We have everything to make people happy!

After attending the most recent Direct Marketing Association conference in San Diego last month, I came away with one conclusion: I pity most marketers.  They have to create need first – often out of little to nothing – then sell the features and benefits of their product.  Looking at some of today’s products, that’s a Herculean task.  Think about it.  Do I really need another TV?  Isn’t three enough?  What about the revolutionary new closet hanging system so I can jam more clothes into storage  –  clothes that I really don’t need anyway?  Even that new diet cola that I enjoy so much!  New research claims that even diet cola makes you fat.    As marketers for faith-based organizations, we’ve got the edge because we can offer everything our constituents need to be happy.  Here are seven of the biggies!  Heart connection – We provide a heart-to-heart link with people in need.  We tell their stories.  Share their pain.  Build an emotional relationship.  Sense of purpose and value – We give the opportunity to do something significant.  Save a child’s life.  Change an adult’s destructive behavior.  Connect people of all ages with God’s purpose for their lives.  Easy response – We offer the ease of accomplishing significant things from the comfort of their home, by simply returning that postage-paid envelope. Affordable price point – We enable great things to be accomplished with a gift amount that’s appropriate to the constituent’s financial condition, thanks to intelligent data.  Tangible results – We accomplish things that we can show off!  A healthy, well-fed child, a cured parent who’s taking care of their family and contributing to the community, a once directionless man or woman who now has purpose and power because of God’s intervention in their lives. A sense of community – We open doors to a community of shared values.  As we report back and give back in every way we can, there’s a growing sense of “belonging.”  A lasting legacy – We make it possible to leave a lasting legacy centered on what’s really important to our constituent’s value system.    Let’s go out and make people happy today!