Participating at this meeting, which ends today, November 16, are: Fr George Menamparampil, SDB, Coordinator of the Mission Office, Fr Alfonso Bauer, Superior of the Uruguayan Province (URU) and several members of the Procuratorate's Offices of Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Chile, Paraguay, Ecuador, Costa Rica and Uruguay.
On the first day relationship marketing was discussed and explored, thanks to the intervention of the religious marketing expert, Carlos Luna, a Dominican layman, creative director of the "PuedesMásMarketing" agency, specialized in creative marketing. In September 2017, invited by the Salesians, he organized the first meeting of religious marketing in Uruguay, entitled "Reinspira Tour Montevideo".
In his greeting, Fr Bauer recalled the figure of Don Bosco and his ability to collect donations, always oriented towards the search for good opportunities for the benefit of his children. This is why he concluded: "let us never lose sight of the task of the Procuratorates, the spirituality that sustains us, why and for whom we're doing it."
After the Mass, Fr Menamparampil took the floor and expressed his satisfaction for this meeting: "The initiative belongs to all of you and to this hospitable Province: Uruguay."
He also praised the idea of sharing a formation moment, offered by a marketing expert.
"If I had to summarize in a few words all the elements of fundraising, I would say: to make the mission known, to witness life, to administer and to relate," said Fr Menamparampil.
"We must make our work known, manage the funds well, build and maintain relationships with our members and benefactors. In my opinion, 80-90% of fundraising work is good communication and that's why this meeting is very important," he added.
"Good marketing, for an expert, is to empathize with the other, it means to satisfy a need. In marketing we create desires," explained the expert of the sector, Carlos Luna, during the meeting. With this in mind, he then invited to change one's way of looking at things, adding: "In marketing, the key is not my project, but what people want. To generate empathy, it is necessary to identify the public, which makes it essential to segment it."
Luna then explained some strategies related to relational marketing, then shared cases of strategic campaigns of recruitment and awareness-raising and gave advice on how to optimize and create an efficient campaign.
