5 Benefits of Email and Newsletter Marketing for Nonprofit Fundraising and Engagement

In recent years, social media and digital marketing have gained serious traction for nonprofit fundraising and outreach campaigns. Email marketing and e-newsletters are a core component of marketing and other communication plans. However, a fundamental element for successful email marketing initiatives is ultimately the strength of the donor database. Due to limited resources, building and managing these databases can be a challenge for many nonprofits but investing efforts in strengthening the quality of the database can yield superior results.

I have previously written about 7 Donor Database Tips to help with optimizing Nonprofit Fundraising and 4 Email Marketing Tips for Nonprofit Fundraising Learned from Digital Benchmark Study Part 1 and Part 2. Today I am continuing to explore this topic with 5 benefits to implementing and maintaining an email/newsletter marketing campaign:

1. Saves Money & the Planet. Compared to traditional direct mail appeals and campaigns, nonprofits can benefit by saving money on printing, postage, marketing, labour and other overhead costs. Another benefit to an email/e-newsletter marketing campaign is that it significantly reduces paper consumption associated with traditional mail campaigns which effectively reduces the overall carbon footprint of the nonprofit. The number of trees saved with this transition should be promoted to supporters as a sign of the environmental conscious of the organization.
2. Save Time. Traditional mailings have to be conceptualized, proofs have to be created and approval has to be attained from (at times) multiple people. The mailing piece then has to be packaged and prepared for delivery individually with proper postage affixed and then time is spent while the mailing is in transit. That adds up to considerable time from conceptualization to the appeal actually making it into your supporter’s hands. Switching to an electronic form of this mailing, cuts back on time across the board. Plus often physical direct mail appeals can easily be put aside to think about later and forgotten or be confused as ‘junk mail’ and end up in the recycling bin.
3. Increased Marketing Frequency. An email/e-newsletter marketing campaign can be a lot more frequent because of its relatively low cost and effort which adds to its effectiveness as a communication tool. It’s recommended that email outreaches range from monthly to no more than weekly. The immediate basis in which emails can be sent and received makes keeping supporters current on happenings at the organization easy. Providing links and calls to action around the latest appeals will ultimately generate a much stronger response.
4. Personalized Marketing. By segmenting your donor database and targeting your different demographics with specific appeals/events/information they would be most interested in, you are personalizing your communications to your supporters and strengthening the relationship. Segmenting and targeting can be done by one or a combination of several factors, including gender, age, geographical region, past average gifts, and personal interests. The goal being to achieve stronger results by personalizing you’re marketing to various smaller groups, instead of executing a large “one size fits all” marketing campaign.
5. Expand Your Reach. In comparison to traditional direct mail marketing pieces, emails and e-newsletters are much more likely to be shared and forwarded by your supporters with their personal and (potentially) professional network. By sharing this information, they become your advocates by expanding the reach of your message or appeal and engaging new supporters. One great way to ensure that your supporters share is to make sharing easy by including key social networking share buttons. You can also increase your reach by including a “connect with us” call to action to build your fans and followers.

Email and e-newsletter marketing programs can be the cornerstone of a nonprofit’s digital marketing plans and it’s important to keep several factors in mind when implementing and maintaining this very powerful initiative. Visit us next week when I explore tips on how to best maximize your efforts.

Feel free to browse through my Social Media Summer Series for nonprofits which includes a series on Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin and Pinterest along with other related topics.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

For nonprofit, nonprofit fundraising, CSR business and other news, connect with us on Twitter, Facebook and Linkedin or subscribe to our RSS feed.

Miratel Solutions is a Toronto call centre, eBusiness, and letter shop mail house specializing in professional fundraising services including telephone fundraising, online fundraising, lottery services, donation caging, donation processing and other donor management services. We are committed to our CSR business values in all contact centre services and mail house operations and advancing the missions of the nonprofits we proudly serve.