Marketing You Can't Pay For

For years, myself and Cindy said that Crossroads is the best-kept secret in our communities. We would tell people about what we offer and they would say they never knew we existed. I started working at Crossroads 8 years ago and Cindy and I have worked on our branding, websites, and social media and added Paid Ads on Google in recent years. All of these aim to build Crossroads’ brand and image so that we are recognizable and seen in our communities, especially to those searching online for pregnancy help near them.

Our Online marketing and paid ads have been so valuable! In the last 3 months alone, we have answered 50 texts or calls from people who found us on Google. And in the same time period, another 39 filled out the form and contacted us through our newly, redesigned website. WIthout these investments that is 89 women who may have missed knowing about Crossroads and getting pregnancy help because they didn’t know we were in their community. 

But the fact remains that we still see in our new client and patient surveys that word of mouth from family, friends, or our clients is the top result for how they found Crossroads. Word of mouth is highly valuable, especially to Gen Z, even though they are a fully digital generation.  59% of our clients fall into the Gen Z category (born between 1997 and 2012, age 12-27) and have only ever known a world with the internet. This contributes to making them more vigilant and a bit skeptical. They value authenticity and user reviews more highly than older generations. 

What does that mean for me as I work on social media and marketing for Crossroads? Our potential clients are not going to be easily fooled by any fancy marketing strategies (which makes my job easier). They want to hear real stories about how Crossroads has helped someone like them. They consume mostly video content (making my job harder). But they want truth and sincere listening. 

Truth is what we always aim to give them at Crossroads. Answers, supported by research and science, where the world is trying to convince them that pregnancy decisions are easy and carefree…”just take a pill”. 

You can help us as well. Don’t keep Crossroads a secret. Talk about us often. Read the client stories we share in our newsletters and on our donor blog so that you can tell others about the work we are doing. One article I read said that Gen Z is even more likely to pass on 2nd hand recommendations and recommendations they overhear from strangers! This is how much they trust word-of-mouth. And it’s free!