As you know, over the years the charity lottery landscape has changed drastically. It’s become harder and harder for charities to raise funds. We have more charities than ever and less money to go around.
A lot of charities are using lotteries and raffles as a key strategy to raise funds, which has increased the competition to sell tickets.
Marketing has changed drastically too. Traditionally, the methods used are direct mail and telemarketing, but now we have digital marketing as well. This is a huge and ever-expanding area, including websites, email, social media, web search and so on.
Results are what count, though. To get the results we believe that telemarketing needs to form a vital part of your fundraising strategy. Here are the top three reasons why telemarketing should be part of your lottery and raffle marketing strategy:
1 – Telemarketing still gets great results
Telemarketing has a fantastic response rate, with strong ticket sales and a good ROI. It might require a higher investment than a digital or direct mail campaign, but generally the results are better and more predictable.
One of the biggest reasons for this is that telemarketing is a lot harder to ignore!
- We are inundated with emails so they’re easy to miss,
- we often glance over a digital ad, and
- we usually ignore the mail we receive.
Your supporters, especially those who prefer the ease and convenience of buying on the phone, are far more likely to answer their phone.
Would you get out of the shower to get the mail? No, but you might do to answer your ringing telephone.
Also, telemarketing has another huge advantage: the human connection. A good telemarketer with experience in the charity sector will be able to build a relationship with your supporters, promote your cause and sell tickets there and then.
Direct mail and email marketing are important, and direct mail is enjoying a comeback, but it’s a lot easier to ignore; even with good intentions people put it down and forget to take action.
When you have someone on the phone you can guide them through the process of buying tickets, while deepening the relationship.
The telephone can work in conjunction with direct mail and email to enhance those channels and improve results.
And remember, with telemarketing you have full control of your campaign in real time. You can monitor your income per hour and as soon as it drops below the level you’re happy with, then you can stop and evaluate.
2 – It can blend in and support your other strategies
The best marketing strategy for your lottery or raffle is an integrated one with multiple communication channels.
There are so many distractions in today’s digital world that to make an impact on your audience, you need a multi-pronged approach. You need direct mail, emails, social media, a website and search engine marketing.
Telemarketing has the flexibility to fit around these marketing strategies to support them and improve results.
The challenge with the other strategies is that, generally the percentage that take action won’t be enough to support the campaign’s revenue targets. Telemarketing, on the otherhand, can help achieve those revenue targets.
Telemarketing is a way of going deeper into your database to get a better result from your supporters.
Digital marketing might be great for generating new supporters with marketing online and on social media, and email marketing might be a cost-effective way of targeting some lists.
But to make sure you maximise your sales from all your different list segments (short of knocking on their door!), telemarketing is a very effective way of targeting them.
Telemarketing is also a great way of following up a direct mail or email campaign. We all know one of the most important ways of increasing ticket sales is by following up.
Supporters might not:
- see your email or direct mail, or
- they might forget to take action.
Telemarketing is a way of personally following up and guiding them through the process so they can purchase their tickets.
3 – It gives you a chance to update and clean your database
A clean and well-targeted database is crucial for keeping your marketing strategy streamlined, improving communications, nurturing your supporter relationships across time and being successful.
Failing to maintain your supporter database, on the other hand, can actually:
- cost your charity valuable time;
- cost your charity money; and,
- ultimately, cost your charity supporters.
Keeping your database in check can help you to reactivate old supporters and lapsed supporters. It could even, for example, identify someone who’d like to leave a gift in their will to your charity.
Life gets busy and many ex-supporters may have just forgotten to keep coming back. A friendly call can be that nudge they need to begin giving again.
Updating your database of supporters can be a big task, especially if it’s let go for too long. That’s why keeping it maintained on a regular basis is the most efficient way to work.
As your telemarketers are talking to your supporters each day, they can check and update their details to make sure they have the;
- best number,
- the right email address, and
- the right postal address.
They can then keep the database clean on a daily basis, helping the charity with its most important assets, its supporters.
Next Step
I hope you found this information useful in helping you understand why telemarketing should be part of your marketing strategy for your lottery or raffle.
Your next step should be to look into selecting the right telemarketing company for your charity.
To help you, we’ve developed a useful guide called ‘The 6 Things to Consider When Selecting a Telemarketing Company for Your Charity’ to download your copy.
Book Your Test Campaign
If you’re considering telemarketing, then the best way to find out if we’re the right fit for you is by booking one of our complimentary test campaigns. We’d like to donate 10-hours of telemarketing to your charity so you can test us out.
or call 07 5588 2888 now to book your test campaign or to talk with one of our team about your campaign.