Customer Spotlight: Woodford Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge

[Amanda-S]

Customer since: 2022

Fun fact: Cedar Run refers to their permanent residents as “Ambassadors,” and this group includes a fox named Ember, squirrels named Mike & Ike, and a horned owl named Hoo-dini (among many others)

Where you can find them:

Website

Facebook

Instagram

Woodford Cedar Run Wildlife Refuge, a 171-acre wildlife sanctuary, has a mission that is every bit as ambitious as it is adorable. "Every species has a role in our environment and our ecosystem. And we want to make sure that we’re continuing that and helping," says Lisa Franco, Director of Development for Cedar Run. “We are currently servicing over 6,000 animals — that’s a lot of mouths to feed.”

In order to treat, protect, and preserve the wildlife in their area, they depend on their community. One of the ways they engage their community is through digital marketing, using email and social media to raise awareness and generate funds. They've even incorporated Shopify for seamless donation processing, adding multiple opportunities for their supporters to provide support at the click of a button from their email inbox.

Additionally, they lean on email marketing to drum up participation in their monthly programs and events. With each email reminder they send, they see an immediate return in the form of registrations. “We could have no sign-ups and I send out an email and within a day they’re booked.”

Cedar Run has also worked to capture their donors in the moment, using SMS text message marketing to send timely reminders and raise awareness. “Just texting ‘You have until midnight’ was helpful,” Lisa remarks of sending fundraiser reminders via text message. “I did that this year and I do feel that was really helpful. We saw donations trickling in right before midnight.”

These efforts have helped Cedar Run to not only meet but exceed their fundraising goals, raising more than $70,000 for a new fox enclosure and turning a plant sale into a $12,000 fundraiser to keep their preservation and rescue efforts going strong.

Want to take your digital marketing from a whisper to a roar? Here’s Cedar Run’s menagerie of marketing tools:

• Email marketing - Cedar Run utilizes Constant Contact’s email templates to quickly and easily put together regular newsletters and communications featuring their wildlife, fundraisers, events and more.
• Canva and Vimeo integrations - Canva and Vimeo integrations help Cedar Run to share engaging visuals with their audience… because who doesn’t love baby animals?
• SMS marketing - Recently adding text messaging into their marketing mix has allowed Cedar Run to send timely reminders and communicate urgent needs to their audience.
• Shopify integration - Integrating Shopify into Constant Contact has allowed the refuge to turn every email into a fundraising powerhouse.
• Content generator - Lisa says it better than we can: “I like using AI when I already have an idea. It's just kind of like my helper, like my sidekick.”