10 Tactics for Digital Fundraising Success
At the Resource Alliance's 2011 International Fundraising Conference held Oct. 18 to Oct. 21 in Holland, the Norwegian Cancer Society's digital communications and fundraising expert, Beate Sorum, shared her top 10 tips for digital fundraising success.
During her presentation, "Digital Fundraising — Less Magic, More Hard Work," Sorum began by establishing that digital communications alone does not raise money unless you know how to ask your followers and friends. Then she described the similarities and differences between direct marketing and digital fundraising.
Good direct marketing:
- Makes the ask.
- Respects recency, frequency, monetary concerns.
- Targets a specific demographic.
- Spurs emotions.
- Provides a solution to a defined problem.
The same should be said for digital fundraising communications, Sorum said, but that seems to be difficult. Why? Because in direct-marketing fundraisers have to budget their space; on the Internet they can put up anything due to fewer constraints — thus fundraisers forget to prioritize, ask, and rigidly monitor and analyze data.
With that in mind, Sorum shared these 10 tactics for digital fundraising success:
- Good landing pages. Look to e-commerce websites. Usability doesn't equal boring.
- Invest in conversion rates.
- Measure social traffic. What is effective? What is your end goal? Is it reached?
- Good social presence. Make sure it is multichannel so everything works together and your supporters can spread your message any way they connect with you.
- Good, effective and relevant sharing. Your supporters will tell your stories if you ask them.
- Be specific. Dare to define success. "If you never say what your goal is, you can never say, 'Look! We reached it!'" How can your charity be specific, and how can you define success?
- Do your research. Are your online donors the same as your offline ones? How much do you communicate with them? Differences in frequency? Do you have the right people communicating your messages?
- Communicate visually. Use images and especially video online.
- Lighten up! Even if your cause is serious, you can have fun.
- Say please and thank you.
