Archive for the ‘lead generation’ Category
Monday, April 15th, 2013
For effective planned giving marketing, you really should be keeping track of your metrics. That’s because it’s not like traditional fundraising. You can’t send out a letter and count the dollars 6 weeks later. It just doesn’t work the same way.
I’ve seen some foolish things in planned giving marketing. But one of the worst mistakes you can make is to look at immediate revenue as your number one metric. Instead, since planned giving marketing involves a long-term fundraising strategy, you really need to measure “activities”… not dollars.
This has been proven effective in the private sector for enterprise-level sales (and you better believe that planned giving is an enterprise-level sale) where the best sales managers and marketing directors know that you shouldn’t only measure outcomes. Rather, you should measure activities. If the activities are happening and the numbers are going in the right direction, the revenue WILL follow. It works every time without fail.
Here are the activities we recommend you measure for effective long-term planned giving marketing:
1- Lead generation and disclosures
- Number of leads generated
- Cost per lead generated
- Number of highly qualified leads generated
- Cost per highly qualified lead generated
- Number of disclosures generated
- Cost per disclosure generated
2- Awareness/reached Number of people reached with planned giving messages in the following:
- Publications including magazines, newspapers, newsletters, etc.
- Inserts in acknowledgements
- Facebook posts
- Banners or posters
- Etc.
3- Cultivation numbers Number of people nurtured with on-going messages multiplied by the frequency of those messages via:
- Telephone calls
- Personalized letters
- Personalized emails
- Marketing automation emails
- Face-to-face visits
- Proposals written
- Proposals properly presented
4- Engagements With the right software, you can now track individual prospect engagement with your organization online including:
- Number of times visiting your website
- Number of clicks on that website
- Where were the clicks (what topics)
- How long did they spend online (on average)
- Number of cultivation emails opened
- Number of clicks on cultivation emails
Tags: marketing, marketing metrics, Planned Giving, Planned Giving Marketing, results, smart, strategy
Posted in Fundraising, Goal setting, lead generation, marketing, Multi-channel marketing, Philosophy/motivation, Planned Giving, Planned giving, Planned Giving Marketing, strategy, Uncategorized | 1 Comment »
Thursday, February 14th, 2013
I don’t think this is a stretch at all. Planned giving marketing is a lot like selling new cars.
Car companies spend billions of dollars each year to market their goods. They know the following is true:
- You never know when a person will need a new car
- The average investment in a new car in 2012 was $30,303 (according to Forbes)
- A car is obviously not an impulse purchase
- Rather, it is a “highly-considered” investment
- So marketing messages for automobiles must be ubiquitous (everywhere) in order to build awareness
- Leads must be generated
- Relationships must be cultivated
- Fears need to be addressed
- Questions need to be answered
- Deals need to be closed
- Buyers must be treated like gold so they’ll buy again and refer their friends
Bottom line, planned giving marketers can learn a lot from car companies. Take a look at the pdf below to see more similarities.
Cars-vs.-Legacy-gifts-SmartGiftmaker
Tags: Cultivation, lead generation, leads, Planned Giving, Planned Giving Marketing, Stewardship, strategy
Posted in Fundraising, lead generation, marketing, Planned Giving, Planned giving, Planned Giving Marketing, strategy, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Wednesday, January 9th, 2013
The simplest comprehensive planned giving marketing strategy boils down to these 5 things:
-Building awareness: branding, education, PR/news stories, etc.
-Generating leads: acquisitions campaigns
-Cultivating leads: nurture campaigns
-Closing gifts: face-to-face, telephone, or personalized asks
-Stewarding gifts: acknowledgement, gift acceptance, donor recognition, etc.
Once you get your head around your overall strategy, then you need to choose which channels will help you meet your goals (depending on your budget). Last, you need to choose your tactics. Oh… and, finally, you need to actually do the marketing. Inertia and internal roadblocks/hurdles kill any chance of getting the results you desire.
I have found that direct mail and email are the most effective channels for generating leads if you have a good list and your organization is mid-sized to large. Otherwise, the telephone channel (calls in the form of donor survey/thank-yous) and the face-to-face channel work best.
The most important wild-card factor is the quality of your LIST.
