The Q3 Playbook: Find, Grow, and Engage Your Digital Audience Now for Fundraising Success in Seasonal Drives
As we transition into the new year from the fundraising frenzy of Q2’s end-of-year drives, we enter a critical fundraising season for public media organizations (PMOs). Teams in marketing, audience, fundraising, and membership should be using this time to grow their org’s audience today to convert to new donors during seasonal drives later in the year.
On Thursday, January 23rd at 2pm (EST) we’ll be hosting a fun webinar in which we’ll walk through exactly how to do this. In real-time, we’ll be taking a look at several actual PMOs (from the smallest to the largest markets) and the specific steps they should be taking in Q3 (and Q4) to maximize fundraising throughout the year.
You can sign-up for the webinar here. Please pass this on to others in your org who might also find this helpful and informative 🙏
Here’s an outline of what we’ll be talking through together, which we’ll discuss within the context of these actual case studies:
1.💸Understanding the Revenue Pipeline: Building vs. Nurturing
PMOs historically excel at speaking with and engaging their existing community. But how well is your organization actually growing this community of prospective donors? The data shows nearly all public media organizations nationally are missing their audience, which underscores the opportunity to meet them where they are today – on digital – to later monetize during campaigns.
The Marketing Funnel
What PMOs Do Well..
…and What They Don’t
Always-On vs. Timed Campaigns
Collaborating with Stakeholders
2.🗺️Following the Fundraising Roadmap: Seasonal Steps to Success
In our Giving Tuesday webinar, we noted that preparation for the most productive seasonal drives starts many months beforehand (which is right now). So what does it actually look like to invest today in laying the groundwork that produces revenue when on-air campaigns are active? Here’s where we’ll really drill down on actual case studies to show you how it’s done.
Content: Articles & Posts
Allocating Budget & Channels
Transitioning to the Midfunnel
When to Start “Selling” (ex: Giving Tuesday)
3.📈Measuring Success: Identifying the Right KPIs for the Season
Campaign success is typically only measured after the fact by looking at the amount of money raised versus what was spent on raising it. But what specific leading indicators should we be looking at today that might indicate we’re on the road to success (or not!) when our seasonal drives don’t occur for months down the road?
Lagging vs. Leading
Quality vs. Quantity
Digital Audiences
Search Volume, CPMs, and more
Artificial Data
⭐Experimentation: When, Why, and How⭐
As time permits, we’ll respond to one of the most common questions our team gets from public media marketing teams: what new things should we do?! While it’s often important to resist the shiny new toys for the greater good (especially with the budgets we’re working with), this is the time to thoughtfully integrate new channels and opportunities. We’ll explain why this is and how to do it effectively.
