# Think carefully about you use shock tactics in fundraising

- Link: https://fundraising.co.uk/2012/03/21/think-carefully-about-you-use-shock-tactics-fundraising/
- Published: 2012-03-21T10:31:04+00:00
- Author: Kevin Baughen

**Being a bit harder-hitting in our marketing can be a powerful way to create an
emotional trigger to encourage action.  That said, it’s also at the riskier end 
of communications techniques because there is a greater potential to shock or offend
recipients rather than inspire them to action.**

Anti-fur clothing campaigners like [PeTA](http://www.peta.org) famously [use shock tactics](http://cdn2.wn.com/pd/d7/b6/d9202f07e272374138c9ddb66234_grande.jpg)(
and lots of stripped off celebrities) to get across their point about animal cruelty
and appeal to the audience’s raw emotion.  But, as we know, this doesn’t always 
work in their favour as even sympathetic audiences can be turned off by communications
they deem have simply gone too far.

[⌊Direct mail pack using disruption tactic⌉⌊Direct mail pack using disruption tactic⌉[

Here’s a less extreme example.

## Advertisement

I received this mailing a while ago – it’s in a plain brown envelope with no commentary
stating that this was a promotional message.  The main headline reads “URGENT: WAITING
LIST INFORMATION ENCLOSED”.  The letters are capitalised and in red.

Wearing my marketer’s hat I suspected this was a direct mail campaign because the
NHS does not usually need (or can afford) to resort to red text.  But the vast majority
of the intended audiences won’t share my career knowledge.

If I wore only my personal hat at the time, my view was very different.  I was waiting
for news on an MRI scan for an ongoing back problem which left me in pain every 
day and which wasn’t getting sorted out any time soon. When this person opened the
envelope to find a charity fundraising campaign from the [YMCA](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/YMCA)’
s [YCare International ](http://www.ycareinternational.org)to support orphans in
Sudan, my initial reaction wasn’t positive or empathetic. 

This isn’t the fault of the campaign directly but they understood the risk of using
these tactics at the outset. The risk is exacerbated further when you consider the
likely target audience for such campaigns.  More Dorothy than Felicity Donor and
therefore considerably more likely to have ongoing health questions.

I don’t know if this campaign worked for YCare or not but we do know that getting
people to open the envelope (email, text etc.) and feel something for the cause 
described within is key to encouraging donations.  So if you want to use ‘shock’
or other disruptive tactics, think about the following:

 * There is a difference between disrupting and shocking.  Disrupting means giving
   people a reason to pause and read… shocking has a greater likelihood of resulting
   in offence and no donation or support (and it’s this last point that matters).
 * Is the tactic suitable for your target audience?  Sending an older audience mail
   that looks like it’s from the NHS may do more harm to your cause than good.  
   Using imagery of injustice to a politicised student audience may be spot on.
 * Does ‘shock’ fit with your brand?  If your organisation is concerned with caring
   and empathy then perhaps none of these tactics will lend you any credibility.
   Brand credibility is why people will support you more than once and if your marketing
   messages don’t reflect who you are as an organisation, you are less likely to
   encourage the action you want.
 * Is your marketing agency persuading you to adopt a tactic that they believe will
   work without really understanding your culture, your audience dynamics and how
   your existing customers or supporters will react? (they aren’t doing it negligently
   by the way, they just don’t know as much about your organisation as you do)
 * Are you picking a tactic just so it will go viral?  All of the above still apply
   to the digital world – it’s all about the end action you want people to take 
   as a result of your communications.  If simply sharing the message is the key
   driver, then this approach can be very effective (although evidence suggests 
   the less contrived campaigns often work better in these channels)

Disruption and even shock tactics can be useful tools to achieve cut through in 
today’s media saturated world but getting the recipient reaction just right is crucial.
We’re after;

> STOP – read – consider – act Not STOP – read – get offended – react

Spot the difference?