Tags: cultivation for planned giving, Lead generation for planned giving, Planned Giving Marketing
Posted in Cultivation, cultivation marketing, Email, Fundraising, lead generation, Lead Generation/Nurturing, marketing, Planned Giving, Planned giving, Planned Giving Marketing, Retention marketing, Stewardship, strategy | No Comments »
Wednesday, November 14th, 2012
If you need help trying to decide what to put on your planned giving website, here’s our in-house content guide and checklist.
We use this as a starting point for each and every planned giving Site we build for our clients. We don’t put everything found below in every website we develop. So please don’t go crazy trying to stuff every intricate type of gift into your Site.
Some of the bullet-points might seem obvious. But we reviewed a ton of planned giving websites and found that over 90% were missing a simple contact telephone number on the main page. Here you go!:
- Your logo and tag line
- Phone number
- Click-to-email feature
- Contact us (link to staff listing)
- Font size adjustment tool to increase the size of the font instantly
- Print tool
- Email to a friend tool
- Share tools (for social media)
- Basic text and photo testimonials- “donor stories”
- How gifts have made a difference in the past- “gift stories”
- Request more information (such as free brochures or downloads)
- Your organization’s tax ID#
- Bequest language for estate planners
- How to get the most out of your gift (tax benefits)
- Planning tools calculator (I actually think these things confuse donors but our clients keep requesting that we include them. Someday I might just say “NO!”)
- Answers to common objections such as:
- You can change your mind
- Family first
- You can keep it private
- Hold on to your assets for as long as you need them
- No minimum gift required
- Ways to make a lasting impact
- Bequests
- Gifts in will or trust
- Remainder bequest (residual bequest)
- Donor advised funds
- Gifts of assets that provide you income
- Charitable gift annuity
- Deferred CGA
- Other beneficiary
- Use appreciated securities to fund CGA
- Use real estate to fund CGA
- Retained life estate
- Charitable remainder trust
- Beneficiary designations
- Bank assets and securities
- Life insurance
- Retirement accounts
- Savings bonds
- Let us know (short survey that aims to acquire notifications)
- Why invest in our organization
- Mission
- Why give
- What’s the vision for the future (strategic plans/goals)
- Historical content (photos, captions and text will show longevity and stability proving a safe haven for their investment)
- Annual report
- Successes/achievements
- Where the money goes (How funds are used and stewarded)
- A simple pie chart will do the trick
- Staff
- Contact (click-to-email) links
- LinkedIn icons that links to their profiles
- Privacy Policy
Here are some samples of websites we created in case you’re looking for real-world examples:
California Academy of Sciences
Navy-Marine Corps Relief Society
American Diabetes Association
Tags: internet, lead generation, online marketing, Planned Giving Marketing, Planned giving websites, website
Posted in Fundraising, Inbound Internet Lead Generation, lead generation, marketing, Planned Giving, Planned giving, Planned Giving Marketing, website | No Comments »
Sunday, November 11th, 2012
In order to generate highly-qualified leads for planned gifts, you’ve got to offer something to your prospects. We recommend information that educates prospects about ways they can leave a gift to your organization.
Here are some titles for free reports that we have found generate leads effectively:
- How to make a gift that costs nothing now
- How to create or update your will
- How your estate plans can benefit you, your loved ones and others who struggle with cancer
- How to give to _______ and receive income for life
- How to use real estate or other assets to lower your taxes and leave more to your heirs
- Why you might want to consider creating a trust
- Ways to pass more on to your heirs by avoiding estate taxes
Also you might want to include some mission-oriented content offers such as:
- Our strategic plan (or annual report)
- How _________ uses donations
Tags: Content marketing, lead generation, Planned Giving, Planned Giving Marketing
Posted in Content marketing, Fundraising, lead generation, marketing, Planned Giving, Planned giving, Planned Giving Marketing, strategy | 2 Comments »
Thursday, November 8th, 2012
Recently someone told me that their organization doesn’t consider a planned giving lead to be a “real lead” unless someone is calling in or requesting specific information about how to definitely leave a gift.
In other words, the planned giving team felt that their job was to “procure” gifts that have already been decided upon.
It would be great if that’s how things worked. Then we wouldn’t need to market planned gifts. In fact, if that’s how the world worked, we wouldn’t have to market anything. People would never need to be sold. They’d never need to be inspired or persuaded.
But, of course, that’s not how it works. Folks, it’s all about engagement!
