Some Personal News
#30 Direct Mail; Longer and Longer Video Ads; and, 5 AI Prompts That Got Me Out of Beginner Mode
Happy Sunday. A very warm welcome to all the new subscribers. I’m thrilled to have you as readers and truly appreciate your feedback and support. There were three discussions I particularly enjoyed in the corridors of the excellent Donor Experience Summit (DXS) last week, so I’ve shared them in today’s edition:
Direct Mail: Purpose, Attribution, Audience, and Creative.
Would you watch a 10 minute Ad?
5 prompts that got me out of ChatGPT Beginner Mode.
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Let’s dig in.
Direct Mail: Purpose, Attribution, Audience, and Creative.
I wanted to get tactical again and lead with a channel that for the longest time had a $75k minimum spend or barrier to entry — direct mail. Direct mail is a channel that has started to get more popular (again) amongst organizations doubling down on digital donor acquisition and transformation.
Over 150M residences across the USA receive mail. That’s homes, not individuals! According to the census bureau, there are 2.6 people per household. So with direct mail, your potential audience to at least influence a donation is roughly 390M. To compare that to digital, Facebook hopes to have 243M people in the USA by the end of this year on their apps.
I don’t say this to compare direct mail and Facebook. The worst mistake any operator can make is judging a marketing channel based on their results in a completely different channel. If you’re judging within a category, such as Out of Home, or Paid Social, that’s fair… but comparing FB ads to Direct Mail is silly. When you test, aim to use the same landing page or URL that you see work for other campaigns, similar messaging or “hook” to get donors excited, and test with retargeting before prospecting.
Direct mail is a channel that I wish I had tapped into sooner. About 7 years ago, I ran my first direct mail campaign, where I believe our test budget was around $80k. To be honest, I can’t remember how it performed as I wasn’t leading the initiative, but I remember we didn’t continue running it, so I presume it didn’t do well. The campaign focused on reactivation — assuming we couldn’t email them again and didn’t want to spend money showing them ads with Facebook. More recently, I’ve been excited about using direct mail for prospecting and retargeting, and I’m excited to dive into the 4 key pieces: Purpose, Attribution, Audience, and Creative.
Purpose
Every iconic brand you know and love, from Walmart and Nike to Mercedes and American Express, uses direct mail. It’s not because they love sending junk to your mailbox… it just works and is cost-effective.
Checking the mailbox is something everyone has to do and ends up doing. You can spend 49 cents to reach a single person in a heavily defined demographic. It’s similar to B2B podcast advertising — it’s “upper funnel,” but they’re highly targeted, so if you give good reason to the listener, it can act like a lower funnel channel.
If you’ve got a great ads funnel working with Meta and Google and spending over $150k per month, you’re at a spot where you could test direct mail. The investment level depends on what vendor you work with. You should do your own research on which vendor is right for you. Happy to recommend.
Attribution
These are 5 things you can do for direct mail attribution. I recommend doing all 5 together for the most accurate picture.
Use a coupon code. Something contextually relevant goes far and stays memorable. Using “POSTCARD71” won’t be remembered, but “WELCOME-MATCH” will!
Use a vanity URL like tobes.co/LP. The URL looks clean and straightforward; it’s easy to remember, too. But when you go to the URL, you’ll see the UTM parameters at the top that can help you identify the traffic in an analytics platform.
Address match. This is a simple excel query to determine when and where your donations came from and to which addresses you mailed something.
Post-purchase survey. Tried and true — use a post-purchase survey tool to ask donors, “How did you hear about us?”
Holdout test. A holdout test allows you to see the true incremental dollars driven by the channel.
Audience
When you start or refresh your direct mail play, begin with an audience of donors who are already familiar with you. This allows you to make sure you don’t have obvious kinks in your funnel and you can validate how messaging performs for a channel. Because retargeting ads have a higher engagement benchmark, you can learn more about your messaging, creative, and site experience before opening up to prospecting.
When doing direct mail, you can upload donor data you already have or buy data (which is what most people do from a variety of vendors). Two common ones I use:
MailMatch — This allows you to put high-intent visitors from your site into an API that turns IP addresses into mailing addresses so that you can send postcards like abandoned checkout emails.
Credit card data — You can buy segments like “Charitable donors who pay with AMEX” or “Amazon shoppers who spend more than $500 per month” and send them specific offers.
Creative
Direct mail creative is similar to good Facebook creative. It’s bright, visually stimulating; there’s an angle and a CTA with a trackable link. Here’s some thoughts for direct mail design:
Consistent visual identity to the URL printed on the card.
Prominent logo, and consistent color scheme, so it’s easily recognizable when the donor’s go through their mail.
Clear, concise messaging. Easy to read copy (3rd-grade level or less).
Include both QR code & website URL (vanity links with UTM parameters).
A strong call to action + incentive with expiration to create urgency.
Dynamic personalization (e.g., adding the recipient's name in the design) to improve engagement.
Would You Watch a 10 minute TikTok?
There’s good stuff to be learned from looking outside of our industry.
As all social sites try and emulate each other, one common trend is longer and longer videos. TikTok has gone from 15 seconds to 10 minutes. Reels can be as long as 15 minutes, though those made in the app are much shorter. I fancied dissecting a TikTok ad this week particularly because as longer lengths are possible, we’re seeing longer videos (has anyone seen any data on this?) But with people lacking the discipline to keep their content short, we’re likely seeing the usual outcome of quantity defeating quality.
