Zoomedia Blog
If you are raising money right now you are probably experiencing a "wait and see" moment across the board from people making $50 donations to people making much larger long-term investments. The current market uncertainty can really impact your business and the decisions you make in response to those external forces are critical.
In our business of communications, some clients are asking whether they should also take a "wait and see" stance and hold off on their communications plans for a while...
Our answer is emphatically - don't stop! But also, adjust.
How you communicate in this environment is just as important as how often and through which channel. You have to recognize the state of your audience and adjust your messages to maintain that audience until the markets settle down and purse strings open up.
In this environment competition for attention is even greater than usual - the noise and confusion of market turmoil could drown out your fundraising campaign - does that mean you should pull it and wait until things settle down? Or should you hold a steady course and trust that your value as an organization will shine through if you keep awareness and confidence in your value at a high level? Extensive print campaigns with obvious high price tags may not be the way to go - while targeted, meaningful email communications that focus on results might be a better fit.
Maintaining a consistent and persistent campaign that retains your core brand message and is also responsive to the state of your audience will help you keep a steady course. Shape your content and messaging to acknowledge today's environment and make your appeal relevant to the current situation. People are rightly cautious and less likely to invest in anything that does not have a real, critical return. How can you demonstrate that return for investors in your organization? What does a $100 donation give back to the donor?
Get out there and talk about it - an investment in an organization that is making real difference in real people's lives right now is an awful lot more appealing than Wall Street.
Tags: Financial Crisis, Fundraising, Investor Strategy
Comments