Why integrate your marketing and fundraising? What is this “other” reason?
It’s wise to integrate because if one channel collapses – even temporarily – you’ve got backup. You’re still reaching some of your donors and members.
For example: Last week HootSuite was down for a day. Granted you could still access Twitter directly or use TweetDeck to send tweets. But if you had some scheduled and in the queue on HootSuite before the outage occurred, you couldn’t access those tweets in the queue. Your messages didn’t go out.
Also if you’re accustomed to using the tool HootSuite and had to resort to other methods … well, you lost efficiency.
However, you could still reach prospects, donors, and members via your website, email, Facebook, direct mail and other print, radio, TV, mobile, and telemarketing.
For example: The Internet is down in a region of the country. Usually this is an ISP having trouble but nonetheless subscribers and followers are offline. No email, social media, or anything online.
However, you could still reach prospects, donors, and members via mobile, direct mail and other print, radio, TV, and telemarketing.
For example: Your email service provider suffers a catastrophe. For a period of time you can’t send out emails.
Or an on-going challenge is people changing their email address and not notifying you of the change. And naturally all this happens right before a major appeal is sent.
However, you could still reach prospects, donors, and members via mobile, direct mail and other print, radio, TV, telemarketing, your website, and social media.
The point I want to stress is . . .
With correctly timed and integrated campaigns … you’ve got backup. Instead of silence you’re still connecting with people and sharing your vital message.
In other words, your email is timed to go out right around the time your direct mail package is reaching supporters in their homes. So even if email is down, the direct mail package gets through. Plus supporters are also receiving a text message from you, and reading your tweets and Facebook updates.
Granted, it may not always be the same set of supporters receiving your messages across the different channels. For example: You may have email subscribers who are not yet in your direct mail file (but hopefully you’re working aggressively to change that).
Nonetheless the point is that your cultivating, marketing, and fundraising efforts don’t screech to a halt when one channel is out of commission. Your work continues. The funds keep rolling in.
It pays to integrate your nonprofit marketing and fundraising.
Related posts with more reasons on why it pays to integrate with multichannel marketing:
There are several levels of integration – across channels and within each channel … Make a connection … Generate a spark … Get a donation
Benefit from increased response from integrated campaigns … Donor Choices and Integrated Campaigns
Direct Mail + Email + Mobile + Social Media = Great Fundraising
