How to Make Money with Direct Mail - Amazon S32017/Using...How to Make Money with Direct Mail Tom Ahern November 10, 2017 ~ NP Storytelling Conference Major donors often start as “minor”

© 2017 Tom Ahern 1

How to Make Money with Direct Mail

Tom AhernNovember 10, 2017 ~ NP Storytelling Conference

Major donors often start as “minor” donors. “When Harvard did a study after their last campaign, of their 254 million-dollar donors, 2 out of 3 started with first-time gifts of $100 or less.” ~ Jerry Panas, 2017

© 2017 Tom Ahern 2

Jeff Schreifels and Richard PerryThe Critical Role of Storytelling in Major Gift Success

“Online Giving Reaches Record High in 2016 [at 7.2% of all giving across US]”

~ Blackbaud, Feb 22, 2017

3© 2017 Tom Ahern

John Haydon Go Tell It on the Mountain -Storytelling Across Different Social Media Channels

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10. What’s the best length for a fundraising letter?

[ ] 1 page[ ] 2 pages[ ] 4 pages

Free, downloadable PDF e-book, 20 Questions: www.AHERNCOMM.com

5© 2017 Tom Ahern

Free, downloadable PDF e-book, 20 Questions: www.AHERNCOMM.com

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The following 1-page letter was written by a volunteer with zero experience. It raised $55,926 for

a small-town library.

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SPOT THE STORIES!

8© 2017 Tom Ahern

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Why us?What are we doing that’s so uniquely wonderful that the

world should want more of it and support our new plans?1

10© 2017 Tom Ahern

Why us?

Why us?

Why us?

Story #1

11© 2017 Tom Ahern

Why us?

Why us?

Why us?

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Why now?What’s the big hurry?

What changed? Why is this URGENT?2

13© 2017 Tom Ahern

Why now?

Why now?

Why now?

Story #2

14© 2017 Tom Ahern

Why now?

Why now?


Why you,the donor, might care?3

16© 2017 Tom Ahern

Why donor cares? “I’m needed.”


Story #3

17© 2017 Tom Ahern



Why donor cares? “It’s mine.”

Why donor cares? “I can honor someone.” Greed.

Offer

Offer

18© 2017 Tom Ahern

Offer

“Donors are staggeringly ignorant of the causes they support.”--Richard Radcliffe


DONORS MAY BE IGNORANT, but what they

DO have in abundance are their own

personal values, interests, beliefs,

connections, experiences, upbringing, lost

loves, secret passions, regrets, fears,

angers, hopes, and built-in empathy

[except for psychopaths]...


Connect with what’s already in

their heads!


Inside this envelope ...one of our town’s darkest secrets

22© 2017 Tom Ahern

Sales in a nutshell

23© 2017 Tom Ahern


Source: Jeff Brooks, 2014

The writing part

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The Golden Mantra of marketing

The right offerin front of the right personat the right time...

© 2017 Tom Ahern

“Humans are driven by a will to establish meaning in their lives. They need purpose.”

That’s your real job, in donor communications:to bestow purpose in exchange for support.

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Source: Neurologist and psychiatrist Viktor Frankl, via the For Impact blog

© 2017 Tom Ahern

Realization

“...the key motivator for giving is not need, but opportunity.” AKA an “offer” or “proposition.”

27TomAhern|©2013 ©2017TomAhern

“Makeablindmansee.£100”

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HaroldSumption,quotedin101fundraisingbyGilesPegram,2/17

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Offer


GIVE me a big job!

Offer


A membership offer

Corny on purpose


[on the bottom of page 4...]

Offer #2

Offer #1

33© 2017 Tom Ahern

Your reply device is an offer: Does it re-inspire?

© 2017 Tom Ahern 34SUBSCRIBE Source: Network for Good

WARM

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Do you really need my help?

Where’d the cute kid go?

Is monthly giving preferred? (Should

be!)

This looks like a form...yuck.

COLD


What it takes to raise $45,000 in gifts in just 3 weeks ... from an untried pool of a few thousand.


SPOT THE STORIES!


XYZ Organization123 Sweeping StreetYour town, CT 01234

Ms. Jane Smith567 Main StreetYour town, CT 01234









































STAND OUT


CHALLENGE ME

Story #1


Oh, and by the way...

Inertia is the real enemy. Tell people exactly what

you want them to do.


Clear instructions



Personalization

Emotional trigger

Not coy: Asks up front

Clear rationale: i.e., why do we need your help?

“...survives...”? Emotional trigger: “Loss aversion”

Connects 2 dots: gifts & existence

Story #2


The underlines get read 1st






Story #3


The theme never quits

Story #4


Why did this letter exceed?

The offer.Great offer.


The donor kept a beloved place open for a day.

4 elements of a good offerThe problem is easy to understand.The solution is easy to understand.The cost is a good deal.There’s urgency to solve the problem now.

The story is not the offer. The story supports the offer.

Steven Screen, Nonprofit Storytelling Conference, November 2015


The (magical) Tangible story

formula

50© 2017 Tom Ahern

visionenemyhero

servedSource: Stephen Pidgeon and Tangible

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“Me?”

