A few weeks back you may have seen my post on the Florida State email campaign we did for their Season Ticket and Booster Renewal campaign. Well that was just the first touch of a multi-touch communication schedule that we came up with for FSU.

The second communication in the multi-touch campaign was a 10 page brochure which contained everything from a personalized letter from Coach Fisher, to pre-populated forms for booster pledges, and football season ticket form with previous years season ticket information. As with the email communication the messaging is based on the 16 data segments that resulted from the audience segmentation. With the various elements being controlled via data, the direct mail communications had over 52 possible base versions. If you consider the personalized images and ticket renewal form, every version sent was unique and targeted to that individual recipient for maximum response.

Before we dive in, I have a limited number of samples of this mail piece available. If you’d like one, just let me know. (Please include your address.)

The personalized imagery incorporated in the mail communication was a FSU locker shot with the recipient’s name on the jersey. The technique was also used on the back of the mail piece with Coach Fisher holding the recipients jersey.

The following images will provide an overview of some the variability that is contained within the brochure. The collection of targeted messaging and imagery all controlled by the data segments deliver relevancy that prompts action.

(Click the image for a larger view)

(Click the image for a larger view)

This is one of the more complex campaigns we’ve done for a school, but by far NOT the most complex we’ve done when you consider the work we’ve done for other companies such as Ebay.

The benefit for FSU, outside of the improved renewal and acquisition rates they are seeing, is that they only had to focus their time and effort on one campaign (with mulitple touchpoints), rather than creating separate campaigns to reach each type of audience. This resulted in both cost and man-power savings for FSU’s booster and marketing staff.

If you’d like to learn more about executing a campaign like this, please give me a call at 386-271-3082 or send me a note by email.

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A few weeks ago we launched an ambitious campaign on behalf of Seminole Boosters and FSU Athletics to jump start their season ticket renewals and booster pledges for 2010. The campaign kicked-off on national signing day with an email blast to more than 60,000 people, a personalized website, and a personalized video with messages from both Christian Ponder and Jimbo Fisher. This is just the first touch in an integrated, full on blitz that we have planned with FSU in the coming months. I will post more updates as other parts of the campaign roll out.

“A part of” vs. ” A target of”
You know that one of the most valuable assets you have is your relationship with your fans and supporters. But sometimes its hard to communicate to your fans that you feel this way about them.

One way you can let them know is by getting personal. It’s no longer as simple as greeting them by name in an email or a mail piece. You have to also acknowledge their past involvement and really let them know they are part of the family. This lets them feel like they are a “part of” rather than a “target of”.

Communicating in this manner is of utmost importance to FSU’s strategy this year, and we’re going to great lengths with them to get it done effectively.

Personalized Email - 1 of 16 different versions

16 Unique Communication Versions
Maybe the most interesting part of this campaign is the data driving it. When we looked at FSU’s data, we determined that there were 16 different dispositions that people could be classified as:

Tickets: Renewal, Reacquire, Reconnect and Thank You’s (those who already took action) and

Booster: Renewal, Reacquire, Reconnect and Thank You’s (those who already took action)

(4 x 4 = 16 unique combinations)

This essentially meant that we had 16 different versions of email text and website copy, depending on which bucket the recipient fell into based on their past ticket purchase and booster membership. This was all able to happen on the fly as people received their email and visited their personalized webpage.

Personalized Webpage and Video - Click image to see actual site

Laser Targeting and Cost Effectiveness
FSU did not limit their audience to ticket renewals or booster renewals. In order to hit their goals for this year they determined they would need to place an emphasis on reconnecting with past supporters and fans and reacquiring those who either let their tickets or booster membership lapse.

Not only is FSU reaching out to a larger audience while becoming even more targeted in their messaging, but their campaign is getting more cost effective with each additional record as the unit price drops when the volumes get higher. This will be especially key when we get into the direct mail portions of the campaign.

Reporting
We are able to report back to FSU the response rates of all 16 groups. It was interesting for us and for FSU to see which groups performed the best. There were a few surprises for sure.

The Power of the Database
Once sufficient time has passed after the signing day email, FSU will pass data back to us on who renewed or bought tickets, who renewed their booster pledge and at what level, and who took no action at all. This information goes into our database and will drive the content of the next communication, which will be a direct mail renewal package, later this month. Again, the content of the mail piece, just like the email and personalized website, will be different for each recipient based on which bucket they are in and what actions they have taken thus far.

