Auction Promotion is extremely important for your success, and lucky for you we know the best ways to do it. These tips are priceless! The successful auctions that we do all have one thing in common: a lot of Registrations. They more people that register, the more money you will bring in for your cause. Below are 100 Fantastic ideas your can use to promote your auction!
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1-15: Leverage Your Existing Network for Auction Promotion
- Email everyone in your existing donor list with the exciting auction details. Promote rather than just announce. Don’t assume they will see the auction on Social Media or your Web Page.
- Send personal invites to VIP donors or past supporters. This is not just to register, but to get the word out to their networks and expand reach.
- Ask board members to share it with 10+ contacts each. Duplication is the Key. Make it a challenge or a contest. Make it mandatory for the board, committee and other leadership.
- Reach out to past attendees/participants. If this is not your first auction, this list is available in your Admin Dashboard and you can download it into a Spreadsheet.
- Contact previous bidders with a reminder. Bidders are more active than Registered users. If they bid once, they will probably bid again.
- Include auction info in your organization’s email signature. This way it will be top of mind for everyone that sees it whenever an email goes out.
- Ask your team to change their personal email signatures too. Create buy-in from the staff and volunteers.
- Post in internal Slack or Microsoft Teams if you use these programs.
- Call major donors personally to invite them. A personal call is essential here, not an email or a text. Major donors have major influence and can help you get more registrations.
- Host a Zoom call to preview top auction items. A picture is worth 1000 words. What about a “Zoom Open House” to build excitement for the auction.
- Ask volunteers to promote it to their own networks. Do it as a contest for all volunteers as to who can register the most bidders. Build a chart to keep track and create competition.
- Feature a supporter testimonial about the auction. This is great if it is not your first auction. Get this on video if you can and share on Social Media.
- Share a “Why I’m Supporting This” message from the founder. Do this on video and make it a “Big Announcement” with urgency.
- Offer early registration bonuses for referrals. Do a Giveaway for anyone who registers before a certain date can win one a great item.
- Create a thank-you leaderboard for referring registrants. In conjunction with your contest you can show the world who is referring the most people.
16-30: Social Media Campaigns for Auction Promotion
- Post daily auction item highlights with photos. You can do this before and during the auction. If during, include a direct link to the item (Found in the Marketing Section of the Admin)
- Use Instagram and Facebook Stories with countdowns. Post a 10-Day countdown on all social media. Use Video and Creative Visualizations
- Create a Facebook Event for the auction. Do this right away and continuously invite followers. Ask people that are attending to share the event on their Facebook pages as well.
- Run a hashtag campaign (e.g., #BidForGood2026). Find somebody that understands the proper use of hash tags for marketing.
- Use TikTok to make short, fun item reveal videos. The Younger Generation uses TikTok more than Facebook so take advantage of that and make it fun.
- Do live item previews on Instagram/Facebook Live. When you go live, people are notified. Talk about all the great things that you are auctioning off and show pictures. Get everyone on the feed to Register.
- Host a social media giveaway to encourage sharing. Again, make it a contest and track the shares for a giveaway item.
- Post behind-the-scenes prep stories. This is especially good if you are doing the online auction in conjunction with a live event like a tournament, gala or concert.
- Share testimonials from past auction winners. This will show the value of the items being auctioned off, especially the experiences and trips. Do this as a video if you can and use visuals.
- Use LinkedIn for a professional appeal. Set up an event here as well and also post in relevant groups.
- Collaborate with influencers or local creators. You know a lot of people but THEY know thousands if not millions. Who can you get to announce your auction on their show or podcast or live event?
- Use polls or quizzes about the auction on Stories. People love to vote on polls and it allows them to interact with the event. Do a poll on which trip is the best and then say they are all available at the auction.
- Tag donors or item sponsors for exposure. If you market for a business or sponsor, they will also promote you in return. It’s just the way it works.
- Pin the auction post to your profiles. Just like a signature, anyone that finds you also needs to find the auction.
