The #1 question

If I had a nickel for every time I get this question, I’d had a gold-plated Tesla and a personal masseuse on staff.

“Rhea, how do I get more donors?”

The perennial question and an important one.

So, if you’re looking to build your pipeline and grow your email list, you won’t want to miss this week’s podcast episode with the brilliant Dana Snyder about a paid ads strategy.

Before you listen, though, I want to warn you about a couple of things:

1. 9 times out of 10, everyone is looking for new donors because their retention rate is crap and they haven’t held onto their past donors.  Before you embark on a paid ads strategy, fix the leaky bucket.  It’s no good spending money to find more donors if they bounce after one donation.
2. Your strategy should be a mix of organic and paid.  What do I mean by organic?  I mean utilizing your board and existing fans, generating organic interest via social media, newsletters and traditional media.
3. It’s a longer term game.  Don’t think that you’ll turn on ads and see a return overnight-you’ll have to test and iterate.  Also, don’t expect that you’re going to “go viral.”  

Finally:

1. Just because you have a paid ads strategy does not mean that you don’t also have to offer value.  So many people rush to using paid ads for donations without building trust with their audience.  It’s like asking someone to marry you after messaging on Tinder.  It’s…weird.

With those caveats, go forth!  

I’ll just be here in my gold-plated Tesla.

Rhea