How Direct Mail Marketing Can Help Nonprofits Increase Fundraising

A recent report found that almost 90% of marketers believe that print is an important and valuable component to their overall marketing efforts. This is in part because of the tactile and sensory nature of print communications, and it’s also due to the oversaturation of messaging via digital channels like email or social media. 

But a large part of the success of print marketing communications is also that print feels personal, and this ability to connect on a deeper level with a target audience is key for nonprofit organizations to help drive fundraising efforts. 

With an average response rate of 3.5%, direct mail marketing can help nonprofits acquire new donors and generate new fundraising streams in a proven, cost-effective way. Here, we’ll look at a couple of ways how direct mail marketing — particularly high-volume postcard mailings — can help nonprofits increase the effectiveness of their fundraising efforts. 

Direct mail can reach donors on a personal level

The ability of personalized print to prompt your target audience to respond or act cannot be understated. For example, customers are 70% more likely to complete a purchase from a brand that personalizes their outreach, and this makes personalization key for brands looking to utilize postcard mailing programs as part of their sales and marketing communications strategy. 

Digital print-on-demand technology can help nonprofits capitalize on the kind of custom print communications that prompt consumers to act by creating personalized, highly-targeted pieces that are designed to get results. 

Personalization via variable data printing (VDP) helps marketers create customized print pieces, individualized for each specific recipient, on a large scale. VDP uses data or insights from your customer relationship management software (CRM) to help you create custom copy, images, or design elements specifically tailored for individual recipients. 

For example, instead of sending 100,000 identical postcards, you can use VDP to create customized pieces, each tailored with messaging that will most likely resonate with the individual donors based on what you know about them.

Direct mail can be an interactive experience

Direct mail that takes a more interactive approach has a better chance of creating a deeper connection with donors, and it also makes it more likely that your audience concerts on your call-to-action (CTA). Interactive direct mail pieces are more likely to be shared within a personal or professional network, and the more immersive nature also increases the potential that your target donors retain and recall your core messaging or branding.

There are a variety of ways to make your direct mail campaigns more interactive. For example, you can use specialty inks or finishes to enhance the visual and tactile appeal of your piece. You can also choose to print your mailers on a heavier or texture paper stock. 

Plus, you can design your direct mail campaign with digital integrations like quick response (QR) codes that launch videos, landing pages, and even augmented reality (AR) experiences to better engage your audience.

Direct mail can be a pathway to a more multi-channel marketing approach

Speaking of digital integrations like QR codes and AR, today’s consumers respond better to brands that engage them in a more multi-channel way across a number of platforms or places. The same is true for potential donors, and direct mailers can be an effective bridge between the print and digital space to help create a more dynamic, multi-channel marketing approach that better engages donors.  

For example, you can put a QR code on a personalized postcard that launches a video, landing page, or some other kind of digital content that supplements the print messaging, and also lets you target donors with ads on Google, Facebook, or LinkedIn. This strategy uses direct mail as a springboard to create an additional digital touchpoint to help keep your nonprofit at top of mind and increase your ability to generate donations. 

The USPS^® Promotions and Incentives Programs can help nonprofits save on postage by infusing direct mail with digital technology to help increase response rates and drive a more meaningful ROI on print marketing. Read our breakdown of this year’s programs to learn more about how to take advantage of postage discounts and print more exciting mailers. 

Partnering with a direct mail printer and mailing expert like Varispark can help nonprofits create high-quality, effective print campaigns that deliver new donors and increase the average amount of donations. Our use of digital print-on-demand technology makes it possible for nonprofits to print postcards or self-mailers at any quantity to create cost-effective campaigns that reduce waste and prioritize ROI.

Learn more about our direct mail marketing services.