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A Meeting of the (Integrated Marketing) Minds

On March 23, the members of the IMAB convened for our first quarterly meeting since our kickoff last fall. A lot has transpired in the three months since the IMAB announced its new endeavor! We’re excited to share with you some of what’s to come in the next few months:

Welcome New IMAB Member
First, we’d like to welcome a new member to the IMAB. Vice President Mark Rhode has transitioned as our new representative from Russ Reid.

Blog Content Contributors
Do you have a case study about integrated marketing, or would you like to share your take on the IMAB pillars of “the donor,” “the organization” or “the practice”? If so, we’d love to hear from you. Send us a message, and we’ll talk scheduling!

2012 IMAB Integrated Marketing Awards
The IMAB is excited to announce our new 2012 IMAB Integrated Marketing Awards contest! Do you have a successful integrated campaign you’d like to highlight in the industry? Stay tuned for a special announcement with details about this first annual IMAB Integrated Marketing Awards. Each category winner will be featured at an industry conference later this year.

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Integrated Marketing -- It's Everywhere!

I don’t know how many of you have bought a car recently, but have you ever noticed that BEFORE you actually buy the car, you don’t really notice how many are on the road? And then once you own it, it seems as though every car that catches your eye is the very same one you thought was so unique? It’s uncanny. 

I’ve noticed the same phenomenon occurring when it comes to “Integrated Marketing.” It seemed when we kicked off the idea of the IMAB back in October 2011, there were lots of people talking about this topic, but the actual number of good case studies and thoughtful research were few and far between. But seemingly overnight every publication I pick up is featuring great content. 

But unlike my car example, when you are depressed realizing that every car looks like yours, I view this as a  GREAT development, because we all know there’s no cornering the market on a great, innovative idea, and you never get tired of seeing more.

This month's Fundraising Success cover story, “Healthy Fundraising” features two organizations in the health field that have both seen some amazing results with recent multi-channel, integrated marketing campaigns. In the spirit of full disclosure, I’m proud to say that CaringBridge is a Convio client, so of course I am thrilled to see their work showcased, knowing that Convio has some small part in powering it. The second organization, HealthConnect One (not a Convio client, but now they are on my prospect list) provides an interesting twist on the definition of “channel” – by viewing their Board of Directors as just that – and putting that channel to work. Be sure to read the article to see how both these organizations got spectacular results out of both these multi-channel, integrated efforts.

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Donors are Adopting Channels Faster than We Are

Email, Facebook, Twitter, mobile… Nonprofits should communicate using all the channels that donors use -- this will keep donors connected and increase each donor’s value to the organization. 

At the same time, new media channels present new opportunities. Growth of social media and mobile has been rapid, even among seniors, who make up a majority of the donor base for most nonprofits. Consider this:

• Smartphone use is growing all the way up the age demographic:
• 13% of all seniors (65+ years of age) have a smartphone.
• 32% of adults 55-64 and 44% of adults 45-54 have smartphones, and they’re not likely to give them up as they mature into their prime giving years*. 
• Remember, five years ago zero percent of adults had smartphones.
• Smartphone users do lots more than talk and text:
• 84% of smartphone users access the Internet on their phone.
• 76% send and receive email.
• 59% access social media.
• More than 50% shoot, send, receive and watch photos and videos and post them to online social media on their phones.
• 37% do some online banking on their phones (this indicates a willingness to use the device to conduct financial transactions like donations)**. 

So what does all of this mean? Here are three steps you can take now to ride this wave of new media while using all the channels that donors are using:

1. Use each channel to support the other:
• Improve your email performance by combining your email messaging with your social media presence. Use snippets of your email content to create Facebook posts and Twitter tweets.
• On the outer envelope of mail to prospect lists, print a QR code (an image readable by a smartphone) that links to a mobile-optimized web page (one that will show neatly on a cell phone). That page could continue the story you tell in the letter, and offer the assurances a potential new donor needs that their money will be well spent. It should include a link to a donation page that is also mobile-optimized.
2. Gently tease donors to cross channels. They may not stick with the one they first used to connect with you, so encourage them to connect via another channel.
3. Always try to tie all your donor data together into one donor record: postal address, email, home phone, mobile phone, Twitter handle, whether they are a Facebook fan. This will help you segment your file, but also will help you to validate the added value of contact through each of these channels. Amergent’s Vital Signs Analysis™ of clients’ donor files indicates that donors who have provided an email address to the organization give more often, and at a higher amount, than their cohorts without an email address. The result is usually two or two-and-one-half times the total donor value. This proves that it pays to converse with your donors across multiple channels.

Would you like more ideas? Submit your comments/questions, and Rick Christ will reply. 

 

*Pew Internet: “Nearly half of American adults are smartphone owners” Mar 1, 2012

**Pew Internet: “Americans and Their Cell Phones”   Aug 15, 2011

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From the Field: 2 Integrated Marketing Case Studies

We’re all clear on the fact that integrated marketing is the way to go for nonprofits -- build relationships with your supporters through various channels of communication to reinforce and further spread your message. What’s not always clear is exactly how to integrate complicated messages or campaigns across multiple channels of communication.

