Using Content to Connect With Donors

You already know how important donor personas are to building effective communications and development strategies. (If you don’t, check out this blog.) Well, content is the rocket fuel for connecting and engaging with your organization’s personas.

Yet most people shudder to think of all the content they’ll need to launch a communications program. Let alone sustain one. Especially one that truly drives donor and prospect engagement.

But fear not. It’s not really about the amount of stuff you have. It’s about successfully attracting new donor prospects and keeping your current donors passionate about your organization.

Because raw content is not connection
Having a whole bunch of nifty, packaged information doesn’t mean you’re connecting with people. Yet more and more people seem to think so. The fact of the matter is content, in and of itself, is not engagement. Engagement is making content emotionally compelling to your personas. And in an age of ever-expanding media, fragmented messages, and ever-contracting time and attention spans, engagement is not just something that’s nice to have. It’s a requirement. Without it, the people who count may never get to your content.

Content is a carton of eggs
Today, content is not just what you say. It also includes the interactive devices, brand experiences and social interactions that make information more compelling. In order to get people interested in your content, you have to emotionally engage them. Engagement includes the creative elements that gain and keep attention. Elements that make people want to have a dialogue with you about your purpose. And elements that help them share your stories.

Engagement is a soufflé
So let’s get the two straight. To say that raw content encased in media is engagement is like saying a carton of eggs is a soufflé. It is not. It never will be. It’s what you do with the content of the carton that makes it special. It is not about starting from scratch, so you don’t have to worry about the amount of content you’ll need. It’s about finding and repurposing the content you already have to connect with your audience.

Converting content into engagement
From blog posts and fact sheets, to webinars and podcasts, content is the vehicle for engaging your prospects and existing donors. Converting content to engagement is a four-step process that requires:

An understanding of your personas
An understanding of all the content assets you already have.
Matching content with personas
Repurposing that content in a way that resonates with the personas’ needs, aspirations and belief systems

Start by taking an inventory of your existing content and choosing which pieces can be repurposed. Then you can match these pieces to the right donor personas. If you look really hard, in enough places, you’ll probably find that you have more content than you think. It will simply need to be repurposed to support your campaign.

Oh no, a hole
Along the way, you may encounter a hole or two that needs to be filled with new content to meet your goals. This is why the content inventory is a vital part of connective impact. In addition to increasing content effectiveness, the inventory helps you identify content gaps and areas that are duplicated between communications and donor development.

Content’s work is never done — it requires constant oversight. Checking content against your donor personas, and repurposing it when necessary, is an ongoing process. Developing rich, compelling content is a commitment, not a campaign.

Want to get started? Use this form to guide your content inventory: