This is the first of many posts in our new customer spotlight series. In it, we’ll hear from founders, marketers, communication specialists, and others who use Mailjoy personalized direct mail for their businesses and organizations. In this post, we’ll be chatting with Kyle Matthews, Executive Director of Beat Nb, a non-profit that drives neuroblastoma cancer research and raises awareness.
What’s Beat Nb’s mission?
Beat Nb is making a difference in kids’ survival today by driving neuroblastoma cancer research and raising awareness. We want to change the story for the next family by finding viable treatments and, ultimately, a cure for neuroblastoma.
What’s a recent milestone you’re proud of?
We were proud to be profiled in a 5 part series the Boston Globe published last December about our work, called The Power of Will.
What’s been some of your biggest marketing challenges as a non-profit?
Some of our biggest marketing challenges have been a small budget and a hard – yet misunderstood – subject matter. We talk a lot about the hope involved in childhood cancer because the harshness of treatment and the stories of loss are generally too hard for the public to hear. There IS a huge amount of hope though through the work we’re driving as well as from others. The public also doesn’t generally know that childhood cancer, like adult cancer, is actually several different distinct diseases. One hospital focusing on a couple cancers does not mean the whole of childhood cancer is “good now” — which we often hear. So there’s a lot of education we wind up doing.
Before Mailjoy, did you experiment with mail at all? If so, what were your experiences with it?
We’ve experimented with mail and had a great local partner, but we saw very little conversion so we abandoned the idea as something only feasible with a larger budget.
So that explains why you’d be interested in a DIY direct mail tool which lets you personalize the mailers. Can you tell us about the latest postcard campaign you sent with Mailjoy? What was it for? How did you set it up?
Our latest Mailjoy campaign was an invitation to our Karaoke for the Kure annual fundraising event in Tampa, Florida. We personalized each card with the supporter’s first name over a design we’d built in Photoshop. We were able to send two separate designs – one for anyone who had attended the event in the past and another for anyone who had supported us in the past and lived in the area. Setting up both of these campaigns was as simple as exporting a CSV file from our CRM and uploading it to Mailjoy.
Do you have any advice for other non-profits who want to incorporate direct mail into their marketing mix?
Direct mail is great – people love receiving a personalized piece of physical mail. Mailjoy’s customization/personalization feature is definitely something to take advantage of on every campaign – we had multiple emails, texts, and messages from folks who were surprised and happy to see their name in the design. We’re still looking for the best way to make use of direct mail, but we love the ease of use with Mailjoy.
How can people learn more about Beat Nb?
Beat Nb is a national 501(c)(3) focused on driving a cure for childhood cancer. We do this by pushing forward patient-affecting clinical trials through funding and connecting key parties. We’d love for you to learn a little more about us through our website at beatnb.org or on Facebook.
