to share upcoming projects, event recaps, images from your previous project and the latest updates within your organization/ community.

[NOTE, bolded section is for you to add your details. :]

PHOTOS

SELECTING THE RIGHT PHOTOS

Whether you are creating a newsletter, social media post or a flyer, selecting the right photo adds the perfect element to your story.

Here is how to CAPTURE the right photo:

• Take high quality photos during your event (Learn How To Take Good Pics On Your Phone)

• Make sure you have consent to take photos of volunteers

• If you see volunteers taking photos, ask them to send any great ones to you or tag your organization

• Consider the story that you would like your photos to tell… try capturing smiling faces, services in action, COVID-10 Safety Stations, etc.

Sometimes you may need higher quality professional photos. Pexels.com and Unsplash.com are great platforms with professional grade stock images that are donation only.

Here is how to SELECT the right stock images photo:

• Natural non-staged images are BEST!

• Choose images with vibrant colors that offer a positive vibe or emotional connection

• Search images using descriptive keywords (ie. food drive, volunteers, donate, helping & charity)

IMAGE FILE SIZE

You want to have your image presented with the best quality possible, try using images sized between 1024px to 2000px on it’s longest side.

Image files are normally in .png (better for graphics) or .jpeg (better for photographed images) format. Learn How To Take Good Pics On Your Phone

FLYERS

Flyers are great for capturing all the important details in one spot! You can use your pantry colors and personality to request volunteers for your upcoming projects.

Here are some tips for creating flyers:

• Determine what the call to action is. Here are some questions to consider:

   

  • Are you seeking volunteers or clients?

  • Are you promoting an event?

  • Are you sharing about your organization?

  • Are you seeking donations?

• Select photos for your flyer that matches your call to action

• Cover the basics: Who, What, When, Where, + How to register

• Canva.com is a great platform to use to create flyers that has several templates to choose from

• Help your opportunity stand out on HOC by adding a flyer or image (click to view steps)

Pantry Informational Card

Here are a couple of downloadable documents that you can customize for your pantry.

Turning Clients into Volunteers Card

• Add a handout to your food boxes to encourage volunteer participation

• View & Edit document (Edit & Download as a print pdf)

Who We Are Pantry Information Card

• This card can be used to attract donors and volunteers

• View & Edit Document

facebook (FB)

Here are sample posts that you can use to share projects on Facebook. If your organization is a part of a larger organization and your pantry doesn’t have a personal FB page, you can create and manage a Facebook Group page as an extension of your larger organization. CLICK TO FIND OUT HOW TO START A FB GROUP PAGE

The purpose of creating a FB post is to engage with your followers by:

• Sharing announcements

• Asking for their help

• Encouragement

• Telling a story

• Keeping your pantry top of mind

• Awareness

Here are a few key elements to you post:

• Conversational style content. (Hi friend, have you heard? We have NEW PANTRY HOURS!)

• Tag partners that are relevant to the post by using @ (@handsonatl)

• Use hashtags (hashtags help improve your searchability on the social platform) (#dosomethinggood)

• Photos are always a nice touch

Sample FB Post for project promotion:

Hi Friends! We are in need of a few awesome folks to help us feed the community on [ Project date]. We can’t distribute [Amount of food] without YOU!

Please Sign up now: [LINK TO YOUR PROJECT].

(add tags & hashtags )

Post A Facebook Story / Highlight

CLICK TO LEARN WHAT ARE FACEBOOK STORIES

Before the project, during the project and after the project use Facebook stories to increase awareness about your event.

FB Story Ideas:

• Add a flyer

• Picture of your team planning the event with text that says: “Have you registered?”

• Promote your newsletter

• Start a countdown to project day

• hare about the fun volunteers will have

  CLICK TO FIND OUT HOW TO START A FB GROUP PAGECLICK TO LEARN WHAT ARE FACEBOOK STORIES

FB LIVE:

• Live is simply a video recording of what is presently taking place

• Go live before the project to share the details

• Go live during the project to share how it is going and to encourage participation the next time around

 Grow Followers:

• Schedule a times to consistently engage and post to social media

• Post YOUR OWN genuine content or repost content that aligns with your organization

• Provide meaningful content

• Be consistent, intentional, and aware

• Remember to tag partners and encourage others to re-share your content