7 Rules for Effective Landing Pages

August 31, 2006

By now, all of us are using e-mail messages with calls-to-action to lure our supporters into making donations, contacting public officials, volunteering and so forth. Usually your “ask” is closed on a web page intended to reinforce your action message.

Here is a nice set of tips, courtesy of consultant Jeanne Jennings, for making sure you drive your prospect down the action path as effectively as possible.

Main takeaways:

  1. Maintain a consistent look from e-mail to web page;
  2. Provide a clear path with as few pages as possible from start to finish;
  3. Avoid any distractions from your call to action.

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Why the Smorgasbord?

August 31, 2006

If you've browsed The Agitator, you might be puzzled by its breadth of topics — blogging, online fundraising, generational issues, direct mail, Latino media, branding, podcasting, planned giving, online videos, relationship marketing, social networking, environmentalism, major donors, video games, integrated marketing and more.

Are we confused? Unfocused?

No. We think we are reflecting the rapidly changing environment in which non-profits are competing for attention as they attempt to fundraise, educate, persuade, energize and mobilize.

It's an environment where huge demographic shifts are proceeding alongside truly transformative changes in how we can reach and communicate with people. Smart marketers in the commercial world are fond of saying that the “balance of power” has shifted from the seller to the consumer, because the consumer has so much more information immediately available, so many more competitive choices, and so many ways to purchase … all while they have become more resistant to conventional “intrusive” marketing and advertising approaches.

Well, we believe the “empowered consumer” is now also the “empowered donor” and the “empowered activist.” And non-profit marketers — whether raising money, seeking activists, or trying to get a message out — will need to pick up the pace bigtime to stay ahead of their constituents. To survive and thrive they will need to learn how to engage new and different demographic groups, how to use new media, how to compete against even more communications clutter, how to “win permission” versus intruding, how to contend with tougher demands for accountability and performance … or yield to “upstart” competitors who will eat your lunch.

So, we're consciously offering a broad canvas of news, trends, innovations and insights, because the exposure and range of vision and understanding for all of us engaged in the non-profit fundraising, communications and advocacy sectors needs to be wider than ever if we are going to successfully advance the missions and causes we all hold so dear.

We would be delighted to hear from you about areas you would like to see us cover, or cover more deeply. And, of course, we urge you to weigh in with your own observations in response to our posts.

Finally,to make this dialogue as easy as possible, we urge you to use our blog features that enable you to receive The Agitator automatically each day. You can sign-up using the FeedBlitz button to get new posts delivered in your email automatically. Or you can use the RSS buttons to add The Agitator to the sources you automatically scan for news.

We hope to hear from you!

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Happy Losers

August 30, 2006

Here is a short essay by blogger Max Kalehoff, backed by some serious psychology and anthropology, dealing with the sales mentality. It's relevant to anyone whose job entails selling a cause or organization. I had mixed reactions.

What I liked was the author's fundamental nudge to “celebrate struggle” and risk-taking. In his words:

From a marketing standpoint, winning increasingly requires experimentation, risk-taking, and frequent failure. Rigid organizations that don’t build higher levels of unpredictability and periodic loss into their models will lose in the long run. They simply will fail to adapt and build new competencies necessary to stay competitive.

What I didn't like was the notion that salespeople — the “happy losers” in the piece — are doomed to fail 90% of the time. I'm thinking about major gift fundraising here. If your development team is coming home penniless 9 out of 10 times, or even worse, your Prez or Executive Director is returning empty-handed that often, somebody's head should roll!

There's simply too ample data available with which to identify, vet and target major prospects and, hopefully, too much sophistication about the art of cultivation, to accept results like that. By the time your top fundraiser goes out the door to meet a prospect face-to-face, you should be looking at closing the deal. Is that what happens in your fundraising? If not, why not?

    • How thorough was your research?
    • How much sifting of the wheat from the chaff did you do — did you set priorities in terms of likelihood to give?
    • How well did you prep your prospect, both in terms of tailored material and references from within the prospect's own network?
    • Was there a specific reason or cultivation scheme behind a face-to-face meeting that wasn't intended to win closure?
    • Did you send the right messenger, and was he or she well-prepared?

Lose because of informed risk-taking? Be a happy loser.

Lose because you didn't take time to do your homework? No excuses!

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People for Pluto

August 29, 2006

We've had this vague itch to scratch for days now.

But it took this post by B.L. Ochman to put the issue in perspective and spur us to action. Dr. Hiroshi Kyosuke absolutely and succinctly nailed the case.

Plus, with Al Gore championing Planet Earth, the rest of us need to take up the cause for the underdog. Our agenda has singular focus … Bring Back Pluto!

Why?

    1. As Dr. Kyosuke observes, there are much higher priorities on the demotion list.
    2. Seniority should count for something.
    3. If Senator Inhofe supports Pluto's demotion, it's got to be fishy.
    4. Can we really afford to change all those textbooks, solar system charts, and spaceship navigation systems?
    5. If Pluto bites the dust, what's to save Neptune, or Mercury?
    6. A reversal of scientific truth like this can profoundly damage the credibility of all science, putting many of our most treasured beliefs on the slippery slope of doubt and suspicion … next it will be gravity or evolution.
    7. This is too important for scientists to decide anyway.
    8. Do we really want to start an unprovoked war with the Plutonians?
    9. William Shatner has agreed to sign our fundraising appeals.
    10. Would you like to be blind-sided this way?

