Fundraising and good causes are the subject of this weekends post.

Friday morning saw young John and myself arrive at school early for our monthly fundraiser the Tea and toast event. Always popular with kiddies and parents which does add to the school funds.

The rest of Friday morning I spent ticketing and packing bottles for the forthcoming Christmas fair. Another good fundraiser for the school.

Arriving home the first job was to check email, the first one I opened immediately got the blood boiling, You can read the story hear http://grinchfund.chipin.com/grinch-fund-christmas-for-kids some people do deserve to be strung up if they get caught.

Saturday was somewhat busy as we attended two fairs, the first at the local collage and community center. This is the main fundraiser for the year. Very vibrant with a wide range of stalls, tom bolas, raffles, Santa’s grotto, you could even chill out with a head massage.

From there we travelled to Yorkshire for the church fair my mum and sister support, this one was much smaller with a few stalls selling goods and several games to compete for the top score. Cream tea’s followed by carol singing to round off the day.

The marketer in me took notice of the vast differences in the set up of each fair, they each catered for there target market. Each of these fairs are successful year after year, new things are tried as a test and if successful kept for the next one if not you don’t see that part of the fair again. It is exactly the same with internet marketing target and test for the best results. Once you have a proven base formula DON’T try to re invent the wheel, DO try little additions to improve on the base.

We finished the day off with a couple of hours with mum, then home to unpack the goodies picked up from the fairs.

Sunday mornings email check, one from Dr Many caught my eye, a real inspiration if ever there is one Laura Stockman will go far check it out hear http://www.twentyfivedays.wordpress.com/

To finish off the weekend I took the kids out to lunch and off to the cinema watching Fred Claws, great entertainment but if you go to see it watch for the marketing lessons embedded in the storyline it is also an education.

Until next time John