World Impact Marketing Team Report January - April 2017
YouTube YouTube is the second most popular search engine after Google. Our YouTube Channel continues to grow with 302 subscribers and counting.
MailChimp Each month we send two emails: E-appeals and E-testimonies on odd months and Bulletins and Prayer Letters on even months. E-appeals are email versions of the appeals we mail out. E-testimonies are emails that highlight a specific person’s testimony with World Impact—usually a video we have posted. There are opportunities for supporters to donate with each email we send out. Our open and click rates within email are right around the industry standard. But we are gauging what methods will increase these rates. This includes A/B split testing emojis in subject lines; utilizing more emotive language; and reimagining email layouts.
Facebook World Impact’s Facebook page continues to grow in likes and reach. We share blogs to boost traffic to our website and post photos from our ministries across the US. Our goal for the next quarter is to utilize Facebook Live at a conference or event, especially if Efrem is speaking.
Instagram Here are some of our favorite photos from Instagram so far this year. Instagram is a way for us to show World Impact’s creative side—faces from our schools, graffiti workshops from our camp, images with quotes or Bible verses, etc. It is also a way for us to connect with and reach those who attend the same conferences and events.
Twitter Twitter is becoming less relevant for everyday use, but it is still great for live tweeting at conferences and events and for engaging in newsworthy topics. With that being said @worldimpactinc is continuing to grow and garner engagement.
Website We met with our website design liaison and discussed what updates to make. And now we have been slowly rolling out updates to the website, from small ones like adding Efrem’s new book to the Media Center page to entirely revamping the Strategy page to match the One Focus and Initiatives. These updates will continue through July. Our web traffic is consistent. There is incremental growth. The average bounce rate* for nonprofits is between 65% and 75%, while ours is between 50% and 56%—well under the national average. *Bounce Rate is when a user visits one web page and then leaves the site.
One Focus At the beginning of May, the new One Focus of Empowering Indigenous Urban Christian Leaders and the Seven Initiatives were rolled out to staff. The Marketing Department has been working hard on the new collateral for the One Focus. Below is a list of what is completed and what will be released: - single fold Seven Initiatives card - rack card with the Seven Initiatives - postcard for UYWI - the one sheet which we have been calling the Strategy PDF (formally known as Beta)
empowering urban christian leaders As an urban Christian missions organization, World Impact has been serving in under-resourced communities for over 40 years. We are committed to facilitating church-planting movements by evangelizing, equipping, and empowering the unchurched urban poor. Our aim is to transform communities together. The Urban Ministry Institute (TUMI) TUMI provides affordable seminary training for leaders in the urban context. By equipping urban leaders, TUMI empowers churchplanting movements to reach and transform America’s cities, as well as around the world. Evangel School of Urban Church Planting We are committed to training leaders to plant healthy, reproducing churches among the urban poor. The Evangel School of Urban Church Planting is one of the main vehicles through which we make this happen. Evangel Schools are a dedicated time for urban church-plant teams to focus on theology, ministry models and strategy. Associates Our Associate Program comes alongside indigenous urban Christian leaders who do vibrant ministry among the urban poor. Our associates have a proven track record of ministry influence and leadership, agree with our statement of faith, and work as independent contractors to complete projects.
Incarceration to Incorporation (I2I) We believe many leaders who will lead the urban church are currently incarcerated. Through Incarceration to Incorporation (I2I), we equip and empower these leaders by offering TUMI classes in prisons across the country. We also offer workshops to train church leaders to do effective prison and reentry ministry. Urban Church Associations (UCA) Our Urban Church Associations are places of fellowship, encouragement and sharing of gifts and knowledge for Kingdom-minded work. Each association is designed to encourage pastors to work together to transform their communities. Urban Leadership Retreats Leaders need dedicated times of retreat and refreshment. In order to equip and support our urban partners, we sponsor men’s, women’s, and family retreats at our campgrounds—Morning Star Ranch, located in Kansas, and The Oaks, located in California. Urban Christian Education In many urban neighborhoods, the education is inadequate. As a response, we sponsor elementary and middle schools in Los Angeles, California, and Newark, New Jersey.
The Marketing team is still working on: - a simple poster for offices (June 1) - a retractable banner design (June 1) - updated website (July 1)
Donor Development and Acquisition Pepperdine University - Students from Pepperdine’s Marketing Research class conducted primary market research on topics we requested—how donors view our online donation page and what to improve on; and how to reach millennials and convert them to donors. Their research was incredibly beneficial. A few takeaways: donation page: decreasing the number of funds donors can see; perhaps having some default amounts; taking donors to a new page/website to complete the transaction makes them feel less secure and less likely to follow through with the donation. In the next quarter we will begin processing these suggestions into action steps. Pepperdine also has the Non-Profit Leadership Collaborative which World Impact will be working with. The Collaborative is made up of professors from different departments coming together to assist nonprofits with support, resources and student time. The Pepperdine team will be coming to the LA ministry site on May 17th for a tour and presentation with Candy Gibson and Peter Watts. They have also been invited to come on the 18th to hear Efrem Smith Speak at UYWI at Azusa Pacific University. In May we launched a monthly direct mail appeal for the TUMI expansion. Only certain donors will receive this mailing and once they sign up to donate a monthly gift, they will not receive any more of these pieces asking them for money. However, they will receive follow-up thank you letters from TUMI. This piece is a chance for us to experiment with new kinds of mailings and layouts, and what will make donors most receptive.
The Gathering We are in the early phases of preparing for the Gathering, which will take place on September 2124. For the event we have secured two guests, Bob Shank to host and Michael Jr. to perform a 20 minute set. Efrem and Donicia Smith will be attending the conference in its entirety. Romney Ruder, Tom Kemner, and Bob Shank will join them for the Friday night dinner, and Candy Gibson and Alicia Butler will will be there to assist. The Marketing team is working on a video about the mosaic of people and places that believe in the empowerment of urban leaders through TUMI. Some of the video interviews will get a more indepth voice in the 20-26 page magazine that is being developed as the collateral for the event. The magazine will feature profiles of TUMI students, interviews with donors, mentors, and champions of urban leadership empowerment. The Marketing team, TUMI and Tim Ladwig are working on an original piece of art for the event. The hope is that after the event we will ship a print of the piece to each attendee. The progress of the work is being charted weekly through photos, hopefully to be integrated into the video.