Running a cold acquisition campaign can be a little daunting the first time. The process can be tough if you are still learning the ropes.
At Prime Prospects it’s what we do every day and we’ve seen the good, the bad, and the ugly.
We have taken note of some of the pain points and written this basic 6-step-guide to help you execute a smooth, stress-free, cold acquisition campaign.
Step 1: Objectives
First and foremost, what do you want to achieve?
Setting clear objectives and goals with realistic expectations is the very first step. It is important to plan well ahead to allow time for: testing, learning, and to consider all of your options. This will reduce stress and help you in achieving the best results possible.
Remember that a failure to plan is a plan to fail.
Step 2: Fact Finding
Next you want to do some research and get a thorough understanding of your donor base.
This is important to do in the early stages because the more you learn and understand about your audience the smoother the process will be later down the path. The insights derived will influence your creative, the message, the ask handle, the timing, and of course your selections when looking at prospect lists.
Step 3: Building your Brief
Now that you have completed the profiling/ research/ analysis it is time to put it all down into a brief. This brief will detail the audience you are hoping to target- based off your research findings. This is where you will decide upon the channel/s you wish to use to best target your prospects- again this is based off your research findings.
Step 4: The Creative
Create relevant content for your selected audience. Remember if you’ve gone to all this work and analysis to determine your target market- use this knowledge. Don’t send the same stock-standard letter. Make it stand out and make it relevant to your target audience
Where possible, make it personalised. Just because this is cold acquisition doesn’t mean it has to be cold communication.
Step 5: Implementation
When it comes to executing your campaign, or crunch time as the kids call it, remember to test and segment as much as you can. This may include sending a control and test creative, or flagging segments within your selections to what group responds the highest. Remember to code the prospect lists you use.
Testing is important as it can inform future campaign implementation.
Step 6: Post Campaign Analysis
When the dust has settled it is time to look back over the process, your test/control cells and document the results.
These outcomes will help drive recommendations for the next campaign. It is imperative to always keep learning and improving.
Now you’re ready to hit the ground running. Remember to call Prime Prospects for an experienced guide to help you through the process.
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