Systematic Campaign Plan
This level of coordination and personalization may sound overwhelming and complicated. It is not easy, but it is essential if you want to reach your goals today. There is a solid plan in place that anyone can follow with the right amount of help. See a sample communication plan that anyone could use below:

Click to enlarge

If you’d like to learn more about how we could apply this system to what you’re doing this spring, I’d love to talk to you. Even if the wheels are already in motion for your 2010 renewal campaign efforts, it is never too late to incorporate some of these strategies to better your results.

You can get in touch with me here or just give me a call at 386-271-3082.

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Rule #1 of Direct Mail: Get the mail opened.

We’ve known for years that using large window envelopes leads to higher mail open rates. That’s why most of the direct mail campaigns we do for schools make use of a 6 x 9 large window envelope which allows the creative as well as the school branding to show through.

The December issue of USPS’s Deliver Magazine has another case study to prove our conclusion.

The Wilderness Society — a Washington, D.C.–based nonprofit — adopted the larger windows for its bimonthly donor recruitment package, which it mails 2 to 3 million of annually. It now places the traditional single envelope used for the prospecting piece inside another envelope with an oversized window. And donors have taken notice.

When the double-envelope approach was tested against the single envelope, the oversized-window piece produced a 35-percent higher response rate, according to Robin Hickman, the group’s director of membership services. She adds that a subsequent test also generated a higher response rate, proving that doubling your efforts really can pay off.

If you want to see a boost in your mail open and resulting response rates, try a large window envelope for your next campaign and see what kind of lift you get.

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As we wind down the year its time for everyone to come out with their “Top 10 this” or “Best 5 that” type lists. In the spirit of looking forward (because GREAT things are ahead of us in 2010) here are three trends to watch for and implement in college sports, development/booster, and alumni marketing in 2010.

Going Green
Everyone talks about the need/desire to go green and reduce their organization’s impact on the environment. We should use best practices such as emailing before sending out a direct mail piece for renewals. We should encourage people to renew or pay online. But perhaps the best green contribution college athletic and alumni organizations can make is through targeting. And many of you are already doing a great job at this.

Think about it. You’re probably not sending out ticket or membership renewals scatter shot…you’re sending them to people who were either ticketholders/members/donors last year, people who were previously ticketholders/members/donors who did not renew last year, and finally those who, based on prior relationship with your school (ie: graduates/alumni) might be highly likely to take action.

Contrast this with the pool care company that blankets a neighborhood with postcards sent to every home, instead of just homes with pools. I’m sure you can think of other examples of wasteful marketing, we see it everyday.

Pat yourself on the back, and think of ways that you can get even more targeted in your marketing and prospecting to 1) “go green” and 2) get even better results.

One possible strategy is profiling your current ticketholders/members/donors and finding out where they live, how many games they attend, what their annual giving habits are etc. Then go find other people that look just like them to target.

Localization
Alumni and Booster organizations are the best when it comes to practicing localization, defined for our uses here as using a member’s/donor’s current location as a connect point with your organization. You can see this in action with local chapters of alumni/booster organizations, usually in major metro areas.

But have you thought to use this in your marketing? Instead of a form letter or mailer that says the same exact thing to everyone, speak to each person individually. How about something like: “Join the other 2,419 Orlando area <School Name> alumni by becoming a member today”.

This type of appeal lets them know that 1) you care about and “know” them as an individual and 2) uses the power of social proof (ie: the other 2,419 area alumni) to help tie them back to your organization.

Sound like a lot of work? Perhaps if you are doing all of your marketing in house. But to direct marketing companies like Replay Marketing that do this everyday, its all just variable data communication. We do it everyday, and can help you accomplish this.

Your data holds untapped power. It’s time to put it to use in 2010.

Integration
Many college sports and alumni marketing organizations experienced better results this year by integrating their marketing campaigns across multiple channels from direct mail, to email, and even personalized websites. This trend will continue to build momentum in 2010 simply because it works.

In tests in just about every industry it has been found that sales can be as much as 50% higher among those who receive a mail piece and click through to a personalized website than those who just visit the site on their own. An email either before or after sending a direct mail piece has also been proven to boost response significantly.

Isn’t this more expensive? It can be, but with proper planning probably not by much. You probably already use direct mail, email, and web in your marketing, just maybe not together. Integrate them, and your campaigns could be dangerously successful.

When doing your 2010 marketing planning keep these 3 trends in mind and look for ways to apply them effectively within your budget.

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There is a fantastic article in the December 2009 issue of Athletic Business titled “The Gift Box” that discusses the importance of the development profession to athletic departments, especially in today’s tough economic climate. The article highlights both successes and setbacks that schools and athletic development professionals are experiencing today.

The article focuses on how Tim McMurray from Northern Illinois uses a comprehensive donor communication plan to tell the story donors need to hear in order to loosen up their purse strings a little bit. Northern Illinois has experienced three straight years of growth in both number of donors and total donations under Tim’s watch.

