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Ensuring Your Fundraising Messages Pack Some Punch

When creating your fundraising messages, you not only have to ensure that your charity stands out from the rest, but you also want to alert as many people as possible to your cause and keep them engaged.

A message with impact is the trigger for the kind of relationships with your donors that result in the donations that you want. There are several basic best practices to ensure your donors are engaged regardless of their contribution level or which channel they use to engage with your organisation. One of these is to install and integrate a CRM system with all of your marketing channels.

Elements of Powerful Marketing

There are elements which are present in every successful fundraising campaign. When applied to individual segments on your CRM, they can target supporters with laser-like accuracy.

1) Ensure a Personalised Experience

Creating content your supporters will love doesn’t have to be a difficult task. However, it does need to be multi-faceted. Your communications need to cross several channels, including your social media page, blog, newsletter and even your thank you messages. You will also need to make sure your message can be tweaked to suit each of your target supporter groups, while still retaining brand integrity and impact.

2) Marketing with Textual Content

Above all, your communications must be personal. For your blog, this means ensuring it is updated with the latest developments involving your organisation, as well as information that makes you a go-to resource for others working in the charity sector. For your newsletter, personalisation means always making sure that your publication is about your cause in a way the donor can relate to. This means seizing every opportunity to shine the spotlight on donors so that they always know they are contributing to your cause in a positive way. Before sending out any newsletter, it can help to ask whether or not what you’ve written is communicating clearly enough to the donor that their efforts matter.

3) Keeping it Real

Using real-world examples to tell a thoughtful story is another way to make things personal for your supporters. Tell the story of someone who was helped by your organisation, revealing how they faced some sort of obstacle before finding your charity and finally achieving some resolution to their problem. Specifics are ideal here, as they will help your reader to immerse themselves in the story.

4) Telling a Story without Words

A picture paints a thousand words, and this can ring true with the images you use in your campaigns. Using visual elements can increase understanding as well as enhance the retention of your message in supporters’ minds. Not only that but visuals tend to hold more persuasive power than their textual counterparts. The best kinds of photos to use are those which include your staff and volunteers working hard for the cause your donors support.

6) Automate and Broaden your Marketing

When you integrate your CRM with other marketing tools you may have in place, you have the ability to send out professional newsletters to your supporters via email which detail what’s happening in your organisation. You can also use CRM to help you develop those donor campaigns which will help you to nurture individuals with email sequences designed to increase their engagement.

A well-planned content marketing and fundraising strategy which contains the above elements and is facilitated by a high-quality, responsive Charity CRM is the best way to ensure the highest potential for donations.