Who Are YOU Writing To?

13 Aug Who Are YOU Writing To?

12 August 2024

By David Allen, Development for Conservation

When you sit down to write your appeal letter (or renewal letter), who are you writing to? The general public? The membership? The donors?

Or to someone specifically? As if you knew them really well. Just sharing good news and opportunities to make a difference.

Your letters will be more effective if you write them as if you were writing to someone specifically. With some particular someone in mind.

In direct marketing jargon, the specific person you write to is called a persona. And the important thing about personas is that all the way through the writing process, you keep that specific person in your mind.

Write your letter to HER.

So let’s think about this. How many personas could there be?

There’s the BIG GIVER perhaps, who is thinking globally all the time. Enjoys being THE ONE who makes the biggest difference. Isn’t impressed with one or two acres, until they connect with much larger pieces.

Or the end-of-year LOYALIST, who includes the land trust in her year-end giving because it’s a cause that resonates with her sense of personal and family values. Your land trust made her list, and she doesn’t question it any longer. She probably doesn’t even read the letter.

Or FAMILY GUY, who gives intermittently and whose philanthropic priorities are mostly related to activities his children are involved in. He’s busy, busy. Too few hours in the day. Needs something spontaneous and easy.

How about ONE-AND-DONE-RS, who give at an event or field trip, and who might not ever give again – at least without coming to another event?

Or PROJECT DONOR will give to this campaign or that, but above all wants to see her dollars result in something tangible.

Or how about FIXED INCOMERS who are giving the same $50 they were giving in 2005, and God Bless them. They also come in and help stuff the appeal envelopes.

My guess is that when you read these descriptions, specific people come to mind. Perhaps you could write a few more colorful descriptions of people you know.

Here’s a recommended exercise: for each of the above personas, write the name of a specific person beside the description that exemplifies the group.

Now ask yourself this question: Would I write the exact same letter to all six of them?

Of course not.

You would write six letters that would probably be very different from each other.

And that’s the point: writing six different letters would be worth the extra effort, because expecting the same letter to be equally effective would be foolhardy.

OK – so six is a lot. Why not try writing three this year? Or just two? You could base them on just about anything –

• age (write different letters for those in their 70s and 80s, those in their 50s and 60s, and those in their 30s and 40s)
• geography (write different letters to those in cities versus rural areas, one town versus another, shoreline homes versus interior, or even proximity to a popular preserve)
• length of relationship with the land trust (first two years, 3-10 years, and more than 10)
• or some other factor.

You should still ask for specific amounts related what they gave last year, so it’s bound to get complicated.

And you’ll raise more money.

And this is where I let you off the hook. Even if you just write one letter, write it as if you were writing to a specific person. Have a specific person in mind. Write it for your mother. Or a favorite aunt. Or Raul who always signs up for the field trips.

Why?

Because you’ll raise more money.

Cheers, and Have a great week!

-da

PS: Your comments on these posts are welcomed and warmly requested. If you have not posted a comment before, or if you are using a new email address, please know that there may be a delay in seeing your posted comment. That’s my SPAM defense at work. I approve all comments as soon as I am able during the day.

Photo by ANHagen courtesy of Pixaby.