Copywriting

Recognition is at the heart of everything Turnkey provides for peer-to-peer clients. Recognition manifests in many forms—products, personal outreach, social media call outs, thank-you notes and more. The whole point of recognition is to install and reinforce a self-label...

When auditing email communications, there is a lot to consider: the timing of the send, the subject line, the style and branding of the email, and, of course, the content of the email itself. But there’s one small detail that is often overlooked. What is it? The sender’s email address. Why does the sender’s email…

Content is the heart of your successful fundraising strategy. If you don’t sell it, you won’t connect with your audience. And if you don’t do that, you haven’t got a snowball’s chance in you-know-where to persuade folks to give to you to further your mission. ...

There are words that are glazed over. There are words that stand out. And then there are words that are so powerful, they evoke an emotion from the readers and ultimately compel them to take action. They engage readers in ways that prompt them to find out more about your mission, grow more invested in…

The rampant, widespread use of boring, convoluted language is costing the social sector a lot of money. Here’s why: Nonprofits are spending more to get people involved in their causes simply because no one can understand what they’re saying. The language they use to convey who they are, what they stand for and what they…

Being the head of a small-shop development and marketing department with a staff of one (or fewer) means that you need to seize every possible opportunity for relationship-building. And your organization’s welcome message provides the prime opportunity to systematize—and humanize—the relationship-building process....

There are a lot of ways to write well. When you’re going for “beautiful but confusing,” think James Joyce. When you’re going for “clear and motivating”—as most of us are when writing copy for communications materials—"Ulysses" probably shouldn’t be your inspiration. So, what does good copy look like? Here are a few tips we Big…

Writing is hard, even when it’s at the literal core of your job. In fact, I’d wager it’s hard especially when it’s at the literal core of your job. Fortunately for us, the future is now, and it includes some seriously useful tools to help writers of all genres and industries tackle their craft, from…

Writing direct-mail copy, like most things, gets easier as you practice. Don’t expect perfection on your first try—or probably your 10th try, either. But also don’t stop writing; this old dog knows that a lot of us are not born fundraising copy writers. But that doesn’t stop us from trying to write copy that will—even in a small way—help change our world for the better.

Last week I promised to provide practical tips on writing direct mail. For some of you, writing direct mail is something you enjoy, and for others, it’s something you just have to do. But I think we can all agree on one thing: the direct-mail letter that doesn’t get read (or at least scanned) is unlikely to raise much income. People need to read the words we’ve carefully chosen to convey the need and our solution, but we can’t demand that of anyone....