A lot of people think of print and websites as completely separate entities, working toward different goals. However, with combined effort, a nonprofit print newsletter and website can work together to inspire supporters and increase donations.

Many nonprofits are still sending out one to four print newsletters a year, in combination with more frequent email newsletters (often once or twice a month). To make the most of these communications with donors and supporters, these two ventures shouldn’t be completely separated but should work together to connect with your nonprofit’s audience and drive them to action.

The key here is calling out your website on all of your printed materials, and especially on your print newsletter. To take this a step further, we outlined additional ways to connect your print with your online communications.

Build a Landing Page for Your Print Newsletter

A landing page for a print newsletter allows you to focus that page on the main call to action that you’re seeking through your newsletter.  And since your print newsletter likely comes out a lot less frequently than your email newsletters, you can spend a little more time on customizing the content and design of the page.

Instead of sending folks to the homepage, which likely has a bunch of different options and calls to action, you can focus this very specific target audience on completing one action, such as donating to your current fundraising campaign or registering for your nonprofit’s upcoming webinar.

Use a Custom URL

Since you’re asking folks to do a little typing, it’s best to make the URL for the landing page as straightforward as possible. That means short and memorable. The less work it is for your supporters, the higher your traffic numbers and conversion rates will be.

As far as tracking conversions, you have a few options. However, I’d recommend using one URL specifically for print. That way, when you look at your referral traffic in Google Analytics, you can be certain that any visitors coming from that URL found you through your print newsletter.

Create a Clear Call to Action

As the number of options increases, so does the effort required to complete a desired action. By using only one, clear call to action on your landing page, you can increase the odds that your readers will actually take that action.

If it makes sense with your call to action, setting a time limit could also help to push people online. If visitors know they’ll need to act quickly, they could be less likely to push it off and forget about it as other things come up.

Offer Incentives

You scratch my back; I’ll scratch yours. If you give your supporters a reason to make the effort and go online, they’ll do it. The incentive could be anything from an exclusive sneak preview of an upcoming announcement to a contest you’re holding for print readers to a video clip or photo gallery relating to one of the stories.

Whatever the case, make sure people know that there is additional and valuable information or actions on the website that you weren’t able to include in your print newsletter. For example, you may have mentioned an upcoming event in your print newsletter. Including an online registration option helps to streamline the registration process and to get print readers onto your website.

Pushing supporters online from your print materials isn’t difficult, but it does take some consideration. Try these tips to remove the separation of print and web!

Has your nonprofit used a print newsletter to drive traffic to your website? What methods did you use? Let us know in the comments!

Comments

  1. please send e one example of :-
    ” you may have mentioned an upcoming event in your print newsletter. Including an online registration option helps to streamline the registration process and to get print readers onto your website. ”
    i will be able to follow your example.
    i am a new comer in this field. please help me.
    thanks.

    • Good question, Deepshikha. Lots of nonprofits will mail out printed invitations for big events. Within those invitations, offering a way for event attendees to register online, rather than calling, emailing or mailing in an RSVP, can drive traffic to your site and give supporters a convenient way to register. For example, this web page on the National Foundation for Ectodermal Dysplasia website gives their annual conference an online hub that they can then use in all of their marketing efforts to drive traffic to their website.