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My guest on today’s show is Bridget Hayman. Bridget is a strategic marketer who uses digital media to tell stories that resonate, inspire, and connect people, ultimately driving action. In her role as Director of Digital Content Marketing at Easterseals, which provides services and supports to children and adults with disabilities throughout the country, she’s responsible for day-to-day leadership for the national office’s digital content team. Bridget is a 2017 ADA 25 Advancing Leadership Fellow, Rotary Ambassadorial Scholar, and 2018 Civic Leadership Academy Fellow; she holds a MA in Visual Culture from Lancaster University, England, and a triple BA in English, Journalism, and Public Relations from the University of Northern Colorado.

Highlights from this Conversation

Related to Digital Marketing

1. What has worked well for you?
   1. Email – focussing on deliverability
      1. Send emails in waves
   2. Thinking through the stages of a fundraising ask
      1. Better return when they focused on engagement first
         1. Sign a petition, then ask for a donation
2. What hasn’t worked well that we can learn from?
   1. Less success with multi-hit email and social campaigns
      1. It’s not as compelling
      2. One size fits all campaigns aren’t working well
3. What are you excited about?
   1. Real specific target marketing for a cause
   2. Touching people’s hearts and minds
   3. Exploring how to engage with people in a real way across multiple channels

Interview Transcript

Adam: [00:00:09] Hi, and welcome to the Good People, Good Marketing podcast. A podcast about nonprofit digital marketing and how to make it better, so that good people and good organizations can have good marketing as well.

 

[00:00:18] I’m your host, Adam Walker, co-founder of Sideways Eight, a digital marketing agency that specializes in nonprofit work, and 48in48, a nonprofit dedicated to hosting events that build forty-eight websites, for forty-eight nonprofits, in forty-eight hours.

 

[00:00:30] My guest today, is Bridget Hayman. She is the Strategic Marketer who uses digital and media to tell stories that resonate, inspire and connect people, ultimately driving action. In her role as Director of Digital Content Marketing at Easterseals, she provides services and support to children and adults with disabilities, throughout the country. She’s responsible for day to day leadership for the national office’s digital content team.  .Bridget is a 2017 ADA twenty-five advancing Leadership Fellow Rotary ambassadors scholar, and 2018 Civic Leadership Academy Fellow. She holds an MA in Visual Culture from Lancaster University, England in a triple BA. Yes, you heard me correctly. A triple BA in English, Journalism and Public Relations, from the University of Northern Colorado.

 

Adam: [00:01:17] Bridget, I officially feel like a slacker. Welcome to the podcast.

 

Bridget: [00:01:21] Adam, thank you very much for having me. It’s really nice to be here today.

 

Adam: [00:01:25] Well, now that me and everybody else feels like a slacker, is there anything you want to add? Are there any other things that we need to add to the bio there?

 

Bridget: [00:01:31] Only the fact that I decided to work in the nonprofit sector, because it feels great to be able to do good with my day. So thank you very much for shining a light on the nonprofit industry, and marketing in the nonprofit industry, because it’s a very interesting place to be, with a lot of good work that needs to be done.

 

Adam: [00:01:55] I agree. It’s really fun to help people. And in my case, to help people that are helping people, both on my for profit and nonprofit side. Which is kind of unusual, but it’s really good to help people. I totally agree with you there.

 

Bridget: [00:02:07] Very good, very good. Well, thank you for having me.

 

Adam: [00:02:10] This will be fun. Let’s dive in. So question number one, related to nonprofit digital marketing. Tell us something that’s working well for you.

 

Bridget: [00:02:19] Well you know, I’ve thought a lot about this question when you sent it my way, as to what really worked well for us in 2017. And I was able to land on two things that I think were really pivotal to our success. The first was when it came to e-mail, really focusing on deliverability. A lot of nonprofits work with smaller tools or don’t have access to some of the big guns in marketing, and so deliverability can be a real challenge.

 

Adam:  [00:02:52] Right.

 

Bridget:  And so one of the things that we did last year, was do primarily focus on deliverability. How can we improve it? And were there some tactics from both the content and technology perspective, that we could use that would be  low hanging fruit, and really help with better inboxing. So one of the things that we discovered, was actually sending our e-mails in waves, the first wave should be for people who opened our e-mail most often. And when folks open your first round of e-mail, then when you send the second wave of e-mail, more of those e-mails then end up in inboxes. So it was a really good way of getting around some algorithms that a lot of entities like Google or Yahoo have instituted recently in recent years, when it comes to deliverability. So that ended up being very key to us.

 

Adam:  [00:03:54]  Interesting.

 

Bridget:  [00:03:54] Yeah, it was interesting and you know as a result of doing something that simple, monitoring it and then tweaking it, we were able to increase our inboxing by a crazy amount. In some cases as much as 300%, depending on the campaign.