Planned giving marketing should inspire people to seek out more information. And when they do, your organization needs to engage with them. You need to meet them half-way. You need to learn about their unique story. Why do they care?
It’s best to do this face-to-face or on the telephone. But who has the time? If you do, use it to build personal relationships. If you don’t, use technology to build relationships. Use email, personal letters and social media to engage with your prospects.
Once someone raises their hand, if you don’t engage with them personally or with marketing tools because they aren’t definitely ready to leave a gift… then shame on you.
Keep in mind that many planned gifts come from people who have never donated to your organization. And the average planned gift floats around $50,000 depending on who you ask. Now— if you think people will leave that kind of money for your organization in their will without engagement… well… you’re nuts! When it comes to gifts that drop out of the sky… the engagement actually started a long time ago without your knowledge.
So, if you’d like many MORE people to leave gifts, then you’d better engage with donors and non-donors alike.
Bottom line: Get people to raise their hands (lead generation). Then engage with them (cultivation) using polite, persistent, donor-centric marketing messages over time. Planned giving marketing is a marathon, not a sprint.
Tags: Direct Marketing, lead generation, marketing, online marketing, Planned Giving, Planned Giving Marketing, strategy
Posted in Cultivation, cultivation marketing, Donors, Fundraising, lead generation, marketing, Philosophy/motivation, Planned Giving, Planned giving, Planned Giving Marketing, strategy, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Sunday, October 21st, 2012
Most people think planned giving marketing is complicated. It isn’t. Here are some really simple suggestions for generating planned gifts.
1- Make your planned giving messages omnipresent. Be sure to employ all the free (or low-cost) marketing channels you have available to you. Just to name a few…
- The back of every employee’s and volunteer’s business cards
- The signature spot of every employee’s and volunteer’s email
- The organization’s letterhead, newsletter, magazine, website or e-newsletter
- Publications and signs at events
- Piggy-back inserts in your acknowledgement letters
2- Remember to use acquisition strategies. The marketing funnel in fundraising usually involves acquisition and cultivation strategies. Acquisition is expensive but necessary. And cultivation is where you get your best return on investment.
But when a fundraiser decides to engage in planned giving marketing, they quickly forget about acquisition and cultivation. Instead they try to figure out who is a likely planned giving prospect in their current database and they target those folks with letters or newsletters.
We have found that you can and should get people to raise their hands and show interest first with acquisition (lead generation) marketing efforts. Once you have done that, you will have a much better (albeit smaller) list for your cultivation efforts.
It’s important to recognize that anywhere from 20% to 50% of planned gifts come from people who have never made a donation to the organization that received the gift. That means that a lot of people could be worthwhile prospects who rarely get planned giving messages.
Acquire leads first. Get people to raise their hands! Do that with acquisition marketing.
3- Cultivate your leads. Once you have compelled donors and non-donors to raise their hands, you need to send them messages persistently. You never know when a life-changing event will occur. You’ll want to ensure that your message and case for support is always there at the top of their mind.
A planned gift is an investment in your organization. It’s a highly-considered gift. In for-profit marketing we call this kind of purchase an “enterprise purchase” or an “investment purchase”. People who plan gifts are investing a lot of money ($45,000 on average) in your organization’s ability to make an impact in a way the donor could never do on their own. They are making that investment so it occurs after their lifetime. It’s serious not spontaneous.
So, when it comes to marketing planned gifts, frequency and repetition are required over long periods of time. If you’ve done your acquisition marketing right, you’ll have a good list and your cultivation efforts will be very worthwhile.
4- Don’t forget the 80/20 rule. If 80% of planned gifts come in the form of bequests, then you should mention bequests most of the time. It’s that simple.
GEICO sells auto insurance. They also sell boat insurance, motorcycle insurance, RV insurance and more. But at least 80% of the time, their ads focus on auto insurance. They aren’t stupid. Follow their lead. Focus on bequests.
Tags: 80/20 rule, lead generation, leads, Planned Giving, Planned Giving Marketing
Posted in cultivation marketing, lead generation, Lead Generation/Nurturing, marketing, Planned Giving, Planned giving, Planned Giving Marketing, strategy, Uncategorized | No Comments »
Tuesday, September 4th, 2012
According to research by the University of Massachusetts, charities and higher education have a higher adoption rate for blogs than any other category. And that makes sense because blogs are a cost-effective way to tell stories and build a consistent emotional connection with constituents.
