Newsletter: Should Partnership Case Studies Include a Call to Action? 📣 ; Cause Marketing Contests Support ASPCA, USO 🐶 🫡 ; How to Create a Smart Donor Survey ✅

Here's a question I get a lot: "Joe, should we include a call-to-action (CTA) at the bottom of our partnership case studies?"

A CTA is a directive that encourages the prospect to take a next step...

"Schedule a call with a member of our partnership team"

"Sign up for our corporate partnership newsletter"

"Download this case study"

I generally DON'T include a CTA when I write a case study because including one depends on how the client plans to share the case study.

A lot of nonprofits share their case studies as PDFs. If this is you, I don't think you need a CTA. However, I'm assuming that you're not just emailing the PDF to a prospect, which I think is a big no-no.

Case studies are high-value assets and you only want to share them as a PDF when you can review and discuss the case study during an in-person meeting or over Zoom.

Some nonprofits share their case studies on their websites. If you do, I would include a CTA - but probably not the one you're thinking you should include.

You probably think you should include a CTA like "Schedule a call with our partnership team."

However, I think a better CTA is to encourage the visitor to sign up for your partnership newsletter. I think asking a web site visitor to make the leap from viewing your website to speaking with a team member is asking too much.

The prospect is probably not ready to do that.

A better, incremental step is ask them to SUBSCRIBE to something like a newsletter. (That being said, you should always have a phone number and/or email available on your partnership page just in case a prospect does want to contact you.)

One last point.

Some of you might be thinking...

"Joe, you just wrote that case studies are high-value assets and shouldn't be shared unless you plan to have a conversation with the prospect. But then you talk about posting them on our web site where anyone can find and read them. Huh?"

Good point. You're so wicked smahht!

The difference is in where the case study is used in the partnership sales funnel🔻:

Awareness 📢 ➡️ Consideration 🤔 ➡️ Decision 🙌

When the case study is used on your website, it's for 📢 and 🤔.

When the case study is used as a PDF, it's sometimes used for 🤔 but mainly for 🙌.

You are using the case study for two different things - although there is some overlap at the consideration stage. (Yeah, it can be complicated.😬)

Final point.

This is what makes case studies so WICKED AWESOME and such a vital piece of content for partnership teams. They can be used at EVERY STAGE OF THE PARTNERSHIP SALES FUNNEL.

MY CTA: If you don't have case studies you are already behind. Hit reply to this email and ask me about my Case Study Service.

✍️ Partnership Notes

1. Shake Shack's Chocolate Churro Shake 🍫 + Sprinkle Cookie Shake 🍭 + Oreo Funnel Cake Shake ⚫️ = 3% of sales to the Trevor Project 🏳️‍🌈 with a minimum donation of $75,000.😋

2. Cause marketing contests support ASPCA, USO. Two great examples of action-triggered donation programs. The consumer takes action and the company donates!

3. Do you need help with your partnership presentations? Do you struggle with making a powerful pitch? Let me know by clicking on this LINK. Some useful tips in this article - although I'm not sure about #1 under Sales Presentation Techniques.🤔

4. What Toyota, H-E-B, and AT&T are doing to support the Uvalde Community. 🙏

🤑 Marketing Your Cause

1. Must read article on creating a smart donor survey. (As with all the articles in my newsletter, I can email this to you if you hit a paywall.) An added benefit of doing a survey with donors: some people send back money! 🙌

2. Great example of how organizations with live events MUST have a email newsletter. "But unlike most of his competitors, Douglas had a more direct connection to his audience through a newsletter he’d launched a few years earlier."

3. Speaking of live events, five things to know about marketing events this year. #1: Post-pandemic, bleisure is a real thing for your event audience.

😎 Cool Jobs in Cause

1. Manager, Corporate Partnerships, OutRight Action International, NYC ($71k - $96k)

2. Senior Manager, Cause Marketing, Operation Homefront, Remote

3. Senior Corporate Partnerships Manager, The Trevor Project, Remote ($65k - $89k)

4. Senior Partnership Implementation Manager, Habitat for Humanity, Atlanta ($64k - $81k)

5. Vice President, Corporate Partnerships & Initiatives, Sjögren’s Foundation, Reston, VA

🧠🍌 Brain Food

1. The ugly produce industry has an ugly problem.

2. Does your nonprofit need help telling a gripping story? I have just the teacher for you.

3. Cars for a cause. Mercedes-Benz sells rare car and will give millions to causes.