Are you a non-profit with a "for purpose"
vision for your cause, but find it really hard to tell your story or give your
organization a voice? Well, my team and I are purposefully designing these
video series just...for...you!
Want to know the biggest secret to help your charity increase its contribution level?
The one step or biggest secret to get more donors to give to your cause is by finding your "Identifiable Victim'. You are probably wondering, "What is an identifiable victim?"
Research, conducted by Deborah Small, a Wharton marketing professor, and two of her colleagues, proves that when you use an "identifiable victim" to voice about your charity, people will be prone to connect emotionally more with your identifiable victim. It is an individual or subject matter with a name that represents the reason your organization is active. I'll give you several examples.
Remember
"Baby Jessica" in 1987, the little girl, who fell into a well near
her home in Texas Iraq Pacific Ocean ? These are all
samples of "identifiable victims".
"Why?"
do you ask? Because they captivated the hearts of many people to give
financially to their cause. Baby Jessica received nearly $700,000 in donations
from the public. In Europe , Ali was funded $550,000, and Forgea,
$48,000.
Why is it that people want to give so much more money to one victim?
The reason is
because people want to make a huge impact. Intuitively speaking, when you
present someone the opportunity to change the life of one individual, they feel
like they can make that happen. This is based on "spontaneous affective
reaction." They begin to feel hopeful, that if their contribution, no
matter the size, goes to baby Jessica or Ali, or even Forgea, it will make a
significant amount of difference.
In the research, Deborah Small added,
"People
pay greater attention and have stronger emotional reactions to vivid rather
than pallid information."
Sadly, the minute another baby is found
in the well with Jessica, the amount of donations begin to decrease. This is
the result of the "proportion of the reference group effect." What
this means is that the mind responds to proportions, not absolute values. In
the case of Baby Jessica, she represents 100% of 100% of the children that fell
into that well. That proportion is huge, and psychologically, it speaks ample
of "HELP!" to the wallets.
Even with the largest
problems in the world, like Katrina, 9/11, the Asian Tsunami, AIDS and Maleria,
they each received less funding, the more victims it took with them. One may
argue that each cause had a different meaning...maybe Katrina and 9/11 hit
home, while the others were in foreign soil. Maybe it was a race issue?
Whatever the reasons, viewers needed to identify with the victims. They had an
emotional connection. They were not thinking rational here.
The minute you begin to add more victims, more statistics, the insight you are providing for your
viewers breed callousness, because their hearts stop to feel and their brains begin to rationalize.
Generating feelings to statistics is impossible for
the human heart to feel.
NOTE:
Give your identifiable victim a face and a name. Making your victim
undetermined will decrease the likelihood of giving.
Your organization's biggest
mistake is to create a story that entangles more than one person's testimony.
Engage your donors emotional system by telling them stories!
Think about this quote from Mother Teresa, "If I look at the
mass, I will never act. If I look at the one, I will."
That is exactly how your
viewers will think!!
Also, trying to
blend your identifiable victims with other statistics will not help you at all.
In fact, it will decrease your donations by about 50%. One victim's
struggle no matter how small or great, no matter if it's a dog or a kid, the
heart will react with compassion. The minute you show the stats...their brains
take over. They rationalize and compare the numbers.
That one feeling
of sadness...that warm glow that he/she can make a difference (SUPERMAN!!)
begins to conflict with the feeling of hopelessness.
"We can't give.
This is an enormous need.
No difference
will be made with my lousy $10 contribution."
I remember trying the "Identifiable
Victim" with one of my customers, Life Services, a non-profit serving
women in pregnancy crisis. We had them choose one patient, by the name of Rose,
who chose to have her baby boy, Jack. So, we titled the video, "Meet Baby
Jack". It was to play at their banquet, where they also had a speaker
talk for 30 minutes. The video was about 4.5 minutes in length. By the end of
the banquet, we had a survey for the attendees to select, which part of the
presentation got them to give to the organization. 45% of the people put down
the video. The rest of the votes went to the speaker. All, I can say is this,
it took about 5 minutes to convince 45% of the attendees to give to Life
Services. That, to me, was a huge impact our video made for their organization.
Here are some quick tips to help you find your
"identifiable victim":
1. Find someone that has been helped by your
organization. Find a dog, find a cat, a baby...
2. Name them.
3. Share their conflict.
4. Share how you came to their rescue.
5. Focus on the hopeful and not so much on the
hopeless.
6. Give them a chance to know that their contribution
will make a difference.
Now, I want to hear from you. Have you thought about an "identifiable victim" to become
this year's poster child for your charity? What is his/her/ or it's name? I
would love for your put the answer in the comments below!! Need tips and advice
in designing your next video marketing move? Visit namesakepictures.com and sign up
for our email newsletter.
And please, continue to stand
up for your cause, because only you can inspire change in your community.
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