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As nonprofit marketers make final tweaks to fundraising plans for 2019, AccuList USA can support its nonprofit clients with a brief survey of some of this year’s top trends as identified by fundraising pros.

Story-telling, Personalization, Video

NonProfit PRO magazine cites three general 2019 trends that will affect both traditional direct mail and digital fundraising via e-mail, mobile, social media and website. Nonprofits should include a commitment to story-telling in this year’s fundraising communications, the magazine urges. Stories create an emotional connection to the mission and are remembered better than facts, studies show. However, gathering the best stories relies on more than marketers; it requires a story-telling culture that pulls from across the organization, NonProfit PRO stresses. That culture requires leadership buy-in; a mechanism to regularly encourage and gather stories; a story-banking method, from database to manilla folder; and a way to regularly and consistently communicate stories via newsletter, website, social media page, etc. “Personalization” is another marketing mantra for 2019, with success requiring clean up-to-date data and list segmentation to craft targeted messages for direct mail and e-mail. Anyone doubting that response is significantly improved by personalization, even in the crowded digital space, should consider this Hubspot finding: 39% of marketers who segment e-mail lists have a higher open rate, and 28% experience lower unsubscribe rates. Finally, put that targeted story-telling into a video format to maximize results. In 2019, video is projected to represent 80% of Internet traffic. Nonprofits that embrace video will be able to take advantage of the proven facts that people remember videos better than written content and share them more often for viral reach. Luckily, the cost of video production is going down and online tools are readily available, the magazine assures.

Digital Technology Supports Strategy Changes

Meanwhile, the Nonprofit Tech for Good blog identifies some key digital trends to include in 2019 fundraising plans: 1) increased use of marketing automation software to create personalized appeals and individualized pathways and engagement with the general mission and specific programs; 2) more focus on a recurring-gift donor base and commitment to engagement strategies and technologies that nurture donors; 3) more relevant, personalized, contextual messaging based on data technologies; and 4) more disruption by commercial social media players like Facebook via removal of fundraising fees, matching funds and direct access to donor data and AI.

Opportunities & Risks, From Instagram to Data Privacy

The TrueSense Marketing blog came up with a whopping “21 Fundraising Trends and Best Practices You Need to Know in 2019″ from a survey of fundraising pros. We’ll only cite a few here, starting with a prediction that the visually oriented Instagram, which hit 1 billion monthly active users in 2018, including the 50-64 and 65+ age cohorts, will become a more popular platform for nonprofits in 2019. Another prediction is that, with data breaches continuing to grab headlines and a patchwork of data privacy regulations at the state level (such as California Consumer Privacy Act passed last summer), nonprofits will face added costs and changes in data collection and storage policies this year. Finally, one 2019 response to the demand for contextual communications cited above is more experimentation with native social media advertising, meaning ads in a post format in the social feed of followers. Native social media ads are more engaging than traditional advertising, cost less and can produce better results, per fundraising users. For more, see https://www.truesense.com/blog/fundraising-trends-best-practices-2019

Digital marketing continues to experience rapid changes. AccuList USA will be helping clients navigate this year via quality data, data services and other support efforts that take into account 2018 digital marketing trends recently outlined by Forbes magazine’s Forbes Agency Council.

Technology Drivers: AR, Conversational Interfaces, Video

The first of the article’s 15 trend predictions is continued growth in the use of Augmented Reality (AR), per Chris Carter of Rep Interactive, as mobile devices become more powerful, social apps improve AR integration, and, we would add, traditional print, from direct mail to ads to labels, also embraces AR. Meanwhile, the popularity of conversational interactions will offer new opportunities and challenges, per a couple of council members—such as Amazon’s Alexa, Google’s Assistant, Microsoft’s Cortana, chatbots and more. Now that Google says 20% of its mobile queries are voice searches and usage set to climb further, marketers will need to create content targeting these types of searches and ads for non-traditional venues (such as sponsored smart-fridge recommendations), predicts Brett Farmiloe of Markitors. Video was a big story in 2017 and is now seen as a basic of success for 2018 marketers, per several Forbes council members. It also means that marketers will face a higher bar in terms of quality. As social media platforms jump into live video and add features, “the shaky, holding-a-phone-in-your-hand live video won’t be acceptable anymore,” warns Thomas Brodbeck of Site Strategics.

Targeting Goes Hyper: Personalized & Contextual

Most marketers agree that the days of impersonal e-mail blasts are done. So what’s ahead in 2018? Marketers will be focused on hyper-targeting and personalizing every interaction, forecast several experts. Watch for personalized landing pages connected to each advertising campaign, for example. The need for unbiased targeting, predictive analytics and budgeting at every step of the customer journey also will increase use of application programming interfaces for machine-learning algorithms, natural language processing and artificial intelligence, opines Douglas Karr of DK New Media. And as data protection regulation increases, ad tech vendors will need to go beyond tracking behavior with cookies to contextual targeting strategies based on page content, adds Julien Verdier of Adyoulike.

Some Tactics Keep Their Buzz, and Some Fade

“Influencer marketing” had marketing buzz in 2017, but Craig Greiwe of Rogers & Cowan predicts that 2018 will see a collapse of interest because brands that spent big on influencers haven’t seen measurable results. He expects brands instead to “zero in on a few select individuals who drive results or move to organic grassroots promotion, and away from high-cost, middle-tier influencers who drive awareness but little ROI.” Content marketing, meanwhile, will remain a key part of the marketing tool box—but with some changes. New formats, video, and voice search are ending the focus on blog posts and listicles and pushing marketers toward featured snippets, interactive spoken tutorials and integration with User Interface features, says Kristopher Jones of LSEO.com. In the crowded online grab for engagement, native advertising will retain appeal, too, per Timothy Nichols of ExactDrive, Inc., helping marketers to expand viral sharing and develop a more involved relationship with target markets.

For more trend predictions, see https://www.forbes.com/sites/forbesagencycouncil/2017/12/18/how-digital-marketing-will-change-in-2018-15-top-trends/#464141092d9a

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