Integrated Marketing Awards: Show Us Your Stuff!
Do you have a case study of integrated marketing success that you’d like to share with the industry? Now is your chance to show us your stuff!
In the spirit of the IMAB’s mission to share best practices for integrated marketing in the nonprofit industry, we’ve established an annual contest for case studies. The IMAB recognizes and showcases innovative and demonstrated success in three established pillars of integrated marketing: the donor, the organization and the practice.
- The Donor: Demonstrate how your organization’s integrated marketing campaign or program had an impact on donor satisfaction and the donor experience.
- The Organization: Explain how an effort across your entire organization demonstrates alignment of strategy, structure, culture and skills to showcase integrated marketing efforts.
- The Practice: Include a real-world case study that highlights best practices in the field of integrated marketing.
The call for entries is now open.
Nominate a nonprofit organization with exemplary success in integrated marketing. Three winners will be announced at the 7th Annual Bridge to Integrated Marketing & Fundraising Conference, August 7–9, 2012, in Washington, D.C.
Be sure to nominate an organization for the 2012 IMAB Integrated Marketing Awards soon! Deadline for entries: July 10, 2012. The IMAB will review each nomination, select winners and present the awards.
Share, Like and Post | | Article Link | CommentIntegrated Campaign Equals Fundraising Results
The value of case studies is heighted in the charitable sector, where budgets are limited. That’s why the IMAB has identified one pillar of integrated marketing as “The Practice” -- helping organizations look at how other organizations are putting integrated marketing into practice to help better prepare themselves for their own integrated marketing efforts. Here’s one example of integrated marketing in the real world:
The Organization 
Established in 1988, the Sea Shepherd Conservation Society (Sea Shepherd) exists to end the destruction of habitat and slaughter of wildlife in the world’s oceans. Sea Shepherd’s heroic direct action teams investigate, document, and interfere with the slaughter of whales and other marine life.
Harvey McKinnon Associates (HMA) worked with Sea Shepherd to develop their donor direct mail program, and recruited hjc to help build a personal fundraising campaign around the Sea Shepherd’s Be a Whale Warrior campaign. The campaign builds on the popularity of the "Whale Wars" reality TV show (which follows Sea Shepherd ships as they patrol the seas protecting whales from hunters).
The Challenge
Encourage donors to do their own fundraising for the Be a Whale Warrior campaign, using Sea Shepherd’s existing online platform for personal fundraising pages.
The Solution
Together the HMA/hjc team came up with the “Be a Whale Warrior” concept, and pulled together an integrated campaign that included multiple communication channels. We set up and configured Sea Shepherd’s online platform to support the multi-channel approach, and then created a schedule and framework for multiple communications with donors. We coordinated thank-you and “encouragement” calls with a leading telemarketing provider, and set up and sent a series of donor emails.
The Results
The results of this integrated campaign speak for themselves: Sea Shepherd raised $30,000 in net income, with over 3,000 personal fundraising pages created by supporters. Many donations were from first-time donors, a great step in increasing their donor file.
Share, Like and Post | | Article Link | CommentAn Example of Truly Integrated Fundraising
Harvey McKinnon Associates and hjc's work with TVO (Ontario’s public television station) provides a perfect example of truly integrated fundraising that just might inspire you. Beloved by its loyal viewers, TVO is public television in Ontario -- and has been for 40 years. TVO challenges, informs, educates and entertains -- believing that television can be a powerful force for good.
The Challenge
When we began work with TVO, they had suffered a loss of donors since 2005, and a significant drop in the Lifetime Value of their remaining donors. Second gift conversion rates had plummeted, and renewal rates were down. Stewardship was faltering, and donors were less and less engaged with the organization.
The Solution
- Through a combination of mail, online and telephone work, the HMA/hjc “Team TVO” led by Chris Carter reignited donor interest. We also have deeply integrated social media into the mix.
- We launched a new donor cultivation tool, the Impact Report, which keeps supporters up to date on how their donations have been spent, and makes them feel part of a wider TVO Community.
- We launched a Symbolic Giving program online and through mail and DRTV spots. We combined the mail and telephone to focus on donor cultivation, bringing in an industry-leading call centre to handle inbound fundraising calls outside of regular hours. We also developed a multi-channel (mail, phone, and online) renewal strategy, and a re-branded monthly donor program.
- We laid the groundwork for the introduction of new integrated fundraising channels such as face to face, and initial steps into on-air direct fundraising.
The Results
Quarter by quarter, TVO’s income was up between 26 to 40% over the previous year, and our happy client enjoyed their best quarter since 2006. With the work of stabilization and significant testing almost complete, TVO is now well-positioned to move forward into a serious expansion phase.
What’s important about this case study?
The results, of course. But also that TVO was looking for a single agency to develop and implement a multi-channel strategy. Although HMA and hjc are two separate companies, we joined forces and our Strategic Lead on their account (Chris Carter) led the HMA and hjc teams to provide seamless project management from some of our sector’s best multi-channel fundraisers.
Multi-Channel Engagement Pays Quantifiable Dividends
This post was written by Vinay Bhagat, Founder and Chief Strategy Officer from Convio.
