Live Blogging: CASE Summer Institute session on Integrating Solicitation

Dartmouth is hosting the CASE Summer Institute on Educational Fundraising, so I had the opportunity to go to an elective session on Integrated Solicitation.  Here are my notes.

Quote by speaker: "this is not integrated marketing...this is integrating our solicitation approaches" (this statement scares me - are we not doing marketing with our solicitations?)

Integrated Marketing

• a combination of two or more forms of marketing used to sell a produce or service
  
• a management concept that is designed to make all aspects of marketing communication such as advertising, sales promotion, pr, and direction marketing work together as a unified force, rather than permitting each to work in isolation.
  

Evaluation of 3 primary outreach methods

Direct Mail: 

• advantages: least expensive, mass outreach potential, informative and creative medium, least invasive to prospect.  
  
• disadvantages: least personal, highly competitive, acquisition is expensive, upgrading is difficult.  

Phonathon

• advantages: still relativelsy inexpensive, more personal than mail, best for acquisition, good for upgrading
  
• disadvantages: can be expensive, negative perceptions of telemarketing, trends to consider.

E-communication

Advantages

• Instantaneous Response
• Mass Outreach with high personalization
• Invoke emotions with sound, visuals, etc...

Disadvantages

• Requires Investment in technology
• SPAM

Reasons for Integration

1. incorporates principles of generational marketing
   
2. maximizes results through coordinated efforts
   
3. reinforces your case for support
   
4. promotes teamwork - 'shared' goals
   
5. demands ongoing planning & evaluation
   
6. avoids negative perception of phonathon
   
7. effective management of resources
   
8. provides better service to your donors
   

Generational Marketing

• Civics: tend to be loyal, respect for authority, direct mail responsive
  
• Boomers: Tend to be non-conformist, like to be recognized, mail and phone responsive
  
• Gen X: Tend to be cynical, phone responsive (when reached), online responsive, poor direct mail response rates
  
• Gen Y: Too early to tell, technology competent, fixed phone numbers, online responsive, prefer IM over e-mail?

Examples of Integrated Strategies: 

• Establish a combined goal for your integrated marketing program to include phone, mail, e-marketing/online giving
  
• Back up important calling segments with broader direct mail appeals and eliminate the hassle, and the cost of "sorry we missed you" mailings.
  
• Promote your alumni website and acquire e-mail addresses through phonathon and direct mail.  Promote online payments on confirmation statements and online giving on direct mail reply cards. 
  
• Use e-communication to deliver timely messages about pledge fulfillment and to promote giving opportunities.  Always provide a link from your web stories and e-newsletter to the online giving page.
• Avoid the negative perception of your phoneathon caused by "don't let us interrupt your dinner" appeals in direct mail.
• Examples of integrated marketing to married alumni couples and young alumni. 

I'm not sure that most of this presentation what really about integrated marketing.  There were a lot of marketing tactics discussed....which is fine...but there was just a lot of talk about what other schools are doing rather than how to really plan to do integrated marketing.  I dunno...could have been better.