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52© 2017 Tom Ahern

Enemy

Hero

Served

Vision


“Membership jumped by more than 20% with just one mailing. We added almost 300 new members.”

Minnesota nature lover’s group


[a successful appeal...]

It originates as a humble stream at a small woodland lake in our state. And it gets its first full taste of what humans can do to abuse a waterway when it hits the Twin Cities, where, for well over a century it served as an industrial sewer, made utterly devoid of life.

With your help, we can heal that abuse.

As a new Friend, you join a family of conservationists, anglers, kayakers, hikers, environmental worry-warts and futurists who share one big dream ...

... to restore the river to its original state, including its prairie and floodplain habitats. And to make it safe and accessible for recreation.

Enemy

Hero

Served

Vision

“Find a common enemy.”

“[This was] some of the first feedback I received as a newbie copywriter, and I never forgot it.” Lisa Sargent, Feb 2017


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Source: Pareto, 2015

Writing tips

57© 2017 Tom Ahern


11. Which message attracted more gifts from Americans with a yearly income of $90,000+?

[ ] “Let’s Save a Life Together.”[ ] “You = Life-Saver.”


11. Which message attracted more gifts from Americans with a yearly income of $90,000+?

[ ] “Let’s Save a Life Together.”[X] “You = Life-Saver.”

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Sometimes it’s simple: for schools, “Annual Fund” on envelope works

Source: Jeff Brooks/Steven Screen, Fundraising is Beautiful podcast, March 2017

© 2017 Tom Ahern

YOUR SMIT?Single Most Important Thing I have to

say to you today

61© 2017 Tom Ahern

DEFAULT DM OPENING:

I’m writing to you today because...

62©2017TomAhern

Indirect ask

Direct ask

Direct ask

Indirect ask

Indirect ask

Indirect ask

Indirect ask

Indirect ask63© 2017 Tom Ahern

Indirect ask

Direct ask

Indirect ask

Indirect ask

Direct ask

Indirect ask

Indirect ask

Direct ask

16 asks in 2 pages ... NOT a record64© 2017 Tom Ahern


“All fundraising copy should sound like someone talking.”

-- George Smith

66© 2017 Tom Ahern

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“Now if the first sentence is so important, what can you do to make it so compelling to read, so simple, and so interesting that your readers—every one of them—will read it in its entirety? The answer:

“Make it short.”~ Joseph Sugarman

© 2017 Tom Ahern


Dear Jane Doe,

Welcome ... I hope.

I’m writing today to request the pleasure of your acquaintance.

There’s a place reserved for you on The Rhode Island Foundation’s mailing list ... but only if you agree and check, “Yes, I’m interested” on the enclosed reply card.

You’ll be in good company, that I can promise.

[etc.]

Throw out the first few paragraphs. They’re

usually warm up.


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AngerDutyExclusivityFearFlatteryGreedGuiltHopeSalvation

Common emotional triggers

72© 2017 Tom Ahern

Sue the bastards.

Writer: Roger Craver


Neuroscience says…

“Coming across new information triggers a chemical reaction that makes us feel good, which in turns causes us to seek out even more of it.”Source: Wall Street Journal article by Lee Gomes, on USC neuroscientist, Dr. Irving Biederman; published March 12, 2008

Direct Mail | © 2017 Tom Ahern | www.AHERNCOMM.com 74

Dear Jane Sample,

Our doctors call it “Day Zero.”

It’s the day you come back from the dead.

75© 2017 Tom Ahern

“Mom was wrong. Research shows that even when people perceive that flattery is insincere, that flattery can still leave a lasting and positive impression of the flatterer.”


St. Jude’s language

• “I can never thank you enough”• “Because of you”• “Thanks to your support”• “Thanks to friends like you”• “The support of friends like you”

Source: Pam Grow


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Donor-NEGLIGENT:“We did this. We did that. We were amazing. Oh, by the way, thanks.”

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Donor-CENTRIC:“With your help, all these amazing things happened. And without your help, they won’t.”

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“YOU” IS GLUE.It sticks people to the page.

81© 2017 Tom Ahern

The story’s about the donor...every time someone donates to a good cause, they're buying a story, a story that's worth more than the amount they donated.

It might be the story of doing the right thing, or fitting in, or pleasing a friend or honoring a memory, but the story has value.

For many, it's the story of what it means to be part of a community.

Source: Seth Godin

82© 2017 Tom Ahern

SUBSCRIBE

Give me a story to tellI sent thousandsof dollars worth of medicine to sick people!

I save a polar bear every

month!

I’m a decent person. I’m following the

Scriptures.

Source: Jeff Brooks and Mark Phillips©2017TomAhern 83

Direct Mail | © 2016 Tom Ahern | www.AHERNCOMM.com 84

FREE FOR YOUsofii.org

Jerry Huntsinger Tutorial #56:“Direct Mail Strategy for the Small Organization”

85

Myfreehow-toe-newsletter…www.aherncomm.com

© 2017 Tom Ahern

I subscribe!

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How to Make Money with Direct Mail - Amazon S32017/Using...How to Make Money with Direct Mail Tom Ahern November 10, 2017 ~ NP Storytelling Conference Major donors often start as “minor”