BlackOutDesign

Helping Hunters Share their Harvest

Yesterday, we had the opportunity to take a field trip to the Ned Smith Center for Nature and Art in Millersburg for Hunters Sharing the Harvest’s September board meeting.

The 2016-2017 season was particularly special for Hunters Sharing the Harvest. They celebrated 25 years as a social service organization and more than a million pounds of venison donated to feed the hungry throughout Pennsylvania.

Our relationship with the nonprofit began in 2012 when we designed their website. Since then, we’ve provided marketing strategy and support, from a logo refresh for the 25th anniversary to marketing collateral such as pop-up banners and brochures used to recruit volunteers, encourage support, and educate the public about their mission.

In our presentation to the board, we highlighted the 20% increase in visitors that Sharedeer.org experienced between the 2016 and 2017 seasons, with significant growth seen in organic search and direct traffic. A 53% increase in direct traffic from new users indicated that the organization’s grassroots efforts to expand its visibility throughout PA communities was working. An 18% increase in organic search traffic and our keyword research found that more people were searching for the cause by name.

We also noticed a 32% increase in visits from users on mobile devices to pages that contained information on participating meat processors as well as a map of processor locations. Our hunch that hunters might be searching for local meat processors while out in the field was supported by one board member who offered an example of a family member using mobile search to find processors as anecdotal evidence. With that in mind, we recommended investing in a responsive website design to provide the optimal experience for all users, across all devices.

The opportunity to take part in an interactive session where board members were excited to discuss digital marketing channels and offer feedback on current marketing initiatives was well worth the drive. We can’t wait to see (and be part of) the milestones Hunters Sharing the Harvest will reach in its 26th year!