Here's What You Missed – Strategic Marketing for High Impact in Small-Shop Fundraising
January Educational Luncheon: "Make Minimal Marketing Marvelous"
Focusing on the three dimensions of marketing effectiveness– operations, message and execution – the resounding theme of January’s luncheon was “strategy is ‘queen’”.The presentation detailed how small-shop and even solo practitioners can take practical, high-impact steps in the areas of effective messaging, direct mail, social media and other key channels that pay off in demonstrably greater gifts and guests, likes and forwards. Attendees learned the secrets of how smart planning, effective segmentation, rigorous prioritization, creative repurposing, and savvy resourcing can help fully leverage your shoestring budget and bandwidth.
This panel discussion was moderated by Doug Diefenbach of Diefenbach Communications Strategies who opened with the importance of creating a distinct message to differentiate your cause. Nonprofit marketing experts Deilee Calvert of Calee Street Marketing, Christa Beall Diefenbach of Nonprofit Leadership Alliance and Jayne Pfeifer of Badger Group discussed how having a strategic marketing plan in place from the beginning is the key to developing effective engagement.
Panelists focused on marketing for mission engagement. They discussed how creating one to two main marketing messages for a consistent voice is key for nonprofits. The panelists emphasized the importance of tying in direct mail with digital campaigns in order to see the best results. Panelists also explained how testing your message with your audience is a huge factor in creating successful marketing campaigns. With this year’s election, they noted the significance of timing communications around key political dates in order to keep your message from being lost in the pile. Overall, the significance of how “message matters” was a main component of the numerous takeaways attendees received from January’s Educational Luncheon.