Direct mail. Everyone loves to trash it (literally and figuratively), but there's so much of it because it can be very effective.
Is yours as effective as it could be? Beyond writing a really good direct mail piece, there is one simple thing you can do to get even more leverage out of DM: make sure it is connected to and enhanced by related content on your Web site.
Two blogs recently convinced me that many non-profits are missing huge opportunities to engage their wired donors. Jeff Brooks has a great post In Praise of Junk Mail on Donor Power that I highly recommend. Read that and then click over to Katya Andresen's post on the Wired Wealthy. (She notes that the average online gift is more than $100.)
You see the connection. If you use direct mail, is it connected to and enhanced by content on your Web site? Do visitors find engaging content that continues the themes or stories from the direct mail piece? If they don't, you could be missing big opportunities to turn your $25 members into $100 (or more) donors.
What do you mean we don't have a Dolphin feature on our Web site?
Let's take a quick example:
Say you work in marketing/fundraising for a non-profit that specializes in marine conservation. You're planning a big direct mail new member appeal in June, when most people start going to the beach. You've decided to feature dolphins. (Everybody loves dolphins, right?) You write the letter -- you make it compelling and relevant. For the sake of argument, let's say it is the best direct mail piece since the the Greatest Sales Letter of All Time. Let's say people start heading to your Web site in droves.
What do they find when they get there? If they don't find an easy way to donate AND compelling content about dolphins, you may be in trouble.
Consider how disappointed they would be if they click over to your Web site eager to read more about how you're helping dolphins (and how they can help by donating), but you're featuring sea anemones instead.
You don't have to get rid of the anemones. You just have to add the dolphins.
Think about how much more leverage you could get out of both your Web site and your DM if you took the stories from your appeal and enhanced them on the Web with more indepth content: stories about dolphin researchers in the field, for example, (complete with Podcasts, short video, or on-line slideshows). Or stories about other marine mammals your organization helps.
You don't even have to get all that fancy. Engaging stories and well=captioned images can go a long way towards increasing affinity for your organization and your mission.
But you have to put the time in. Don't just toss up a couple of extra images that wouldn't fit in the DM piece. Think through the content: (Note -- this content should also be able to stand alone since it will be visible to visitors to your site who many not be on the DM list).
- What stories do you want to tell?
- Why are you telling them?
- How will they increase potential donor interest in your mission?
- What raw content do you have to draw from?
- How can you relate it to material already on your site? (Do sea anemones and dolphins have anything in common that you could highlight? How does all of this work support your mission?)
- What do you want donors to do once they get to your Web site? (Whatever it is, make it easy for them to do it).
You get bonus points for measuring your rate of return on the Web.
There are several different ways to track DM response. One of the easiest is with control numbers. If you have a little bit of Web savvy to throw at tracking response, consider creating a form on the site where people can enter a code from their DM piece and be taken to a page with specialized content. Since our scenario is a membership appeal, you could create a special Landing Page for potential new donors that reinforces your messages and makes it easy for people to join and give money.
You can track who is responding on the Web by their individual control numbers. Make sure you have a way for people to sign up for email updates or newsletters and save yourself the price of a longer print run when it comes time to send out renewals by sending them an electronic renewal.
It may sound like a lot to think about, but connecting your DM to your Web is really just a logical (and increasingly necessary) extension of good communications planning. Remember that direct mail and the Web are not strategies, they are tactics in service to a larger strategy. In this example, to get more members.
Make sure all of your tactics are doing their part to serve your strategy. Don't let the Web site and your DM get too far apart.
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