Marketing or Mission?

The routine trip to fetch the day’s mail trumpets that this is a season of opportunity for fundraisers, list brokers, letter shops and printers littered all across our fruited plain. From faraway places like Hackensack, Dulles, Green Bay, and even Sioux City come letters in all shapes and sizes, utilizing double window envelopes (so I could “see inside”), and clip art galore.

Thus far this Christmastime my mailbox has been working overtime. It has been stuffed with one stocking, 3 packages of wrapping paper, 4 calendars—some twice, 6 sets of greeting cards, 10 packs of labels and a partridge in a pear tree.

And none of the “free gift enclosed” packages I received were from Hallmark, Amazon.com or the UPS Shipping Store. They were not from my family or relatives.

I received all of it from Non-Profit Organizations. I suppose that is fine, except for the fact that none of the free gifts will really help those the organization is raising money for.

And none of it helps define the mission of the organization.

So, question: “Are you tired of a marketing strategy that relies upon marketing first and mission second?” Another question: “Are you tired of adding thousands of $5 or $10 donors to your file who will be lapsed in 12 months until you start the process all over again?”

If you answered “yes” to one of those questions, then keep reading.

Our experience shows that it doesn’t have to be that way. You don’t have to come up with endless freemiums to get donors to respond.

If you really want donors—long term donors—who buy into your mission, your vision, your work, your solutions, then maybe you ought to re-think the premium based marketing strategy and consider the mission driven marketing strategy. It’s gutsy, and it may meet with resistance internally to make the switch, but we promise, your donors won’t miss the foil labels.

Matt Waters, President
TrafficJamDirect • mwaters@thewatersagency.com

Copywriting

One of my best friends, who happens to be a very good copywriter, has the following message taped to his laptop: “They don’t want to read it.”

His job, and that of every copywriter, is to get the letter read, and more importantly, to close the deal.

Claude Hopkins pointed out in his classic work, Scientific Advertising, that the copywriter’s chief aim is to get action.

In order to accomplish that, we put a generous amount of time understanding and knowing your donor(s), which translates to creative checklist that includes: Does the reader understand why she has received the letter? Does she understand what it is about? Does she understand what the letter writer wants her to do? Does the letter flow logically, without leaps or sidetracks? Does the opening paragraph of the letter compel the reader to continue reading?

How do you like your copy? Do you need to take two aspirins after reading it? Or are you proud to stand behind it? Do you LOVE it? Is it effective? Is it boring? We welcome your thoughts and your phone calls, emails, Facebooks, Tweets, and of course, your letters.

Matt Waters, President
TrafficJamDirect • mwaters@thewatersagency.com