Making the connection with direct mail
The world of direct marketing is changing at a rapid pace. Ask people what they mean by direct marketing, and many people will answer: “It’s about driving a response.” But everything does that nowadays, right? At least everything in the digital space.
Fundamentally, direct marketing for charities is about making a valuable connection – with supporters and would be supporters. It’s about creating a valuable connection for the charity: starting and nurturing a relationship with a supporter who can help not only with shorter term donations, but with advocacy, legacies and other valuable support longer term.
But it should also be about supporters making a valuable connection for them, with a charity which is true to their own personal values, and which treats them with the value and respect that they deserve.
So, how do you go about creating valuable connections?
Be doormat delightful
Charity direct mail has had its reputation knocked somewhat recently. However, its role remains as relevant as ever. Not just for reaching older traditional supporters, but as a means to engage other supporters for whom receiving a letter is a welcome surprise that deserves attention. People who are used to email as the standard relish a well crafted piece of direct mail landing on their doormat.
Be personal
Valuable long term relationships usually flourish the more you get to know someone. If you were meeting someone in a professional context, you’d usually check them out on LinkedIn and create an initial connection in that first conversation about the person you both used to work/drink/skydive with. It should be the same in direct marketing.
With cold acquisition communications, the more personal you can be upfront – proving that you have a common personal connection – the better.
Whether it’s recognising that they are mums, cat lovers, or that they live a geographical area connected to your cause, the more data you can use to create a deeper personal connection in your creative the more likely you are to elicit a response.
For example, a recent direct mail campaign for Women For Women International targeted successful professional women. Research showed that they like to nurture younger women to "give something back". So the creative spoke to them in a business context and they were sent a business card.
The front of the card bore the name ESTHER MUKUNDE and her "title": WIDOW, GENOCIDE SURVIVOR, ILLITERATE. And on turning the card around, recipients saw Esther’s "title" change to: BUSINESS OWNER, EMPLOYER, INSPIRATION. This highly targeted approach, using a genuine insight about the audience, created a personal connection.
Be timely
Don’t just think: "When is the best time for us to run a campaign?" Instead think: "When is the best time for my (would be) supporter?"
Maybe it’s something that has happened in their lives that makes them ripe for a particular message – for example, they’ve moved house, and might be more willing to think about homelessness, in the context of how lucky they are. Or they’ve recently come back from a Mediterranean holiday…a good time to talk to them about the refugee crisis.
Buying external data from lists, or using socially derived data, is more expensive than relying on your own, but might give you a bigger return on investment.
Be culturally relevant
Another way of being timely, is to be in the moment, culturally.
For instance, commercial companies see real impact when they use weather triggered email campaigns. For example, when the sun comes out in summer (retail direct mailers benefit) and when weather does its worst in winter (insurance direct mailers benefit).
The trick is to create your own bank of triggered communications (you can be fairly sure it will be rainy at some point!) so you’re ready to hit the button on your "imagine being homeless in this weather" messaging.
Not everything has to be triggered. Simply thinking about a cultural context calendar can help create more connections. Think about what is happening in the wider world that can help you leverage your message. It’s school holiday time: "not every child wants to be at home during the holidays". It’s the weekend the clocks change: "another hour in bed isn’t a treat when you’re sleeping in a cardboard box".
This is where direct mail can play more of a role, as you’re able to plan further ahead and land impactful messaging just at the right time.
Be nimble
As well as planning to be culturally spontaneous, anything charities can do to be as nimble as possible in reacting to what’s in the news, the better. This isn’t just about aid charities reacting quickly to crisis (something they thrive on); it’s about being able to ride the news wave.
For example, a news item breaks about (please not yet another) a local council where child exploitation has been rife. What better time to contact supporters in that geographical area for help?
Be respectful
In today’s environment, where the charity industry is very much under scrutiny, it really is vital that we give supporters the respect they’re due. Gentle reminders are one thing, but can all too easily tip into regular bullying if appropriate limits aren’t set on the frequency of comms.
Using "air traffic control" to ensure that would-be donors aren’t over-emailed, creating prioritisation rules around who gets what, and when are good aims for individual charities. Wouldn’t it be something if charities could get together to air traffic control their collective communications?
Be mindful of your medium
Use your channels to their best effect. SMS can be precision timed. Email can be the first stepping stone on an immersive journey. Direct mail can be tactile, interactive, and dramatic. Thinking about how the individual channel works best, not simply replicating messaging and approach across a range of channels, will create more impactful communications and more response.
Direct mail can be used to deliver branded reminders to respond. Instead of the usual hackneyed pens, how about delivering useful items that help deliver the core message?
Delivering useful items
Refuge created a campaign called "Slap" where they sent cover-up make up to women, to dramatise the fact that 1 in 4 women will be subject to domestic violence in their lives, and that the recipient would probably know someone who may be covering it up, who would be living in fear of domestic violence right at that moment.
Another great example is National Trust which created a mailing designed to get kids away from the TV set (or tablet) and go out and do something less boring instead. They were encouraged to take a night-time safari, taking a walk into the countryside.
Parents were sent a magic poster for their kids’ walls that comes alive when it gets dark, just as nature does. Using phosphorescent ink (the very ink the Highways Agency uses to get things noticed) the daytime scene transforms, as the night falls and the moon appears.
Beyond signing up to donate
Direct mail can also play a role in encouraging a response beyond signing up to donate. A blank piece of paper can be a place for the recipient to send a personal message, to write down exactly why they want to make a legacy, or to draw how they would feel if they were in the victim’s situation.
World Vision, with their Grow Hope campaign, used direct mail to allow regular sponsors to write a letter of encouragement to their individual sponsored child, to encourage children that vegetables aren’t "poor man’s food".
Be surprising
Charity direct marketing can be mind-numbingly formulaic. Of course there are tried and trusted techniques, audience groups who always perform better, channels and channel mixes that have designed roles. But, as with all direct marketing, if you don’t try something new, you’ll never move forward. Yes, your money is precious, but you will never unlock growth if you don’t test new things.
Whether it’s creating a bit of doormat drama, or trying a dramatically more personal approach, you should always be thinking about your bank of best hypotheses that you want to test.
Be results focused
Last and not least, brimming with ideas about new things to try, make sure you know the effect of your forays into the new. Test and learn. Try and understand. Measure and identify. Track the ROI and understand attitudinal impact. Make sure you know exactly how your new activities are (and equally important, are not) working. Because that’s the only way you’re going to get even better.
Embracing change
Making valuable connections requires a spirit that embraces change. By investing in more engaging and personal direct marketing techniques, charities can get closer to their supporters and create more reciprocal relationships. This is ultimately a smarter and more valuable way to fundraise.
