1

Heartstrings and Pursestrings

Best practices in nonprofit marketing and annual
giving fundraising

Presented by:
Tom Abrahamson Shelley Goode
Managing Director & Principal Vice President
1899 L Street NW, Suite 850
200 South Michigan Avenue, 16th
Floor Washington, D.C. 20036
Chicago, IL 60604 Phone: 202.457.8100
312.356.8000
tabrahamson@lipmanhearne.com sgoode@lipmanhearne.com
www.lipmanhearne.com
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What keeps you up at

night?
3 Agenda

What we’ll talk about today

• Essentials of branding
• Understanding and reaching the new consumers
• How do I get viral?
• Annual giving best practices
4

“Give me more angels and make them gladder to see me.”

5

Some branding essentials

6 Branding essentials

“Branding is not about getting your

prospect to choose you over your
competition; it's about getting your
prospect to see you as the only
solution."

--Rob Frankel
7 Branding essentials

What is a brand
• Harley Davidson =
• Starbucks =
• FedEx =
• MIT =
• ________________ =
8 Branding essentials

A brand is not
• A vision statement
• A mission statement
• A logo
• A tagline
• An ad
9 Branding essentials

A brand is
• a shortcut for making decisions
• what people say about you when you are not in the
room
• a promise expressed as a benefit
• Both logical and emotional
10 Branding essentials

A more complex view:

Everybody has a personal narrative.

Everybody has aspirations.
Everybody wants something.

•How can you brand your institution to be the answer to

their needs – even if not fully voiced?
•How can your brand stimulate the desired action?
•How can your institution be the hero in their narrative?
11 Branding essentials

Every strong brand is a hero in someone’s narrative

•Volvo protects my family

•Red Cross helps me in a disaster
•Disneyland offers good clean fun
•Republicans cut my taxes
• ________________ =
12 Branding essentials

What unique value does your institution

provide?
•What do you do better?
•What do you do differently?
•For whom do you do it?
•How does that difference meet your audiences’
interests?
13 Branding essentials

Key branding challenges

•Making the intangible concrete and meaningful
•Differentiating the quality/benefit of your service
•Every encounter a “moment of truth”
•Internal awareness of external impact
•Fulfilling the brand promise
14 How it all comes together
15

Reaching the new

consumers
16 Their media is fragmented and complex

1960 2006
Mass Media, Matures Mass Media, Evolves
Magazine 5.4 Billion
TV channels titles: pages indexed
TV channels Magazine
per home: 8,400 by Yahoo!:
per home: titles:
5.7 82.4 17,300

Radio
stations: Internet Radio
4,400 broadcast Stations:
stations: 13,500.
25,000+

Source: Yahoo! State of the Union 2006

17 Meet the new consumers

New consumers…

•A sense of ownership
•Demand relevance
•Expect invitation
•Reject interruption
•Want value convenience, portability, accessibility
•Want the new, new thing
18 Meet the new consumers

Mindboggling options for staying informed and

connected

Source: 2006 W2 Group Inc.

19 Meet the new consumers

Behavioral tracking

User visits pre- Behavioral Targeting User is anonymously Behaviorally

defined sites Index (BTI) applied tagged targeted ads served
20 Meet the new consumers

Does this frighten you?

http:www.aclu.org/pizza/images/screen.swf
21
Meet the new consumers

New gets old fast

Banner ads Evolving

Click-thru rates Diminishing

Email Spam

Pop-ups Blocked

Social Networking Portals/Niche

... and (for the under-30’s), print/snail mail is new and novel
 22 Meet the new consumers

Communications must be:

• Authentic
• Positive
• Respectful
• Respectable
• Motivational
• Goal-focused

Source: www.generationsatwork.com
23 Meet the new consumers

Among the challenges

• Develop or reinforce a “famous brand” with

broadscale and localized advertising

• Dose level must be adequate to be seen and heard

(e.g., TRP’s)

• Multi-channel approach
• Activating word of mouth “influentials”
• Must cut through the clutter
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Viral Marketing:
a short-course
25 Viral marketing

“A marketing phenomenon that

facilitates and encourages people
to pass along a marketing
message.”

Source: http://www.marketingterms.com
26 Viral marketing

In a few short
generations, a virus
can explode.
27 Viral marketing

Elements of a Viral Marketing Strategy

1. Gives away valuable products or services

2. Provides for effortless transfer to others
3. Scales easily from small to very large
4. Exploits common motivation and behaviors
5. Utilizes existing communication networks
6. Takes advantage of others’ resources
“FUN, EASY, POPULAR”

Source: Ralph F. Wilson, E-mail Marketing and Online Marketing editor, Web Marketing Today, 2/1/2000 &
http://www.clickz.com/showPage.html?page=837511
28 Viral marketing

1. Gives away valuable products or services

• “Free” will generate a wave of interest

• May not profit today
• Act as a “Driver”

Source: Ralph F. Wilson, E-mail Marketing and Online Marketing editor, Web Marketing Today, 2/1/2000
29 Viral marketing

Example: Sunflower Markets

Let it Grow!

http://www.sunflowermarkets.com

The store opened and beat its forecasted sales by 24

percent, and its actual perTemplates
Text purchaser goals by 67 percent.
30 Viral marketing

Section Breaker Format

Text Templates
31 Viral marketing

2. Provides for effortless transfer to others

• Viruses spread when easy to transmit

• Digital Format
• Simple Message

Source: Ralph F. Wilson, E-mail Marketing and Online Marketing editor, Web Marketing Today, 2/1/2000
32 Viral marketing

Example: Monk-E-mail (CareerBuilder.com)

Feel like you’re working in an office with co-

workers who exhibit a less-then-desirable work
ethic? ----Find a better job.

http://www.careerbuilder.com/monk-e-
mail/Default.aspx?cbRecursionCnt=1&cbsid=8348b9d491
574efaaaaabd694db29ad7-234275652-JT-5
33 Viral marketing

3. Scales easily from small to very large

• Little financial investment

• Plan ahead to accommodate increase of visitors

Source: Ralph F. Wilson, E-mail Marketing and Online Marketing editor, Web Marketing Today, 2/1/2000
34 Viral marketing

Example: Bookcrossing.com

Read, Register and Release

http://www.bookcrossing.com/
35 Viral marketing

4. Exploits common motivations and behaviors

• Understand what drives your audience

• Fit the needs of your specific communication

Source: Ralph F. Wilson, E-mail Marketing and Online Marketing editor, Web Marketing Today, 2/1/2000
36 Viral marketing

Example: Global RichList

How rich are you?
See where you place on the “Rich List”

http://www.globalrichlist.com/
37 Viral marketing

5. Utilizes existing communication networks

• Each person has a network of 8 to 12 close

friends, family and associates
• Internet relationships exist as well

Source: Ralph F. Wilson, E-mail Marketing and Online Marketing editor, Web Marketing Today, 2/1/2000
38 Viral marketing

Example: Sixdegrees.org
Use the game “Six Degrees to Kevin
Bacon” on AIM WebPages.

Display to all your friends that

you’ve made a donation.

http://www.sixdegrees.org/

http://www.marketingsherpa.com/viralawards2007/7.html
39 Viral marketing

6. Takes advantage of others’ resources

• Place text or links on others’ websites

• Someone else's newsprint or webpage is relaying
your marketing message
• Send articles/press releases that support your
message

Source: Ralph F. Wilson, E-mail Marketing and Online Marketing editor, Web Marketing Today, 2/1/2000
40 Viral marketing

Example: Fafarazzi.com

Enjoy fantasy football leagues

and celebrity gossip?

Fafarazzi.com utilizes social

networks and links to other blogs
as part of their marketing
campaign.
http://www.fafarazzi.com/index.php
41 Viral marketing

Some advice on better “viral”

•Ask yourself… What is driving people to your sites and

getting them to come back?
•Celebrity endorsements can work
•Contests are popular
•Interactivity on sites a must
•Target your audience
•Be creative!
•Viral marketing shouldn’t be expensive. Keep it cheap,
keep it uncontrolled
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Some examples of brand

“activation”
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Get at the real motivation

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Get bold
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Differentiate
It could be a downtown
that needs more trees.
Or a remote village that
needs fresh water.
Whenever a local Lions
club gets to work,
problems get smaller.
And communities get
better. That’s the power
of organized good.
Find out more at
lionsclubs.org/roar.
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Take a stand
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Surprise them
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The Annual Fund

Catalyst for change

or…
organizational burden?
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Making the Assessment

50 The Annual Fund

Annual Giving should:

•Promote introductory giving*
•Reach large groups of individuals*
•Promote loyal giving
•Be efficient and cost effective*
•Minimize the intrusion into a donor/prospect’s life*
•Reinforce the institutional brand
•Be donor focused
•Encourage evaluation and assessment

*Source: Taking Control of Your Annual Fund - Lawrence Henze

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Now what?
52 The Annual Fund

A philosophical approach to Annual Giving

•Institutional “salary” (Internal Focus)

•Club Med for prospects and donors (External Focus)
53 The Annual Fund

Creating a dynamic Annual Giving Culture:

•Soliciting donors when they like to give builds loyalty

•Build gift clubs based on loyalty. . .not just donation size
•Test annual giving messages through segmented and
targeted appeals
•Don’t always ask for money

Source: Taking Control of Your Annual Fund – Lawrence Henze

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The special event …

friend or foe?
55 The Annual Fund

Infrastructure:
•Understanding staffing capacity
•When do you use outside counsel?
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Letters of Appeal
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Questions & Discussion