But how are nonprofits using blogs to generate planned gifts? Are they using them at all?
Let me know if I’m wrong about this, but I think it’s safe to say that we are the first firm to develop a new blog for a non-profit with a serious strategy for planned giving lead generation and cultivation. You can see it here.
Here’s our basic strategy:
- First it is important to note that, although the blog has a heavy planned giving tilt, it wasn’t created solely to generate planned giving leads but, rather, as part of a comprehensive communication/cultivation plan.
- Second, engaging donors and other interested audiences with current topics and relevant stories was the primary focus of the blog— not raising money.
- Third, reinforcing the mission of the organization came next.
- And finally, when it came time to ask for money, lead generation for planned gifts carried almost the same weight as the “ask” for donations.
So…. the blog was a part of our overall re-branding/communications strategy. We figured it would be a great way to expand engagement and information sharing in order to bring people closer to the mission. That’s why we launched it before any other piece of our re-branding effort!
To generate leads, we used a simple banner ad on the right promoting free estate planning guides as our hook.
How is it working for planned giving lead generation?
It’s really working very well. The small banner on the right side of the blog page has already generated several planned giving leads including some folks who said they are considering a gift. The site has only been up for about 1 week.
The verdict.
We all know that planned giving marketing needs to be ubiquitous. But not many organizations make it so because there are tons of other competing priorities. Folks, it’s not just about letters and emails anymore. Multi-channel planned giving marketing is here. Just be sure to recognize that it’s different. The leads will dribble in slowly and you must post new articles consistently over time.
These days donors want you to communicate with them in channels they prefer. Some donors simply like to read stories online using a blog. Fish where the fish are and make the planned giving message part of that space. I believe we are beginning to understand the future of planned giving marketing.
Here are some other things to think about if you decide to create a blog for your organization:
- Make sure the content is exceptional and worth reading
- Include calls to action
- Make use of “real” photos and videos (not staged or purchased)
- Tell stories about how your organization helps others to fulfill its mission (we need to work on this more)
- Be careful with the design… make it simple to search and navigate
- Convenient social sharing (we forgot this and will be adding it very soon)
You might also want to check out Mark Schaefer’s great examples of non-profit blogs here. None of them include a planned giving lead generation offer but it’s still a nice list.
Tags: Blog, Blogging, marketing, online marketing, Planned Giving, Planned Giving Marketing, strategy
Posted in Blogging, Communication, Fundraising, lead generation, marketing, Multi-channel marketing, Planned Giving, Planned giving, Planned Giving Marketing, strategy, Uncategorized | 3 Comments »
Wednesday, August 1st, 2012
After sending out hundreds of thousands of mailers and emails on behalf our our clients, running ads in their magazines and providing a whole bunch of other ways to generate leads over the past couple of years…. I am pleased to present the following charts.
Any surprises here?
Tags: Direct Marketing, lead generation, leads, Planned Giving, Planned Giving Marketing, results
Posted in lead generation, marketing, Multi-channel marketing, Planned Giving, Planned giving, Planned Giving Marketing | 2 Comments »
Sunday, March 25th, 2012
Why not create some postcards in bulk to save money and keep your marketing schedule consistent and on-track all year long?
Every Door Direct Mail from the U.S. Postal Service
While postcards are a form of direct mail, they are cheaper to produce and mail than full-blown direct mail packages or sales letters, and they are great for generating leads.
You can use them to drive traffic to your website or to a phone number to promote your offer. They are also a great way to stay in touch with your customers and prospects. We suggest you create 3-5 key messages emphasizing your unique selling points and competitive advantages. Then design and print them all at once dropping them in the mail every few weeks or so.
That will build awareness in a turnkey fashion. Create the plan once and just let it run all year long.
Plus, now you can get the postage down to about 18 cents each if you use the Post Office’s new service called Every Door Direct Mail. You’d have to deliver to every address on a route or in a zip code. But for many businesses, that’s exactly what is needed to flood a targeted geographic market with consistent offers, branding and reminders.
Tags: Direct Marketing, leads, marketing, website
Posted in Direct Marketing, lead generation, marketing, strategy | No Comments »
