SMS text message marketing has become one of the most effective ways for top nonprofit organizations to connect with their supporters and, in the process, reach thousands or even millions of people at once. Its popularity and simplicity make it the perfect channel for organizations with fundraising needs.
Over the past 14 years, Tatango has helped fundraising campaigns of all sizes raise more than $400 million in donations. Without the right tools, marketing and fundraising efforts might require an entire team to find success. But, with a well-equipped toolbox, such as the Tatango platform, a single person can successfully increase efficiency, visibility, and donations.
Getting started with SMS text message fundraising may seem complex and overwhelming to someone planning to tackle it independently. But we’re here to show you how a team of one can use SMS text message marketing to do what was previously only possible with a much larger team. In this blog post, you’ll learn three tips that help campaign managers reach record donations with their fundraisers.
Why Use SMS and MMS Text Messaging for Your Fundraiser?
In 2020 alone, mobile donations increased by 205%. Software platforms like Tatango can help you use text messaging to build strong connections with new and long-time supporters. Telephone and email outreach were the norm, but today they’re dated. The average open rate for email newsletters is about 22.71%, and the average click-through rate is only less than 3%.
Meanwhile, 78% of consumers say SMS is the fastest way to reach them, and 90% of delivered text messages are read within the first three minutes. With SMS, it’s possible to reach thousands or even millions of people at once. It’s the perfect channel for fundraising and sharing time-sensitive promotions and information.
SMS and MMS marketing help foster a personal connection between your campaigns and your supporters. Text messages directly connect your organization with each recipient. Segmentation further allows you to create lists for specific groups of subscribers, such as volunteers, donors, and supporters. You can then use those customized lists to message people based on details such as their location, interests, and past donations.
3 Ways to Use SMS Text Message Marketing for Fundraising
Even if your organization relies on a team of one for marketing and fundraising, not to worry. SMS marketing is the perfect channel for you to use to increase donations and maximize your impact. Below are three steps to take.
Integrate Your SMS Number with Your Website
Without subscribers, your fundraising potential suffers. An impressive 97% of Americans report owning a cell phone and say it’s their preferred method of communication. That’s why growing your subscriber list is so important.
To grow your subscriber list with ease, add a single line of code to your website. Then, when someone submits their information via a form on your site, you’ll be able to collect and immediately sync it with your text message campaign, growing your subscriber list without any additional effort.
Automate as Much as Possible
Certain text messages will be the same for all subscribers, and you can save yourself a lot of time by automating them. Examples include messages welcoming subscribers to your campaign, collecting email addresses, requesting more information, and thanking donors. Automating these messages removes a lot of manual work and allows you to focus your time on other aspects of your campaign.
With features such as merge tags and segmentation on the Tatango platform, you can use the information you’ve collected at sign-up and through SMS interactions and surveys to automatically personalize these messages for each subscriber. Spend a small amount of time setting up things like welcome sequences, and you will forever reap the rewards.
And if you want to offload image creation to the Tatango Design Studio, it’s a free service for our clients. We can help you create eye-catching images, GIFs, and MMS messages based on your goals. You don’t need a fancy design team or large graphics studio. You just need Tatango!
Use A2P Messaging Instead of P2P Messaging
App-to-person (A2P) text messages are sent by an application to a person. Tatango is an A2P messaging platform that helps you send text messages en masse to many individuals, automating the process and allowing you to contact hundreds, or even thousands, of people at once.
Conversely, you’re probably most familiar with person-to-person (P2P) text messages. It’s your everyday texting, and it’s far more manual, reaching only one person at a time. Because your time is so valuable, as a team of one, if you want to scale quickly, A2P is the way to go.
Even if you’re sending an A2P mass message, Tatango merge tags help you customize that message for each individual, personalizing the message with a first name or city, so it feels as personal as a P2P message to the recipient.
Learn More About A2P and P2P Messaging
Add Tatango to Your Fundraising Campaign
A text-to-give fundraising campaign makes it easy for repeat donors and super donors to support your organization. Learn more about other ways Tatango can help your team of one elevate your SMS marketing. Contact the text message marketing experts at Tatango today.
