Wednesday, May 22, 2019

Donations Need a Boost? Try These 3 Things

Looking to increase the engagement of your donors or raise a little extra money? Enhance your efforts by tapping into people’s hearts. Whether you are mailing postcards or blasting an email, here are three tips for getting the most out of your appeals.
1. Don’t be afraid to ask. People want to help, so don’t be scared to put your “ask” front and center. Put the appeal at the top, center, and bottom of the page. Use brightly colored donation buttons. Even if money is tight, it’s hard for people to say “no” to a request for emergency supplies for earthquake victims or fresh drinking water for villagers in developing countries. Make it easy for them to help.
2. Tell the story of “one.” People identify with people, not causes. Donors are more likely to give when they can identify with a single, identifiable beneficiary. You can talk about hunger affecting 15.3 million children in the United States, but people are more likely to donate if you include a picture of one hungry child staring into the camera. You can sound the alarm that 2.7 million pets are euthanized every year, but recipients are more likely to open their wallets if they see the soft brown eyes of a fox terrier poking its nose through the bars of a metal cage.
3. Peer pressure can be a good thing.  Donors give because it makes them feel good, and positive peer pressure can encourage them to dig deeper. If donors had planned on giving $25, if you tell them that their peers are giving an average of $75 each (make sure it’s true), they are likely to rise to the occasion, or at least give more than they otherwise would. Another way to use positive peer pressure is to add checkboxes with predetermined gift levels. When people are presented with pre-set gift options of $25, $50, $100, or some other defined amount, they will often select a more substantial gift than when the request is open-ended. 
Whether by direct mail or email (or a combination of both), fundraising taps into the heart. Use pictures, get personal and don’t be afraid to ask.

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Are You Overlooking Opportunities for Color?

Color is a critical element of any marketing program. In fact, a new study from Go Inspire Group found that, increased design vibrancy produced an overall revenue increase of 20%.[1] But color isn’t just for images. With a little creativity, you can find great new ways to grab attention and draw your customers’ eyes to places in your printed materials that you want them to look.  Here are five places to get started.
1. Eye-popping envelopes. Unless you are sending a postcard, the outside of the envelope is the first thing people see. If your envelope is a bright, vibrant color in a sea of white envelopes, it will be the first one people reach for. 
2. Make the offer stand out. Place text in brightly colored call-out boxes or use colored or highlighted text inside the body copy. Use color to say what it does best, “Look at me!”
3. Highlight the call to action. Place your call to action (CTA) in a strategic location and use color to draw your reader’s eye. Place the CTA in a starburst or use an oversized font in a bright “can’t miss me” color.
4. Add a teaser. By using teaser copy on the outside of the envelope, your message gets seen before readers even open the flap. Think “10 days to save!” or “Save 25% today!” You can add teasers to the white space around the body copy of the inside letter, too.
5. Add a Postscript. Studies show that the postscript of a letter is what most people read first. Seize the opportunity by using colored text to reinforce the key elements of your message. Be sure to include the offer and the CTA. People often read postscripts when they don’t read anything else, so grab even more attention by making it in color.
Vibrant color is a powerful tool. Are you leaving opportunities on the table?

[1]https://www.crmxchange.com/Press_Releases/Go_Inspire_Group_study_reveals_improved_net_revenue_from_variable_printing_of_targeted_direct_mail.aspx

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Get Your Timing Right!

How critical is the timing for direct mail campaigns? Hitting the right window can make the difference between recipients saying, “That’s me!” and the piece being rejected out of hand. Nowhere is this better illustrated than in this tale of two campaigns.  
Here are the similarities between Company A and Company B:
  • Both sell snow-clearing services to businesses, schools, and other professional organizations.
  • Both use free ice melt as an incentive to grab attention and encourage responses to their marketing messages.
  • Both mailed short-run targeted postcards to facilities directors and operations managers in their local areas.
  • Both used a clean list, with updated names and addresses.
Here is where the campaigns differed:
Company A sent its direct mailer in November. This mailer landed on recipients’ desks in the start of the snowy season. Company B sent its mailer in July. This mailer dropped in the heat of the summer months before most people even think about the first snowflake beginning to fly.
Which company got the timing right? Company B—the one that sent its mailer in the summer. Among facilities and operations managers, decisions regarding snow clearing are made in July and August, well in advance of the cold weather.
To the average person, a direct mailer sporting ice-covered trees and automobiles encapsulated in snow drifts might seem out of place and totally ill-timed in the heat of the summer. But to the target audience, the message was loud and clear: this company knows my business.
How well do you know your target audience?

Please give us a call at 440-946-0606
Or visit our website here for more information.

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