27/03/2019
We had a 3-week campaign planned leading up to IRONMAN South Africa in the hope of raising R20 000 for the Smile Foundation.
The hook was my personal story which included learning swimming technique only 14 months ago and now taking on a daunting 3.8km ocean swim inside IRONMAN. The story also included me overcoming cancer and achieving a successful career even though I grew up in a less than privileged environment.
Those are great hooks but they could be lost if not executed properly. So here's what I did.
I invited my audience/social media followers into my journey months before IRONMAN South Africa. When I had a bad swim where I gave up on the session, I would be open and honest about it. When I achieved a new milestone of swimming a new distance in the ocean, I shared that.
The key is being vulnerable and authentic in the hope to help someone else watching.
These smaller pieces of content are what Gary Vaynerchuck calls jabbing, before the big right hook.
Our big right hook was in the form of a 5-minute video, visually telling my story with more depth.
Through inviting people into my story in the lead-up, people would have known parts of the story but not all of it.
We worked really hard on the script to get everything across in an honest way.
The pillar content (the video) acted people to move. We raised R20 000 within 4 days!
With two weeks still to go to the race, we've now increased the target to R30 000.
Each surgery costs the Smile Foundation roughly R15 000. Children receive the surgery for free. If we hit our next target, it means two children's lives will be changed forever.
If you'd like to talk more about producing content that acts people to move, please email me: [email protected]
If you'd like to support my journey, let's make a difference for Smile Foundation. Support my campaign here: https://buff.ly/2TioNPl