Award Winning Blog - Agitator

Do It By The Numbers

I’ve been doing some end-of-summer cleaning out of my Agitator ‘inspiration bin’. The place where I store things to write about. I realized that I had gathered a heap of ‘number stuff’ … all fairly recent items, but my how they accumulate! So here are few for you list keepers. 3 Things You Can Do […]

Learn More August 28, 2014

Through The Prizm

Remember PRIZM, the market segmentation tool originally developed by Claritas (now owned by Nielsen) and widely used in the 90s? We used to have great fun looking up zip codes to see which had the most people characterized as ‘Blue Blood Estates’, ‘Bohemian Mix’, or ‘Shotguns & Pickups’. There were (still are) 60-odd segments or […]

Learn More August 27, 2014

No Marketing Department?

Rarely do I disagree with creative/copywriting whiz Jeff Brooks. But in a recent excerpt from his new book, The Money-Raising Nonprofit Brand (see, I flogged it), he argues that one of the six signs of a well-run nonprofit is that it has no marketing department. Jeff argues: “…the very existence of a marketing department lets […]

Learn More August 26, 2014

Buy Roger’s Book … Or Else!

Roger has written a book on donor retention. It’s titled: Retention Fundraising: The New Art and Science of Keeping Your Donors for Life. And FINALLY … it’s ready to order! I’ve read the book four times now in its various draft iterations. And learned more each time. And I thought I was already on top […]

Learn More August 25, 2014

Pack Your Bags

This might be a good weekend to make some fall travel and conference plans. Or so I was reminded by a call from Erica Waasdorp of the firm A Direct Solution, who is serving as U.S. Ambassador for the International Fundraising Congress (IFC) held annually in The Netherlands.. The IFC is truly one of the […]

Learn More August 22, 2014

The Devil Is In The Detail

OK, we’ve got a tested strategy. We’ve developed a great case. We’ve targeted our appeal carefully. We’re using the latest database-driven capability. We’ve got terrific creative. But we flubbed it! What went wrong? Here’s a flub from KQED, public TV/radio in San Francisco. They were on the right track, but they screwed up the personalization […]

Learn More August 21, 2014