The Pentera Blog
Isn't One Newsletter Per Year Enough?
Question: We are facing budget issues and questions are coming about whether doing more than one newsletter per year is really necessary. Can you provide any information that would support why doing more than one issue per year is worth it?
Answer: It's widely accepted in all types of marketing and advertising, including direct marketing, that messages need to be repeated frequently and consistently to be effective. As you've probably heard at some point, a person needs to see a marketing message three to seven times before they will take action. So sending one newsletter per year would mean your audience would see only one message per year, resulting in a lack of repetition and a lack of consistency. Sending more than one newsletter per year also avoids doing a "one-shot deal" (that is, just one newsletter), which is one of the biggest and most well-known mistakes a direct marketer can make.
Importance of Education in Planned Giving
There are so many topics, vehicles, and assets to educate donors about in planned giving. Restricting the marketing to one newsletter would limit the number of topics presented to your constituents and therefore limit what they are educated about. For example, if an organization had the option to do a spring newsletter on bequests or a fall newsletter on year-end gifts (which often includes various gift types and assets to give), which would the organization prefer not to educate their audience about? Ideally, their audience would hear about all of these topics—but they would have to be given the opportunity to do so.
