Fundraising Myth Busters: Brand Advertising and Direct Response Fundraising

This is the second of seven posts in the Fundraising Myth Busters series.  In the first installment we looked at donor acquisition.

Today, we’re moving on to a topic that tends to spark heated debates across the nonprofit sector.  Brand advertising and direct response fundraising.

Myth #2

Branding and direct response fundraising are competing options for nonprofits

What we know

• Goal of traditional brand advertising is to raise awareness
• Goal of direct response marketing/fundraising is to evoke immediate action from an audience
• Leveraging the value of brand advertising for your nonprofit requires the ability to convert awareness into action

What we did to test this

• A well-known national charity needed a strategy to reinvigorate their national breast cancer event
• Goals were to 1) increase awareness, 2) increase understanding of the org’s value proposition, 3) help make the connection between the organization and their well-known signature event, 4) increase event participation, 5) increase average dollars raised
• We built a multi-market test to validate whether a brand-only, direct response-only, or integrated brand/direct response campaign delivered the best response

What we learned

• [bctt tweet=”Integrated branding/direct response campaigns delivered: Nearly 3X as much revenue as the other markets”]
  • Event participation increased 6X the other markets
  • Brand awareness grew by nearly 400%

Clearly, the combined approach of brand awareness efforts integrated with direct response fundraising tactics inspires a greater level of action – and awareness. Contrary to the myth, brand advertising and direct response are not naturally in conflict!