communication
The power of video storytelling
We all love watching a good video clip. In the last couple of years we’ve been captivated by the likes of charity:water, Kony, and now the zillion versions of the Harlem Shake. Lots of views, Read more…
database
Are you really ready for TV fundraising?
This is just one of the questions I’ll be helping Master Class delegates to answer at the International Fundraising Congress.
If you’ve ever considered raising money through direct response television, you really need to make sure your organisation is ready for it. This was really brought home to me earlier this year, when Lucy Caldicott from CLIC Sargent explained to me the issues she’d had to think about before embarking on drtv fundraising with her cause.
So, with thanks to Lucy for the inspiration, here are some key issues for you to consider.
1. Are you televisual?
Sounds obvious really. But to work on TV you need to be able to tell your story in a way that is highly emotionally engaging. It’s not so much an appeal to the heart, head and spirit. It’s more an appeal that grabs you by the guts. Hmm, nice image.
Given the above, it’s no surprise that causes working with children and animals have a head start when it comes to drtv.
acquisition
My very expensive fundraising film info-graphic
Remember about 20 years ago when we all suddenly got Apple Macs? Suddenly anyone could be a graphic designer! Or, correction: suddenly anyone could be a really terrible designer.
Cut, fade 20 years… and suddenly through our phones, cameras, laptops everyone can be a film-maker. Often, a really bad one.
I watch loads of films and drtv made by charities and their agencies, and lots of them are rather unfit for purpose. So I drew the vastly sophisticated info-graphic below to explain where things go wrong. Rocket science it isn’t. Yet, still so many films fail because they ignore it.
(And I’ve just realised it works for most other forms of fundraising communication too).
Very expensive infographic