Childress Communications

Raising funds and raising membership — these are high on the priority list for many organizations, and often they’re attempted with special promotions.

Here’s a group that does it right. I recently received an invitation to rejoin the American Alpine Club (AAC) and get these items:

• Free AAC Patagonia organic tee with Teton mountain artwork.
• Free one-year subscription to Climbing Magazine (or extension to current subscription).
• Coupon for 20% off your next order at Patagonia.com.
• Coupon for $15 off a $75+ order at MountainGear.com.

Excellent. Why? Because the special offers were closely aligned with the interests of prospective AAC members, feeding both their emotions (the shirt and magazine with pictures of mountains) and their practical sides (gear discounts). And they were good deals, potentially returning more value than the cost of membership.

Next, the e-mail reiterated the membership value: “Special offers aside, membership in the AAC is a great value.  Remind yourself of the benefits, and see what others in the climbing community value about membership.” It included a link to a long list of benefits and testimonials from climbing stars.

Think about your organization’s promotions and long-term benefits. Many groups rely on calendars, stuffed animals and the like — perhaps nice to have, but not compelling enough to prompt people to sit down, work the math and call your deal a steal. For the AAC, partnering with related companies was a smart move that enabled them to pump up their offerings.

Are your promos and benefits both targeted to your audience and useful? How can you provide hard value that will enable you to convert prospects and retain members?

My favorite winery, Virginia’s Barrel Oak Winery (BOW), celebrated its first anniversary last weekend, and its regular weekly e-mail had some amazing stats about the inaugural year:

• $1 million in gross revenues and 30,000 visitors.
• 3,000 cases of wine sold; 20,000 tasting glasses given away.
• 30 medals.
• 6,000 people receiving weekly e-mails.
• $30,000 raised for charity.

What are the folks at BOW doing right? For one thing, they have a great product; the 30 medals support that. But I believe the quality of their wines is only a part of the reason for their success.

Another part lies in these sentiments: “We have achieved our first and primary goal of creating a place of community…. Our staff have become our friends and given us so much of their time and capabilities and heart.  Their work shows in all that we are.”

BOW is a friendly, welcoming, laid-back place. Wine snobbery is absent; you’re more likely to be greeted by a cheerful hello from the owners or staff or a wet-nosed kiss from a pooch.

And of course it helps that the BOW folks know marketing. The BOW branding is evident in everything from the paw prints stamped onto the bottle tops to the dog pictures taken by a local photographer on the walls. They’ve involved the whole community by teaming with local artists, charities, and food vendors on weekly events. And their Friday e-mails, written in the owner’s voice, make the weekend’s coming events sound so fun that I read them even if I know I can’t make the hour-long trek, because they’re a nice break to the workday.

There are many lessons here that all organizations can heed to build their communities, and their success.

How much e-mail is too much? That’s a very good question, and one that tends to cause kerfuffles among communicators and project leaders.

In a recent blog post, Steve Daigneault shares a creative and effective idea he’s put into place at Amnesty International USA. He’s developed e-mail guidelines that determine what the organization will communicate, and how often.

These guidelines hold that the best e-mails show a crisis, an opportunity to solve the crisis, and a way to take action.

The guidelines also impose a limit on the number of e-mails the organization can send per month, while allowing a few special exceptions. Program supervisors decide which topics are the most important from their monthly allotment, not the online team.

Daigneault has found e-mails that clearly show the importance of the news, as well as the advocacy strategy, far outperform others.

His guidelines provide a solid, sensible approach. If you set your guidelines in advance and communicate them to all e-mail senders in your organization, you will manage expectations internally and bring greater peace to e-mail decisions. You’ll also bring greater peace to your audience, with clearer, more-actionable e-mails and a less-cluttered in-box.

That sounds like a solution on which everyone can agree.