1 Million Impressions and Over $100K Raised in Just 2 Weeks

Collage of Metropolitan Ministries assistance after a hurricane

Metropolitan Ministries, one of the largest nonprofits in the Tampa Bay area, provides life-changing services for disadvantaged community members. From housing to food to education, Metropolitan Ministries has a long history of restoring lives.

Preparing for Landfall

Big Sea continues to collaborate with Metropolitan Ministries on their digital marketing efforts. One of our shared values is proactivity. To prepare for the 2022 hurricane season, Big Sea created new emergency impact ads that could be released immediately if a hurricane made landfall in Tampa Bay.

Thankfully, we were well-prepared. Hurricane Ian landed on September 27, 2022, destroying more than 5,000 Floridan homes and severely damaging 30,000 others. Power outages affected more than 2.5 million homes, urgently displacing families statewide.

Our specific objectives were:

  • Communicate the urgent need for support of Hurricane Ian recovery
  • Increase online donations to Hurricane Ian support and the general Emergency Relief Fund

And we had two weeks in which to do it.

As our digital marketing agency, the Big Sea team understands the pulse of our organization. They took a proactive approach so we would be ready to respond rapidly in a Hurricane emergency with a crisis campaign. Their agility allowed us to shift immediately and raise more than $100,000 to support our efforts in a matter of days. – Metropolitan Ministries

Executing the Plan

Big Sea was able to activate emergency relief ads less than 24 hours after Hurricane Ian made landfall. These ads sought to immediately increase donor assistance to the impacted families in and around Fort Myers, Florida.

Our ads specifically addressed Hurricane Ian, urging donors to help, and reminding them that their gifts provide meals, shelter, rental assistance and more to local families in desperate need.

Metropolitan Ministries hurricane banner adMetropolitan Ministries hurricane banner ad

Our multi-channel approach included a paid Facebook ad campaign and programmatic display ad placement.

A multi-channel campaign

The Hurricane Ian campaign doubled the Facebook impressions of Metropolitan Ministries’ concurrent campaigns. Our ads reached over 385k people, earned over 1 million impressions, and received 700+ link clicks, with a low cost-per-click rate that took into account the nonprofit’s budget constraints.

Our programmatic ads earned nearly 700k impressions (an increase of 141% compared to the previous reporting period with the same budget) and over 1,600 clicks.

Metropolitan Ministries hurricane banner ad

The Results

We saw tremendous growth on both platforms in only two weeks, including an 80% increase in donors from the previous month, and a 71% increase in total donation amounts.

  • 1 million Facebook impressions — double that of concurrent campaigns
  • Over $100,000 in online donations for Hurricane Ian support and the general Emergency Relief Fund
  • 141% increase in programmatic impressions compared to previous reporting period
  • 71% donation increase since previous reporting period
  • $3 cost-per-click Facebook campaign

You can get quick results with a proactive, well-planned marketing campaign. It’s an investment that is proven to pay off. Contact us and let’s get started.