Category: Marketing Revolution

The donor is the hero. Persuade with story, not statistics. Those are almost the only two things you need to know to be a great fundraiser. So I was surprised to see a blog about commercial marketing saying pretty much just that. About selling stuff, not about fundraising. The post, How to Make Story Your…

Do you delight your donors? Is that even possible? It might be. And the organizations that figure it out are going to get all the donors in the coming years. A good place to start is to watch businesses that are seeking to delight customers. As in this post on the Forbes.com Entrepreneurs blog: 6…

Everyone says it’s smart to be donor centric. Not everyone practices it. The Agitator points out that you aren’t donor centric is you don’t have the3 systems and people to give your donors excellent customer service: Is Your Organization Really Donor-Centric?… No more disrespecting the donor by turning ‘donor service’ over to an intern or…

Do you know about Warby Parker? It’s an online eyewear shop that has low prices and great customer service — one of the new breed of disruptive online businesses that’s changing the way a lot of things are bought and sold. You can tell they have something going by the number of Google hits that…

Probably the best way to be a better fundraiser is to think of your donors as heroes — and to treat them as such. Here are some hints from re:charity on how to do that, at 7 Ways To Be A Hero Donor Fundraiser: Write and design for donors Tell stories Inspire, don’t educate, your…

Some small things can make a big difference. Here’s a list of small things from Damn, I Wish I’d Thought of That: 7 things you’re already doing that could be more remarkable. Check it out: Your invoices Your pricing Your policies Your legalese Your user guides Your packaging Your business cards Fundraisers don’t have all…

At the Salesforce blog, insights from Amazon’s Jeff Bezos, a customer-service monster. 7 Customer Service Lessons from Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos (I’ve “nonprofitized: them): Don’t just listen to your donors, understand them. Surveys and focus groups are okay, but they don’t tell you a whole lot about what’s really going on. Watch donor behavior and…

The one type of marketing that kicks the stuffing out of direct marketing in effectiveness for cost is word-of-mouth marketing: People talking about you to other people they know. When word-of-mouth is pulling for your organization, you basically can raise money for free. (Not quite all the way free, but nearly so.) So why doesn’t…

From the Duct Tape Marketing Blog, The 5 Fastest Ways to Get More Referrals for Your Small Business: Just ask them to Focus on the first-timers Do something fantastic for the old-timers Always, always ask for feedback Learn to be great at saying “thank you” These things can also work for fundraisers. Getting a donor…

Here’s something you should do, from the Bright+3 Blog, at Pretending to be your donor: Do everything you want donors to do. Find out first-hand what it feels like to be one of them when they deal with you: Every user touch point sends a sharp signal to your supporters and potential supporters. It tells…