Omnichannel Marketing - The Ultimate Fundraising Strategy

If you’re not convinced yet that omnichannel fundraising matters, then here’s a thought experiment. Pick one or two large companies that you shop at frequently. Pay attention for 4-6 weeks to see how they communicate with you. Whether it’s Nike or Amazon, Starbucks or ASOS —you can rest assured that those growing companies are reaching you across multiple channels.

Once you’re convinced, you might still be wondering, “what is an omnichannel fundraising campaign, and how do I get started?” Let’s break it down.

UNDERSTANDING THE JOURNEY

When we say “omnichannel fundraising campaign,” we mean a communication strategy that uses multiple marketing and communications channels. An omnichannel campaign will employ traditional and digital channels to create a strategic and coordinated donor journey. That’s the heart of the matter: multiple channels that are coordinated to reach your audience in a strategic way.

During the “journey,” your donor (or prospective donor) will receive at?least?two communication touchpoints from your organization. And at every stage in the journey—whether 2 touches or 20, whether traditional or digital—the touchpoint will support, promote, and reinforce the overarching campaign narrative.

An omnichannel campaign will have a unified message, offer, and call to action, which is shared across channels in a strategic way to reach your audience. The repetition matters,?because?“it can take up to 18-20 touchpoints to reach a donor for the first time.”

If you want to be successful in engaging and retaining your donors, it is imperative to plan and develop well-defined donor journeys that are tailored as much as possible to the persona of your target audience. And that part—“tailoring your campaign to their persona”—requires tracking audience engagement to know what kind of communication your donors respond to and engage with.

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THE GOALS OF AN INTEGRATED OMNICHANNEL CAMPAIGN

Needless to say, the ultimate goal of your omnichannel fundraising campaign is to increase revenue. But there are more goals, specific to the effort of integrating your communications.

1. The aim is to drive people to the platform they are most familiar or comfortable with. We increase our chances of being seen by our donor when we employ multiple channels and touchpoints, and then we encourage them to engage with us in the manner they are most comfortable. That gives you an advantage as you will meet your donor where they’re comfortable.
2. Your comprehensive, coordinated campaign should not only reinforce the message across channels—but the goal of this reinforcing is to prepare your donor for an ask. That’s the point of the donor?journey. You are moving them from “awareness” to “affirmation.” When this is done well, the “ask” happens after the (prospective) donor has been warmed and is ready to make a gift.
3. You are mitigating risk. Picture this: you drop a letter in the mail asking a donor for money. Chances are it gets to their mailbox—but when? On a day they are busy? In a bad mood? Is it buried under other mail? Does their kid accidentally throw it out? That mail piece is a single shot that may or may not work—and that’s all there is to it. But with an integrated, omnichannel campaign, you mitigate that risk by increasing the chances they see the message?and?see the message at a favourable time in a favourable way.

These three pieces come together to generate?much better responses?from donors that enjoy an omnichannel experience.