Hello everyone! I am blogging from Waters of Grace, the National Camp Gathering in Palestine, TX. This week has been full of amazing workshops and presentations led by camp people from all over the country. Today, I got to join this esteemed group and lead a workshop of my own called Integrating Communications and Development Strategies.
In a nutshell, I discussed how important it is to include fundraising messages into your story-telling communications. You have an amazing story to tell, one that should inspire and relate to your readers. It is important to include a way to respond to the work of your mission when inspiration strikes, so be sure to include a development message in order to do that.
This concept is sometimes multi-channel marketing. The idea is that your donors are consuming all kinds of media from several different platforms, so you should be present there too. Creating a cohesive look and design to your communications and development message across several platforms can lead to much better results. It keeps your message front of mind, so donors and friends don’t forget it, and if you missed them in one place, you may find them in another. A general rule of thumb is that a donor has to hear a message seven times before acting. Seven. Times. If you mail one letter a year, it may be hard to convert that friend to a donor.
Check out these resources and articles I read in creating Lakeshore Camp and Retreat Center’s fall campaign, as well as this presentation.
Channeling Real Human Beings in Multi-channel Marketing
A report from the Chronicle of Philanthropy: “Fundraising in a Multichannel World.”
The Beginner’s Guide to Digital Fundraising
Interested in seeing how I was able to design an integrated communications and development strategy for Lakeshore that resulted in a campaign total four times last year’s total? Email me for a copy of my powerpoint slides for this presentation.
If you would like to work together on a plan for your organization, let’s chat.