1. Legacy Marketing
Old Media? New Media?
Social Media?
“It ain’t what you do
it’s the way that you do it!”
Graham Richards
Freelance Fundraiser

2. The traditional model

3. Traditional v New Media?
Traditional =
Printed
Literature
Materials (posters, promotional items, etc)
Newsletters
Direct mail
Advertising

4. Traditional v New Media?
Traditional =
Will-writing opportunities e.g. Make a Will
Week
Legacy events
Talks to local groups
Focus groups with users, etc
Use of local media

5. The New Model

6. Traditional v New Media?
New Media =
Internet & new technologies
Websites
Social media (Web 2.0)
Accessible information
Interactive
Visual (use of images, still and moving)
Online services

7. Traditional v New Media?
Not one model needed, but both:
Complementary
Giving increased donor choice
Appealing to wider audiences

8. Using New Media
Changing demographics – changing users
In May 2007 the over 55s were close to
becoming the biggest group in the UK using
the Internet
The Baby Boomers increasingly look to the
Web for information and purchasing
The new Social Media is no longer the sole
domain of the young

9. Silver Surfing is here to stay?

10. New Media
Silver Surfing is here to stay!
The Baby Boomers are re-shaping parts of the
Web
When Saga launched a trial run of its Saga
Zone website, about 13,000 people signed up
within days (it now has 54,000+)
Banks recently saw a 275% increase in over
65s using online banking
They’re even into online dating…

12. Promoting legacies on the ‘Net
Evidence shows, we’re pretty poor at this:
Bluefrog’s recent research revealed:
87% of charity websites needed 2 or more
clicks to access legacy webpages
32% of charity sites need 3 or more clicks
82% don’t offer text enlargement
47% no active email contact link
80% don’t offer legacy downloads (forms,
etc)

13. So what are the new opportunities
for legacy marketing online?
No space restrictions
Easy to expand: e.g. human interest
stories
information about your charity & its
work and why people should leave you
gifts in Wills
inclusion of forms and other literature to
print or download

14. A legacy micro-site?
One way to improve the online promotion
of legacies would be to create a legacy
micro-site within your existing website
This has the advantage of keeping your
website style and navigation
The micro-site would be built to meet all
the recommended “industry standards”
Here’s one I created for Perennial

15. New opportunities for legacy
marketing online
Using new technologies available
How many of you use short video clips on
your website?
These could say a lot to potential legators
It expands the amount of information
conveyed
And conveys it in a way people are familiar
with

18. Other new approaches:
Have you looked to see how many In
Memoriam sites there are now?
Sites with different purposes
Some free, some with subscriptions
Some with human connections if needed
Here’s just a small selection:

26. New approaches to In Mem
Some people like to remember as part of
their healing or bereavement process
So could we provide small scale, online
opportunities for them to get involved?
In Memoriam pages where family & friends
can leave their memories?

27. Pendleside Hospice’s Facebook Group
Page
They launched it in Nov 2008
They didn’t advertise it
It’s been growing virally - recently at 100+ a
week
It now stands at 1,125
The public began posting tributes and
memories on the group wall
They also promote events through it

28. St. Gemma’s Hospice:
Gardens of Hope
http://www.st-gemma.co.uk/gardensofhope/main.htm
Provides another option, another choice
Ways for the public to engage and interact

29. Further In Mem opportunities
A place where people could upload their
favourite photo’s, like on Flickr or the In Mem
sites
They could make links to YouTube for videos
These ideas could engage with potential
legators

32. Further new approaches
Legacy administration as a marketing tool
The difficulty in knowing how to engage with
the next of kin
Don’t want to upset or offend them
I’m grateful to my colleague Mark Goff of
Richmond Affinity for sowing an idea at last
summer’s IoF National Convention

33. New approaches
Mark’s idea was for charities to offer to publish
short obituaries in their newsletters
However, that would have space issues for editors
Might limit to one or two obituaries per issue
But in cyberspace, there are no space issues
Any number of obituaries and even photographs
A letter, asking if the family would tell us a bit more
about this special person who left us an amazing gift,
so that we could publish a short obituary as a way of
thanks…

34. New approaches
It turns out that obituaries are the second
most read web pages of newspapers
Each charity would have to decide if it could
work for them
For some it might be inappropriate, but for
others, it could open a whole new area of
donor development

35. Online Will-writing service
Totally Free Wills
A new service for charities of any size
Only uses Law Society registered solicitors
Adheres strictly to the IoF Guidelines
Avoids ethical issue of using charity’s funds
Gives 52 weeks a year promotion of legacies
Means there’s now a level legacy playing field
for every charity

36. What about social media?
These free online applications offer new
opportunities to explore
We’ve seen how Facebook, YouTube and
Flickr could be used
What about Twitter, Squidoo, Wordpress, etc?
Where are your supporters engaging?
How can you engage with them there?
How can you dispense information, promote
events and ask for help?

37. Have you blogged lately?
Blogging offers a way to communicate in depth
with your supporters
It’s open and honest
It makes people feel included and involved
It’s more personal (your views from the inside)
Gives opportunities to feedback & comment (both
ways)
Could be used to tell stories of how you are helping
individuals/families, etc e.g. http://www.pwh.org.uk/blog/

38. Finally…
Treat every enquirer as a pledger
Surely it is our duty to make every supporter
or potential supporter feel special?
Offer them downloads
Easy contact
Swift responses to queries
Helpful online information, real stories, etc
Links to other helpful sites

39. However, you must remember to:
Make pages accessible to all – offer font
enlargement & don’t overlay text on graphics
Offer them downloads, forms, info’, etc
Active email contact from every page
One click access to legacies from home page
Charity address/registration No. on every
page
Interactive – it’s no longer “one way”

40. It ain’t what you do
it’s the way that you do it!
Because?
That’s what gets results!

41. Thank you
Graham Richards
Freelance Fundraiser
graham@freelancefundraiser.co.uk
Web: www.freelancefundraiser.co.uk