When it comes to acquisition, be it donors or leads, the biggest challenge is that organizations get comfortable and begin to think less creatively over time. It is easy to talk about what your ministry does in a certain way, to see your work through a certain perspective, and to continue to do what has worked in the past. Eventually though, you stop thinking outside of those boundaries, and all your communication starts to sound and feel the same. And, unfortunately your audience stops paying attention to your message.
To reach a new audience, and to get people excited about the work you do takes fresh ideas and new ways to talk about old things. Outside eyes and ears can be helpful to give a fresh perspective, but there are ways to continually renew your thinking internally as well.
Here are three ways to boost your ACQUISITION CREATIVITY:
- PRACTICE FUNDAMENTALS. Get back to the basics of what you do. Focus in on exactly what your organization does, list every service, every ministry, every product, etc. Get away from how you communicate your work and list the actual work. Then drill down deeper, and list the specifics of those things. Really try to summarize every single thing you do that someone might be excited to support. Do not settle for broad categories like “evangelism”, write down the how, when, where, who, etc. Write every detail… understand your core.
- BE FRESH. Find a new way to say things. Look at your list and find a way to reword everything on it. Literally re-write the items using different words. Force yourself to express those ideas differently. If you “provide humanitarian aid to children in India”, then find a fresh expression of that outreach, such as “meeting the most desperate needs of orphans in Asia”. Find a more passionate way to say the same things you may have been saying for years. Passion for the mission is key.
- LISTEN TO OTHERS. Discover how your mission can touch people’s hearts. Pick the top five things on your newly phrased list and ask a dozen people, maybe staff, friends, or even donors, if and why they would give to those items. Write down everything they say. Listen for their motivations. Study the essence of what they say and the words they use. This can guide you as you create fresh messaging that will resonate with others.
When this exercise is complete, you should have some new campaign themes, new ways to talk about them, and new ways to connect with people’s hearts. The next step is to refine the wording and integrate it into partner emails, social media ads, display ads, etc. for testing.
If you would like Infinity Concepts to help with this process, let’s talk!
Reach out to DARRELL LAW, our Chief Growth Officer, at darrell@infinityconcepts.com
or contact us today at 724.733.1200 X26.
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