As our Canadian readers recover from yesterday’s celebration of their 151st Canada Day and American readers prepare for Wednesday’s 242^ndcelebration of Independence Day we thought it appropriate to devote this week to reexamining some fundraising fundamentals that may—or may not—be in need of major change or at least updating.

Consequently, tomorrow Nick will explore the concept of “strategy”.  On Wednesday I’ll weigh in with Independence Day thoughts, then get back to business on Thursday with my thoughts on whether it’s time to put a bullet in the head of the “full service agency.” On Friday we’ll wrap up the week with some insights on two major “barriers to growth.”

Let’s start the week off with Copywriting. 

As a recovering copywriter I’m pleased to report that appeal writing may be the oldest of fundraising’s specialties. (No, I won’t draw parallels or insidious comparisons with what some consider that other world’s oldest profession.)

I’ll start by relaying this  story told by copywriter Denny Hatch, a long-time pal.

“On the night of June 10, 1197, fire raged through Chartes, France destroying much of the town and severely damaging the cathedral.  Contained in that cathedral was a precious Christian relic – the Sancta Camisia, the robe that Mary wore when giving birth to Jesus.

“Two days later, as Cardinal Melior of Pisa who happened to be in Chartes was exhorting the dispirited townspeople to rebuild when suddenly a procession of priests and nuns emerged from the smoking crypt, bearing the reliquary containing the sacred robe.

“The cardinal immediately saw it as a direct sign from the Mother of God to build an even more magnificent church.

“Bishop Regnault de Mouçon leaped to the task and wrote letters to all the noble families of Europe thus launching what some believe is the first direct mail campaign in history. The result was the creation of an architectural and artistic masterpiece that has awed pilgrims and worshippers for 800+ years.”

As Denny also pointed out, “Of all the formats used in direct mail,” wrote the late guru Dick Hodgson, “none has more power to generate action than the letter.”

Denny then added, “No one used the humble letter with more prodigious effect that Bishop Regnault de Mouçon.”  The photo at left attests to that.

[ Those historically inclined will also be interested in this almost-as-old Buddhist appeal from 1235 as reported by fundraiser and author Mal Warwick: Direct Mail Fundraising in the 13^thCentury  Well worth reading and sharing with you pals at lunch.]

Today’s Devaluation of Copywriting

In the days when I did honest work as a copywriter I used to joke (kind of) that 75% of my clients could read.  And, of that 75%, 100% truly believed they could write.

You see, in the wide spectrum of human urges none is as strong as the desire to “improve” someone else’s copy.  And so the messing with…committee meeting about…sharing around for comment process begins and ends with a  predictably disastrous result.

It doesn’t have to be this way.  And it shouldn’t be this way.  So why does it happen so frequently these days?

Some of the fault lies in a lack of respect for the art of skilled copywriting.  And both the copywriter and the client share blame.  Too often the writer emails in the copy –often in Word.doc format thus setting up a ready target just begging to be tinkered with.

Too often the client “needs to check with the program people”…or “run it past the CEO…or… or….   Too many insecure fundraisers unwilling to go to press or onto the digital platform without passing the copy by internal regiments of “experts.”

Once upon a time… when direct response fundraising was “new” and there weren’t hordes of “experts” good copywriters followed two principal practices. 1) They charged lots of money;  and 2) they personally delivered their copy and read it out loud to the client.  Of course, that practice has gone the way of the Smith-Corona typewriter and carbon paper, but I know for certain the quality of the copy was better and the temptation to change it for change sake was virtually nonexistent.

Don’t get me wrong.  I don’t miss the “good old days”, but I really do miss the days when high value and high standards were the rule for both writer and client.   I’m afraid that in our intense focus (correctly so) on data selection, segmentation and other truly fundamental and more important elements of fundraising success we take copywriting of the message far less seriously than we should.

Valuing A Good Piece of Copy

For 30 years my friend Denny monitored the testing and rollout of thousands of direct mail packages through his unique service Who’s Mailing What? tracking , archiving and sharing winning control packages across the commercial and nonprofit sectors.

In a post titled The Holy Grail of Direct Mail: The Most Successful Advertisement in the History of the World!  Denny not only shares the story of the Bishop Regnault de Mouçon’s 1197 appeal to rebuild the cathedral at Chartes, but reports a 1991 conversation he had with Paul Bell, then the circulation manager of The Wall Street Journal about the value of an acquisition letter written by copywriter Martin Conroy. It wasn’t just any letter.

Denny calls it “The most successful single piece of advertising in the history of the world.” Here’s an excerpt of his conversation with the circulation manager that should be mandatory reading for anyone who questions the value of great copywriting.

“HATCH: Would you say that the average mail order circulation of the The Wall Street Journalover the past 18 years was about one million?

BELL: [Pause.] Yes, that’s about right.

HATCH: Am I right in assuming that the average subscription rate of The Wall Street Journal over the past 18 years has been about $100 a year?

BELL:[Pause.] Yes, that’s about right.

HATCH: Is it safe to assume that 55 percent of all your mail order subscribers over the past 18 years have come in as a result of Martin Conroy’s “Two Young Men …” letter?

BELL: We have a lot of other sources—telemarketing, subscriptions as a result of newsstand sales, supermarket take-ones, inserts. But, yes, I think 55 percent is a fair estimate.

HATCH: Paul, one million subscribers per year times $100 equals $100 million times 18 years is $1.8 billion times 55 percent equals $1 billion. If these numbers are correct, the Martin Conroy letter is directly responsible for bringing in $1 billion in revenues to The Wall Street Journal, and is, therefore THE MOST SUCCESSFUL SINGLE PIECE OF ADVERTISING IN THE HISTORY OF THE WORLD!

BELL: [Long silence. Then in a small voice.] Uh, please don’t tell Marty Conroy. He’ll raise his prices.

“Raise his prices? It was everybody’s best guess that Conroy, who was a vice president of BBD&O, wrote this as a moonlighter and was paid a paltry $600, which, as Mrs. Conroy reportedly said, was a lot of money to them at the time.

“The letter finally ceased being profitable in 2003, after a run of nearly 30 years. It was replaced by another format.”

Denny sums up the financial value of Conroy’s letter to The Wall Street Journal. “The letter runs 780 words, which divided into $1 billion means that over its lifetime, it earned $1.28 million per word.”

The Chartes appeal letter has been lost to history, but you can read Martin Conroy’s letter and Denny’s detailed description here.

And One More Thing…

So often in our rush to print or post “fresh”, “new” creative we ignore the nearly-perennial value of solid copywriting.  Yet, anyone who’s spent more than 3 years in this trade knows that with tiny amounts of tweaking for factual updating many successful packages are nearly evergreen.

Note that Martin Conroy’s package was used for 18 years.  And I can count dozens of “control” packages that were written by folks like Jerry Huntsinger 20 years ago and are still in use.

Good copy is not like this year’s latest fashion.  Rather, it reflects in a proven and effective way the message and values that have motivated donors and triggered responses year after year.

So, when someone in the office says, “We’ve already used that, let’s get something new”, remember that there’s not a single donor out there who says, “Oh, here’s that same old year-end appeal.”

Do you treasure or trash good copywriting?

Roger

P.S.  Click here for the current issue of Denny Hatch’s Marketing Blog