EMBARKEMBARKon your way to eff ect ive market ing and fundraising

Summer 2015Summer 2015

Reflecting On A DecadeA message from top dogs Mike and Connie Monk

with Mike & Connie Monk

REFLECTING ON A DECADE

A very special thank you to all our clients, employees and vendors, Alpha Dog Marketing celebrated our 10th Anniversary on June 1, 2015!

A decade ago, the company was started with seven employees in a small offi ce space inside the Gallup Building in East Lincoln. Since that time, we have moved twice and now have thirty nine employees. Connie and I have been blessed to form many great relationships and had a countless number of positive experiences during those ten years.

We respect the two industries we have elected to focus on – Food Banks and Animal Care. Both are able to create deep connections with the communities they serve and employ generous and caring staff . We have been fortunate to work with such compassionate people and feel blessed to continue serving our partners as they serve their communities.

Looking forward to the next 10 years at Alpha Dog Marketing, we will continue to invest heavily in our people and technology to ensure that we continue to provide our clients with the best service and products possible to assist them in growing their customer relationships.

Best Regards,

Mike & Connie Monk

Celebrating 10 Years

THINK BIG. THINK HOLIDAY. THINK DIVERSIFIED CHANNELS.

35%of respondents claimed

using a singly type of media for their

campaigns - mostly email

44%reported using 3+ media, most likely email, direct mail, and social media

83% of respondents reported using

email in marketing campaigns

64%

plan to use social media in the next year

83%

report using email in marketing campaigns

65%

of organizations use 2+ media types in their marketing

campaigns

Source: Th e Direct Marketing Association’s 2015 Response Rate Report

It’s summer and the Holiday season is on your brain. Or at least it should be. Summertime is when you need to prepare for the fourth quarter. Do you have a Google Grant? You still have time to apply for one. Here are the Google Grant specifi cs:

Are you diversifying your agency marketing channels? Now is the time to plan an integrated campaign.

Th e world is a multichannel marketplace where your donors and supporters are able to explore a wide variety of products before making a fi nal decision. Th is makes it absolutely critical to connect with consumers as many times as possible in order to infl uence a positive result. In a recent report, the DMA found the following response rates

Th ink about the channels your organization is currently using and how you can expand that for the upcoming holiday season. Make sure you have strategically planned your mail, telemarketing, online presence and messaging, media and how you will integrate your holiday theme. Integrating your message through new channels will bring bigger and better results. Talk with Alpha Dog Marketing about how you should integrate your channels for 4th quarter. Plan now - avoid stress later.

» Your ad budget is $329 per day or about $10,000/month. » Maximum cost per click (CPC) is $2.00. » You may only run keyword-targeted campaigns. » Ads will only appear on Google and not the rest of the advertising network. » Ads can only contain text - no pictures or videos. » Actively engage with your Grant AdWords account and adjust keywords regularly. » You cannot participate in revenue-generating ads.

Here is a simple checklist to get you started down the path towards a clean and organized donor database:

Combine Your Dupes. Dupes are your duplicate records that make their way into your database possibly through name changes or someone signing up on your website multiple times with diff erent email accounts.

Time to Update. Next, verify that the records you have are correct and addresses are the perfect place to begin updating your fi le. According to the US Census, on average more than 15% of Americans, or about 35 million people, move annually.

Start with Your Biggest Donors. Th is will ensure that those who give the most support to your organization have are correctly listed so that they can continue their support.

DONOR DATABASE CLEANUPSelf-Assessment Worksheet:• When was the last time you did a phone append and an e-append on your donors?

_______________________________________________________________• Are you currently planning on an e-acquisition strategy for the holiday months? _______________________________________________________________• Is your donor database clean and ready for the largest giving season of the year? _______________________________________________________________• Are you certain that you have access to other departments’ data? (in terms of clients

and client services, including volunteers) _______________________________

Cleaning up your donor database fi le can seem like a daunting chore – especially when the weather is so nice! Having a bad data fi le is wasting your organization’s time, money, and precious resources. Th ink of the direct mail pieces you have sent out that turn no response because your data fi le was dirty and outdated. Now, think of the fresh donor information you could have had for those campaigns and the possible opportunities that a clean fi le could have given you!

WEBINAR ANNOUNCEMENT

Eliminate. Th ere is no reason to keep donors in your fi le who are not interested in your organization. Th e length of time to keep these contacts varies depending on the size and type of your organization. However, it is generally good to remove unresponsive constituents after fi ve years or more.

Schedule Your Next Cleaning. Th e best way to keep your database clean is to regularly upkeep fi les and donor information. Set aside time on a regular basis to clean your fi le and we promise it will get easier each time!

Create Best Practices. Form instructions on how and when to do database cleaning to prevent staff changes from making your fi le messy again. By documenting each step of the process, you will be able to fi ll in the holes and prevent future mistakes.

Yes, cleaning up your database fi le can be tedious. Do not hesitate to talk to your account manager about data cleanup and how you can get prepared for the holiday season!

Date:Date: Wednesday, July 15th, 2015

Register:Register: Go to alphadogmktg.com/educati on and click on the Register Now butt on to sign up. You won’t want to miss this valuable FREE webinar!

Topic:Topic: Alpha Dog Marketi ng will be hosti ng a FREE live webinar on the importance of having clean data and how to prepare your database fi le for the fourth quarter.

Time:Time: 10:00-11:00 am CST

*Sources: http://www.littlegreenlight.com/blog/data-cleanup and https://philanthropy.com/article/Cleaning-Up-a-Messy-Donor/154161

ooo arreeee eepppp

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Dun & Bradstreet reports that data deteriorates at an average rate of 2% per month, meaning you can expect 25-30% of your organization’s

database to go bad each year under normal circumstances. ]]

COME VISIT USFeeding America Mobilizing the Public ConferenceAugust 4 - 6, 2015 in Chicago, IL

SAWA Annual ConferenceNovember 16-18 Petersburg, FL

CONT

ACT

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NEW IN THE PACK

Alpha Dog Marketing is pleased to welcomeJeff Beckenbach, Graphic Designer,

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