Your first campaign stop is your website
By Pattie LaCroix
June 25, 2007
So many organizations approach me and want to know how they can begin or improve their online campaigns. Campaigns for fundraising, issue-based advocacy campaigns, political campaigns or member engagement campaigns all have one thing in common. These campaigns hold the potential to drive more people to your website. When they get there what should they find?
After working for over two decades with nonprofits globally, it is clear that there are opportunities to make the most traction when synergies can be built through integrated thinking and approaches. Your campaigns can benefit from this kind of approach as well. For example, some questions to explore when considering your email campaign are:
- How does my organization’s website support the campaign?
- How can I strategically integrate my e-communications to support campaign goals?
- Are there opportunities within our volunteer base to promote the campaign?
- How can fund development be incorporated into the campaign?
Within this broader strategic framework, the first step to your campaign is really about looking at your organization’s website. Even if you have a unique campaign site, more people will find their way to your organization’s site through your campaign. Given this, let’s look how your website can support your online campaign.
- It is in the design. We often think about online design in terms of graphics, colour, font and so on. While these are elements of design, first and foremost design is about how to facilitate easy access to and through your online content. Design that does not do this is not accessible; inaccessible design dramatically reduces online usability. Given that the average online user will abandon your site after several seconds if they can not find what they are looking for, design is pivotal.
- Content is king. Annette Simmons, author of The Story Factor, put it best when she noted, “We don’t need more information. We need to know what it means. We need a story that explains what it means and makes us feel like we fit in there somewhere.” Online content is not a simple migration of your print text onto your website. Online content needs to be written for the medium. This means, among other things, that it is conversational in tone, uses short, active sentences and bulleted lists, has one idea per paragraph, and includes sub-headings to chunk content.
- Customization is a must. This is really about making your content generally interactive on a broad level, and specifically interactive on a personal level. Here’s what that means. General interactive content allows me to link to additional resources, access downloadable resources, participate in surveys or polls, and pass along content to my friends. Personalized content allows me to sign up for content that I want, subscribe to online content that I am interested in, and contribute to the content on your site through blog postings, for example. Customizing content creates real value for your audience and creates a sense that your organizations is listening, is responsive and dynamic.
So as your campaign pushes more (and hopefully new) visitors to the virtual front door of your organization, be prepared to greet them, engage with them, and create value for them to return. When launching your campaign, whether offline or online, ensure that your website is highly accessible, responsive and dynamic. This, in turn, will serve to deepen the engagement in your specific campaign and in your organization’s overall mandate.
Pattie LaCroix has provided strategic leadership in crafting integrated communications and fundraising strategies to nonprofits for more than a decade. As CEO of Catapult Media she is passionate about the power of storytelling in engaging your audience and building support for your work. You can reach Pattie at www.catapultmedia.ca.
