So you’re planning your next big direct mail piece and want to really knock it out of the park. Great! One-off direct mail appeals work well and garner the support of your donors. But to maximize your appeal efficacy and results, you need to think bigger. The time has come to consider pivoting to a multifaceted fundraising campaign.

An integrated campaign turns one isolated appeal into a sustained, consistent message communicated multiple times in multiple ways to your donor base. The goal? Maximum awareness and, therefore, maximum results.

There’s an old marketing principle that says that it takes at least seven touches with a buyer to make a sale. The same applies to fundraising: the more often your donors hear your message, the more likely they are to make a gift.

How Do You Elevate a Direct Mail Appeal to a Campaign?

Start with one of your more important appeals of the year. Is that your annual scholarship fund? A holiday food drive? Your end-of-year matching appeal?

Whatever it is, get things rolling by bringing all key players together to create a cohesive plan—one that unites your development and marketing departments. This will be an all-hands-on-deck effort for the duration of your campaign. For the few weeks around your campaign, you want everyone’s buy-in to keep your organization’s communications laser-focused on the campaign at hand. You might be tempted to stray into mentioning other parts of your mission, but that’ll only muddy your message and distract your donors.

The Nitty-Gritty of Integrating a Campaign

With your group assembled and on board, here are some elements to consider as you build out your campaign:

• Mail. Your campaign originated in your donor’s mailbox. Maybe it should keep hitting their mailbox a little longer! The reality is, most people you mailed the first time around didn’t even open your letter. So, consider a follow-up piece. This is especially effective if there’s a matching gift associated with your campaign.
• Email. Take your (flawless) direct mail letter and transform it into some punchy emails. Consider a series of at least three, but perhaps more—one sent right when donors are receiving your letter, another a few days later, and another a week after that.
  Bonus points here if your development staff then forwards those emails to their donor portfolios, with a short message like “Hey John! Just wanted to make sure you saw this email. I know how important it is to you to feed hungry kids at Christmas! Thanks for all you do.”
• Social media posts. Turn that same messaging and imagery from your letter into attention-grabbing posts that go up over a period of weeks. Organic is good, but using paid ads is even better to make sure your content gets in front of your audience. You can also use these as progress reports: “We’re 75% of the way to our goal!"

• Phone calls. This is the perfect time for your major gift officers to call up some of their portfolio. Ask if they received the letter and would consider giving in support of the campaign.

• Text messages. How many of us have our phones constantly on hand? It’s very possible your own phone is currently within arm’s reach, and the same is true of your donors. Texting your donors can be an instantaneous, impactful way to get your message out. A short and sweet message with a link to give can be an excellent follow-up tool, especially for lower-level donors who might not warrant a personal phone call.

• PR / Media Coverage. Get your marketing department involved here. Is there a local TV or radio station willing to cover what you’re doing? See if you can schedule some coverage of the impact your organization is having in the community. This reminds your donors how their giving makes an impact—and keeps your name at the forefront of their minds.

• Giving Days. Does your campaign fall near any annual giving day that you can take advantage of? We all know Giving Tuesday, and some states have their own annual giving days. If your organization generally participates in one of these days, use it to focus on your campaign. 

A Final Word on Integrated Campaigns

Listen, integrated campaigns are great. But in order to see how impactful yours is, you’ll need to make sure you have good systems in place to measure results. Make sure your landing pages and other reply options are synced on the back end so that you can see both the success of individual efforts and how those efforts contribute to the success of the campaign overall.

Incorporate as many of these factors as you can into one unified effort that extends for a few weeks. You’ll be amazed by how far the results exceed those of an occasional, lonely appeal letter. Happy campaigning!