film and television fundraising
Can you use DRTV to recruit fundraisers?
We’ve all seen good examples of direct response television being used to inspire people to give money. But can it also be used to inspire people to give their time to raise money for good causes? Peter Muffett made himself a cuppa and wrote this.
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irect response television (DRTV) as a sustainable channel for supporter recruitment continues to grow in popularity. While many causes are now looking to DRTV to deliver a healthy volume of new support at a predictable ROI, some charities are already looking to expand their portfolio of DRTV offers. One niche area where we are starting to see new approaches is through the use of DRTV to recruit volunteer fundraisers to take part in mass participation events, such as Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea – a major annual fundraising event for The Cancer Council. Indeed, using DRTV in this way plays to the strengths of the medium – it is all about having a well-crafted offer that can inspire people to take part, and do so very quickly (generally a 60-second time length of appeal will be optimum), and at a highly effective ROI. It seems DRTV and mass events were made for each other. After years of promoting the event through more traditional channels, and some use of brand TV advertising, The Cancer Council decided to take a measured approach to using DRTV to inspire people to participate. This year’s campaign is already pushing towards $14 million, as well as generating a substantial list of people who have shown they want to get involved with such a great cause. That’s quite some ROI.
A screenshot from the Cancer Council’s recent direct response advertisement to inspire participation in its Australia’s Biggest Morning Tea event.
Deciding if DRTV might work for your mass participation event As with all DRTV, this is fundamentally about assessing if the channel is an effective use of the charity’s budget. This involves meticulous measurement of: • How many people respond to the DRTV appeal
– one strength of DRTV is driving volume response. That’s especially important with mass participation events which are a twostage recruitment process. • How many of these people go on to participate – the initial response is just the first part. It’s then about stewardship of first-responders
Finding it hard to see how drtv can work for you?
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| F&P Magazine | October / November 2015
Insight, analysis and inspiration for nonprofit executives and leaders
to make sure they have all of the information and inspiration they need to get sponsored and complete the event. • How much they raise – as with all good fundraising this about having targets, and stretch targets. • Is the channel thus more or less effective than any other that has been or could be used – our experience shows that DRTV drives mass participation event income, but you’ll always want to test for your cause, your event, your audience. Of course, the above is a very top-line version of what is measured. There are literally hundreds of lines of data to assess the effectiveness of both the DRTV media and the call centre performance.
part of a supportive community, and raising the money to ensure that more people facing cancer can be helped. To deliver this message to people likely to respond, you’ll need direct response media planning, not brand response planning. This isn’t about the brand metrics of reach and frequency, but about maximising the ROI from each individual slot.
How to make an effective offer
The volume and richness of data you generate will be used first to optimise the campaign in real time, then to plan for years ahead. Because while DRTV is about recruiting new supporters, for mass participation events it is also about re-inspiring those who have previously participated to do so again. Here, we are giving people an event to look forward to, while also reminding them of the great time they had last year and the ongoing need for support. That’s why we often see a much more upbeat, fun tone to this sort of DRTV appeal. Yes, it’s about cancer, but it’s a strong, positive and empowering message about how we can tackle this together.
Such measurement only matters if you have an effective offer. And using DRTV for mass events is very much about making an offer rather than making an ask. So we need to use the language and proven craft of direct response, not brand response. As well as a clear offer, you can use premiums (a reward or thank you for registering), speed premiums (for registering by a certain date), and final closing dates (for adding a sense of urgency) The creative is not about making people think your event is a good idea. It’s not about making them consider it for the future. To be costeffective, your messaging (reinforced across all media, including social) must give the viewer a sense that “I must respond now or I may forget and then I may miss out”. As we know, behavioural economics tells us that people’s default setting is to do nothing. That’s why we need to use direct response techniques rather than just advertising, so that we inspire the audience to do something and do it now. Effective messaging relies on understanding why people take part. Overwhelmingly, and unsurprisingly, this is about a personal connection with the cause. But we must not forget that it is also about joining together with friends, feeling
important and sensitive role for integrated use of the telephone here. We see phone being used not just to handle enquiries, but also to support volunteer fundraisers along the way and check if all is going well, keep them inspired, and, at the end of the process, give them a friendly reminder to actually send in the money they have raised! Even with the
“Using DRTV in this way plays to the strengths of the medium – it is all about having a well-crafted offer that can inspire people to take part, and do so very quickly (generally a 60-second time length of appeal will be optimum).”
Adding phone to mail, in fulfilment While the TV appeal and media management is essential, and the quality of the fulfilment materials/fundraising pack sent out by the charity has huge importance, there is also a particularly
best of intentions, volunteers don’t always get round to this as quickly as they intended. By testing the phone primarily for welcome and thank you calls, we have seen participation increase by 20%. Think about your own experience if you have taken part in sponsored events: It’s sadly normal simply to get a letter and a mass thank you. That’s a real missed opportunity to make supporters feel special, generate positive word of mouth and build loyalty. Event participants could turn out to be mid-level or even major gift donors.
The way of the future? Using DRTV in this way is still a relatively innovative approach, but with any event able to inspire thousands of participants, and with each participant likely to raise hundreds if not thousands of dollars, we will undoubtedly see more DRTV to drive the success of events
Peter Muffett Peter Muffett is CEO and co-founder of DTV Group, based in London and Europe when the sun is shining, and who is happily spending more and more time with DTVers in Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong and India. Peter is a self-confessed, documentary junkie with his love of fundraising and DRTV providing him with an equally powerful high.
Then drop a line to plain talking, fluent in fundraising DTV. Email info@dtvgroup.asia to speak with Alex, Kerri, Angeline, Derek or Peter. Or find out more at www.dtvgroup.asia
Insight, analysis and inspiration for nonprofit executives and leaders
F&P Magazine | October / November 2015 |
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