Marketing Monkey Magic

 

Guest post by Sharon Shaw, Co-Director of Lakeview Monkey Sanctuary

We are delighted to share our experience of how marketing support can transform a small charity. It has given our sanctuary a new lease of life, opening up opportunities that we had not considered or were wary of before.

Lakeview Monkey Sanctuary was created to provide a home for rescued primates to give them a home for life. We have been rescuing monkeys for over 25 years now and in this time we have been able to help these wonderful creatures live the way they should, with other monkeys, sometimes for the first time in their lives. Our mission statement is to 'rescue, re-home and rehabilitate'  and to achieve this, we travel throughout the UK to rescue the monkeys, whilst also working alongside international organisations to bring primates in need to our sanctuary.

The majority of monkeys we rescue have come through the primate pet trade. Some have lived in isolation for over 20 years which has led to them being both physically and psychologically damaged. We try to repair this damage, which can take many months or even years, unfortunately though, the physical damage can be so severe that they never fully recover, which can be heart breaking.

The other monkeys we rescue, are from the entertainment world i.e. circus' and laboratories and the occasional zoo animal. All have various needs which have to be addressed and the most wonderful part of the whole process, is seeing a monkey who has never lived with another primate its whole life, interact for the first time. To see their reaction when they touch, groom and hold each other, makes us cry every time!

The next phase of our sanctuary mission, is to develop our 10 acres of woodland into large enclosures for groups of monkeys. The vast majority arrive alone and to create a natural social dynamic for them, we are busy building their new homes. We have an exciting time ahead for the monkeys and us!

To achieve all of our goals we knew we needed professional marketing support, so when Pimp My Cause was recommended to us by a colleague in the animal world we were thrilled to be able to create a profile and help wanted adverts.

The marketing needs of the sanctuary were: how do we raise our profile and create income but keep our privacy and security. We also needed to create a logo.

Trevor Isherwood, owner of Redpine Marketing Ltd, answered our posted advert within a couple of days which was incredible. Via email, we exchanged thoughts and then had a long conversation by phone (Trevor rang us) so he could understand our needs, get a feel for us and how we liked to do things and put a plan in place.

Trevor then sent us a presentation incorporating all we had discussed and quite a few logo ideas attached too. He volunteered to undertake the set up of social media, re-vamp our adoption process, create a logo and look at diversified income streams, all without compromising our wish to remain closed to the public. Trevor  understood our reasons for remaining closed ie we are a sanctuary and our monkeys deserve peace and tranquility, and pitched his ideas in a way that would be on our terms.

New logo created by Redpine Marketing Ltd

We are delighted with the help that Trevor and Redpine have given us. We are working on quite a few projects that Trevor has suggested alongside the work that he is doing for us. In a very short space of time, so much has been accomplished, that we are really looking forward to the sanctuaries future.

We also wish to thank Pimp My Cause, as without it, we would never have found Trevor and for a tiny charity like us, it is amazing to receive such support.