Overview:

To ensure a successful multipart campaign, it's crucial to first establish a clear campaign theme by reviewing marketing calendars and strategic playbooks, then define the target audience segments using data for personalized messaging, especially for past donors or highly engaged readers. This checklist from Publisher Strategist Christine Holbert is a helpful step-by-step guide to setting up a multipart campaign.

Decide on a multi-part seasonal campaign

  • Reference your marketing and editorial calendars to see what kind of campaign themes would fit
  • Review your strategy playbook for your value proposition and messaging themes and stories
  • Ask these questions:
    • Are there any stories, projects or individual reporters that you want to highlight?
    • What is your desired tone for the campaign (e.g. conversational, subversive, optimistic)?
    • What kind of messaging has worked in the past?

Segment your campaign audience

  • Use data fields in ActiveCampaign to identify your segment
  • LYBUNT
    • Ensure that your audience list is accurate and check your dates
    • Personalize your message
    • Reference their last gift and thank them
    • Consider including a suggested higher amount instead
  • Highly engaged readers
    • Use the tag from your engagement scoring automation to create a segment for engaged contacts or filter by “has opened an email” in a certain amount of days
    • Personalize your message and thank them for being a loyal reader

Expand your campaign to all of your platforms

  • Landing page
    • Headline match
    • Color match
    • Key benefits/theme match
  • Popups, inline and embeds
    • Headline match
    • Color match
    • Key benefits/theme match
  • End-of-article CTA
    • Headline match
    • Color match
    • Key benefits/theme match
    • If lengthy, donate buttons on the top and bottom
  • Social channels
    • Anchor every message in the campaign theme and aesthetic
    • Make one design and adapt to ideal image sizes/ratios

Review your automations

  • New member/donor series
    • Confirm that the automation is active and supporters are moving through the series
    • Review the thank you message to make sure it’s up-to-date
  • Abandoned cart series
    • Confirm that the automation is active and contacts are moving through the series
    • Update the messaging to reflect the campaign theme