Integrated Digital Marketing Logo

  • Capabilities
  • Experts
  • Insights
  • About
  • Careers
  • Contact
Newsletter Signup
Back to Insights Blog

The Five Deadliest Words in Fundraising

“I would respond to that.”  Those are the five deadliest words in fundraising. Relying on a focus group of yourself is among the worst mistakes any fundraiser can make. If you work in direct response, as I do, there is a good chance you are a generation or two younger than your core audience, you […]

Previous Blog Post
Next Blog Post
by: Megan Contakes
March 21, 2011

“I would respond to that.” 

Those are the five deadliest words in fundraising.

Relying on a focus group of yourself is among the worst mistakes any fundraiser can make.

Cell-Phone-300x200

If you work in direct response, as I do, there is a good chance you are a generation or two younger than your core audience, you grew up in a vastly different political and economic era, and technology plays a much greater role in your everyday existence.

Your donors are not viewing the world through your lens, which means your personal preferences are not a sounding board for success.  If anything, they are a barrier to success because they do not reflect the values, experience, or thinking of your core audience.

Never let your good taste, your personal likes and dislikes, or your “sense of it” replace good hard data in determining offers, messages, and creative treatments that your donors—not you—will respond to.

Related Insights:
Dec 03, 2015
Please Welcome …
by Megan Contakes
Nov 11, 2015
Does Your Charity Make the Grade?
by Allyson
Jun 25, 2015
The Elusive Silver Bullet
by Megan Contakes
It’s Time to Improve Your Donor Retention.
SPEAK WITH AN EXPERT
Integrated Digital Marketing Logo
  • Follow Us on Facebook
  • Follow Us on Twitter
  • Follow Us on Linkedin
  • Site Map
1250 Connecticut Avenue, NW
Suite 700
Washington, DC 20036
202.261.6587

Get the IDM Newsletter!

MENU
  • Capabilities
  • Experts
  • Case Studies
  • Insights
  • About
  • Careers
  • Contact