The Age Old Question: Mailing Too Much or Too Little?

Whenever nonprofits talk about direct mail or I talk with my own board, staff and fellow volunteers about mailing, the first question that allows comes up is "are we mailing too much?"  There are always a fair amount of advocates for the less is more philosophy, who hate getting too many letters from various organizations as well as stickers, trinkets and other brick-a-brack. I can, of course, understand there concerns. I tend to lean towards the side of more communications, as I tend to feel that otherwise your donors will forget about you and you should be constantly sharing.

Today Gail Perry, who I follow on Twitter @GailPerrync, posted an article to Twitter about starting the conversation - are we mailing too much?  The article suggested rather than focusing on mailing we should focus on questions like

• What do my donors expect from their relationship with my brand?
• How satisfied and committed are my donors to the brand? And, what's driving satisfaction and commitment to my brand?
• What's the "story" I'm telling my donors across all of my touches? And, what messages truly resonate with what my donors need to hear?(quoted from the article)

I think the stories we're communicating, branding, and also calls to action should be included in all our mailings - this alleviates donors feeling like piggy banks and also reminds them why they are involved in this cause in the first place, making the mailing about more than just the ask.  However, I do think the ask is a critical part of any mailing and you shouldn't shy away from stating what you need from the donor a few times a year.

In regards to the too much question, the article says that a recent industry study in 2011 revealed that if messaging was on point there was not a case of too much mailing.

Food for thought?  Do you have the ongoing discussion on too much/too little?

Blogging Blues: Creating an Editorial Calendar for Consistency

We've had a very hard time getting staff on board with regular blog posts and trust me, I know it is hard!! I haven't blogged on this blog as often as I'd like and I sometimes forget to post my regular Tuesday workouts on my fitness/food blog. 

However, for an organization, it's good to have some sense of order and regularity in your blogging.  I recently acknowledged the issue with staff and we decided to set up a calendar. However, it is very hard for program staff to make time to blog; however as we came up with ideas to help them, creating a calendar, talking through the idea and creating a draft with me, things seemed easier.

I began a rough draft based on a model from Beth Kanter, an expert at nonprofit social media, and some drafts I found online.

I've been using it temporarily and so far I've managed to fill all of February!! Yay!  I created a monthly section for us to put ideas and conferences and track holidays we may want to reference.

And I also created a weekly section where I can track:

• What week we're on
• Topic of the Blog
• Brief Description
• Author
• Due Date to me
• Due Date to Drop
• Did we push out to Social Media?

I noticed this also made me realize when I'd be on vacation in late February and to make sure the blog was due the prior Thurs COB and was posted on Friday evening to drop the next week.

How do you track your blogging efforts? And how do you get program staff to help blog?