But long ads can work. In a previous edition I mentioned the 4 hour Nissan ad on YouTube as working really well.
The recent Hilton TikTok ad begins with a question, “Would you watch a ten minute TikTok?” What immediately came to mind is how ‘TikTok’ as a noun has entered the lexicon to resemble a unique type of short video. It’s an impressive gauge of TikTok’s cultural relevance.
And it’s also a direct nod to the platform. Clearly, they made this ad creative specifically for TikTok. I checked out Hilton’s Instagram, and didn’t see any mention of the Paris Hilton TikTok ad. Makes sense.
And as I looked at their Instagram, I was surprised at how different Hilton’s TikTok profile looked when compared to their Instagram profile. Smart. The TikTok seems much more focused on influencer-creator memes. It seems more approachable and fun. While there is some creative overlap, it seems more that Instagram content can be repurposed on TikTok and not the other way around.
If the goal of Hilton’s Instagram and TikTok is to drive awareness or conversions to book nights at their hotels, the creative of each platform does look distinct. Instagram looks more like a glossy magazine while TikTok looks more like a reel of comedy sketches and Gen-Z greatest hits with a hint of glossy travel mixed in.
…which may not be a bad way to describe the 10-minute TikTok ad. It’s aiming to balance a fun, lighthearted Gen-Z feel while also describing the aesthetic and comfort benefits of a Hilton hotel. And Paris Hilton both kicks off and ends the ten minute ad.
So you’ve got this modern retro pop culture icon inserted into a TikTok ad. And she basically introduces a pretty novel concept of encouraging someone to watch a full ten-minute TikTok ad in order for a chance to win Hilton prizes. Over the course of the video, a variety of different TikTok creators each perform their own sort of vignette, highlighting their artistic style. It’s a tad “post-modern” aka all over the place.
The way they use Creators is interesting; they include a tag on the main video (they’re all pretty recognizable) but most have also posted snippets of the Hilton story on their own accounts - boosting reach. And adding a degree of authenticity.
You could say it’s slightly off-brand for Hilton, but if there’s one thing that’s true about TikTok - it’s forcing organizations to rethink the way they approach their marketing and on average, almost all orgs take themselves less seriously on TikTok. For the sake of spectacle, this ad works. It’s a bold creative decision, and those deserve respect.
While I’m unsure how many people signed up for their promotion, I’d guess that the brand and reach goals of this campaign could be considered a success.
It’s All About the Prompt
Lots of people are using ChatGPT. But many of us are STUCK in beginner mode. Here are 5 prompts I’ve found very useful recently. Hope they give you some inspiration - cut and paste away:
1. Simulate an expert
Ask ChatGPT to play the part of a donor, co-host, or talented expert.
Have a conversation with it, or ask it to generate content as if it were that specific persona.
Example prompt
“You are a talented analyst at a top-tier market research firm, a graduate of Harvard Business School. Coach me to create content that connects with C-level executives at B2B companies who are passionate donors to US-based non-profits supporting animal welfare. What open-ended questions do I ask? Prioritize uncommon, expert advice.”
2. Use Unconventional Prompts
Try using prompts that are more open-ended or abstract. This way you’ll get unique and creative responses nobody else is getting. By getting weird, you can unlock ChatGPT's creative potential in finding vivid language and unexpected topics.
Example prompts
“Write a poem about ...
Write my donor a happy birthday message in the style of…
Describe feeling like a charity fundraiser in 10 adjectives.”
3. Ultra-Brainstormer
It’s easy to have ChatGPT generate a list of potential topic ideas for your next campaign. But often they're generic and expected. Instead, ask it to come up with new angles or approaches to cover a familiar topic.
Example prompt
“Topic: How to double your creative output?
For the topic above, brainstorm new angles or approaches. Prioritize ideas that are uncommon or novel.”
4. Capture your writing style
Feed ChatGPT your writing. Ask it to help you create a style guide for future outputs. It’ll give you the exact words to describe your voice and tone in a way that AIs understand.
Example prompt
“Analyze the text below for style, voice, and tone. Using NLP, create a prompt to write a new article in the same style, voice, and tone:
(Insert your text here)”
5. Use ChatGPT to write in different formats
Ask ChatGPT to vary its output.
• Outline
• Mind map
• Bullet points
• Persuasive essay
• Chunks of text of less than 280 characters
• Using the structure: 1) What, 2) Why, 3) How
Example prompt
“Create a mind map on the topic re-engaging former monthly donors to an education program listing out the central idea, main branches, and sub-branches.”
Jobs & Opps
If you’re searching for a new role or contemplating a change, let me know how I can help you.
American Heart: National VP of Science Marketing
American Kennel Club Museum of the Dog: Exec Director and CEO
Charity Navigator: Chief Technology Officer
Make-a-Wish (National): Chief Revenue Officer
Samaritan Ministries International: VP Marketing & Membership Development
UNICEF: Social Media Consultant for a 12-month period
Women's World Banking: Global Head of Brand, Marketing and Communications
Reads of My Week
EBay Head of AI talks about the future of online commerce.
Everyone loves the CREATIVE, but often the MEDIA makes it so much better.
Facebook Today and Tomorrow - a FB post on how their focus this year is on artificial intelligence, messaging, creators and monetization.
Setting a new standard in European data security with Project Clover.
The inside story of how ChatGPT was built.
And… Apple filed a patent for a glass car.
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How can I help you? I use my experience, expertise and network to help mission-driven organizations solve interesting problems and grow.
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See you next week.