The article notes that it’s not just about the donation you need from them. It’s about what that money buys, including extra recruiting trips to land a top prospect, or summer school books for a student-athlete trying to graduate on time.

There is no effective way to communicate that story with one or two touch points with donors throughout the year. It has to be an on-going, structured communication process that does not end until a donation, or a firm “no” is achieved. Tim said it best in the article:

“until we have 213,000 people who have said no, we have work to do.”

There is, of course, an investment that needs to be made in creating and executing a comprehensive communication plan such as this. That investment involves both time and resources (money and staff). But there’s no reason to go at it alone either. My company can help you plot that on-going communication strategy just as we have for other schools. There is a roadmap available for this, all you have to do is ask for it.

Executing this type of plan does not have to be expensive. Many of the communication points we advocate can be done internally by email or on the phone to keep costs low, and supported by other strategically planned direct marketing efforts.

Think through a couple of these questions. What is an average donor worth to you in their first year of giving? How many of them continue to give in years following? What if you could pick up another 500 or 1,000 donors just like that this year? What would you be willing to invest to make that happen?

My team and I are available to discuss this further with anyone who is open to having a conversation and exploring these questions. Contact me here. We’ll even come to you if that’s what it takes. In 2010 we are going to have several success stories to tell in the world of athletic development. Will your success story be one of them?

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Every day universities lose money, that’s the bottom line. It’s not a secret that funding from State and Federal Government fails to meet the needs of the university. It is even more apparent that schools must discover new ways to raise funds, more importantly – try new ideas in order to accomplish this goal. The days of relying on others to give are long gone unless you are in the top 20 schools receiving a donation.

In 2007 donations to colleges and universities grew by 6.3% over the previous year in the United States. 2007 was a record year for donations topping a record of $29.75 billion. The numbers were obtained from the annual Voluntary Support of Education (VSE) survey conducted by the Council for Aid to Education (CAE).
The last 10 years have seen an average increase of 6.5% in contributions to higher education institutions, according to The New York City –based organization; the overall increase is in spite of a decline in alumni giving as a whole.

The top 20 institution represent approximately 25.8% of all donations received. This implies that the top 20 schools either have a marketing plan to be emulated, or maintain the wealthiest alumni. These top institutions received $518.34 million more than they did in 2006, which accounts for 29.6 percent of the total 2007 increase (CAE).

The nation’s top 20 fundraising schools (and dollars received) in 2007 are:

Stanford University ($832.35M), Harvard University ($613.99M), University of Southern California ($469.65M), Johns Hopkins University ($430.46M), Columbia University ($423.85M), Cornell University ($406.93M), University of Pennsylvania ($392.42M), Yale University ($391.32M), Duke University ($372.33M), University of California, Los Angeles ($364.78M), Massachusetts Institute of Technology ($329.16M), University of Chicago ($328.33M), University of Wisconsin-Madison ($325.34M), University of Washington ($300.20M), University of Michigan ($293.40M), University of Minnesota ($288.75M), New York University ($287.59M), University of Virginia ($282.61M), Indiana University ($278.55M) and the University of California, San Francisco ($251.95M).

References: http://www.cae.org/content/pdf/Top%2020%20and%20Results%20By%20State-07.pdf

Image credit: Money Rose on Flickr by distinguish

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In planning and launching this website, our team recently conducted interviews with several Alumni Development and Marketing professionals from schools big and small all around the country. Our goal was to find out the current state of the market and to see what was working for schools in trying to raise funds from Alumni.

We thought it was important to share our findings with our readers to give everyone an overview of the market trends in Alumni giving today. Let us know if you agree or disagree with our findings. Something we missed? Let us know in the comments!

Feel free to download the presentation and use it internally or externally as you see fit. We’d appreciate it if you maintain the “AlmaMatters.org” in the footer. Enjoy!

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NAADD presented a webinar yesterday on the topic of planned giving as it relates to college athletic program development. The webinar was sponsored by Paciolan and hosted by their own Craig Ricks.

Presenters included Jerry F. Smith of J.F. Smith Group, and Steven Farmer, the Director of Capital Support at the University of Georgia.

Jerry presented on how the graying of America, and the huge wealth transfer that will happen in the next several years, could impact athletic development. Jerry gave several examples of how to engage potential donors in a one-on-one way, as well as tips for development directors on how to spot an ideal planned giving contributor.

Steven gave an inside look at what UGA hopes to accomplish with their “Georgia Always” program that will launch in July, and shared ways that the University of Georgia balances annual giving with planned giving strategies to benefit the program over the long-term.

The webinar recording is available here.

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