seven ways to perk up your boring donor...

Planned Giving Days 2009

© 2009, Kivi Leroux Miller

NonprofitMarketingGuide.com 1

Five Ways to Use

Your Best Stories

for Marketing &

Stewardship

Planned Giving Days 2009National Capital Gift Planning Council

Kivi Leroux Miller

Stories work because they are sticky!

Seven Ways

to Perk Up

Your Boring

Donor Profiles

Kivi Leroux Miller

Stories Are Great for Nonprofits

• Easier to

remember than

numbers

• Feed word-of-

mouth marketing

• Free!

• Emotional, and

therefore

inspirational




People Hear AND See Good Stories

“Stories provide simulation

(knowledge about how to

act) and inspiration

(motivation to act).”

– Chip Heath and Dan

Heath in Made to Stick

Three Questions Donors Have

What Do Other

People Think?




Do I Fit in with

This Group?

Does This

Work?

Answer with Stories

In Planned

Giving, Those

Stories Are

Usually Donor

Profiles




But We Have a Problem

A Lot of Planned

Giving Donor

Profiles are

Really, Really

Boring.

When Good Profiles Go Bad

Tedious

Bio

Syndrome


Too Wide

and

Shallow





Gushing

Flackery


Mildly

Entertaining,

But Pointless

So What Makes a Good Profile?

• It’s a Story

• It’s Focused

• It’s Relevant




This is Not Serious Journalism

• Journalist’s Ideal World:

Multiple interviews with

several people,

shadowing, research

• Nonprofit Reality:

20 minutes on the phone

or email.

You Aren’t Objective, So . . .

• Some leading

questions are fine.

• The subject can

review a draft and

provide comments.

Flickr: Colm Bracken

The Profile Process

1. Schedule the

Interview

2. Gather Your Facts

3. Get Your Questions

Together

4. Find the Nut

5. Write the Profile

Flickr: africankelli




Article with 25 Interview Questions

Some Questions for Donors

• What's your first memory of . . .

• What has surprised you most . . .

• What do you wish other people knew . . .

• Why are you supporting us as opposed to other

groups?

• What might (someone) be surprised to know about

you?

What Else?

What else

would you ask

for a planned

giving profile?




Bad Questions

• Answered in one or

two words

• Delve into too much

personal history

• Focused on facts

about the cause,

rather than the

person

Writing the Profile

• How should this

story develop?

• What will this

picture look like?

Digging for the Nut

• What’s Most

Noteworthy?

(Obit Model)

• The Post Hole

Digger Approach

• The Three-Act Play

Flickr: re-ality




Act I:

Introduces the

character, his

situation, and

his goal.

Act II:

Character

faces

obstacles.

Tension

mounts.

Act III:

Action peaks.

Character

triumphs,

gets payoff.




What Does the Reader Want to Know?

• What makes this

person so special

(not like me)?

• How is this person

one of us

(just like me?)

Seven Ways to Unlock the Story

Cocktail Party Hostess




Different/Typical (or Vice-Versa)

The Insightful Anecdote or Quote

Fall Back – Spring Forward




The Action & Reaction

Paint the Scene

Straight Q & A Style




Let’s Fix Some Profiles

How could you

restructure this

profile to be more

appealing?

Flickr: GodzillaRockit

Seven Keys to Unlock the Story

• The Cocktail Party Hostess

• What’s Different and Typical

• Insightful Anecdote or Quote

• Fall Back – Spring Forward

• Action and Reaction

• Paint the Scene

• Straight Q & A

Throw the Rest Out!

• Go back to what the

reader wants to know

and CUT EVERYTHING

ELSE!




Dealing with the Quotes

• Do they say

something you

can’t say yourself?

• Are they revealing?

• Do they sound too

predictable?

“Unnecessary Quotation Marks” by BarelyFitz on Flickr

You Need a Big Finish

• Your profile’s

ending is as

important as the

beginning.

• Epiphanies, wrap-

up quotes, action

steps

Beware of These Traps

• Too Much

Chronology

• Too Many

Generalities

• Stalling Questions

Flic

kr:

benk

etar

o




Remember What’s Often Missing

• Conflict –

The Three-Act

Structure

• Success Stories –

Results from Past

Gifts

Flickr: hydrolix

Want Fries with That?

• Alongside with the

profile, you need:

– A good photo

– A great caption

– A great headline

– Maybe a pull-quote

Flickr: takaokun

So Now What?

What tasty

goodness will

we find in your

planned giving

marketing?

Flickr: star5112




5 Ways to Use Profiles More Creatively

1. Stories on Your Main

Planned Giving Page

2. Tell One Story per

Postcard

3. Slice and Dice into

Testimonials You Put

Everywhere Make Stories the Nuts and

Bolts of Your Marketing and

Stewardship

5 Ways to Use Profiles More Creatively

4. Make the Profile

about What You Did

with the Gift

5. Interview Family

Members about

their Loved One’s

Legacy

It’s All about Their Love for Your

Good Cause – Return That Love

with Great Success Stories

After you get the money . . .

Blog: NonprofitMarketingGuide.com/blog

E-News: NonprofitMarketingGuide.com

Twitter: kivilm

Facebook: Kivi Leroux Miller

LinkedIn: Kivi Leroux Miller

Slideshare: kivilm

Email: [email protected]

Office: (336) 499-5816

Let’s keep in touch!

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