Successful Self-Promotion Part 2 :: Crafting Your Message in a Bottle with Care

When you start off, you have to deal with the problems of failure. You need to be thick-skinned, to learn that not every project will survive. A freelance life, a life in the arts, is sometimes like putting messages in bottles, on a desert island, and hoping that someone will find one of your bottles and open it and read it ...and put something in a bottle that will wash its way back to you: appreciation, or a commission, or money, or love. And you have to accept that you may put out a hundred things for every bottle that winds up coming back. - Neil Gaiman, “Make Good Art”

A few weeks ago we wrote about conducting research and finding inspiration for a self-promotional mailer that we set out to produce. Our primary objective was to try and expand our reach in an effective manner - one that provided a high level overview of our offerings, showcased our aesthetic, targeted the correct audience, and remained cost-effective. It was, in effect, our version of sending out a message in a bottle - an incredibly honest and astute analogy that Mr. Gaiman articulates beautifully above - especially given that we chose to print and mail our brochures the old fashioned way (which, as it turns out, isn’t quite so old fashioned as many may think - more on that next week). So, now that we have finished designing our own small campaign, we thought we’d spend a little time this week discussing how you might approach producing your very own message in a bottle.

We’ll start by briefly touching a couple of big picture considerations, and then putting those aside for now. No matter what business your organization is in, whether you’re selling products or services, soliciting donations, or simply trying to raise a little awareness, you’ll probably want to take a look at the data that is available regarding different types of campaigns and how that can inform: 1). what type of promotion is best for your organization; 2). what medium you should use; 3). the time of year that makes the most sense for conducting that campaign; and 4). what sort of goals / expectations you should set for the return on your efforts. There’s a treasure trove of information on open rates, response rates, conversion rates, ROI’s, and cost per acquisition for direct mail and email campaigns. Read up, but beware the rabbit hole...

 What we can be fairly certain about is that there is no one right way for any specific type of organization to go about conducting a campaign of any kind. That sounds incredibly unhelpful, right? Sorry. But there are just so many unique considerations that might end up making two identical-looking campaigns (e.g. two not for profit organizations with similar size donor databases conducting #GivingTuesday email appeals) yield vastly different results. That’s why we believe that the most important consideration you can give, once you’ve done all the research, is on crafting a compelling and visually appealing message that represents who you are and what you are about. Start by taking care in crafting your campaign and know that it will ultimately be well-received. Returning to Neil Gaiman for a moment: if you get one response out of one hundred tries, especially if you are new like us, take heart, it’s a victory! Progress can be slow, and building an identity, a brand, and a reputation is hard work. Ensuring that your message is heard takes time and persistence, and is ultimately the most important outcome to keep in mind.

Next week we will wrap up this topic by focusing on a few specific things you can do to get your audience engaged, even if it doesn’t immediately result in new business, increased sales, or more donations.