Auctions And DRTV Driving Online Dollars

By Michele Donohue
The Muscular Dystrophy Association (MDA) is known for its Labor Day telethon with actor/comedian Jerry Lewis. This year was a little different for the Tuscan, Ariz.-based nonprofit. The telethon was carried on 180 television stations, but boosted its online presence by hosting an auction exclusively on its Web site.

“We think that this online auction is a great step for us toward achieving what we need to do. We always had the television component, now we are trying to build more and more of the online component,” said Bob Mackle, vice president of public information for MDA. The online auction started at a local Houston affiliate two years ago and expanded to six markets last year before going national this year. “We are looking at all these different options and all this new technology, trying to figure it out and be at the front end of this. We are trying to figure out how to use it now rather than waiting until other people are already using it.”

Most nonprofits haven’t figured exactly how to leverage the Internet for fundraising. Fundraisers attend countless webinars and seminars, trying to piece together how the Internet will work for them. Nonprofits that have experience in direct response television (DRTV) are already a step ahead with visual and interactive marketing -- but can see real results when aligning their DRTV with online.

“Your spend is going to shift. Direct mail, interactive T.V. and Internet – all these channels will evolve. Your messages have to be consistent over the channels. It’s about integration,” said Philip Tome, marketing manager at Christian Children’s Fund of Canada, based in Markham, Ontario. Tome admitted that DRTV impact has slowed since the 1980s and 1990s, but the Internet has the power to open up more options to those who watch the T.V. spots.

“When you capture emotional message on T.V., they require the rational – ‘What exactly will my gift be doing?’” said Tome. The DRTV message can drive people to the Web site where CCFC continues the gift impact conversation and aims for a donation. “We don’t lose the message from our T.V. commercial. Our web has a similar look and feel and the messaging is pretty consistent,” said Tome.

Some nonprofits are worried that the Internet will pull donations away from DRTV, but some donors are just using the Web as another giving channel. “I do see a few nerves among clients about the impact that online is having on T.V., mostly because its one of those unknown quantities,” said Kevin White, vice president of broadcast media at Russ Reid. White said some clients are seeing 25 percent of their DRTV response coming in online, with others the response is as high as 40 to 60 percent.

And if you aren’t including a Web site in DRTV, you are missing out on a valuable touch-point with donors. “You have to realize that some people will only ever interact with you on the Web. Some people will never interact with you on the phone and some people will never interact with you through the mail. It’s really gotten to the point where it’s not a choice whether you are going to incorporate a Web piece or not – you have to in order to survive,” said White.

The MDA telethon took full advantage of the Internet since it was the first telethon broadcasted via online simulcast in 1998. The telethon now drives donors to the phones and the Web site for gifts. “Anyway we can reach the public and reach potential donors we want to take advantage of it. The media is so varied now and so scattered that you have to go after all these different things just to be able to get a big enough share of the market,” said Mackle.

White said the Internet is making it harder to distinguish which DRTV spots are the most successful with online audiences. The spots can post unique call numbers, where clear winners and loser can be calculated. But different URLs, including micro-sites, tend to be less effective because people will land on the main page by entering the organization in a search engine.

And many people will not trust anything outside a top-level domain designation like .org or .com. Donors may be skeptical of URLs branded with domain designations like .me, .tv or .net, driving them to the main page, according to White. Nonprofits should analyze if they see spikes in Web traffic or online giving on the main page after DRTV spots air. 

“Those two pieces together, when you leverage them well, they create a really powerful way to speak with donors and potential donors,” said White, who pointed out that online donors tend to have a higher long-term donor value. DRTV can engage donors emotionally and draw them in while organizations should use the Web site to create a dialogue and give more information.

Nonprofits that use DRTV can also post their videos to free online sites like YouTube. One CCFC video received more than 5,500 views on the organization’s YouTube channel. Nonprofits in the U.S. can join YouTube’s nonprofit program, which includes a Google donate button and rotation in promoted video areas. While posting the video to YouTube will not guarantee donations, evangelists for your cause can embed the video into other sites and spread your message virally, with each DRTV video branded with the organization’s Web site and toll-free number, for free. “My fundraising budget hasn’t grown in four years -- so it’s more important today with all the fragmented channels,” said Tome, who emphasized that all departments – marketing, fundraising and communications -- should be working together for consistent messaging.

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This article is from NPT TechnoBuzz, a publication of The NonProfit Times.

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