7 Ways for Nonprofits to Add Digital Media and Direct Mail

Digital media plays a key role for fundraisers in targeting their donors. For example, integrating social posts along with email, they can hit donors multiple times on different platforms. But don’t stop your direct mail campaign!

Direct mail also continues to evolve with emerging technologies. In this post, we share the importance of integrating your digital media with direct mail, and we highlight 7 ways you can actually add digital media to your direct mail.

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The Importance of Digital Media in your Direct Mail Marketing Strategy

Using digital media in direct mail marketing has increased drastically over the past few years. Today, the online world and offline world are converging. You can see the effect it has had on fundraising, for example, where donors are using online from offline sources to donate.

Direct mail marketing is a type of advertising that includes directly delivering your appeals to your constituents via postal service. To be effective, it must include some element of personalization and relevancy to the donor or else it is ineffective. People enjoy feeling important. 70% of consumers say that direct mail makes them feel more valued.

The Convergence of Direct Mail and Digital Media

The key is to combine your digital marketing and direct mail efforts to boost your overall results. The two are powerful ingredients for marketing as individual efforts, but together — you get incredible results. Research shows that combining digital and direct mail efforts can increase response rates. A study mentioned by Philanthropy Today found:

If someone’s getting both mail and email from you, they’re more likely to open your letters! Donors who received mail-plus-email show a 60.5% lift in response rates over those who just got mailed.
Donors who received only an email had a 90.6% lower response rate to the mail than donors who only received the mail itself. The email-only group had just a 1.4% response rate.
People who received both direct mail and digital media were also more likely to give online too. Clearly, the worst option was to send people only email.
Another study shows that those who receive emails along with direct mail give 25% more annually.

Our 4 P’s of Direct Mail Marketing

There are four “P’s” in marketing: Product, Price, Place, and Promotion. However, in the fundraising world, we created these 4 P’s of direct mail marketing:

Personalization – Personalized appeals to constituents are more likely to be remembered and acted upon.
Photos – Adding photos and imagery creates an emotional connection for the donor.
Planning – Placing your digital ads ahead of your direct mail will help bridge the two channels.
Presentation – Your direct mail piece needs to reflect the ask. From postcards to letters to self-mailers, your appeal should include your story, your call to action, and your goal.

Developing a successful direct mail appeal, along with digital media, should embody the same design, so it is clearly part of an overall campaign.

Including the same design and creative elements on direct mail, email, social media, digital ads, and the landing page provides the donor a connection to the overall campaign.

The Role of Digital Media in Modern Direct Mail Strategies

Most fundraisers know about the importance of engaging constituents through their digital channels – whether it’s through social media, email, or mobile applications. The digital landscape has changed how we communicate with people and how people communicate with us. Digital media has evolved how we do fundraising campaigns, specifically direct mail.

Here are seven ways to integrate digital media with direct mail.

QR Codes – Placing a branded QR code as a call to action on your appeal allows the donor to go from the physical to the digital world in a couple of clicks.
Video – Sounds crazy, but when you add either a URL or a QR Code to your mailer, you direct your donors to a video and continue to tell the story of your nonprofit in a more visually compelling way.
Landing Pages – Include the landing page URL in the main body of your letter. Don’t be afraid to include the URL in multiple locations on your appeal. From the letter to a buck slip to the reply card, guide the donor to your landing page.
VACTA – Voice Activated Call to Action is the latest technology to hit the consumer market. Now it’s fundraisers turn to take advantage of this platform. Add a call to action in your appeal that uses Alexa’s Donate to Charity feature or Google’s simple phrase “Hey Google, donate to a charity” to accept donations.
Informed Delivery – Over 44 million people have signed up for Informed Delivery. This is the USPS digital mail and package delivery online preview. Nonprofits can include a free ad to ride along with the digitized mail.
Social Media – Remember to add your social media icons to your direct mail when you’re creating a multichannel approach.
Text – Text to give is a convenient method for donors to send their contributions via text. The process is seamless and takes a few minutes. Adding your text number to your direct mail gives your donors another way of donating to your cause.

The increasing developments in digital media are changing direct mail marketing as we know it. Direct mail once meant appeals delivered through “snail-mail” but now includes targeted messages to your donor base while they are browsing their social channels on their computer or phone.

Conclusion: How to adjust your strategy for your next campaign

Assess your current direct mail marketing strategy. Identify and apply modern digital strategies, as mentioned above. Employ our 4Ps model of direct mail marketing as the base of your appeals. Fundraising efforts should consider all channels, as every channel has the potential for success when used in tandem with one another.

In conclusion:

Fundraisers have been using digital media for a long time. With the continuous advances in technology and new communication channels, direct mail is also adapting to these changes. We believe that the convergence of traditional and modern marketing strategies is what will make you more successful in this fast-paced world.

If you’re ready for a direct marketing partner who provides marketing solutions for your next fundraising campaign, contact us today.