Learn a lesson from professional direct mail copywriters

Learn a lesson from professional direct mail copywriters. They follow a time-tested format in their sales letters, a format that you can also follow when writing direct mail fundraising letters for your non-for-profit organization. All you need to remember is AIDA.
AIDA is an acrostic for the four things you need to do, and the order you need to do them in, to write compelling donation request letters.
ATTENTIONThe A stands for Attention. You need to grab it. Your envelope has to grab attention, and the opening line of your letter needs to grab attention. Your sole mission at this stage is to arrest their donor's attention so that they ignore the television, leave the other mail on the kitchen table, and sit down and read your letter right to the end.
You can arrest attention in a number of ways:
start with a gripping narrative
ask a provocative question
state a seeming contradiction or paradox
open with a scintillating (and relevant) quote
crack a joke
start with the word "you"
INTERESTThe I in AIDA stands for Interest. Professional direct mail copywriters who make their living by selling on paper know that arresting a reader's attention is not enough. That's just the start. The letter has to immediately stimulate some interest in the reader so that the reader continues reading.
Plenty of headlines and photographs grab people's attention as they leaf through newspapers and magazines, but they only read the stories that interest them. This means that as soon as you have grabbed your donor's attention, you must follow up with content that stimulates interest.
So what interests your donors? Changing the world. Making a difference. Relieving suffering. Saving lives. Transformation. Stimulate interest in your readers by showing why your letter and your message are of interest to them right now.
DESIRE As advertising giant David Ogilvy said, "You can't bore people into buying your product." Your fundraising appeal letter needs to move the heart and mind of each donor. It needs to create in them (or, more accurately, awaken in them), a Desire to respond to the case for support that you present on paper. One way to awaken this desire is to offer an opportunity for the donor to make an impact. Show in clear ways how they can partner with your organization to impact their world for the better.
I'll give you an example from a newsletter that I received during the week that Hurricane Katrina devastated New Orleans and the surrounding area in 2005. This is what the publisher said in his introductory message:
"I've had the news on all day today as I worked on getting this issue out. I finally had to turn to a ball game. . . I was getting too depressed. It's frustrating to see so many people in need and not being able to help (at least not right away). I hope and pray that all our readers in the areas hit by Katrina made it out okay."
There is a man with a desire. The Category Five hurricane arrested his attention. The devastation kept his interest. And the human suffering, played out hourly on his television screen, created in him a deep desire to help. A desire so deep that he grew depressed because he could not satisfy it.
That's the level of desire that you want to awaken in your donor's, except that you want to give them a really easy way to satisfy it! And that's where the final A in AIDA comes in.
ACTIONThe A in AIDA stands for Action, or Ask. Professional direct mail copywriters always ask for the order. They want their readers to buy, and buy today. This simply means that every fundraising letter you write has to ask for the gift. Informing donors is all very well, but your letter is designed to raise funds. You can ask for the donation in a forceful way or in a gentle way, but either way you must ask for it.
If you follow these four simple, time-tested steps every time you sit down to craft an appeal letter, you will find that your writer's block doesn't last as long. And you'll find that your letters take on a more logical, compelling format, one that should increase your response rates.
About the authorAlan Sharpe is a professional fundraising letter writer who helps non-profits raise funds, build relationships and retain loyal donors using creative fundraising letters. Learn more about his services, view free sample fundraising letters, and sign up for free weekly tips like this at http://www.fundraisingletters.org.
© 2005 Sharpe Copy Inc. You may reprint this article online and in print provided the links remain live and the content remains unaltered (including the "About the author" message).

Fundraising Letters Are Easier To Write With AIDALearn a lesson from professional direct mail copywriters. They follow a time-tested format in their sales letters, a format that you can also follow when writing direct mail fundraising letters for your non-for-profit organization.

2 Little Words That Work Marketing MagicIn his classic best-seller, "How To Win Friends And Influence People," Dale Carnegie's second chapter is entitled The Big Secret of Dealing With People. The secret is summed up in this principle: Give honest and sincere appreciation.

The Testimonial Writing MachineAlmost every small business marketer knows that they should gather testimonials to use in their marketing materials.The problem though is that getting your clients, the ones who know your greatness, to sit down with a blank sheet of paper and crank out a glowing testimonial can be a bit of a chore.

Nine Must-Do Positioning StepsEvery professional or consultant knows that clients typically hire people they know, like and trust. But how do you build trust with strangers?As Ralph Waldo Emerson's 150-year-old essay titled "Compensation" teaches, first you must give if you want to receive.

Has the Internet Killed Off the Direct Mail Baron?Over the past 30 years, direct mail has been responsible for generating vast amounts of money for businesses and individuals alike, but is it still an effective means of marketing?The short answer, in the short term, is yes. But the Internet has without doubt diluted the power of pen on paper and will continue to do so, until only a few die-hard individuals and the glossy brochure brigade, are left to pick the bones of an industry once plump and ripe for plucking and plundering.

Lessons Learned at the Harvard Business School"If God wanted to create a perfect punishment for a high achiever, then He would have that person manage a professional service firm," says Professor John Gabarro of the Harvard Business School.Gabarro is on the faculty of the Leading Professional Service Firms program, an intensive, one-week executive education program taught twice a year at the Harvard Business School.

Provacative Research WorksIf you want to double your business, then you need to get inside your client's head through proprietary research and provocative results.By conducting proprietary research, you obtain special information that prospective clients can't find elsewhere.

Down To The WireWhen you want to win and woo new clients with national publicity -- and don't have an enormous budget to distribute your message -- turn to the news wires. But first, be sure you're telling a story that's worth printing.

21 Must-Have Web Site ElementsYour Web site should be the cornerstone of your client seduction efforts. The site is your silent salesperson -- the one with whom prospective clients visit before granting you permission to meet with them.

Gift Cards - Is It Time to Use Them for My Business?You're probably thinking, here we go again somebody is trying to sell me something that I really don't need. I'm sure it will benefit them, but will it benefit me? Firstly let me say that my company, Solutions Ink does sell gift and loyalty cards.

The Mighty Marketing Brochure"Brochure" is French, and it comes from brocher, meaning to stitch. According to The American Heritage Dictionary, a brochure is "a small booklet or pamphlet, often containing promotional material or product information.

A Pass / Fail Test for Any New MarketIf you are considering entering a new target market, with an existing or new product or service, it makes sense to first systematically analyze the market in question via some fundamental market evaluation criteria. It is not only rational but most cost effective to determine if a new market pursuit makes sense for your company before any significant resources are further applied to the effort.

Polishing Your Translation Style - Marketing Your ServicesYou have read part 1 & 2 of this article series (see below for link). And, you are probably asking yourself "what else is there to say about improving one's translation style?" The answer to that, my friends, is the most important part of the message.

Write Effective Fundraising Letters By Being Conversational (Includes Examples & Samples)I am doing what you do, sitting at my computer, trying to get my thoughts out of my head and into a written form that will help you make a decision. In this particular case, I am trying to write a few intelligent remarks about sounding conversational on paper.

Basic Brand BuildingA brand is the essence of who you are. The more powerful the brand the more memorable you will become.