Title: Scientific fact: By tomorrow you will forget 80% of what you see and hear today' By the next day you
1Scientific factBy tomorrow you will forget 80
of what you see and hear today. By the next day
youll be lucky if you recall one thing.Keep
the handout.
2Writing to donors (and other strangers)
3 but FIRST What branding isand what it is
not.
4A brand is not a logo.
Source Marty Neumeier, The Brand Gap
5A brand is not a corporate identity, the
companys look.
Source Marty Neumeier, The Brand Gap
6A brand is not a product. Its nothing tangible.
Source Marty Neumeier, The Brand Gap
7The good newsYoure already branding your
organization. In some cases thats also the bad
news.
8Your brand is the prospects or donors opinion
of you, an opinion based on what theyve learned,
how often theyve been inspired, and how well
theyve been treated.
9A brand is a persons gut feeling about a
product, service, or company.
Source Marty Neumeier, The Brand Gap
10Donor loyalty is scandalously low.The branding
behind that They dont need or deserve my
support.
11What can you do about it?
12Be an optimistic, enthusiastic, PESSIMIST about
your communications. Assume they will not
succeed. Try harder. What you learn today can
help.
13Donor and other marketing communications are NOT
about reading.Theyre about causing some ACTION
to happen.
14This insert item name will convince insert
specific target audience that insert action you
want reader to take will result in insert
benefit reader will value.You now have a
strategy brief.
15The unrealistic way to view your audienceMostly
motivated readersA few others
16The safest way to view your audience...Mostly
uncommittedFew motivated readers
17Thousands of messages.Three piles.1. Cant
ignore.2. Can safely ignore.3. A bit interested.
18Howard Luck GossageThe fact of the matter is
that nobody reads ads. People read what interests
them and sometimes its an ad.And sometimes
its a piece of your direct mail, a headline in
your newsletter, etc.
19How to be interestingto donors and the
predisposed
20What interests donors?1. Accomplishments(What
did you do with my money?)2. Vision(What could
you do with my money?)3. Recognition(Did my
support matter? Am I important?) 4.
Efficiency(Can I trust you with my money?)
21Come to our breakfast,well come to your
fire.Gold Beach, Oregon, Volunteer Fire
Department (from Bowling Alone)
Repeatedly remind donors of your org.s unique
mission in your headlines
22Helping VictimsBecome Children Again Memphis
Child Advocacy Center
You can sum up your accomplishments in a powerful
tagline
23You can sum up your vision in a photo and a few
words
24Donor-centric communications celebrate the people
who give to you.A list of their names is not
enough.
25Donor-OPTIONALWe did this. We did that. We
were amazing. Oh, by the way, thanks.
26Donor-CENTRICWith your help, all these amazing
things happened. And without your help, they
wont.
27Bring your donor into the story and make her or
him your very necessary hero and savior
28Being donor-centric is easyLink your donors
directly to your results
29Dale Carnegie The Only RuleYoull have more
fun and success when you stop trying to get what
you want (a donation) and start helping other
people get what they want. (I.e., a feeling of
having accomplished something because they made a
gift to your organization.) You end up in the
same place (with money), but the two viewpoints
are completely different.
30Donors dont give to your organization.They give
through your organization to fix a problem
they worry about sustain or expand a solution
they believe in get more of what theyre
interested in and (drum roll please) feel like
theyve made a difference.
31I believe that if I hadnt hadSOFIA House my
son and I would not be alive today.-- Former
resident of SOFIA House,Second Stage housing for
abused women and their children,United Way
member agency, Calgary, Alberta
You can make sure your donors feel theyve shared
in changing lives and saving lives
32A Mighty Can-OpenerNot sure why your
organization matters?Ask yourselfWhat would
disappear if we did not exist?
33For donorsKnow the emotional triggers and use
them abundantly
34(Direct mail industry trade secret!) Seven
emotional triggers cause people to respond to
direct mail -- Anger -- Exclusivity --
Fear -- Flattery -- Greed -- Guilt --
Salvation
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37Emotional triggers at workFlattery,
exclusivity, greed
38You are hereby invited flattery to become
a Member exclusivity of the Kennedy Center at a
full 20 discount greed and gain the special
privilege exclusivity to purchase advance
tickets before the general public greed to the
finest Kennedy Center presentations.
exclusivity
39 Mal Warwicks 5 positive emotional triggers
-- Hope -- Love -- Compassion --
Duty -- FaithBetween fear and hope, a
check gets written. What are yours?
40What are your emotional twinsets?What PROBLEM
are you the SOLUTION to?
41Giving to you is way to relieve strong emotions
such as anger and DO something.
42Got emotion? It can start with the name of your
donor newsletter.
43If your cause has an enemy, show the enemy. Make
it personal.
44Donor subtext What your gift preventsEmotional
triggers Fear, anger, salvation
45If you are predisposed to care about this issue,
this scene nicely focuses your anger and fear.
46Reality checkDont chase money from the other
side of the fence. Your job is to find the
predisposed and ask them for a gift, not to
engage in debates with people who disagree.
47Speakingto four setsof ears
48Rejoice this gives you four chances to engage
someones interest.Beware, though each set of
ears that you neglect costs you a good-size chunk
of your readership.
49Your AMIABLE sideresponds toIntimacy, warmth,
faces, the need to nurture, anecdotesand,
strangely enough, the word you.
