The Pentera Blog
The Contest
by Chandra Towers Blatt, Gift Planning Marketing Consultant
No, I'm not referring to the famous episode of Seinfeld! I'm referring to ways to get your donors and prospects to actually read and keep your planned giving newsletter. As mentioned in Gypsy… "You Gotta Get a Gimmick!" My gimmick for this article was the first sentence of this paragraph. It hooked you in, right? A fabulous gimmick for a planned giving newsletter is the contest. I'm referring to a good old-fashioned winner-takes-all contest. It works like a charm. If you include a contest in your newsletter, recipients will be more likely to read it and keep it.
During my tenure at the Wildlife Conservation Society (the umbrella organization for New York City's five zoos and aquarium), I always included a contest in my planned giving newsletter. One year I included a "Best Zoo Photo" contest where recipients were asked to submit a copy of a photo of them at one of WCS's zoos or the aquarium. Another year I included an essay contest entitled "My Most Meaningful Moment," asking newsletter recipients to write a few blurbs about one of their most meaningful times at any of WCS's facilities. My colleague and I would judge the submissions, and we would send a small prize (stuffed animal, Bronx Zoo tour book, etc.) to the winner. Donors and prospects often told me that they looked forward to the contest in the "next issue" of our newsletter.
Want to try something different? Add a contest to your planned giving newsletter, and you will see a boost in readership.
For additional information, ideas, and strategies for maximizing your newsletter's effectiveness, please call Pentera at (317) 875-0910 or visit our Web site at www.pentera.com.
