Fundamentals of Direct Marketing Building Your Direct Mail Program NCDC Conference 2014 ~Tuesday, October 7 th Presenters: Sr. Joan Rychalsky, IHM Sr. Peggy Scarano, OP

 This session will explore the basics of a Direct Mail/Marketing Program including planning and scheduling, components of mailing packages to timely acknowledgements, record keeping & follow-up.

Anticipated Outcome: A ‘blueprint’ for developing this component of your fund-raising program that will invite donors to support the mission and goals of your organization.

Overview of Session  Key Elements of Direct Marketing:  - Planning  - Knowing Your Audience  - The Copy/Mail Package  - Mailing Options/Methods  - The Acknowledgement/Thank You  - Budgets & Data Base Management  - Let’s Review ~ Q&A

Why Plan? At the 2013 NCDC Conference keynote presenter Simone Joyaux defined planning as ‘learning and learning is change! Planning helps to keep you, your staff, your program organized, creative, and alive! Sharing of beginning and on-going elements of 2 very different program s

Creating a Plan  What are your fund-raising goals? – Annual to Long Range  How will you achieve these goals?  Benchmarks  Evaluation Tools  Desired Outcome To Learn & Change in this competitive fund-raising environment

Know Your Audience  Who are your donors?  - What do you know about your donors?  - How did they first come onto your list?  - What are you doing to keep them interested/retaining them?

What are your cultivation techniques -How do you listen to Donors? -How do you respond to Donors’ needs/suggestions Desired Outcome - Becoming Partners

The Copy/Mail Package  How do you get the Donor, Prospect, to open your letter?  ●Know your competition  ●Your logo/brand  ●To use a teaser or not to use a teaser?  ●How much is enough: What is tooooo much? Desired outcome: The Letter Gets Opene d

Delivering Your Message - What don’t you want your donors to miss? How do you get their attention? > Underline key words: Bold/Italicize/Center Words; ‘Box’ words >Use pictures – use GOOD pictures; add cap > Handwrite part of the message >Use arrows, circles, bullets Desired Outcome: Keeping the Donor’s/Reader’s Interest How do you get the Donor, Prospect, to

>Handwrite part of the message >Use arrows, circles, bullets Desired Outcome: Keeping the Donor’s/Reader’s Interest

Tell Your Story  - Ask yourself – what keeps you reading a book??  - Ask yourself – how do YOU engage your donor?  - What is the message you want to/need to deliver?  - What is it about your organization that you want the donor to know?

What is the ‘mission’ you are writing about? (Elevator Speech) - What are you inviting the donor to ‘invest’ in? Desired Outcome: Getting the Donor’s Attention

Why Are Donors Responding To Your Appeal?  ●Motivating the donor to ‘give’ to your organization  ●Inviting them to give a 2 nd, 3 rd + time  ●Cultivation – Cultivation – Cultivation  Desired Outcome:  Developing a Long-Term Friendship What don’t you want your donors to miss? How do you get their attention? - Underline key words; Bold/Italizie/Center words; ‘Box’ words - Use pictures – use GOOD pictures; add captions - Handwrite part of the message; Use arrows, circles - If you use bullets – space them! Desired Outcome: Keeping the Donor’s/Reader’s Interest

Mailing Options/Techniques  Annual Appeals  Single Focus Appeals  Newsletters  E-newsletters  Special Events  Annual Reports

The Acknowledgement  You Can Never  Say Thank You  ENOUGH!

Budgets & Data Base Management Remember: you need to spend $ to make $  Benchmarks and Evaluations ~ determine on-going costs  Keeping accurate records ● Mailing – when, theme, how many, how much did it cost, per package; # of returns; average gift; net profit; cost per $ raised; ● Annual Plan – when do you add: one more mailing, special event, other??

Data Base Management -choose a program that ‘meets’ your needs even if it means changing it! -become ‘well acquainted’ with your donors – make sure you and your data speak to each other -if you have the ‘luxury’ of having a data base manager be as savvy as this person is -create all the necessary fields and attributes -keep your data clean -respect your donors wishes

-create all the necessary fields and attributes -keep your data clean -respect your donors wishes

Let’s Review  Direct Marketing Success Checklist (handout)  Prepared by: Huntsinger and Jeffer, NCDC Corporate Partner

Thank You!  Sr. Joan Rychalski   Sr. Peggy Scarano, OP 