As discussed in the previous posts in this series, developing a long-term strategy for engagement requires that you first take stock of the current state of your organization’s assets and audience. This helps you highlight where you are hitting the mark and identify opportunities for improvement.
This post focuses on the last element in our six-part how to.
- Messaging
- Segmentation
- Website
- Emails
- Social Media
- Multi-channel Integration
Multi-channel Integration
Nonprofits of all sizes need to engage donors across a broad range of media. However, your organization needs to consider the age and preferences of your audience in order to develop the right media mix. Rather than trying to be all things to all people, you should make relative investments in different media based on the ones that are most appropriate for your audience.
Age, gender, education, socioeconomics and more impact the location and method through which donors support a nonprofit. Younger donors tend to own multipurpose devices that enable them to access the web, take and share photos, send text messages and emails and—most important to nonprofit fundraisers—spend money. As you consider engaging your younger supporters before they become donors, you should adjust their media mix to include these new media and devices.
If your nonprofit wants to reach Gen Y donors, then you need to consider the quality of your digital presence across devices and media. For example, are email messages— which are especially important for Gen Y, but increasingly important for everyone—optimized to ensure they display well on handheld devices, desktop email clients, and web-based mail programs? Is your web site optimized to provide a great experience on a computer browser, as well as a tablet?
Also make an effort to understand overlap between media. For example, how many people on your email list are on social media, or on your direct mail list? Such overlap—or lack thereof—can reveal gaps, as well as opportunities.
To learn more about conducting an engagement audit or how to build strong supporter relationships, download A Guide to Long Term Donor Cultivation.