Hyperbole: the most important fundraising lesson you’ll ever learn

Marketing and fundraising are funny. You have to cut through a lot of informational clutter in the lives of the people you’re trying to reach. The only way to get their attention is to make a compelling promise. Show them you have something they want and need. Make sure they understand how important it is to them.

That’s what FundRaising Success was doing a few weeks ago. You can read about it at Margaret Battistelli’s blog, at A Personal Apology.

Apology? Well, they sent out a promotional email for their FundRaising Success Virtual Conference with the subject line: The most important link you’ll ever click..

Okay, there’s no way that’s the most important link you’ll ever click. It’s probably not even the most important link you’ll click that day, or even that morning.

The subject line is pure hyperbole. Margaret apologized because she recognized the complete vacuity of it.

But I want to cut Margaret some slack on that subject. Here’s why: Whenever you sell anything (and that includes fundraising), you must enter a mindset where you believe the hyperbole. If you don’t, you will write weak, equivocal copy that won’t cut through the clutter and won’t be effective.

In fact, that’s one of the most common causes of poor fundraising copy: The writer is thinking, “Here’s yet another same-old fundraising ask.” Instead, they should be thinking, “This is incredible. Important. World-changing. I’ve got to get everybody to say yes to this!” Everything you write with the intention of motivating people to action should have that sense of awe behind it. It should never be business as usual. Even when it’s business as usual.

I’m not saying you should send out fundraising full of unsupportable hyperbole. That’s not good marketing either. It’s not believable, and thus undermines all your credibility.

Your first draft should be littered with outrageous hyperbole. Your final draft should have none.