Joining the Mobile Revolution: Using Text Messaging to Help Your Organization Thrive

WHAT WOULD YOU LIKE TO GET OUT OF TODAY’S WEBINAR? WHAT WAS YOUR MOTIVATION FOR REGISTERING? DO YOU HAVE ANY SPECIFIC TOPICS YOU WANT TO FOCUS ON? It’s All About You!!!

Texting… What’s the Big Deal? 83% of American adults own cell phones and 3/4 of them (73%) send and receive text messages.  Pew Research Center 85%of people read an unread text message within 15 minutes of receiving it, while only 15% of people open an unread  It’s Required: Nonprofit Organizations and Mobile Marketing, textopoly marketing/ marketing/

Do these stats match your experience? Question 1: What percentage of people in your network are texting? A. About ¾ of the people I know are texting B. In my network over 75% of people are texting C. In my network, less than %75 are texting Question 2: Do you read a text message quicker than an ?  Yes, I read text messages first  No, I read s first Opinion Poll

How are Non Profits Using Text Messaging?

Advocacy & Calls to Action Ask people to make phone calls to elected officials You can even include a phone number for people with smart phones to click on so they can make the call immediately! Announce emergency rallies and/or last minute events via text and increase the likelihood of last minute information getting to people in time

Volunteer Coordination Send reminders for trainings and/or upcoming volunteer opportunities Use texting for coordination during events where internet access is not available

Increase Attendance Decrease the Stress Send don’t forget day of reminders for events Quickly notifying people of info such as new venue, time change etc. Event Reminders/Cancelations

Donor Cultivation and Fundraising Recruit new supporters at events by having people text-in to join your list Send texts with updates regarding fundraising goals and other news Launch creative text to give campaigns

The Campaign that Swept the Nation Text-to-Give Campaign: American Red Cross Haiti Disaster Relief People texted in to donate $10 All money went to Red Cross $800,ooo raised in one day! $5 million raised by day two Info from THE MOBILE FRONTIER: Text-To-Give & Beyond workforGood_Mobile_Guide.pdf

Cost of a mGive Campaign What That Means $500 one time setup fee Monthly fee - $199 - $799 $.35 per transaction fee %3.5 percent of the amount donated Pricing info comes directly from the mGive website: One year contract is required People can only give $5 or $10 They can only give up to $25 per month You need 26 donations of $10/month or 311/year to break even! My full article on the topic content/uploads/2011/07/DebraBrownArticle.pdf Doing A Red Cross Style Campaign

The Good News Is… There are other players in the game and companies creating new models:  Connect2Give thttp://  g8wave:  Give.mobi -  Give by Cell -  Mgood -  Mobile Commons  Sumo Text -

Text to Donate Grassroots Style Text to donate grassroots style with any service provider:  Text in and get a link to a donation page  Text in and have your development director follow-up with the pledge  Text in and turn over records to professional phone bank

DETERMINING IF TEXT MESSAGING IS RIGHT FOR YOUR ORGANIZATION How Do We Know?

The Most Important Factor Is text messaging right for your constituency? When all else fails, ASK your people if they want to be contacted via text message!

Will it work within your organization? Have a team discussion about the three T’s: Time Talent Treasure Do you have adequate staff support?

Yes, We Want It!!! Now What??? HOW TO GET FROM HERE TO HERE WITHOUT DOING THIS

Develop a Plan for Your Texting Program Align the program with your organizational goals Figure out who will do what Come up with a marketing plan Select a vendor Start texting! Evaluate R.O.I.

Integrate Text Messaging Into Your Work If you launch a text messaging program for the sake of jumping on the bandwagon, it will likely flop. But if you strategize very intentionally about how to use text messaging to advance your organizational goals, it will likely succeed!

Some Real Life Examples Customers who started with a goal for their program:  Rights for All People  Planned Parenthood Maryland  Ohio AFL-CIO  Christ in Youth and BBYO, Inc.  Houston Fire Department  Subaru

CAN YOU THINK OF ANY WAY YOUR ORGANIZATION COULD ADVANCE YOUR MISSION WITH TEXT MESSAGING? Your Turn…

Figure Out Who Will Do What and When What needs to be done to get the program up and running and who will do it? If possible, designate a single point person to coordinate the texting program on an ongoing basis. You can also have each staff member brainstorm how texting can supplement their existing work.

Develop A Marketing and Outreach Plan It is important to think through how you will get people to join your texting group. There are a variety of strategies you can use. Your best bet is experimenting to find out what works best with your audience. Some ways you can get people to join your texting program include: Text to join Widgets Importing your database or a list

TO SEE HOW THIS WORKS: TEXT: NTEN TO: Text To Join

WIDGETS You can have people join your texting list directly from your website by using a widget. You can even have people join a specific sub-list. Here is a sample of our widget:

Importing Your Database Almost all text messaging service providers make it easy for you to add people to your texting list by uploading an Excel or CSV file

What are the rules for sending text messages? Opt-In is the name of the game… There are Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Federal Communications Commission rules that prohibit the sending of unsolicited text messages.

Finding the Right Vendor Some questions you might want to ask potential vendors: Is your service compatible with all cell phone carriers and prepaid services? What does your pricing include, and is it monthly or do we have to sign a contract? What features and functionality do you have that distinguishes you from your competitors? How long have you been in business? Can you provide me with a list of existing customers? It’s all about asking the right questions.

Some Vendors to Look Into Include: There are an endless number of text messaging service providers out there. The following are companies we know to be legitimate. CellTrust – Eztexting - Mobile Commons - MobilizeUs – Sumo Text - Tatango - Trumphia -

Start Texting!!! Give the program time to develop Solicit feedback early in the game Course correct as necessary

Return on Investment Return on Engagement Did text messaging make your staff more efficient? Save them time? Consume less paper? Did your texting lead to more or increased donations? Evaluation frame provided by THE MOBILE FRONTIER: Text-To-Give & Beyond: rkforGood_Mobile_Guide.pdf Did your texting program make it easier for people to take action? Enable you to recruit new supporters Build loyalty to your organization Evaluating Your Texting Program

Contact Information Debra Brown Phone: