Many charities produce excellent supporter communications – but not all of them.  Some organisation’s supporter communications just don’t  grasp the full picture. There seems to be a lack of integration and focus about what they are trying to achieve and how the different medias work together – as a result they constantly struggle to build the head of steam they need to grow in size and reputation. Small and medium size charities are more often the ones in need of focus but a few of the bigger names also show the cracks.

Talking to supporters is a vital source of income and an important way of retaining regular contributors, but it takes more than a news update to build that resource and increase not only contributions but active involvement and support. Everything needs to work in harmony; PR, direct mail, web & social media, but too often it’s fragmented.

Basic marketing sense tells us supporters need to know how their money is spent, which means reporting back on the impact the charity is having on real people, lobbying, research, animals or environments. This is often best served by a retention mailing that reinforces the brand and the values, reassures the supporter and keeps the monthly direct debit in place. So, whether electronic or direct mail, the basic retention mailing would seem straight forward – it’s a cornerstone marketing function that acts as a flagship to your most valuable resource as an income earner and anchor – yet not everyone appears to see it that way. Word or Publisher enthusiasts send out newsletters that look poor, do not reproduce corporate colours accurately and often look in at the organisation rather than out at the front line actions and impact. Perhaps that works for a local charity collecting for the village hall but any charity beyond that is making a grave error of judgement … and no! The “it shows we don’t waste their money” line, doesn’t wash – we like to know we’re part of something – we want to buy into the brand, the mission and feel warm about the results we help achieve.

A properly integrated mailing, online and social media campaign should help to get the supporter pot bubbling and give people a real sense of being informed and involved! An integrated fundraising strategy should sit behind them and knit them together to build on the resource rather than settle for ‘keeping in touch’. The real issues being addressed and impact being made should be the focus that stimulates support, avoiding the temptation to use gimmicks is often a good anchor. But what about getting supporters on board?

Supporter communications in any form should deliver the tools to get people signing up, running, jumping, skipping, cycling, dressing up as giraffes or whatever else tickles their fancy all in the name of the charity.  It’s not just about raising the income; it’s about brand exposure. But action needs to easy and instant, so how many charities really put ’supporter involvement’ on a plate?

Identifying the motivation for involvement and building new networks through those diamond supporters, who will actually get out there and do it, should be another clear strategic goal sitting behind supporter communications. But not for everyone – how many charity websites give home page coverage to historic events rather than focusing on new events that people can be involved with – what price is a free-post response card in an existing mailing to gather interest or perhaps a small donation, compared to the involvement that can generate. Incentives for organisers are another underused tool – ropey photography is another wide spread problem, but we wont go there just now.

A good supporter communications strategy is a beautiful beast that fly’s the flag, secures and increases donations and supporters, builds contacts, gives people the tools and the motivation to get involved, and integrates all the communication channels to work together. Which all adds up to planning the full year’s campaign and messaging well in advance and monitoring what works and what doesn’t. There is a horrible phrase – joined up thinking – but when it comes to charity communications the term does seem to sum up what every charity needs to be doing.

We are living in tougher financial times but any charity that thinks their communications campaign doesn’t justify the expenditure needs to seriously consider what they’re actually doing … and perhaps what their agency are up to.

A comprehensive campaign delivered at competitive Oyster charity rates!

All but 5 of the 30 search terms we have been optimising for Queen Elizabeth’s Foundation are now top 10! After just 6 weeks QEF are on the front line of their business area. Having provided a competitive package, advised on key terms from our software analysis, compared these to similar websites, coded, linked, optimised copy and headers and all those other wonderful tweaks, we are now continuing on a small retainer to move the few remaining terms into the sweet spots and strengthen the site and key terms.

Top search rankings:
What do you need to do? How much will it cost? Will it work?

Starting with the last question first, it will of course work providing you are optimising search terms that your desired customers’ are going to tap into the search engine. It’s gob-smacking how many organisations don’t address this vital issue properly. To avoid this calamity, we discuss search terms, run a software analysis to see how often the terms under consideration are used in search terms and then analyse similar subject sites to see what they are doing. By doing this you know you are starting with the right tools for the job. This done, you are then about to bring your website up into the competitive front page of the search engines, where people are constantly dipping in to hunt down services similar to your own. The web is a huge phenomenon and you need to be competing!

Going back to the first question – what do you need to do, the answer is to find the right people (hello!). Approach it as a detailed planning exercise – make sure the logic works completely, which means having the right search terms, optimising the right pages, ensuring those pages fulfill the visitor on arrival, any calls to action are instant and easy and, as you would any other marketing actions, you monitor the responses and the traffic. To make optimisation really count, you should be tuning it all the time, looking at performance and asking yourself what can improve and what’s a waste of time. Get the right people on board and you’ll be tuning into the world’s biggest and most profitable business resource – on the front line!

So to costs – what do you expect to pay. This obviously depends on what you want done and how comprehensive you want to make it. But running a sensible campaign for say 20 key phrases, which has been managed from key words to completion, thoroughly considers the logic of what you are doing and the actions you require,  and, of course, delivers front page results from the optimisation process – you are probably talking of a budget around £2.5-5k (allowing for variations in your requirements)… not a fortune!

If you are thinking about optimisation we’d be happy to chat with you 01243 389713, or you can email mike@oysterdesign.co.uk