1) The Planned Giving Blogger by Phyllis Freedman
http://www.smart-giving.com/plannedgivingblogger/
2) Planned Giving Breakthroughs by Lorri Greif
http://plannedgivingbreakthroughs.com/
3) Michael Rosen says by Michael Rosen
http://michaelrosensays.wordpress.com/
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:
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:
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.
Blogs are free. When tied to your website they offer a more engaging glimpse into your business, philosophies and expertise.
A blog is the easiest way to update content fast and often. One of the advantages of this is that Google and other search engines love websites that have frequently updated content.
At MarketSmart, we use our blog to help prospects and clients learn new ways to tie marketing and sales together to achieve greater ROI.
I’ve often had prospects recount what they’ve learned from our blog and how they appreciated an article post. I find that many prospects feel they know us even before our first meeting because they read our blog frequently.
Post comments on other blogs.
You can get noticed by interacting in the blogosphere with relevant, valuable comments. People will wonder who you are and follow you back to your website to engage.
Link your blog to your other profiles.
Make your blog the central point for all your other profiles such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. You can have your blog posts automatically added to these other sites to keep people in touch with what you are doing.
Get into Technorati.
Technorati.com is a free blog distribution service. With a few fairly simple steps, you can get “indexed” by the Technorati search engine. That way people who are searching for information about topics you have already written about can find your blog and engage.
Your website should be your most effective marketing tool for lead generation and education. The days of “online brochures” are gone.
At the very least, make sure your phone number is on every page of your site. But if you want to get the best results, be sure to add conversion opportunities such as:
• Sign up forms (offering a newsletter, notifications of special offers, etc. in exchange for their email address)
• Opportunity to download discount coupons
• Free report downloads
• Webinar invitations
• Ways for prospects to email you with questions
• A “chat now button” for online instant messaging questions
And be sure to tie your blog to your website. People want to be educated these days- not sold. Blogging helps to position yourself as an expert (or at least very knowledgeable) in your field. Plus tying your blog to your website helps increase the likelihood your site will move up in search engine rankings for keywords you use frequently in your posts and articles.
If you don’t have a blog and think you don’t have time to create one, think again. Almost 80% of our website traffic here at MarketSmart is generated by our blog. Often I meet people (face to face) for the first time and they recount blog articles they liked. Two weeks ago I ran into someone I hadn’t seen in 15 years and he commented that he liked my blog!
So, get blogging and make sure your site is set up to make it easy to convert visitors to leads.
I recently came across a company that creates blogs for home improvement service firms. They post two articles each week and to their clients’ blogs.
They have a video that promotes this “super-duper” service. It emphasizes how important it is to blog regularly. “Google LOVES frequent updates,” they say. “It’s important to blog frequently in order to get your business found,” they continue.
Well…. not so fast. They are right in one way. But they are very wrong in another.
BEWARE OF COOKIE-CUTTER blogging services!
Yes. Blogging is important. It’s an excellent way to update your website often. And, yes, Google does, indeed, like to see websites that are frequently updated because it signals that your site is active and therefore more likely to be relevant, engaging and valuable to humanity.
But here’s where the plan falls short. It’s not real! And you can only “fake it” for so long before people (and search engines) wise-up.
If you want your website to rank high in the organic search results, you can’t just throw up cookie-cutter blog articles. You can’t let someone who isn’t part of your business write it.
Google and the other search engines are smart. Their job is to help us (the searchers of the world) find stuff. Google’s job is to figure out what’s real and what’s a scam. Google will see that your blog is just like 20 other companies who are also buying the same copy and posting it online. They will be confused and/or (worse) they will downgrade your website in the search results.
Blogging is about offering valuable information to the rest of the world. It’s about giving without any hope of receiving. It’s about helping people.
It’s about personality, uniqueness, and distinction.
In the old days (two years ago), companies had to spend tons of money to carve-out their uniqueness with fancy ad campaigns and quirky concepts like clowns (McDonalds), cowboys (Marlboro), and guys dressed as fruit (Fruit of the Loom).
A blog is the perfect tool to create a unique selling proposition… a differentiator…. a competitive advantage for your company in the new era of marketing. A blog helps potential customers learn about you, your company, your staff, your philosophy.
We (at MarketSmart) use our blog to help humanity. But our strategy is also one that was created with the hope that prospective clients will read the blog to see that we’re real. We care. We understand stuff they don’t want to understand.
Also, we use our blog to help current clients keep up with the right way to engage in marketing and sales these days.
We do it because we like to do it. We do it because it helps the rest of the world.
And… of course, we know that Google likes helpful, useful, original content. We realize that drives traffic to our website and delivers leads through our conversion funnels. But first and foremost, we blog because it’s good for humanity.
So beware of cookie-cutter blogs. You can’t fool Google. And you can’t fool the world. Not for long at least. Attempting to “game the system” will only hurt you and your business in the long-run.
