Online fundraising is for real - to the tune of half a billion dollars…

From the Washington Post:

“In an exclusive interview with The Post, members of the vaunted Triple O, Obama’s online operation, broke down the numbers: 3 million donors made a total of 6.5 million donations online adding up to more than $500 million. Of those 6.5 million donations, 6 million were in increments of $100 or less. The average online donation was $80, and the average Obama donor gave more than once.”

Yesterday, while going through my daily online news routine, I learned that DHL is stopping express delivery service in the US.

Then, last night I found the email to the right in my inbox from FedEx.

This is a wonderfully executed email marketing strategy by FedEx. The day after one of the company’s largest competitors announced they were exiting FedEx’s niche market, FedEx had a reassuring message out to its customers and contacts that it is still there for your shipping needs. FedEx beat UPS to the punch and, because of their rapid response online and off, has set themselves up to gain many former DHL customers.

What a perfect example of the time saving aspects of having a well managed email marketing program. And, as we’ve written here before, this email harnesses the benefits of digital communication by reaching your audience when its convenient for them, through email. 

So if FedEx, a globally successful corporation, isn’t too big for creating relationships through sound email marketing, then neither are you. Make it a fundamental part of your marketing efforts.

In The Boston Globe, a former Romney communications advisor lements the decline of traditional media and pleads with online media to more closely adhere to a journalistic “code of ethics.”

“Where are the online gatekeepers? Gatekeeping is the most important function for the offline media. Editors decide which stories get published. They make sure rumors aren’t printed. Sensitive information is double- and sometimes triple-sourced. Gatekeeping serves an important purpose in establishing the ethics of journalism. Sadly, it doesn’t exist on the Web.”

Unfortunately for traditional PR and communications people, that horse has left the barn.

Successfully managing online communications involves more than technology. It involves a seasoned communications perspective capable of responding quickly in a volatile message environment.

(Cross-posted at PolicyMedia.com)

There are a lot of naysayers out there who don’t think it makes sense to use new media when you are targeting an older audience (ahem, campaign folk - I’m talking to you).

Well, the AARP might make us think again.

Few to none have been better at marketing to a senior (or as my mother would remind me, “mature”) audience than the AARP. They sell many services to that audience and have a fairly sizeable presence on Captiol Hill. They know this audience, so when they take a new strategic initiative, it’s worth taking a look.

From Ragan.com:

The nonprofit launched daily news site AARP Bulletin Today and redesigned its Web site last spring (the site came out of beta testing in September) to include Web 2.0 features to prepare for what it expects will be an exponentially growing user base, Clark says Nataki Clarke, director of online marketing.

“I think social networking is helping us demonstrate that we can be very relevant,” says Clarke, who had the numbers to back her up. “We ended August with 2.7 million unique visitors. Last August, we were at 1.9 million. That means almost a million people have discovered us in just a year,” she says.