Disabled American Veterans 5K
A STREETLIGHT DIGITAL CASE STUDY
Opportunity
The DAV (Disabled American Veterans) sought to enhance the performance of their annual 5K event, facing challenges with their previous strategies in registrations and fundraising. The goal was to significantly increase participant registrations and fundraising efforts, overcoming past setbacks where Facebook ads were deemed ineffective and email conversions were doubted. The campaign aimed to attract more runners and reach an ambitious revenue goal, especially for the Cincinnati event and its virtual counterpart.
Solution
Streetlight's strategy for DAV's 5K event blended various digital tools for an impactful campaign. Using DonorDrive, they rolled out triggered notifications and tailored messages for registration and event coaching. To attract participants, targeted acquisition emails were sent, supplemented by a series of SMS messages through a selected platform for effective communication. The campaign was further enhanced by promotional efforts, including early bird registration discounts and incentive gifts, coupled with a registration match campaign during key dates. Additionally, a focused digital advertising strategy was employed, centering on Facebook ads targeting a variety of audiences, such as interest-based groups and DAV's existing donors and members, with continuous fine-tuning of the budget, performance, and audience engagement.
Results
The strategic changes led to impressive results for the DAV 5K event:
60% Increase in Registrations YOY: A significant year-over-year growth in participant numbers.
Record In-Person Participation: Over 1000 participants registered before October for the first time ever.
Successful Facebook Ad Campaigns: Exceeded the Facebook registration KPI with 218 registrations, out of which 91 were last-click.
Near Achievement of Aggressive KPIs: Nearly met all aggressive KPIs with over 3700 runners for both the Cincinnati and virtual events.
Historic Revenue Growth: Approached the $500K mark in revenue for the first time, driven by increased registrations from ads and email campaigns.