Most nonprofits today are engaged in some form of multi-channel marketing, yet to date, most integrated marketing measurement efforts remain pretty immature. Working with one of our clients, CARE, Convio has completed a deep dive into multi-channel metrics. This report follows on from the first study on multi-channel engagement we completed in 2007. Our key findings are as follows:
- Multi-channel engagement pays off: Donors giving both online and through traditional offline channels demonstrated the highest annual financial value, returning on average 46 percent more than donors giving only through direct mail.
- Acquisition sources drive differing values: Online acquired donors have a higher frequency of giving if they only give online, but are less likely than traditional offline acquired donors to give frequently if they are a dual channel donor. Donors originating as online donors have much higher annual value than donors who originate as activists.
- More migration online to offline than vice versa: 10 percent of online acquired donors give offline, whereas less than 2 percent of offline acquired donors give online. This phenomenon is likely best explained by treatment strategies deployed and differences in life stage. However, his does not take into consideration prospects receiving direct mail that chose to give online instead of responding by mail.
- Online acquired donors who cross over to activism give more frequently: Online donors who cross over to advocacy give 46 percent more often. This suggests they are excellent candidates for monthly giving.
- Channel behavior correlates strongly with age: Not surprisingly, 60 – 90 year olds are predominately offline donors. In fact, 78 percent of offline only donors are over 60 years of age, whereas 76 percent of online only donors are under the age of 60. Dual channel donors split the difference, 50 percent of them are over/under 60.
Integrating Channels to Spark Hot Monthly Giving Programs
No doubt, a robust monthly giving program provides many benefits. And when nonprofits are looking for an area in which to focus investments around integrating channels and campaigns, monthly sustainer recruitment is one that can see a big payoff from a well-integrated and multi-channel program.
One great example of a successful, integrated monthly giving program is PETA’s Investigations and Rescue Fund. PETA, founded in 1980, is the largest animal rights group in the world with over 3 million members and supporters. The Investigations and Rescue Fund is one of their key initiatives, with the investigations and rescues leading to some of PETA’s greatest successes and public relations events. And for those that might ask, yes this monthly sustainer program is restricted income. The donors that join know exactly what the money goes toward with this program, and like most donors, they like knowing how their investment is being spent.
Success Factors:
- Building program that engages around the core mission
- Building a program offering donors the choice to respond in the way they prefer
- Campaign/message integration across multiple channels
- Giving the opportunity to join immediately following first gift, and again throughout the year
- Segmenting donors to optimize relevant messaging
- Month-long online campaign dedicated to monthly giving conversion
Campaign Results
- Over 18,000 current monthly donors
- Month-long online sustainer campaign increased organic monthly sustainers signups by 100%
Multiple Channels: Telephone, Online, Direct Mail, DRTV
PETA’s Investigations and Rescue Fund has both “rolling” telemarketing sustainer recruitment, as well as a one-month online campaign focused solely on recruitment. Both reflect a tightly integrated campaign across multiple channels, offering up the opportunity at the right time and allowing the donor to act via the channel they prefer. It also provides a venue for their most avid supporters to step up immediately and join in the group’s core mission. Building a program around donor preferences and one that engages in the core mission, are crucial for success of sustainer giving programs. And, speaking directly to over 25 monthly cultivation segments helps PETA get the message and details just right.
- Direct Mail: The rolling recruitment starts within one month of joining PETA as a first time donor. In the mail, a donor receives the acknowledgement of and thank you for their gift, as well as information on and an invitation to join the Investigations and Rescue Fund.
- Phone: The other cornerstone channel in the rolling recruitment campaign is the telephone. In addition to the direct mail acknowledgement that hits within the first 30 days, periodic telephone calls are made throughout the year, with a focus on sustainer giving…although keeping the options still open for that second/third/fourth gift is advisable for those not wishing to become monthly supporters.
- Online: More recently, online elements have been added to support the rolling campaigns, and over the past couple of years, a dedicated month-long online campaign focused on
monthly giving was added as well. As a result, online monthly sustainers are the faster growing segment of the program. Online elements that support the rolling campaign include monthly giving opt-in options on donation pages, renewal emails, and custom URL links for offline campaigns. During the month-long campaign, additional online elements include a call out on PETA’s homepage, dedicated landing pages, Facebook advertising, and a dedicated email campaign series around the Investigations and Rescue Fund. - DRTV: And last but not least, DRTV. And it’s one of my favorites for those with the budget. But what I really love about this DRTV spot is how it was re-used online as part of an email and viral social campaign. The original spot ended up being banned and labeled too graphic for many major networks. So, while the spot didn’t measure up to Director of Development Steve Kehrli’s expectations in raising revenue via DRTV itself since the airings were cut significantly, his decision to let us build a great online campaign to their email constituents around the “Banned from TV” video online is a reminder –- if you have DRTV video assets, see where else you can use them!
The above information was authored based on a presentation by Mwosi Swenson (Donordigital) and Steve Kehrli (PETA) that was given at the most recent BRIDGE conference.
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