- Schedule posts using tools like Hero Post, Content360 or Hootsuite. If you can organize and schedule your posts, you will be more consistent and get more Registrations.
31-45: Email & Newsletters for Auction Promotion
- Create a launch announcement email. Use the templates provided in the Marketing Section of your Admin for maximum effectiveness.
- Send reminder emails every 3 – 4 days. This is not too much. If fact, you want to do it even more as the date gets closer.
- Feature “item of the day” in each email. Just like you do with Social Media, share pictures and testimonials of the item and maybe even last year’s winner if that applies.
- Share the auction link in a donor newsletter. Who is in your network that has their own network and can share with them?
- Segment your audience for personalized messages. Different demographics are looking for different things. Focus on tools and gadgets for men, Toys for Kids and clothes for women, etc.
- Include a countdown timer in emails. Create urgency by continually counting down the time to start and end.
- Add a subject line like “You don’t want to miss this…” – again, create urgency and make sure they know what they will be missing. FOMO is real.
- Highlight auction success stories from past years. Also get quotes and short videos THIS year to use for next time around.
- Email local businesses to share with their staff and customers. Whoever has supported you in the past or businesses that you support should have no problem promoting your auction.
- Partner with other newsletters to feature your event. What local and community groups will give you free space in their newsletter?
- Include a “forward this to a friend” request. It’s not who you know, it’s who they know. If you encourage people to forward your emails, your network can increase dramatically.
- Embed a short video teaser in your emails. It takes a little extra effort but this is worth the time. It makes things more personal.
- Use urgency language: “2 weeks left!”, “Closes soon!”
- Offer exclusive early access to email subscribers. Plus give them a gift if they sign up by a certain day.
- Add a short auction promo in your email footer. Do this for all emails that you send out, not just auction emails.
46–60: Website & SEO for Auction Promotion
- Create a bold homepage banner linking to the auction. Connect early with your Web Designer so there is no delay in updates on the website.
- Add a pop-up or sticky bar promoting registration. This is a great reminder every time somebody visits your website and will get you more registrations.
- Write a blog post detailing top auction items. If you don’t have a blog, create one and start sharing stories about how the organization has affected you and what the money raised will go to.
- Share stories behind donated items or donors. Not only will this create interest, it will show support to the organizations that are supporting you.
- Include a FAQ page about the auction process. You don’t want anyone to have difficulty and you can usually answer the best questions before they are even asked.
- Optimize auction pages for SEO. If your are not sure how to do this, talk with your web design specialist or online marketing team.
- Link to your auction on community calendars. There are dozens of community resource that love to announce events, especially if they raise money for a good cause!
- Post on nonprofit directory sites. There are many of those and they want to support their member organization. Plus it makes your event more visible to searches.
- Create a press release and add it to your site. We already talked about doing a press release, but you can also link to it on your website.
- Link to the auction in every blog post. How many blog posts? All of them! And if you aren’t blogging for your nonprofit, you should be!
- Add a “Share This Auction” button on your auction page. A share feature is great because it gets beyond your network and to your supporters network.
- Provide social sharing text users can copy/paste. We give these to you in the Marketing tab of your Admin Section.
- Create a “Top Picks” auction guide blog. Like I said, if you are not blogging… you should be!
- Add testimonials from item donors/sponsors. This also gives them free advertising for their business.
- Include a visual auction countdown timer. Make this front and center on your site. It will create a sense of urgency to get registered or you will miss out.
61-75: Local Media & PR for Auction Promotion
- Send press releases to local newspapers and radio. You already have the press releases from above and you are linking to them on your website, so you might as well send them everywhere!
- Offer interviews to local journalists. They won’t ask you for an interview, but you can ask them. You might be surprised who takes you up on it.
- Pitch the story to lifestyle or charity blogs. You are writing a blog, but you can also have other bloggers share about your auction. They are always looking for good material.
- Reach out to community access TV stations. Not the big networks but the local ones, maybe a reporter will come by your office for an interview.
