When it comes to marketing planned gifts, always remember that you want your supporters to think about how they can find meaning in their lives by leaving a gift to your charity.
Here are "The Fantastic Four"— Four ways to help your supporters get past the avoidance response that usually gets triggered when they receive end-of-life messages. These are also known as death messages. The following is based on research from my pal Dr. Russell James.
- Help them visualize their life story while realizing how their mission aligns with your organization's mission [Visualized autobiography]
- Facilitate an experience that allows them to see themselves as the hero in their own life story [Autobiographical heroism]
- Enable them to feel that they can live on in the hearts and minds of others [Symbolic immortality]
- Provide a way for them to honor, pay tribute to or recognize others [Commemorative immortality]
Feel free to share this little reminder below. Also, please consider posting a link to this blog post in order to start a discussion on LinkedIn or industry group websites.