Warning: Any one of us could wake up tomorrow and find ourselves Plutoed.

Help build the case. Send us your ideas on why and how to rescue Pluto ASAP. Recommend a snappier name or tagline for our organization. And if you'd like to contribute to People for Pluto, we'll be happy to send wire transfer instructions.

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Get The Hotline at MSNBC.com

August 28, 2006

Starting September 7, a revamped political section of MSNBC.com will offer political reporting, including The Hotline, and public affairs analysis from the National Journal. This is material today only offered on a subscription basis by the NJ. Obviously the NJ wants its reportage to reach a wider audience.

Information from the Almanac of American Politics will also be included.

Smart — and appreciated — move, we say.

Posted by admin | Filed Under General Post, online publishing, politics | Leave a Comment 

Weekend Quiz #3

August 26, 2006

This weekend's quiz comes courtesy of Guy Kawasaki, the original marketing maven and brand evangelist behind Apple's Mac.

Guy talks amusingly about the Ten Things to Learn This School Year for those wanting to have a successful career. Even if you're already in the post-graduate “real world,” his (actually twelve) lessons are pertinent.

For folks marketing issues, causes and organizations, maybe most important is Lesson #7: How to explain something in 30 seconds. Everything we hope to achieve as fundraisers and issue advocates begins with fighting through the clutter and distractions to capture the attention of our prospective supporter in the first instance. Today, winning “mind share” is an enormous challenge and requires compelling simplicity … typified by the infamous “elevator speech.” Got one for your cause and organization?

Read Guy's lessons and you get to take his quick quiz in the process.

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PBS Online - They Giveth & They Taketh Away

August 25, 2006

PBS Online has announced that, starting October 1, it is making additional inventory available for online advertising. For all of you direct marketers who successfully rent the mailing lists of public TV stations, this should be good news. For here is another way to get at the more highly-educated, well-off and engaged Influentials who typify both PBS' viewing audience (a skew that probably becomes even more pronounced amongst PBS' broadband-equipped online audience) and progressive donors.

But not so fast.

The published PBS Online guidelines, mimicking the broadcast advertising & sponsorship groundrules of parent PBS, expressly bar “political material” (defined as lobbyists and advocacy groups) and apply a “Strict Review” policy to “controversial topics” (not further defined). Further guidelines suggest that advertisers probably cannot target their messages on web pages that contain content that's actually relevant to the advertiser.

What this means in practice is that a corporate advertiser like BP, for instance,

Continue reading “PBS Online - They Giveth & They Taketh Away”

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Epsilon Gets Creative

August 24, 2006

When I think of Epsilon, I think of excellence in direct mail planning, segmentation and analysis. Now maybe I should add creative too.

Epsilon has just purchased a design/creative firm called Big Designs. BD has a raft of impressive clients including AOL/Time Warner, NY Times, cable nets like USA and Arts & Entertainment, and consumer brands like Sony and Jockey.

Didn't notice any non-profits on their website. Time will tell whether a commercial shop like this — with heaps of design credentials, but not a lot of apparent DM experience — can contribute to Epsilon's non-profit fundraising.

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Bazooka and Neutrogena Have Clues for You

August 23, 2006

B.L. Ochman's blog points us to an instructive promotional contest sponsored by Bazooka, the bubble gum folks, on YouTube. Bazooka is encourging kids to submit their own dance video routines to accompany a 50's song called “Choo'n Gum.”

Now what could this possibly mean to you, Ms. Cause or Charity Marketer?!

Her point:

Social media sites like MySpace, blip.tv, flickr, SecondLife are providing easy tie-ins for marketers' campaigns, saving them huge programming fees.

The so-called social networking sites are the fastest growing watering holes on the web — indeed YouTube and MySpace are in the top ranks of visitors, competitive with the establishment portals like Yahoo and MSN. Creatively used, the social sites potentially can pull thousands of young people into your cause, even as you capitalize on their infrastructure to save costs.

Of course, you need to be interested in attracting young people to your cause!

In a similar vein, as reported by Ad Age, Neutrogena is tapping the creative energies of young girls to engage them in a conversation about their skin problems. In this case, girls are invited to video record themselves talking about their beauty secrets. Otherwise known as “brand building.” The result: 1,500 videos in the first two weeks.

If your organization is interested in appealing to young people, and you don't think you will need to master new media techniques, you oughta be fired.

Posted by admin | Filed Under You Oughta Be Fired, blogging, online video | Leave a Comment 

British Philanthropy Up

August 22, 2006

The Financial Times offers a report on philanthropy in the U.K. Interesting takeaways:

    • Observors see shift from inherited wealth donors to self-made donors;
    • These donors, similar to their U.S. counterparts, are eager to apply business principles to their giving, expecting demonstrable return on their charitable investments;
    • And they give to produce significant results, not to assuage guilt.

Sound familiar?

The top 30 British donors increased their giving 36% in the past year, from £333 million to £453 million. British philanthropy equals .84% of gross domestic product, compared to 1.85% in America.

Posted by admin | Filed Under General Post, major donors, philanthropy | Leave a Comment 

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