A rather ominous title for a blog post but reflective in this time of year. The month of May marks the beginning of Fall planning for digital strategies here at Oneicity.
Yes, it’s difficult with the weather warming up (that’s 60’s in Seattle!) to even begin to think about turkeys, Christmas, winter storms, and year end, but if you want a great Fall with your digital marketing, now is the time to start!
So where to begin?
Below is the checklist we work through to assist in the planning process. Hopefully you find it helpful, as well!
- Begin with results from last fall: What worked? What didn’t? Which channels drove the most dollars online? How did your acquisition efforts play out in 2014?
- Consolidate the wins: What specific strategies, tools and campaigns were successful last fall? Which ones do you want to repeat again this year? (hint: that answer should not be all of them)
- Fill the white board (or a few really big sheets of paper): This is the place where there are no bad new ideas. Hold a brainstorming session with your team and get all those nagging ideas in writing. This should feel energizing to think of what new ideas you can use with web, email, microsite, social, paid media and integration.
- Create the plan: Pulling from the wins of last year and the new ideas that came out of your brainstorming session, build out a plan for Fall 2015.
- Turn the plan into action items: This is the #1 place where organizations struggle. Once you have your plan, go through each item and ruthlessly ask the questions: When? Where? Who’s involved? What are the deadlines for each step? Find that detail-oriented person on your team and make sure they are part of this process. Build a spreadsheet listing each deliverable and deadlines for each step. You and your team will walk away from this step with clear direction (and peace of mind) on how the Fall will roll out.
- Honor deadlines and each other: The plan only works if deadlines are honored. As nonprofit marketers, everyone on your team wears many different hats, and time will always be one of your most scarce resources. Make a commitment to each other to stick to the actions and honor each other but still doing your part. It’s all about relationships!
So enjoy May and the beautiful summer to come, but start planning digital now because the Fall is coming. The more you do to prepare now, the more successful your Fall fundraising season will be!
Lindsey Lind
Vice President of Digital, Oneicity
(photo credit: AlanEnglish)
