Post on 21-Apr-2017
How to Write a Nonprofit Email Newsletter That
Doesn't Suck
3/17/16 1pm Eastern
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Our guest presenter »Kivi Leroux Miller @kivilm
Kivi Leroux Miller is the founder of Nonprofit Marketing Guide, which helps nonprofit communicators both learn their jobs and love their jobs. She is also the award-‐winning author of two books on nonprofit marketing and fundraising and a top-‐ranked daily blog.
Kivi Leroux Miller @kivilmPresident, Nonprofit Marketing Guide.com
How to Write a Nonprofit
E-Newsletter That Doesn’t Suck
SERIOUSLY?It’s newsletter time again already?
It’s not about print v. email.
Most nonprofit comm is like this
Interrupting . . .
When it should be like this
versus Attracting
Content marketing for nonprofits is creating and sharing relevant and valuable content that attracts, motivates, engages and inspires your participants, supporters, and influencers to help you achieve your mission.
What is Content Marketing?
Or simply put . . .
Communicating great stuff that attracts people to you, rather than interrupting them with what you desperately want them to read.
Ready to Start Attracting and Stop Interrupting with Your Newsletter?
How dowe get there?
5 Simple Steps
1Set the Right Goal for Your Newsletter
POLL:What’s the single most important goal for your e-newsletter?
April 2013, 600+ nonprofit participants in online surveyat NonprofitMarketingGuide.com
Goals are too vague . . .
Newsletter Format
≠“General Public” Communications
Newsletter Format
≠Fundraising or
Advocacy Actions
Better Newsletter Goals:Solidifying Relationships and
Building Trust
• Making Supporters Feel Good• Helping Participants Do More,
Do Better, Educate Themselves • Improving Your Reputation with
Influencers
• See how you helped• Volunteer today• Register• Learn more• Learn how• Tell a friend• Download the full
report
Give readers the green lightto do more for and with you!
Newsletter Calls to Action
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tedpercival/2621455898
• Open rates (13-18% is average for news)• Click-thru rates (1.5 -2% average for news)• Traffic to website or response rates• Unsubscribes
Common Metrics to Watch
What You Want Them to Say
2Write it for a Specific
Group of People [Segment if Needed]
It’s Really about Them, Not You!
Write directly to your reader, oneperson to another.
Gives people what they really want. Segment by:• Geography• Personal/Professional• Interests/Programs• Frequency• Behaviors
Consider Segmenting
Think of Your Newsletter as a Gift . . .
There are good gift givers . . . and badgift givers.
What kind of gifter are you?
To-do list narratives
Too many topics, angles
Processes
Long series of events
Emphasis on organizations, not people
The Bad Gifts . . .
The Word “You” – It’s all about them!
Timely, Specific
Results TheyHelped Produced
Great, Dramatic Storiesabout Specific People
How-to Articles
The Good Gifts . . .
3Promise Great
Content and
Deliver It on Time
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Build Anticipation!
Quality of the Content
Fre
qu
ency
of t
he
Con
ten
t
LowHigh
High
IGNORED
UNSUBSCRIBEor SPAM
UNDERPERFORMINGRESULTS
BEST RESULTS
(You aren’t providing enough opportunities for enough people to see it and to follow through.)
(You provide lots of opportunities for action, and even people who see it “too much” don’t mind because it is great stuff.)
The Frequency/Quality of Content Matrixfor Nonprofit Communications
POLL:How often do you send your primary e-newsletter?
Source: 2016 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report
Sticky Microcontent is Essential
• From Line• Subject Line• Headings• Subheadings• Bolded and Linked Text• Call to Action
Sticky Microcontent is EssentialIt’s Where You Deliver!
4Simplify and
Shorten
Send Fewer Words, More Often
“Uh-Oh . . .We’ve been
talking about making it longer
and doing itless often”
Think small plates that add up to a satisfying meal.
Not stuffing everything in there all at once.
Let’s Look at Three Nonprofit
E-Newsletter Evolutions
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
2012
2014
2015/2016
2014
2015/2016
• Links needs to be “tap-able” with large text and buttons
• Single column design• Lots of white space to clearly
divide content• Finger-friendly
Designing for Mobile
5Plan andIntegrate
More Planning, Less Improv
flickr.com/photos/tracyhunter/3707253116
How Many Content Buckets Does Your E-Newsletter Have?
flickr.com/photos/yandle/844341197
Use an Editorial Calendar
Plan How You Will Integrate with Social Media and Develop Content Back and Forth
Social Media as the Newsletter Pressure Release Valve
http://www.flickr.com/photos/chrish_99/7431798496
Social Media as the Newsletter Test Run
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POLL:What do you want to work on first?
What Have You Learned Today?
What Final Questions
Do You Have?
Kivi Leroux MillerPresident, Nonprofit Marketing Guide.com
@kivilmkivi@ecoscribe.comNonprofitMarketingGuide.com/blogFb.com/nonprofitmarketingguide
https://bloomerang.co/resources
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