I don’t remember if my first impression was visual or tactile, but I do know I shoved aside that day’s mailbox loot to concentrate on the captivating pink baronial.
Kimberly Seville
There's a lot of money in the mail these days. Over a period of about six weeks, I racked up $4.65 in cash and checks from nine different nonprofits.
Nonprofits are using premiums and branded products in myriad ways. Here are some techniques that are working and why.
How do you know what creative to test? How do you know which offer to try? How do you know which concept to give a shot? How do you know?
Go big or go small, either way … but in fundraising, and perhaps as it should be also in life, it's not only "the thought that counts," but also what you do with your idea and how creatively you follow through.
Make sure those thumb-through folks see your important direct-mail components first … so they turn into content-pullers and engage with you.
Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney's letter is minimalist, refreshing.
The 7.75-inch Monarch special appeal I received from the National September 11 Memorial & Museum at the World Trade Center Foundation (9/11 Memorial) has fantastic “package gestalt.”
Over the course of about six weeks, I received member/partner/supporter cards from 18 different organizations.
The ball drops in Times Square, and next thing you know, Chez Seville is lousy with membership cards. Over the course of about six weeks, I received member/partner/supporter cards from 18 different organizations.
I tend to toss the lot of sameness into a basket to open and look through later, but there are a few rare exceptions — like everything I receive from Best Friends Animal Society. Those mailings are like a treat, an irresistible feast of cuteness and an infallible pick-me-up.
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Sometimes, good direct mail is just downright ugly. On purpose. Maybe the goal is for the piece to look inexpensive and put together on the fly with whatever office supplies are at hand — or not done by a professional graphic designer. It implies frugality and no dime wasted on fancy, artistic, matchy-matchy stationery.
We can and should tell donors all these things, often, in as many ways as we can. But we can also show them with involvement devices that say to them, "Your thoughts and ideas, your concerns, and your vision are things of interest to me."
I rarely receive monthly giving invitations by mail, but that's not surprising since many nonprofits find telemarketing yields much better results, at least until they can afford to try direct-response television. But one of those organizations is including direct mail in its acquisition efforts, interestingly.
I deliberately became a lapsed donor (13+ months) in early 2010 in order to receive more reinstatement and acquisition mail, to see how nonprofits would endeavor to woo me back. Recent lapsed-donor direct-mail efforts from St. Labre and CARE really stand out.
