Why Abe Maslow Would Dig Facebook

By Eva Bowie & Sean Powell

Let’s face it: if it weren’t for my friends I’d still be using my Betamax and phone-in-a-bag. Ok, I’m exaggerating a little. But because of their urging (or should I say, nagging?) I’ve recently dumped my old cell phone for a Blackberry, got an IM account, and jumped into Facebook with both feet. So to my pain-in-the-neck friends, I have but one thing to say: THANK YOU! The technology inherent in these things helps me be better connected to what’s most important to me: work, family and friends. On a very real emotional level, it helps satisfy my “Maslowian” needs of safety, belonging and esteem.

And as we all know, that’s exactly what we’re trying to achieve with our direct marketing. We’re only successful when we touch the recipient on an emotional level and convince them that they will feel better if they donate to our cause. 
So … how can technology help?

Thirty years ago, laser printing allowed us to establish an emotional connection with the recipient by including a bit of personal data (usually their name) in our direct mail piece. That was great then. But today our donors demand much more from us than a direct mail Mad Lib. They expect us to create an experience that satisfies their emotional needs - on their terms. Of course, this means developing campaigns which are truly integrated and deliver a consistently meaningful message throughout.

Custom, targeted e-content is all the rage these days. But let’s back up a minute and start with custom, campaign-specific landing pages. I’m sure you follow all the rules of DM 101 and carefully craft your reply device to close the deal. But for donors who prefer to give on-line, your pitch can be interrupted when they go the general website, especially if it’s designed more for communication than fundraising. A better option is to employ a custom landing page for each campaign, patterned after the mail piece. Direct them there by putting that URL on all elements of your campaign. You can give them a path to your general website if you must – but only AFTER you’ve made the sale.

Now back to custom, targeted content. The moment just after the donation is rich with promise. Your prospect just changed the dynamics of your relationship with a swoop of their credit card. So let’s take this opportunity to make that relationship even stronger! On-line, the possibilities are endless, especially with first-time donors. Why not use the acknowledgement screen and e-mail to provide more information about the emotional issue that attracted them in the first place? And then empower them by providing ways for them to act on that information.

The good news is that many supporters will gladly talk about us via social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Today’s technology can identify these “influencers”, and help us relate to them in a way that satisfies their unique Maslowian needs.

When we do this, we begin to create campaigns with no definitive end . . . which might be a little hard to deal with for died-in-the-wool direct marketers who love analyzing results. But don’t fear; I’m not suggesting we stop measuring. Instead I think we should expand the measurement matrices to include actions that stretch beyond the original focus of the campaign – conversion.

Today’s donors push us to transcend the traditional campaign-based approach to direct marketing They want a forum to pro-actively engage with us on an ongoing basis. Technology also plays a big role, of course. But ultimately it’s humans doing what we do best: finding new ways to improve the human condition and to come closer to realizing our full potential.