Keep talking

PromoWriting _________________________
SHIRA LINDEN • 203 371-0654 • www.promowriting.com

Keep talking

By talking, I don’t mean chatting. I mean keep communicating with your target market.

Cynus Applied Research conducted a national study as to why donors stopped giving to a charity they donated to previously. Their findings: almost one half of respondents discontinued their gifts because they did not receive adequate information as to what happened following their donation.

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For a complimentary copy checkup contact Shira at 203 371-0654, via email at shira@promowriting.com, or her website www.promowriting.com or http://www.linkedin.com/in/shiralinden

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So, make sure you keep your audience abreast of how their donations are making someone’s life better using copy that connects your donors to your organization and draws them in. Spread the word of your successes, contacting donors via a mix of direct mail and Email marketing efforts.

You can lead off with Email marketing and follow up with direct mail, a blend which will maximize the advantages of both media. While Email is extremely cost effective an instantaneous, direct mail is the standard bearer. Data show donors found or maintained via direct mail are more loyal and easier to contact for subsequent campaigns versus electronic media. Direct mail can be used for fundraising efforts or to drive donors online to a sweepstakes or PURL (personalized URL) for example. Or integrate the two with triggered Emails (see prior post).

How often to keep in touch? Five times per year is the magic number. Keep changing the channel for optimum results.

Year end ideas

PromoWriting _________________________
SHIRA LINDEN • 203 371-0654 • www.promowriting.com



Presented to Direct Marketing Fundraisers Association (DMFA )
by Amnesty International and SankyNet

This can be a really good time to reach out to prospects, if you press the right buttons.

Ideas all direct marketers can employ:

• Say something new or add a short, compelling video to your Email blast
• Change the channel. If key clients have been unresponsive to Email, switch to print. Or vice versa.
• Include testimonials that sing your praises on social networking sites.
• Repackage what you’ve done. You can resend a prior promotion by changing the subject line or sender/adding new teaser copy and lift note.
• Make it timely. If cold weather bolsters your message, send your promotion just as temperatures are plummeting.
• Give them an incentive – a small gift such as a magnet or bookmark.

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For a complimentary copy checkup contact Shira at 203 371-0654, via email at shira@promowriting.com, her blog Turbocharged Sell Copy http://promowriting.blogspot.com, or her website www.promowriting.com or http://www.linkedin.com/in/shiralinden

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Strategies specific to non-profits:

• Speak from the heart
• Make the IRS your friend, including the amount of time left to give a tax-deductible gift and how the donation will help your organization.
• Get in touch with the top 10 donors who have not given this year with a personal note or lift note or call. This effort alone can bring in thousands.
• Make web donations easy to use and find. Include high asks. Some non-profits even have the form for donating dominate their home page.