Adam: [00:04:16] Wow.

 

Bridget: [00:04:16] Yeah, so that was really exciting to discover. And really focusing on ways to do that, really proved to be a pivotal moment for us. The other thing I wanted to be sure to mention, was thinking through the stages of a fundraising ask. We spent a lot of time last year really mapping the using…user experience, both on our website and through our different content channels.

 

[00:04:44] So whether it be social media, or e-mail, or the actual experience that you have on the website itself, and one of the things that we discovered when thinking through the stages of a fundraising ask in particular, we saw a greater return when we focused on engagement first. So let me give you an example of that. One of the big things that we’ve faced at Easterseals this year, is proposed cuts to Medicaid.

 

[00:05:15] There’s been several different iterations of this. They’ve gone through the House and Senate. And of course Easterseals is a service organization for people with disabilities. So we receive funding from Medicaid, but also we work with a lot of partner organizations that rely on that funding as well. So it’s something that is really really really important to us. And we are wanting to mobilize our constituents around it, and fundraise around it too, because we’ve got some policy efforts around this, in Washington D.C.

 

[00:05:52] And you see a lot of organizations – nonprofits in particular – fundraising around advocacy, which for us, was not something that we’ve done a lot of. So in approaching this, we had to really think through ‘how do we engage the audience with this type of ask, when it’s something that we typically haven’t asked them before.

 

[00:06:15] And one of the things that we found – we did an AB test in e-mail – where we had folks sign a petition, you know, encouraging Congress to address this in a certain way. And once people signed the petition, they then had the opportunity to give a donation if they wanted to.  And the second part of that test…

 

Adam: [00:06:38] Cool.

 

Bridget: [00:06:41]…was you know, just a flat-out e-mail asking for donations for the cause. And we found that we had a much better conversion rate with that first e-mail, where people who were willing to sign the petition, were much more willing to give.

 

Adam: [00:07:00] Wow. That’s really, really smart. I really love that. I mean just the act of engaging with a nonprofit, I mean it shows that they’re kind of committed to the cause already. And so it’s a really easy ask than to ask for a donation. Did you ask for any specific amount from this?

 

Bridget: [00:07:17] We had an ask array. So it wasn’t a specific amount, but we had suggested amounts that they could simply select. We also had the opportunity that they could pay for any credit card fee. And we found that a lot of people took that opportunity as well.

 

[00:07:37] But your absolutely…

 

Adam: [00:07:39]  Smart.

 

Bridget:  [00:07:39]…that was actually really good too. And you know, you’re absolutely right. When it comes to engagement, especially around causes that we care about, it really is a necessary first step. Think about what it takes to get you to open your wallet. You know, it takes a little something special, because there are a lot of causes out there.

 

[00:08:01] There are a lot of entities that need money for very justified reasons. So I really think that first tier of engagement is key.

Adam: [00:08:14] I totally agree. I think that’s really, really smart. That’s really good. Well, so on to my next question related to nonprofit digital marketing. Can you share something with us that hasn’t worked as well?

 

Bridget: [00:08:24] Yeah, you know, one of the things that we’re trying to work our way through right now actually, is we’re seeing a little less success than we have in previous years with your typical multi-hit e-mail campaign, and the corresponding social media in particular that goes with what you would consider to be a traditional fundraising campaign.

 

[00:08:49] And one of the reasons I think that is, is it’s not as compelling as we have come to understand and expect out of direct marketing. Social media gives you the opportunity to speak directly to an audience, in the voice that they anticipate or a voice that resonates with them. And if you stick with kind of a typical one- size-fits-all type of campaign, we’re finding that it ends up being a lot less successful than something that is more targeted.

 

Adam: [00:09:26] I totally agree. Yeah. The more targeted, the more intentional and niche I think you can be with your campaigns to the better engagement you’re going to have back to your earlier point, and the better results you’re going to have overall..

 

Bridget:  [00:09:37] Exactly and you know Easterseals is a multi-faceted organization, helping people with disabilities of all ages, of all abilities. So different types of disabilities. Anything from Down’s Syndrome to Cerebral Palsy. So sometimes it can be hard to target, because we have such a broad range of people that we help.   But when we are able to really target the message to that particular audience, we see much more success.

 

Adam: [00:10:11] That’s fantastic. That’s really, really good. And so my last question… maybe my favorite question, is, tell us something you’re excited about related to digital marketing for non profits.

 

Bridget: [00:10:21] Yeah, well, you know, I think it speaks to actually what I was talking about doesn’t really work and that’s flipping it on its head, and talking about what does work.  Real specific target marketing for a cause, and really touching people in their hearts and minds, so that they can be a part of something that they care about. And so what I’m really excited about, is exploring how to engage people in that way across multiple digital channels, with the same message that resonates depending on what channel you’re using.

