| |
| |
|
Marketing Resource Center |
|
|
|
Fundraising Letters Are Easier To Write With AIDA
Learn a lesson from professional direct mail copywriters. They follow a time-tested format in their sales letters, a format that you can also follow when writing direct mail fundraising letters for your non-for-profit organization. All you need to remember is AIDA. AIDA is an acrostic for the four things you need to do, and the order you need to do them in, to write compelling donation request letters. ATTENTION You can arrest attention in a number of ways:
INTEREST Plenty of headlines and photographs grab people's attention as they leaf through newspapers and magazines, but they only read the stories that interest them. This means that as soon as you have grabbed your donor's attention, you must follow up with content that stimulates interest. So what interests your donors? Changing the world. Making a difference. Relieving suffering. Saving lives. Transformation. Stimulate interest in your readers by showing why your letter and your message are of interest to them right now. DESIREAs advertising giant David Ogilvy said, "You can't bore people into buying your product." Your fundraising appeal letter needs to move the heart and mind of each donor. It needs to create in them (or, more accurately, awaken in them), a Desire to respond to the case for support that you present on paper. One way to awaken this desire is to offer an opportunity for the donor to make an impact. Show in clear ways how they can partner with your organization to impact their world for the better. I'll give you an example from a newsletter that I received during the week that Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the surrounding area in 2005. This is what the publisher said in his introductory message: "I've had the news on all day today as I worked on getting this issue out. I finally had to turn to a ball game. . . I was getting too depressed. It's frustrating to see so many people in need and not being able to help (at least not right away). I hope and pray that all our readers in the areas hit by Katrina made it out okay." There is a man with a desire. The Category Five hurricane arrested his attention. The devastation kept his interest. And the human suffering, played out hourly on his television screen, created in him a deep desire to help. A desire so deep that he grew depressed because he could not satisfy it. That's the level of desire that you want to awaken in your donor's, except that you want to give them a really easy way to satisfy it! And that's where the final A in AIDA comes in. ACTION If you follow these four simple, time-tested steps every time you sit down to craft an appeal letter, you will find that your writer's block doesn't last as long. And you'll find that your letters take on a more logical, compelling format, one that should increase your response rates. About the author © 2005 Sharpe Copy Inc. You may reprint this article online and in print provided the links remain live and the content remains unaltered (including the "About the author" message).
MORE RESOURCES:
Marketing - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
7 Proven Tips To Market Your Cleaning Business Marketing your cleaning business is something that you will already have an idea about when you start your business plan. Nothing is better for an emerging cleaning business than a really good marketing strategy. New Years Planning Critical Success Factors New Year's is a good time for strategic planning or re-planning your business. But don't think that's the only time. Take the Logo Litmus Test Here is your C.I. 5 High-Impact Marketing Tips Here are 5 high-impact marketing tips you can use to boost your sales quickly. All are simple to implement and they involve little or no new expense. Direct Mail Strategy - Brand Identity Guru 1. Know your purpose: What do you want your direct mailer to accomplish? Do you want to be remembered? Do you want to educate prospects about benefits? Recently, Brand Identity Guru was hired to expand a clients direct mail efforts, so we created a direct mail piece to showcase our clients related capabilities. Secret of Strategy - Part 1 A step-by-step guide to creating a growth strategy based on your current situation and future possibilities. I'll bet you think you already have a strategy. Service Marketers; How's Your Packaging? When a shopper picks up a product in a store, what's the first thing they notice? The packaging, right? The same holds true for someone buying a service.Yet instead of a folded carton with colorful graphics, you are the packaging for your service business. Business Marketing Strategies For many small business managers, finding the time and commitment to develop business marketing strategies is difficult. There are so many other obligations vying for our attention it is tempting to push formal strategy development to the back burner. A Perfect Partnership for Business Too often we small business owners get caught up in our day-to-day bottom line, and miss the needs of the community outside our door. By doing this, we miss an opportunity to include "socially responsible marketing" -or sponsorship- in our yearly promotional plan. E-commerce : The Bottom of Pyramid Approach For centuries and most of the decades in the 20th century (i.e when computer was invented) access and communication was the tool of rich and ultra rich people, prohibitively expansive to 'not so rich' and 'not at all rich' people. 50 Benefits Of Joint Venture Marketing What Is A Joint Venture?A joint venture is an agreement in which two or morebusinesses work on a project for a set period of time.Joint ventures can be long-term, like promoting aproduct together, or some can be short-term, likebartering (trading) products and services. The Money Making Secret of The Toll Booth Position I'm a marketing consultant and at one of my client-companies, acompany that, in less than 10 years, has gone from a $10 millionto a $100 million dollar business one of the people I work withfrequently has jokingly given herself the title, 'Vice President,Back-End.' Although that clearly opens her up to be the butt of many jokes,it does very accurately describe her very, very important area ofresponsibility, in direct marketing parlance. Top Five Tips For Designing Marketing Strategies That Get Results "But this won't work" said Steve. "I've tried it in the past and had no response. Marketers VS Consumers Predators VS Prey The distance between marketing consultants and the real world can truly be mind boggling. When a marketing consultant tells someone to send out 10,000 postcards in order to get a 3% response rate and that the actual sales will be something less than that . How Toyota Captured the #1 Market Share . . . Through Solid Decision-Making! How Toyota Captured the #1 Market Share . . 8 Ways to Fill a Workshop in a Bum Economy Yes, you can fill a workshop when spending is down and buyers are wary. If your topic is clear, your marketing materials well-done, your product solid and your title catchy, success shouldn't be tough. How Your List Affects Postage Costs HOW YOUR LIST AFFECTS POSTAGE COSTS AND WHAT YOU CAN DO ABOUT IT!The quality and accuracy of address information in mailing lists is one of the areas least understood and largely overlooked by most businesses using direct mail. To get an advertising message delivered the address must be correct! Many firms that use direct mail neglect this vital aspect. Build Lifelong Networks With Your Own Barter Group I don't know if you have ever seriously considered bartering. If you haven't considered it, it's probably about time that you did. Its Not All about the Cleavage! Or is It? Times are a changin'! More women today work outside the home, earn (and control) significant amounts of money, and make large, important purchases like houses, automobiles and computers. In the past, advertising portrayed such independence as being primarily characteristic of men. Business Card Design - How to Stand out and Get Noticed One of the most powerful, yet over looked weapons in yourmarketing arsenal is your business card. If designed properlythis little 3 x 2.
|
| home | site map | Advertising Articles |
| © 2006 |
