Essentials in Creating an Email Campaign

Essentials for Email CampaigningUsing the Right Words, Images and

Strategies to Engage Your Supporters

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Goals for today…

• Learn how to get people to take action• Increase your open and conversation rates• Improve your design and formatting• Incorporate social media sharing

Planning Your Campaign

What are your goals?

• Before starting a campaign, determine your endgame:– Influence policy?– Grow your list?– Get media attention?– Educate supporters?– Bring people together?

What is your ask?

• Determine your specific ask based on what will help meet your goals

• Don’t waste people’s time – make the ask worth their time

• Why does this matter?

Expand Your Audience

• Reach larger and more diverse base than you would by only promoting among your own supporters

• Multiple organizations supporting one petition• Target organizations with different

demographics• Strange Bedfellows = Good Allies

Example: Free Speech for People

• Coordinates many actions with partner organizations with similar interests

• Both groups benefit from gaining more supporters

Example: Save the Internet

• Bipartisan legislation can create bedfellows with a different political or social leaning

• Makes great press and reaches a new audience

Capture the Moment

• Make your ask timely so that policy-makers and supporters pay attention

• Coordinate with external events• Illustrate how your issue impacts their daily

lives

Example: Global Zero had less than two months to ensure there was enough public pressure to support this initiative in the European Parliament

Communicating Your Message

Start Where People Are

• Move away from the language you use internally

• Explain your message clearly• Present a concise explanation

Create Urgency

• All actions must have a deadline• Convey to supporters “If you don’t take

action now, something bad will happen”

Surprise Me!

• Tell me something I don’t already know• Avoid repeating familiar rhetoric• Create a “facepalm” moment• Make it emotional

Open me!

• Great subject lines are: – Short– Direct/Actionable– Intriguing– Controversial– Timely

Open me!

• Boehner wants you to delete this message• A little privacy, please?• One gun owner’s message to the NRA• You are not alone• Did you get this?• Share this with everyone you know• Tell Lansing: Don’t trade away our health• Unbelievable!

Clear Win or Lose

• Communicate your goals• If people don’t know what the result of their

action will be, they won’t take action

Create Competition

• People like competition• Incorporate voting to generate user

feedback• Let people personalize their vote, actions

or how well they are doing

Images, Not Just Words

Keep Up the Momentum

Send Follow Ups

• After your initial message, send follow up messages if someone: – Did not open the message– Opened the message, but didn’t act– Opened the message and acted

(yes, that means everybody)

Sharing

• Incorporate social media sharing wherever you can

• Use sharing features in your email platform to encourage people to take action

• Use addthis.com or sharethis.com to share email and web pages with little effort

Report Back

• Share your results: send out the results of your campaign

• Provide additional actions for previous action-takers

• Encourage people to share links on social media sites

About Cornershop Creative

We offer a wide range of affordable services for nonprofits and small businesses

• Website design and development

• Strategic planning• Campaign

implementation• Helping you make the

most of your online tools

Thanks!

Questions? Contact us:

[email protected]@cornershopcreative.com

734-707-8183