The "dog days of summer" are in full swing, and before you know it, Labor Day will be here. That means one thing — the busiest time of year for many nonprofits is not far behind.
The final days of summer can offer a great opportunity to try out a few things that may have been stacking up on your "new ideas" list. Whether that's dedicating time to update e-mail lists, setting up a profile on a new social-media channel or planning how to build buzz for your year-end fundraiser, the path to tomorrow's success starts today.
Following are some simple ways you can take advantage of any downtime you have during the last few weeks of summer to get more out of you fundraising marketing efforts come the fall.
Improve your e-mail efforts
Many nonprofits already know how powerful e-mail can be as a communication and fundraising channel, but it is important to leverage that channel well in order to be effective, particularly as you look to make your organization stand out. Here are some quick tips for fall e-mail success:
- Try out a mobile-friendly e-mail template for your organization's newsletter.
- A recent Constant Contact study found that 80 percent of consumers say it's "extremely important" to be able to read e-mails on smartphones, so you want to make sure your e-mails are mobile-friendly. Be as concise as possible in both design and content, and make sure you include a single, clear call to action.
- Review your e-mail reports to identify what's working and what isn't. It's important to look at open rates and social-sharing metrics, but another dimension to consider is which supporters are actively spreading the word about your organization. Send those who are most engaged personalized notes thanking them for their support — that can go a long way.
- Encourage people to stay in touch with your organization across all of your marketing channels — include an e-mail sign-up form on your website and all of your social-media sites. If supporters can visit your organization's physical location, leave a paper sign-up sheet somewhere visible. One of the best places to encourage constituents to sign up is via your e-mail inbox signature. Today, fundraisers conduct most of their interactions with current and prospective donors, supporters and volunteers through the e-mail inbox so giving them an easy way to sign up goes a long way.
Experiment on social media
Social media has become an increasingly popular marketing tool for many nonprofits, but it is essential to have a sense of where your supporters are hanging out online and what drives them to take action in order to be successful. Here are some quick tips for fall social-media success:
- Survey donors and supporters to see which social networks the majority of them use, and if your organization does not already use that platform, try it out. If you are already up and running on that site, use your downtime to experiment with a new social-media platform entirely.
- Monitor and replicate the types of posts that elicit the greatest response from your supporters (you can see how successful content is by looking at comments, shares, likes, retweets and repins).
- Learn from your peers. Follow three organizations with similar missions to your organization on social-media channels to understand their approaches and what they do that works well.
Build donor relationships with events
Because nonprofits face a landscape of donor fatigue and donors are challenged by economic conditions, fundraising events are critical to not only raise money, but to convert as many attendees into passionate, long-term supporters and ambassadors of the organization. Here are some quick tips for fall event success:
- Use online tools to promote your event, which can send your invitations via e-mail and easily integrate with your social channels like Facebook and Twitter, as well as online directories that are dedicated solely to making people aware of events in the area.
- Plan how you will offer the best experience possible for those supporters who attend your event. For example, you can streamline the check-in process and eliminate any snake-like lines by using a mobile check-in app for your guests. You can help attendees stay engaged by creating and promoting a Twitter hashtag for the event and build in additional "engagement" moments directly into the program itself.
- Think about how you can keep your supporters engaged after the event. Sharing quotes, photos and other items from the event with your supporters (both those who attended as well as those that did not) can be quite impactful. You can also ask for feedback, simultaneously collecting helpful information for your next event and demonstrating just how much you value your supporters' input.
By implementing even just a couple of the above ideas during the final days of summer, you'll be well on your way to a successful end-of-year fundraising season.
Alec Stern is vice president of strategic market development at Constant Contact.
- Categories:
- E-Philanthropy
- Events
- Social Media
- Companies:
- Constant Contact