- Ask for free PSA slots on local radio. FREE is good. If you can advertise without cost, why wouldn’t you do that?
- Offer local stations an “exclusive” preview. Give as many interviews as you can.
- List on local community event boards. You know those bulletin boards that are all over town, pin a flyer to each one of them. Even a few Registrations from this effort is worth it.
- Ask local magazines to feature your cause. Magazines are always looking for content. They would love to do a story on your cause and include how to support it.
- Invite media to a virtual “preview party.” Again, you never know who will take you up on the idea.
- Contact podcasters with a charitable audience. Podcasts reach millions of people every day. If you can even get a few minutes with them it is worth it. Sell them on your Cause and they will want to support you and tell all their followers about you.
- Submit to nonprofit Public Relations Sites.
- Invite a media personality to host the closing night. This is Huge – even if you are only online. Be Creative. Run an auction party online and invite some big names.
- Reach out to local chambers of commerce. If you are a member, you can get free advertising and of course visit every meeting to promote your auction.
- Tap into city council newsletters or forums. The city loves to support good causes in the community and in fact probably have a budget for that, so take advantage.
- Use Meetup or Eventbrite for visibility. More events in more places is great. Use Facebook and LinkedIn as well as any other event sites you can find.
76-90: Partnerships & Sponsorships for Auction Promotion
- Ask item donors to promote the auction. They are giving you items to auction off, so you want their clientele or fan base to know about the auction.
- Partner with local businesses to offer perks for registrants. Back to the drawing – do one for each registration. Have them Register on a card and put in a jar then enter their registration manually.
- Collaborate with other nonprofits for cross-promotion. You support them and they will support you. We are all helping people, so we shouldn’t be in competition.
- Offer co-branded visibility to sponsors. We have a place to highlight them on the Auction Landing page so you should take advantage of that.
- Have sponsors send emails to their customers. Again, tap into networks of networks. Go deep with these ideas.
- Ask local gyms, salons, or cafes to display posters. Use the QR code we provide for easy registration.
- Include QR codes on physical flyers. See Above. The QR code is something people can’t resist sometimes.
- Offer B2B challenges (e.g., company with most registrants). More than just personal contests, pit the sponsors against each other.
- Create bundles with business offerings. You can auction these off and the business gets the credit.
- Host a webinar with a partner and promote auction. The more visual the better.
- Let item sponsors do Instagram takeovers. This platform is huge so get some influencers to talk about your auction.
- Provide a media kit with posts for partners. Again, make it easy for your partners and sponsors to promote this to your network.
- Tag and shout out sponsors frequently. Take care of your sponsors and they will continue to donate year after year.
- Give promo codes to sponsor employees for special perks.
- Offer featured placement in auction for big promoters. Make them a rotating Headline Sponsor on the Landing Page to give them notoriety.
91-100: Creative & Strategic Ideas for Auction Promotion
- Use scarcity — “Only 14 days left to register!” This principle works and you can plaster it everywhere.
- Create urgency — “Items selling fast — don’t miss out!” Don’t stop this when the auction opens up, in fact you want to hit it even harder.
- Offer a prize draw for early registrants. Give them a big incentive to sign up.
- Show a goal thermometer (e.g., 500 registrants goal). Just like our bid goal on the landing page, you can also track registrations
- Share personal stories behind the charity’s impact. Stories Sell.
- Highlight “most-watched” or “hot bid” items. Create a bidding war if you can.
- Add testimonials from auction participants. These can be from your last auction or just people that are affected by what you do.
- Let people gift auction credits to friends.
- Offer a “virtual VIP room” for early registrants. This can work online as well.
- Follow up with a countdown campaign during the last 3 day. As the auction ends the promotion continues to ramp up and you end the week with a bang instead of a whimper. Finish Strong!
I hope these ideas take your Auction over the top for a smashing success! If you found this page but don’t yet have your auction set up, we would love to help you get started!
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