Writing copy that attracts people to read it is one of our new big challenges.
With so much interesting content around- what makes you stop* read* think* and act? Does anything any more?
Expert fundraising copywriter Jill Ruchel ruminates.
In 2008 I was lucky enough to spend a splendid evening visiting the wonderful Sculpture by the Sea exhibition in Sydney, a display of some 150 sculptures carefully placed along the glorious cliff walk from Tamarama to Bondi.
I had been thinking a good deal about the current world financial crisis and what it meant for fundraising, when I saw the winning sculpture.
Created by Mark McLelland, it was a large block of steel, perhaps two and a half metres high, with a key shaped space in the middle. But the space ran horizontally, creating a fabulous tension between the pressing weight above it and the bulk below, like a roiling emptiness of energy.
In that moment, what struck me was that what was important in dealing with fundraising in a recession or financial crisis is not what is happening – it’s what’s missing.
Tough times are the perfect time to do something innovative, something that hasn’t been done before, or hasn’t been done that way.
It’s like the old adage – if you keep on doing what you’ve always done, you’ll keep on getting what you’ve always got.
When you think about it, being bold and being fresh is important all the time. Anyone can copy what you do, but if they can’t compete with you for boldness, ideas and initiative, they’ll always be followers and never leaders.
So don’t be afraid to try something new. It might not work. It might turn out to be wrong. But it might succeed fabulously. Either way you get an outcome, you’re sure to learn something. And it’s always better to do something than nothing.
www.praxisfundraising.com.au