Last week, in the heat of the moment, as we pushed to launch Rethink Breast Cancer’s new site, adoptamom.ca, Jen Love reminded me what three key components are necessary for effective direct marketing. It’s one of those things you hopefully remember subconsciously, but a conscious reminder never hurts.
List, timing, offer.
Talk to any “marketing strategist” anywhere and they will tell you the same. Repeat after me:
List, timing, offer.
Overlooking the importance of any of these three things will seriously harm the success of your marketing.
Your list is who you are directly marketing too. If you sell shoes and you directly market to people with no legs – you can assume your direct marketing will not do very well. Think about who you are targeting.
Your timing – as they say – is everything (or at least 1/3 of everything). If you want to celebrate your anniversary with your partner and you give them a card and flowers two days after the anniversary – you can assume there will be some trouble. Think about your message, think about when your list would be most receptive to hearing your message and when it may matter most to them.
Your offer is about the message and case for your donor to support you. As a charity you likely can not offer a free widget or a money back guarantee. You need to offer a good reason for a donor to part ways with their hard earned money. Specifics please, people!
These three things, done well will equal a successful direct marketing campaign.
I promise or you can have your money back – that’s guaranteed!
Hi John,
Just wanted to stop by and say thank you! This was a great DM lesson. I am in the field of social media for nonprofits based in Austin, TX and while I know a lot about how to make social media work, I am always looking to learn more about DM given that in many ways social media is merely the next generation of DM. Any advice on DM blog reading you can suggest would be very helpful.
I also checked out your work – terrific stuff. I would love to discuss the possibility of a partnership in the future as my clients needs and budgets allow. Perhaps we could do some cross promotion? I was very impressed with both your appeals and website, and love the CMS to allow clients greater control. Please drop me a line if you would like to discuss the possibility of working together as well.
Many thanks,
Shannon Aronin
Oh, one more thing. The bethechange.org site doesn’t have an rss feed except for blog comments? I was really intrigued and would like to follow them but can’t find the RSS. Please let me know the feed url. Thanks!
Hello Shannon! Thanks for your comments and I’m happy that some of the content struck a chord with you. By the way, I am assuming you mean http://bethechange.fr/blog/3? You could always contact Jon Duschinsky and ask him to set up a feed. I’ll send you an email today!
For fundraisers, timing seems to be the Achilles heal.
Most consultants in this realm say that timing is “when your next mailing is ready.” In fact, if you ask experienced fundraisers to describe their seasonality, you sometimes get a blank stare.
Obviously the timing during hurricanes and other natural disasters are a given. And dropping mail for receipt in the early summer months and major holiday periods like Christmas might not be a good idea for some fundraisers.
The giving curve does not drive large numbers of fundraising mailers.
In the commercial world, most industries have a very distinct seasonality. What are your thoughts on fundraising seasonality.