The five essential elements of a strong call to action
- Mon, March 07 2011
- Filed under: Marketing essentials
Nonprofit marketing is only worth doing if your aim is to get people to do something. Raising awareness isn’t enough. So make sure you have all the elements of a strong call to action:
1) Be highly specific. Having large global missions and lofty goals for changing the world is great, but you need to put those aside. That can have the effect of making a potential donor feel they can’t make a difference or leave them wondering exactly what steps they can take. Focus on a very specific action somebody can take to help make the problem better.
2) Be Feasible. Your action needs to be something that is very easy to do so as not to overwhelm any potential donors. Create a momentum of compliance, wherein once somebody does something small they are more willing to do something larger later on. Not everybody is ready to donate right away and it’s important not to alienate those people.
3) Have a first priority. As in, you should have a first priority beyond getting donations. Again, momentum of compliance comes into play. Not everybody is ready to donate or volunteer right this very second. Think about how you can build your community of potential supporters and about enticing ways to get a person’s email address.
4) Be free of barriers. This is where usability of your website and the actual donation process comes into play. Watch somebody go through the steps involved and see where they get hung up, if there are unnecessary steps and if everything is easy to understand. Honor your audience’s time by making everything as straightforward and quick as possible.
5) Be filmable. Consider this your test: Imagine yourself with a video camera and ask, can you film the action you are asking somebody to take? Your audience needs to be able to visualize what they will be doing. If they can’t picture themselves doing it, they won’t be likely to do it.
Comments
These elements are great, they really get to the heart of what you need to capture donor’s interest and support. What’s also important is how to get your message in the “limelight.” With a swarm of other nonprofits out there looking for support, it can be easy to get lost in the crowd. Nonprofit fundraisers have to be aware of certain techniques that can make sure their voice stands out.
http://www.event360.com/blog/nonprofit-brand-strategy-positioning-and-messaging/
Elements are like a rare collection of surprises and it is totally worthy factors to the extent of the topic.
This was a very helpful post. I am in a PR Planning class right now and we have been writing lots of plans for nonprofit organizations, and I am always told that I am being too vague. Your first tip is definitely one that I will keep in mind!
good to know there are some non profit marketers out there….
Donations are very tough to get, these tips helped me and my educational institute, we are going through tough times.