Writing for Digital Feb 2016 compiled by Tom Ahern

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Tom Ahern | © 2016 1

Writing for Digital Web, Mobile, Facebook, Email

compiled by Tom Ahern for


THERE’S NO EASY MONEY

There’s got to be a magic bullet around here

someplace!


1439: Gutenberg invents modern prin8ng 1995: the age of the modern Internet begins 2003: MySpace drives 1st social media surge 2007: Apple introduces the iPhone 2015: 1.2 billion ac8ve Facebook users monthly

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PRINT Words Pictures Asks, other offers Headlines rule Easy to fail Frequency is expensive Targe8ng varies ROI will vary

DIGITAL Words Pictures (+ sound, movement) Asks, other offers Headlines & subject lines rule Easy to fail Frequency is less expensive Targe8ng can be ultra-‐precise ROI will vary


Denise Cohn, DOGS DESERVE BETTER (remember Michael Vick?) “Our last big Facebook post brought in $15K in 6 days.” 1) Every Facebook page should have a DONATE NOW bugon. It's easy to do, takes two minutes. If they don't have a Paypal account (or something similar), open one! 2) Every Facebook post should have a line on the bogom which states something like: "if you would like to help more dogs/kids/whatever like [name], click here to donate now.” 3) Every Paypal donate link should be set up to include the ability to make it a recurring dona8on (monthly). Again, it takes two minutes to set up. 4) Post o&en. Every two hours. If you have a large following (we have over a million), posts only reach 7-‐11% of the audience. The majority of people who are on Facebook don't go to individual pages: less than 6% do. They watch their newsfeed. Duplicates are irrelevant in newsfeeds. 5) All posts should be simple, easy to read, and not a lot of text. No one reads them. A good photo, 3 lines of text -‐ that's it.


ROI •  For a major gins officer, first year on the job: “the

organiza8on [should] receive $3 or $4 for every dollar the organiza8on spends on you and your work.” Richard Perry and Jeff Schreifels, Veritus Group. “For programs in their second and third year,” the ROI should be four or five to one, “and up to six and higher for older major gin pro-‐grams.... We have clients with returns of from 1:6 to as high as 1:20.”

•  So...what’s the ROI for a social media specialist?

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Core books

Free subscription


TRUE! $300-400K donated monthly to a small animal welfare charity in Bangkok ... through Facebook alone!!!


From whom? Goodbye, privacy. Hello, global fundraising.

If you’re a frequent user, Facebook knows more about you & yr interests & yr vulnerabilities than your oldest, safest, best friend.

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Source: Pareto, 2015

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BUT! Costs $50K monthly in paid FB posts and ads to raise that $300-400K monthly at Soi Dog. ROI: 1:6 to 1:8.

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How you make money from Facebook...

It’s complicated. It’s not cheap. It isn’t for every cause. And you need to know how to write an ad.

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Source: Sean Triner, Pareto, 2015

SECRET #1 REQUIRES A SPECIAL KIND OF

WRITING

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4 elements of a good offer The 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

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2. You then make frequent offers to these people (your “base”) via email, mail, phone and Facebook posts. You give people lots of opportunities to do all sorts of things, some of which cost them nothing. Some offers, though, are asks.

3. From the base you’ve cultivated, a rare, cherished, few people become repeat financial donors, committed to the cause. Fewer than 1% do this commonly, but results vary widely.

1. You attract new folks onto your database, via petitions, invitations, Facebook and other social media ... plus an easy sign-up mechanism for your e-newsletter.

Image source: Merriam-Webster

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How Soi Dog makes money from Facebook...

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How Soi Dog makes money from Facebook...

NON-MONEY OFFER

A$K

NON-MONEY OFFER

A$K A$K

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Elements of charity ad success, including Facebook

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Give me an important job to do.

Supporters are key members of the team, the mission, the vision, the delivery of service....

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Source: Pareto, Sept. 2015

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Be lushly grateful.

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Give me something easy to do next.

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Expectations

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2% Online giving in 2013, as a percentage of the whole.

