YMCA of San Juan
For more than 120 years, the YMCA of San Juan has strengthened the very foundations of the community it serves. The organization serves people from all walks of life in the San Juan area through memberships and programs that build healthy spirit, mind and body for all. The YMCA of San Juan is a 501(c)3 nonprofit governed by a local board of volunteer directors.
Since 1899, YMCA of San Juan has served individuals and communities in the area of San Juan, pioneering in the development of sports and health programs for all populations, from babies to the elderly, and people with health conditions and disabilities. When they came to us, they were in a process of organizational development which had identified the need for a marketing strategy. They knew it was time to start approaching marketing more strategically in order to achieve their aggressive goals for growth. They needed to strengthen their brand, improve their marketing strategy, redesign its website, and most importantly, fill their membership sales pipeline with highly qualified leads and attract new donors.
Rosalía Ortiz Luquis was retained by the Y of San Juan as their record/outsourced marketing partner and tasked with delivering and executing on a comprehensive integrated marketing plan to guide the growth of each of the organization’s programs.
Client:
Year:
2018 - 2020
Job:
Marketing Planning & Execution | Branding | Collateral Design | Community Engagement | Storytelling | Digital Strategy | Event Production | Web & SEO
A four-phase project
To begin with, we conducted extensive research at the onset of our engagement to inform the new Y’s marketing plan. We interviewed the organization’s leadership, staff and clients, analyzed the landscape of the nonprofit organizations in Puerto Rico, reviewed a bevy of marketing materials, audited social sector media coverage and much, much more.
Design
We then designed an integrated marketing strategy focused on raising awareness of the Y’s services and impact, establishing the organization’s history as a community service institution. Because Rosalía Ortiz Luquis had become the Y’s outsourced marketing partner (they do not have anyone in a marketing role on staff), our plan was all-encompassing, including everything from target marketing metrics to recommendations for media outreach and content marketing, an assessment of marketing technology needs and a comprehensive marketing calendar.
Drive
Upon approval of our marketing strategy, Rosalía set to work on the Y’s marketing and growth goals. One of our early priorities was a complete overhaul of the organization’s branding practices and core marketing materials. Then, we redesign its website, and updated their social media profiles. Finally, we tied everything together and integrated all the marketing efforts so we could track metrics and progress toward goals.
Digital Strategy: Website & Social Media
We redesign the organization’s website so that visitors could learn about their full range of programs and services. But, how do we attract new donors and members for an organization with more than 120 years of history in Puerto Rico? Storytelling!!
We needed to collect and share stories in order to really connect with people. Storytelling gets at the heart of how humans process information. This was good news for the Y of San Juan, because for decades they were making a significant impact on the lives of many people, and they have inspiring stories to tell.
Special Programs: Summer Camp & Fundraising Events
With the goal of deepening relationships between the YMCA of San Juan and the San Juan Metro community, we proposed a series of marketing strategies and media outreach opportunities aimed at propelling the YMCA of San Juan’s brand awareness and fundraising benchmarks. Through the process, we worked closely with the YMCA’s team to align on events and announcement timing to ensure sustained campaign momentum.
Deliver
Because we touch so many elements of YMCA of San Juan’s marketing program, from the organization’s website to their content and marketing automation, we’re able to directly measure the impact of marketing on web traffic, lead generation and memberships. The Y has seen significant growth across nearly every metric we measure during our relationship, for example:
