Brainstorming for Affinity Groups

Stop the presses!  I should have preceded my last post with this one…  I wanted to discuss  the process of brainstorming for your affinity groups.  

One of my jobs is to create and cultivate strategic partners for our Harvest America initiative (harvestamerica.com).  Seth Godin, in his book Tribes (an excellent book) says, "Today everyone is a marketer."  This is true.  What better way to cast the widest net to create a prospect list for potential partners for Harvest America than to open it up and ask everyone who works at the ministry to come by the department and add to this list?  Here is the email I wrote and was sent to the staff of around 300 at Harvest Ministries:

We are looking for your help in creating a list of Christian organizations/ministries that may be open to partnering with us to promote Harvest America 2014. Please take a brief moment to come to the Resources department/area in Building A, take a look at the big "brainstorming" white board with the strategic partner prospect list and add your suggestions (Please first check with your supervisor).  What types of organizations could you suggest that would help?

•   Let's say you receive a regular email from a ministry outside Harvest that has blessed you as a Christian… 

•   Or a Christian author whose books have strenghthened and encouraged you…

•   Or an organization that has helped you in your Christian walk (like Focus on the Family, for example)…

We will reach out to all these organizations offering the opportunity to work together to make Harvest America 2014 a huge blessing to all.

Thanks in advance for your help.  Gary Z

People, by definition, are subjective.  You only "know" what you have experienced or have learned.  Tap into the experiences and minds of as many interested people as you can to create the prospect list for your affinity groups.  

Remember…  It's a numbers game.  You will hear "no" a lot more than "yes."  You need the largest, most targeted prospect list you can generate to achieve success. 

Here's an example…  for Harvest America 2013, we complied a list of the most trafficked Christian websites and blogs. We identified fifteen.  Here was my idea…  

• I worked in advertising out of college and knew that
• Print media has "remnant" space...
• Small ad spaces that they did not sell and
• as they approach a print date for the book, they sell this remnant space at a discount
• I was wondering if Christian websites had web banner space they did not sell that they might give us for free (Harvest America is a free event)
• I sent out an email to all fifteen (cold, I didn't now anyone there) asking them if they wanted to partner with us 
• Fourteen out of fifteen did not respond
• But Blue Letter Bible did (blb.org)

There are only a little over 3,000 websites in the US that get more traffic than Blue Letter Bible (http://www.alexa.com/siteinfo/blueletterbible.org).  They just finished updating their site, the site owner loves evangelism, loves our Pastor (Greg Laurie) and was happy to run our banners for free.

Now we have an enthusiastic and engaged partner for Harvest America 2014…  And only because we brainstormed an idea, executed it and followed up.  You never know who might be acutely interested in your film unless you approach them with an opportunity...  And you are only limited by the size of your targeted prospect list and your ability to engage with them and follow up.

Next up for brainstorming…  If you are producing a Christian film, think nonprofit. Thanks.  GZ