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Source: Chronicle of Philanthropy, 2014

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“For every 1,000 fundraising messages delivered to supporters, groups in our study raised $40.”

New metrics for a new channel.

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“...every 1,000 advocacy messages delivered to supporters...generated 29 actions. That number skews higher if you happen to be an Environmental organization...”


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“...groups in our study raised $612 for every 1,000 website visitors they welcomed. On average, 7.6 [below 1%] of those thousand visitors became donors.”


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Writing in a digital age? Write way MORE often.

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The first gift you ask for is my attention.

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The average attention span of an adult human in 2013

was 8 seconds.

We’re #1!

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You’re a hero. Here’s why.

One charity’s “best” subject line

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•  Subject lines the last week of December 2015 Three Days Left to Give! [Midwest High Speed Rail Assoc.] Got New Year's Resolutions? [The Life You Can Save] It's the end of the year, but a new beginning for . . . [Shearim High School for Girls, Phoenix, AZ] Double Your Gift for Justice and Equality [National Center for Lesbian Rights] There's Still Time for Year-End Giving [Fairfield County's Community Foundation] Strengthen your community with your year-end gift! [RI Council on the Humanities] Did this ever happen to you? [me] Thursday's the deadline [Urban Ministries of Durham] The inseparable twin of racial injustice [United for a Fair Economy] Have you seen this, Tom? [Heifer International] Your gifts make magic [Puente de la Costa Sur, rural San Mateo County South Coast; fosters "economic prosperity...local leaders...creating solutions for our diverse communities."] Tom, watch for the City of Hope float at this year's Rose Parade! [City of Hope] ARL's Top 7 Animal Rescues of 2015! [Animal Rescue League of Boston] I need you to stand with me, Tom [Elizabeth Warren for the DSCC] There's Still Time to Make a Difference [Literacy Action of Central Arkansas] Dear Friend, how will you spend the last few hours of the year? [Children's Hospital Foundation of Manitoba] Less than 48 Hours to Go [The Wilderness Society] Give clean water one last time this year [charity: water] We can't bear the suspense ... [National Parks Conservation Association] 48 Hours Left to Help Animals in 2016! [Animal Rescue League of Boston] 12 grapes of luck and a Happy New Year [PUENTE] If you read one e-mail today, make it this one [PETA]

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President Obama’s Top 15 Moneymaking Subject Lines ($690 million raised)

1. I am just so happy 2. I want to do this again 3. My uncle Teddy 4. This isn’t already illegal? 5. My place, June 14th 6. Karl Rove sent you a message 7. Hey 8. Me again 9. Saturday night 10. Up late 11. I love you back 12. Hell yeah, I like Obamacare 13. I tried. 14. Wow 15. Clutch

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Writing in a digital age? It’s not about reading. It’s

about getting people to act.

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The purpose of email is to drive people to your

website. Brief emails are just fine, thank you.

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One interesting photo...

Micro-story: the conflict....

Micro-story: the happy ending....

Something to click on....

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“...the minimal email copy resulted in a 6.5% click through rate. Average is 2-4% so definitely had a positive effect.” Andrew G, 3/5/15

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“Normal” click-‐through rates (CTRs) Silverpop (IBM), in a 2013 Email Marke8ng Metrics Benchmark Study, reported a nonprofit industry CTR median of 1.7%, with top performers achieving a CTR median near 5%.

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Source: Pareto 2015

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Source: Pareto 2015

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DO THEY READ ON A WEBSITE? “What [web visitors] actually do … is glance at each new page, scan some of the text, and click on the first link that catches their interest or vaguely resembles the thing they’re looking for. [The] user’s reality is much closer to ‘billboard going by at 60 miles an hour.’”

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CLICK CLICK CLICK

CLICK

CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK CLICK

CLICK

CLICK CLICK CLICK

CLICK CLICK

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Six “focusing” guidelines • Give people only what they need. • Cut! Cut! Cut! And cut again! • Start with the key point. Write in inverted

pyramid style. (See Wikipedia.) • Break down walls of words. • Give useful information. What did they

come to the site looking for? • Layer information. Give them a little on

the home page, then link to a page where they can “read more.”

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Writing in a digital age? Put the important stuff first.

Anchoring. Leah Eustace told us about it

Source: Leah Eustace Tom Ahern | © 2016 53

Source: Leah Eustace Tom Ahern | © 2016 54

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The important stuff will NOT be details about your programs.

That’s crap.

Anchoring. Leah Eustace told us about it

Can you spell happy with four letters?

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Donor goes first

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Countless children’s lives across the globe have been positively impacted via the work of The Harms Study Group and Setting Scoliosis Straight, and none of the work we do would be possible without the support of like-minded and like-hearted individuals who want to give every child the chance to grow up happy and healthy.

grade: 12 / reading ease: 19 None of the work we do would be possible without people like you ... people who want every child to grow up happy and healthy. Thank you! Countless children’s lives across the globe have been positively impacted because you helped support The Harms Study Group and Setting Scoliosis Straight.

grade: 8 / reading ease: 64

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“Did we deliver the Gift of Joy

within seconds?”

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The gift of joy

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The gift of joy

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Someday I’ll thank you, too.

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Thank you, beloved donors, for saving my baby! It’s going to be

all right now.

I pay attention to what interests me.

And what interests me most is me. Ask anyone.

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Social media?

Helps create a “family of purpose”

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Don’t ask people to “donate”. Instead, ask them to “join”, “build”, etc. Appeal to identity and emotion, not wallets.

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Source: John Haydon

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“Synthe8c family”

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Source: Russell James III, 2014

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“Create an enemy.” Us [the tribe] vs. them [the enemy]. Seth Godin: “...build a tribe, [people] who want to hear from [you] because it helps them connect, it helps them find each other, it gives them a story to tell and something to talk about....”

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vision enemy hero

served Source: Stephen Pidgeon and Tangible

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“Me?”

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Every 15 minutes someone in the UK begins to lose their sight. Today, with your help, we can give them the practical support needed to rebuild their shattered lives.


Source: Stephen Pidgeon and Tangible

Vision

Hero

Enemy Served

hero defeats enemy

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donors make sad happy


“What’s our good fight?”



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The Donor Journey: “They feel the impact.”

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THE DONOR’S JOURNEY BEGINS HERE

TENSION SELLS


Source: Instagram AFTER

BEFORE

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THIS IS IMPACT: THE STORY TOLD HERE

THIS IS THE FACE OF IMPACT

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“...our online donations doubled this year!”

WHY do you think?

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You’re in my home and head:

“Why are you here?”

Are you a bad guest or good?

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To make ME feel good!!!

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Important!

Wanted!

Needed!

Proud of myself!

Happy!

Pleased!

Entertained! Surprised!

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You don’t “deserve” my money. I anoint you with my gift. Now anoint me back.

Source: Newbie Fundraising for Dummies, 2016

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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.”


From you.... They want to feel good. They want to feel loved. They want to feel smart. They want to feel needed. They want to feel important. They want to belong. They want to see their values in action. They want to win!

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Corporate communications are about how great the organization is. Favorite

pronoun:

we 91 Orbis | © 2016 Tom Ahern


Donor communications are about how great the donor is. Favorite pronoun:

you 93 Orbis | © 2016 Tom Ahern

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“Show the problem. Don’t show the solution. Make the donor the solution.” ~ Steven Screen, Nov. 2015


Thanks to you and other generous donors like you,

we were able to turn...



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Cool Hand Luke (1967) | #11 of AFI’s Top 100 Movie Quotes

Greenpeace, founded in the US, 1971. Current US “members”: 250,000; 2.8 million worldwide. “Members” = money.

John Haydon’s ULTIMATE donation page checklist

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Features a compelling story Clear call to action Sense of urgency Images show the impact No jargon Offers suggested amounts No distracting sidebar No competing calls to action Donate button in contrasting color Includes phone number John Haydon

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Date post:	21-Apr-2017
Category:	Government & Nonprofit
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Writing for Digital Feb 2016 compiled by Tom Ahern

Government & Nonprofit