The No. 1 thing...

No. 1

What comes to mind when you think of No. 1?

The Louisiana Economic Development ad that ran in last week’s Wall Street Journal, featured the tag line, “The Stats Don’t Lie.” Under the tag line was a giant number one with competing stats from the State of Louisiana on one side and stats from the New Orleans Saints football team on the other. Louisiana was 1st in a number of critical economic categories, including new jobs and investment in the south. The Saints were 1st in touchdowns scored, 1st in points per game and 1st in passing touchdowns. The copy made the case that, “Take one look at the Saints stats and it’s easy to see why they’re a champion… Louisiana is posting some impressive stats of its own… If you’re ready to play at a championship level, put Louisiana on your team.”

After the win in Superbowl XLIV, presumably the new revised ad need only say the Saints are No. 1, period. No need to argue the stats. No one will remember and no one will care. The only thing that matters is they won it all and they are the world champs.

One of the primary ways you can be No. 1 in marketing is to be first in your field. If you are first, you are generally the leader in your field. Coca-Cola, Hertz, IBM are examples of firsts in their respective categories. They are without equal. If you have read Al Reis and Jack Trout, you’ll remember the question they posed in The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing:

“1. What’s the name of the first person to fly the Atlantic solo? Charles Lindbergh right? 2. What’s the name of the second person to fly the Atlantic? Not so easy to answer, is it? The second person to fly the Atlantic Ocean solo was Bert Hinkler. Bert was a better pilot than Charlie—he flew faster, he consumed less fuel. Yet who has ever heard of Bert Hinkler? ”

If you are in charge of raising funds, communicating your vision and expanding your programs, your goal is not the long forgotten Bert Hinkler—it is Charles Lindbergh. You want to position your organization to be the leader.

No. 1 on the Internet

There is a ton of talk about Internet marketing today. My intent is not to add to the noise you already face regarding this medium; I want to go right to the No. 1 thing you need to know about the Internet.

The No. 1 thing people do on the Internet is check their email. That’s right. And what on earth does this have to do with positioning or the Super Bowl…not much really. But I wanted to draw your attention to the idea of No. 1 – that’s the point.

Your No. 1 online strategy should be email. If you are not doing a Housefile email each month, well, it’s high time to add regular email to your mail schedule.

What will you send? Who will read it? Why will you send it? How often? How will you integrate social media, video content, etc.?

First things first

The first step is actually adding email to your mix. Once this decision has been made, two others quickly follow:

1. Assign a point person whose job it is to develop the e-mail campaign and maintain the schedule.

2. Ask for email addresses across your marketing and fundraising touch points – in newsletters, at special events, in the mail, on the phones, etc. The email must also benefit the recipient. How will supporters benefit by giving your organization their email? Will your email keep supporters informed about the Haiti Relief efforts you are working on, the number of co-sponsors on a bill your organization is attempting to pass, recent survey results your supporter participated in or about upcoming volunteer opportunities? It should do all of these things. The goal is to put yourself on the other side of the monitor or mobile phone – put yourself in the position of your supporter.

Email success

The key factor to email success, especially acquisition email, is relevancy of the content to the readers and being able to communicate messages in a way they understand. In other words, targeting your message to the right audience is critical, as are the words you use when talking to that audience.

The more personalized the information contained in the email, the more the email will speak to the recipient and enhance their receptivity to your message. The message’s content is critical and must be decisive, lively and inspire action.
Personalized yes, but relevant too.

When it comes right down to it, email still outpaces Web 2.0, Social Media and cool apps as the No. 1 thing folks do online. With a regular, relevant and dedicated email strategy your organization can position itself strongly online.

One parting thought. It took the Saints 43 years to finally become No. 1. Don’t wait that long to develop a 12-month Internet email plan that tells donors how their contributions are being used, how your mission is growing, and how they can pray, volunteer, forward an email, fill out a survey, watch a video or write a congressman. Make email your No. 1 online priority.

Matt Waters
President
TrafficJamDirect
mwaters@thewatersagency.com
205-602-5844 www.trafficjamdirect.com

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