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Fundraising Tuesday: Stop Making Cold Calls

November 14, 2017 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

telemarketerCold calls make me want never to pick up the phone. and I know I’m not the only one.

My friend Tema Nemtzow wrote me, “I just got a call asking if I’d like to have a new source of selling insurance. When I told him that I don’t sell insurance, he asked me…if I’d like to start!”

Is Your Nonprofit Acting Like a Telemarketer?

You may groan at this terrible telemarketing. But think a moment. Is your nonprofit acting the same way?

  • Do you send the exact same message to longtime supporters and new acquaintances?
  • Do you add people to your mailing list just because they live in the neighborhood and they have a lot of money?
  • Are you constantly talking about what your organization does instead of what your audience cares about?

You’re a decent person. Two things you would never say to a personal friend: “I have no idea what interests you, so I’m going to talk about me and what I’m doing.” And. “I know we share an interest in sports, but I’m also interested in transcendental meditation, so I’m going to tell you all about that.” You wouldn’t do that…and if you did, you would lose your friends!

Unfortunately, without meaning to, nonprofits are saying these things to donors all the time. Too many nonprofits are “making cold calls,” even in our writing.  We’re pitching “products” the person on the other end doesn’t want…and making it clear to her that we have no idea who she is.

Stop Making Cold Calls, Start Making Friends

We need to stop being lame salesmen like the one who called Tema. Instead, nonprofits need to learn more about our audience–before asking them for anything.

Imagine two people receiving your email. Marta is a longtime donor who cares intensely about your Latino youth program. Stephanie gave you her email address to run in the 5k road race, and she has no previous relationship with the organization, but she posts about her kids and the local school system on social media.

Do you really want to send them each the same message? If you treat Marta as if she never gave before, won’t she feel ignored? But if you treat Stephanie as if she already knew and cared about your organization, chances are she will just hit “delete.”

The answer is to treat each person the way that’s appropriate to their relationship with you.

Getting to Know You, Getting to Know All About You

What do nonprofits need to know about the people receiving our mail, email, and online messages? At minimum:

  • Is this person already a donor or a volunteer, or are they someone we hope will someday give time and money to the organization?
  • What does our organization do that this person cares about?
  • What else matters to them?

You can find out all these things by asking them, in person or by follow-up phone call or email when they join your mailing list. You could even send them a quick survey automatically, using an email marketing tool like MailChimp.

Do the detective work to know your audiences

You can also find out more about them by doing a little detective work. Ask: who knows this person inside your organization? Investigate: what you can find out about them with an internet search? Listen: what are they talking about on social media?

And then, you can record what you find out in your database or CRM.

Build a Relationship with Potential Donors

Once you know your audience, there’s a whole list of things you can do to make them feel closer with your organization. Here are eight of them.

  1. Include content in your newsletters that will appeal to your different audiences. Make sure there’s something for everybody!
  2. Better yet, segment your list and send different content to different groups based on their interests.
  3. Schedule calls and visits with donors who are showing signs they might get more involved.
  4. Send different appeal letters to people who gave before and people who might give for the first time.
  5. Tell different stories in those appeal letters to people who care about different things. (Remember Marta and Stephanie!)
  6. In the salutation of your appeal letter, use the name that person wants to be called by.
  7. At the end of the appeal letter, write a personal note based on what you know about the recipient.
  8. Personalize the thank-you letter you send them after their donation, too!

If your nonprofit gets to know its audience and communicates with them in a personal way, you will never have to make “cold calls” again. When you call (or write, email, text, etc.), the people you are reaching will set aside what they’re doing to listen to you.

That’s what you do–for a friend.

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Nonprofit Marketing: Communications with a Purpose!

October 16, 2017 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

Marketing.  It sounds so commercial, doesn’t it?  But don’t be put off by the term.  Your nonprofit organization can steal marketing secrets and use them for a good cause.

What is nonprofit marketing?

Marketing  is business-speak for “communications with a purpose.”

purpose

Communicate with a purpose!

Your purpose may be to improve public health, enhance democracy, end hunger or homelessness, or enhance people’s lives through the arts.

Whatever it is, if you tailor your communications to a purpose, you’re doing marketing–and you can look for ways to do it better.

What is your nonprofit marketing strategy?

Strategy means keeping your purpose in mind and letting it direct your activities and the way you use your time.  It means knowing how you will approach your goal and not making it all up on the fly.

So what is marketing strategy? For businesses, the term means:

An organization’s strategy that combines all of its marketing goals into one comprehensive plan. A good marketing strategy should be drawn from market research and focus on the right product mix in order to achieve the maximum profit potential and sustain the business.

How do we say that in nonprofit?

  • Market research for nonprofits is whatever you use to get to know and love your audience. Depending on your organization. your research could be hiring an outside professional to conduct surveys and focus groups–or going through your files and asking your staff and Board members what they know.
  • Product mix is the services and benefits you offer.  When you know and love your audience, you figure out what they need.
  • Instead of profit, you aim to maximize good outcomes for the people you serve.  You can only do that if they know about your services and use them.
  • But you still need to sustain the business.  And unlike a for-profit business, you can’t count on the people who use your services to pay for them.  So, “sustaining the business” means raising funds from donors, foundations, corporations, and government, or through events or sales, to pay for what you really are “in business” to do: your mission.

Let’s put it all together.

When you develop a marketing strategy, you are making a commitment.

You are promising that everyone inside your organization will know whom you are trying to serve, what will help them, how you are providing that help, and what difference it makes.

The people who use your services and the people and institutions that pay for them will know that too.  All your communications will help you convey that message, and your programs will help you make it reality.

Make that commitment and keep to it.  That’s how you say “marketing” in nonprofit.

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Interpreting Business Advice into Nonprofit Language

September 11, 2017 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

ImagePerhaps you’ve already noticed: most articles about communication are written for businesses.  They use a business vocabulary.  The writers assume you’re looking to make a profit.

A nonprofit professional reading these articles can feel like a deaf person attending an event with no interpreters.

Good new: with a little practice, you can do your own interpreting.

How You Say that in Nonprofit

For practice, let’s take a look at an article that American Express recently published.  It’s entitled “5 Common Brand Messaging Mistakes Marketers Make.”  That  title may be a puzzle already.

  • What’s a nonprofit’s “brand”?  Your brand is not your logo: it’s the overall impression people have of your organization before and after they’ve met you.  Think “reputation, public awareness, visibility.”
  • “Messaging” is not just anything you say.  It’s your deliberate attempt to shape your reputation.
  • “Marketers”: that means you!  Marketing really just means communications with a purpose.  If you put out a newsletter, send an email, or give a talk and you’re trying to win support for your agency, you’re marketing!

So, for a nonprofit audience, the title of this article could be “5 Ways of Communicating that Don’t Work (and What You Can Do Instead).”  Now, doesn’t that make you more likely to read it?

Please do read the article and comment about it below.

Click on that link. When you get beyond the title of the article: what makes sense from a nonprofit perspective? What needs interpreting?  We can puzzle it out together. You start!

 

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