Your donors shouldn't have to look for your message. Your message should be delivered to their precise physical, mental, and emotional location. Effective strategic messages need four components: the right mood, messenger, moment, and channel.
  1. When choosing the mood, make sure it is consistent with the unique personality of the cause, the content of the message, and the audience's sense of self. Remember, different audiences require different messages, so the mood also must be tailored to fit each specific audience. Different types of donors may require a different tone of message.
  2. Place your message in other people's mouths. Messengers from outside your cause may be better able to connect with your audience, and they make your promises far more credible than you do yourself. Find someone the donor respects to speak on your behalf.
  3. Identify open-minded moments--the times when your audience is most likely to want the reward you are offering and to be seeking the benefit you provide. Open-minded moments occur when audiences are thinking about an action and are able to take it. Is there a major news story or trend that a donor is under pressure to respond to - and can you position your organization as that response?
  4. Match the open-minded moment to the right channel. Think of the opening and channel as the yin and yang of communications. Channels are the same old vehicles you always have to choose from (proposals, ads, PR, etc.) and they lack power without the yang of an opening, which increases the chance that your audience notices the message delivered. Together, the yin and the yang create a coherent, powerful whole. Think about when your donor needs you - not when you need your donor - and you'll be on the road to choosing the best channel for reaching that person.

(Source: Robin Hood Marketing)