First of all, I have to apologize in advance that this post is NOT about how to bake an amazingly delicious cake. But in the event that you clicked on my link looking for just that – here’s a recipe that will satisfy any sweet tooth. Aaaand cue drool-inducing photo:
Amazing, right? Now that I have your attention (or maybe not if you’re still salivating over the oozing goodness above), on to the real premise of this post.
Who out there has ever wanted to send out an email newsletter, but didn’t want to pay a monthly fee for a distribution service? As I was drafting my fundraising plan for the Leukemia Lymphoma Society’s Team in Training triathlon I am embarking on this Labor Day, I found myself wanting to deliver more to my audience than a simple text email. We’ve all gotten those – it starts with a simple introduction then dives into 4 or 5 paragraphs on why you should donate, blah blah. While I do agree that email is the fastest and most affordable way to reach a donation audience, I have to admit that those emails make my eyes cross. I find myself skipping over all the jargon and just looking for the link to donate – even then I may simply delete it if it doesn’t grab my attention in the first 10 seconds.
So to spare my friends and family from the tired and over-used text base emails, I was on a mission to find a free email template. Google to the rescue! After a few quick searches I stumbled on CakeMail – a (relatively) free email campaign manager. If you have a small audience – 100 recipients or less – CakeMail allows you to send up to 600 email campaigns FO FREE. The website is really easy to navigate and has over 50 completely customizable templates that are super easy to use. Goodbye messing with PowerPoint or Publisher, hello easy-peasy-lemon-squeezy. You can schedule the delivery and track the performance of your campaigns by viewing open rate, clicks and even a heat map that shows what your readers paid most attention to. Cool huh?
Should you need to reach a broader audience or send emails more frequently, their pricing structure is really competitive and affordable. I seriously love this thing. Give it a shot and see for yourself.
Of course this post wouldn’t be complete if I didn’t share my first fundraising newsletter with you. Take a look and let me know what you think!
insatiable curiosity 