Here are two case studies in which Avalon did just that:

League of Women Voters

Longtime Avalon client, the League of Women Voters, presented us with a unique challenge during the nationwide health-care debate. When a sham copycat organization began launching misleading ads that distorted the League’s position on health care reform, we hit back with a rapid-response, multi-channel emergency appeal that rallied donors and produced off-the-charts fundraising results.

In less than 24 hours, we transformed a phone campaign that was already in progress into an “emergency appeal” to all League donors and activists. Simultaneously, we developed an “urgent alert” direct mail package requesting emergency contributions to help fight the attacks. Finally, we launched a multiple-email campaign that rallied donors to take action by showing support for healthcare reform, exposing misinformation in the media, and making a financial contribution toward the League’s efforts.

For more details, read the full case study.

Farm Sanctuary

Farm Sanctuary, an animal advocacy organization, came to Avalon late in the year with an ambitious plan to increase the number of animals it would save in the coming year. The new plan required an equally ambitious fundraising approach to fund the increased services. And, the approach had to generate new donors, while appealing to existing donors to ramp up their giving. Our campaign strategy was three-fold:

1. increase contact frequency
2. maximize multi-channel communications
3. emphasize urgency

We capitalized on the effectiveness of year-end appeal timing -- expanding our approach to a dove-tailed series of emails and mailings that included a matching-gift opportunity with a deadline -- with spectacular results. Prior to Avalon’s involvement, year-end fundraising communications had been limited to one direct mail piece and one email. This time, we timed the direct mail appeal and a first email appeal to arrive at the same time, followed by two additional email efforts over two weeks. Farm Sanctuary was also able to secure a matching gift challenge with a year-end deadline, which we were able to leverage for added urgency.

For more details, read the full case study.

These are just a couple of quick examples of integrated marketing campaigns from the nonprofit field. What are yours?

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The Three Pillars of Integrated Marketing

Fundraising in the 21st century is more demanding and more diverse. Donors of all ages  (from Gen Y to Matures) use all channels to make all levels of donations to the organizations they care about. The studies – and anecdotes all of us are hearing – point to an integrated fundraising environment that’s come a wee bit too quickly and we’re struggling to keep up. That’s why the Integrated Marketing Advisory Board has come together: to help the charitable sector accelerate its preparation, planning, and execution of integrated fundraising.

There’s no doubt that donors already expect an integrated marketing experience from the charities they support. It’s clear that we need to get our act together, now. But with limited budgets, human resources, and internal skill sets, how does a charitable organization quickly and effectively move to a more integrated marketing approach?

It starts with knowledge.

After some discussion, the members of the Integrated Marketing Advisory Board have tried to simplify the creation, collection, and dissemination of knowledge on integrated marketing by creating three pillars:

• The Donor. Every charitable organization now needs to ensure that their marketing approach accomplishes two key things: (1) to deepen the relationship through integrated marketing with existing (and often slightly older) donors; and (2) to find and engage new (and often younger) donors. So, in many ways, you are trying to maintain, while at the same time slowly reinvent your donor base. How can integrated marketing deepen relationships through improved and interconnected stewardship and cultivation plans? This is some of what the Donor Pillar will investigate.


• The Organization. Every charitable organization needs to ensure that there is alignment between systems, structure, culture and strategy to make integrated marketing truly successful. How does a charitable organization best integrate people, technology, business rules, and organizational structure to create an environment that will let integrated marketing thrive? This is some of what The Organization Pillar will look at.


• The Practice. Every charitable organization learns by looking at other organizations. With limited budgets, the value of case studies is heighted in the charitable sector and that’s why one pillar will be committed to case studies. We will strive to publish successes and failures in integrated marketing (both commercial and charitable) to help organizations better prepare themselves for their own integrated marketing efforts. This is some of what the Practice Pillar will look at.

But none of this will work without the input of passionate, knowledgeable partners beyond the Integrated Marketing Advisory Board. I’m urging everyone in our sector to look at these three pillars and think of how they can contribute, and send an email to one of the three pillar ambassadors. They’d love to hear from you and will find a way for you to contribute material:

Michael Johnston, President, hjc
416-588-7780 ext. 210
mjohnston@hjcnewmedia.com

Chris McKinley, Vice President of Strategy, Grizzard
404-935-7735
chris.mckinley@grizzard.com

Katy Dubina, Online Marketing Account Manager, CDR Fundraising Group
301-858-1500 ext. 2202
kdubina@cdrfg.com

I assure you that every IMAB member is working on their contributions and thanks you in advance for reading the ongoing contributions and thinking of contributing yourself.

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© 2014 Integrated Marketing Advisory Board. All Rights Reserved
The individuals who post here are members of the Integrated Marketing Advisory Board. The opinions expressed here are their own, are not necessarily reviewed in advance by anyone but the individual authors, and neither Convio nor any other member of the Integrated Marketing Advisory Board necessarily agrees with them.