 

[00:11:04] So to give you an example, we are monitoring very closely, the conversations that take place on Twitter, in particular.  In the disability policy space, when we see someone in our audience that we happen to have an e-mail for, talking about an issue that’s important to Easterseals that’s important to them, and that’s important to the disability community at large, we are exploring ways to then engage them not only on Twitter, but through e-mail and any other social channels they might be on, so reaching out to them at that moment when they’re talking about it, and when they deem it’s important.

 

Adam: [00:11:53] Wow. That’s fantastic. I love that, and I mean I love your kind of your focus on touching people’s hearts and minds, and exploring how to engage people in a real way across multiple channels. I mean I think that’s a key for us when we’re marketing, is that these are real people…they have real lives…they have real problems…they have real concerns, and we want to touch them in a real way. Not in a subversive or selfish way. We want to come to them….

 

Bridget: [00:12:19] Yes. Absolutely. Well, I think it comes down to what it takes to be successful as well. And the reason I say that, is too often we look at ourselves in comparison to other nonprofits. Maybe even other nonprofits that offer similar services to what we do. But really when you’re looking at the digital space, our realm of competition is not just other nonprofits. It’s everybody in the marketplace and competition for that message. And potentially that dollar. And so really you kind of get a look at corporate America too, from my perspective. And look at what is resonating in that space, because we have the opportunity to actually tell the stories that really matter, and that’s unusual. It really differentiates I think, nonprofit work, from for profit work.

 

Adam:  [00:13:16] Yeah, I mean, Corporate America is trying to tell stories that connect with people emotionally too, but it’s more stories that are a little tougher to tell, because they don’t have the heartwarming stories, sort of by default. They have to kind of create the heartwarming stories as it were, whereas the nonprofits, I mean, we’ve got the winds…

 

Bridget: [00:13:40] Exactly.

 

Adam: [00:13:40] …we just need to tell our stories well.

 

Bridget: [00:13:41] And that being a framing exercise of why this particular story is important, and why it’s relevant to the larger population as opposed to a smaller minority.

 

Adam: [00:13:56] Yeah, that’s absolutely true. Well, Bridget, let me see if I can recap what we’ve learned so far, and you can tell me if I filled in the gaps correctly here, and you fill in any gaps that I’ve got, right?

 

[00:14:06] So, related to digital marketing, you said what’s worked well for you…you mentioned e-mail focusing on deliverability, specifically sending e-mails in waves to increase inboxing so that you’re getting more engagement there’.

 

[00:14:22] You also said ‘thinking through the stages of a fundraising ask’, which I love that you started with ‘thinking’ before ‘doing’. ‘Getting a better return when you’re focused on engagement first’, and you had the example of ‘signing a petition, and then asked for a donation’, and I really love that. I mean, if we can get our users to really do any action as small as it might be, like typing your name on a list, they’re still going to be much more likely to donate after that action. Because they’re more bought in…they’re more engaged at that point, and they’re interested in helping out further.

 

[00:14:52] Under what hasn’t worked well though that we can learn from, you said ‘less success with multi-hit email and social campaigns. It’s just not as compelling and it can be a little bit of a ‘one-size-fits-all campaign, and that doesn’t tend to work as well, right now.  We really need to micro target the communities that we’re going after, to get in front of them’.

 

[00:15:10] And, for what you are excited about, ‘Real specific target marketing for a cause’, which is of course, the antithesis of what wasn’t working. So I totally agree with you there. And touching people’s hearts and minds and exploring how to engage with people in there.

 

Bridget: [00:15:24] I think that was an excellent recap. In fact, you can’t hear my head rattling but I was nodding the whole time.

 

Adam: [00:15:31] That’s great, that’s great. Well, Bridget, this has been great. Do you have any sort of final thoughts you’d like to share our listeners?

 

Bridget: [00:15:38] You know, I really don’t. But thank you for taking the time, and again, for shining a light on the non profit sector.

 

Adam: [00:15:45] Well, this has been great. Bridget, I really appreciate your time and would love to have you back on the show at a later date for sure, so we’ll keep you on the hook for that, if you don’t mind?

 

Bridget: [00:15:54] That sounds great. I would love it. Thanks for having me.

 

Adam: [00:15:58] Thanks Bridget. And thank you for listening to Good People, Good Marketing. To get more resources about nonprofit digital marketing, make sure to go to goodpeoplegoodmarketing.com, where you can find more podcasts, blogs and other fun resources.

 

[00:16:09] Also, if you want to find me, Adam, your host, you can find me on Twitter, @ajwalker, and on my blog at adamjwalker.com, where I blog about leadership, productivity, habit building and the craziness of having five kids. Thanks for listening and tune in next time.