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51Puppies, kittens (and children) raise a lot of
money. Its the cuteness factor.
52Studies show eyes attract eyes
53Everything MUST pass the you test
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56If you dont use you a lot, you lose a critical
and unique opportunity to speak personally and
directly to the Amiable side of the readers
personality.The pronoun we doesnt work the
same.
57Get yourself one of these
58The you test Circle every you in red. In the
most effective publications, there will be red
splashed all over the page.
59Dear Jane Doe, Welcome ... I hope. Im
writing today to request the pleasure of your
acquaintance. Theres a place reserved for you
on The Rhode Island Foundations mailing list ...
but only if you agree and check, Yes, Im
interested on the enclosed reply card. Youll
be in good company, that I can promise. etc.
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61Your EXPRESSIVE sideresponds toAnything
NEW!Tell or show me something I dont
knowplease, Im begging you!
62Neurobiology saysOur brains notice and
respond to what is new. Not what is interestingly
new or significant, but new in any way at
all.Source Sean Kernan
63Visual drama
64Verbal drama
65Waging war on waging warWaging war on teen
suicideWaging war on homelessnessWaging war on
dull SaturdaysWaging war on accidental
extinctionWaging war on Arctic drillingWaging
war on poor health care for the uninsured
66The Expressive part of your brain craves news and
drama.Corollary You will never BORE anyone
into being interested.
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69Tell me something I dont know, your Inner
Expressive begs.Bonus this is how you start
word-of-mouth, with snippets of fascinating,
fresh information.
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71Is your need always desperate?Thator urgent.
72Your expressive responds to urgency!!!youll
raise far more money with news of a setback that
leaves you in desperate need and your mission yet
to be accomplished.-- Hal Malchow
73Your ANALYTICAL sideneedsReassurance. Lots of
information. This is your inner skeptic. Hint
Know what the usual questions and objections
areand answer them in clear, direct language.
This is what FAQs are for. Evasion is the kiss of
death.
74Fundraising and efficiency factsFrom the
United Negro College Fund website-- UNCF
maintains a low cost ratio of only 17.6 percent
of total revenues 7.8 percent for
administrative costs and 9.8 percent for
fundraising.-- Both The Non-Profit Times and
The Chronicle of Philanthropy rank UNCF among the
top 10 charitable educational organizations in
the country.-- Approximately 92 percent of
students attending UNCF member institutions
require financial assistance.-- 59 percent of
students attending UNCF member institutions are
from families with a gross income of less than
35,000 and roughly half of UNCF students are
from single parent households.
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76Fastest way to reassure the skeptic?Testimonial.
77Its just a city zoo.Testimonials worth
million
- one of Americas top ten zoos. (Travel
Leisure magazine) - one of the outstanding reasons to visit New
England (Yankee) - Award-winning Roger Williams Park Zoo is a great
place for the entire familyand a terrific place
to learn about whats being done to protect and
restore endangered species! (The New Parents
Guide)
78Your BOTTOM-LINERwantsTo know EXACTLY what to
do next.Keep it brief.Make calls to action
bold and easy to spot.
79We are not trying to get donors to read our
deathless prose.The goal of communications is
to get people to act (write a check, set up a
bequest, etc.). Reading is just a means to that
end. If you can move people to act after only a
few words or a photo, so much the better. My
ideal the wordless case statement. No luck yet.
But pursuing that ideal forces me to be concise.
80The offer is king
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82Yes! I want to help the kids of Pawtucket with a
gift of???25 ???35 ???50
???130 ???250 ???Other
________A 130 gift would really help!That's
how much the Club needs to raise per child every
time we do a program.
83The newsstand speaks to your 4 personalities
84Keep it short
85The (almost) wordless case
For a 20 million hospital campaign
86Common flawCommunications that are stat heavy,
anecdote lite
87Our Food Pantry welcomed 1,539 visits that
received five days of groceries matching the
needs of 664 different households households
comprised of 680 children, 843 adults and 38
seniors. Open mornings, five days per week, the
pantry experienced an average of better than 6
visits per day.Sodid we do a good job or a bad
job?
88The battle for the donors mind Stats vs.
anecdotes
- Easily understood only by program pros
- All tell, no show
- Abstract and removed
- Exclusive few get it
- Easily understood by anyone (including donors)
- All show, very little tell
- Concrete and intimate
- Inclusive everyone gets it
89A well-done stat makes just one point
90One statone conclusion
For a 3 million domestic violence shelter
91The engine whined like a weed wacker. It signaled
that Father Mike was turning onto the deadend
road where the Braggs lived. William Bragg, head
altar boy at St. Kevins parish in the early
1980s, still recalls the sound. You know that
feeling, as a kid, when you hear the bell of the
ice-cream truck and youre so excited? It was the
opposite, when you heard the moped.
92Anecdotes are packed with compressed power to
persuade. In just 20 words, a charter school that
uses music to teach the ABCs told me everything I
needed to knowWhen she entered our 3rd grade,
she couldnt spell cat. At the end of the year,
she could spell Tchaikovsky.
93Where do you find anecdotes? On the front lines.
Talk to the program staff.
94Questions that shake anecdotes loose
- What changed in a persons life?
- Tell me a problem you had to solve yesterday.
- Was there anything the agency could have done
that would have made things better? - Ask sense questions. What did it smell, sound,
taste, feel, look like?
95Reading is labor.Are you making it easier or
harder?