Printing for a Charity Campaign in Tanzania: Budget, Message and Reach

A charity campaign has a message, a budget and a community. The printing is the visible part, and it is easy to spend the budget on a banner that reaches the people who already know the organisation. The planning should start with the audience and the action, not with the format.

The message hierarchy is the first step. A campaign has one primary message and a small number of supporting points. A poster that tries to say everything says nothing. The primary message should be legible from a distance and repeatable by word of mouth.

The format is the second. A banner for a road, a poster for a clinic, a leaflet for a household and a sticker for a shop are different formats for different audiences. The format should match the place where the audience already is, not the place where the organisation is comfortable.

The language is the third. A campaign in a community should use the language that the community speaks, with a reading level that matches. A bilingual poster can reach a wider audience, and the translation should be checked by a native speaker.

The distribution is the fourth. A poster that is printed and stored is a poster that does not work. The distribution plan should name the locations, the people who will put them up and the date. The partners, the clinics, the schools and the shops are the distribution network.

The measurement is the fifth. A campaign can be measured by the reach, the response, the attendance or the change in awareness. The method should be agreed before the print, and the printing should include a way to count the response, such as a code, a number or a QR link.

The budget is the sixth. A limited budget should be spent on the formats that reach the most people, not on the most expensive production. A simple, well-distributed poster is usually better value than a premium banner in one location.