TRACIE GUY-DECKER
More Meaning. More Compassion. More Fun.
Marketing & Fundraising
You know what you do matters.
You know it’s amazing and has an impact.
But showing other people that’s true isn’t always straightforward.
That's where I come in.
Good marketing creates emotion and makes meaning without you even realizing that’s what it’s doing.
The foundational skill of marketing (and by extension fundraising) is understanding consumers’ (or donors’) friction points and then easing them.
Two key components of doing this well are a focus on why and a commitment to relationship over transaction. In my marketing and fundraising practice, there are multiple services I provide my clients.
COPYWRITING
I’m a word nerd.
I love finding just the right metaphor to make a concept clear.
I have a discerning ear for different voices and can apply a specific individual’s voice to the best practices of a fundraising letter.
I get a special kind of satisfaction from distilling thoughts and ideas into a comprehensible blurb or an irresistible call-to-action.
The dead center of my wheelhouse is long-form fundraising letters. I’ve written hundreds of letters over dozens of different people’s signatures.
I know the cadence and the rhythm necessary to optimize the power of the second-person address of “you” in activating a donor’s why and convincing them to take action.
For fundraising clients, other familiar genres include: emails, landing pages, grant applications, grant and donor reports, and annual reports.
For non-profit and small-business clients, I have also written brochures, advertisements, postcards, emails, newsletters, websites, landing pages, style guides, video scripts, exhibition panel copy, and even workbooks.
STRATEGY
Brand strategy provides guidance to creatives like me (copywriters, designers, etc.) working on the message (what).
In effect, brand strategy is a scaffolding, created with avatars, positioning, creative briefs, style guides, and direction on voice, tone, and personality.
We build out the scaffolding by understanding the why that drives our key audience. It might be a pain point they need eased, or it might be a strongly held belief.
When we know a person’s why, marketing (and fundraising) is a matter of validating them.
We can use that same strategic lens to guide the other components of marketing: the market (who) and the medium (how).
I work with clients to help make more strategic decisions about platforms for outreach, timing, segmentation of existing mailing lists, acquisition of new or borrowed lists, frequency of touches, components of a campaign, calls-to-action, and ask strings (for direct response fundraising).
PROJECT MANAGEMENT
I find a sense of creative outlet in project management.
When I am managing a project or building a new process, my role is multifaceted: part creative director, part traffic manager, part cheerleader, part problem-solver, and part decider-in-chief.
When I take on a project management role, I do so because I want to help build something.
If you have a complicated and significant deliverable (e.g. an annual report, a multi-channel fundraising campaign, an exhibition, a gala) and you know what you want to make happen but not how, I love charting and then implementing the path to that outcome. If you also need writing for the project, I’m so in.
I have significant experience managing print projects, and am also comfortable with websites, exhibitions, events, and multi-channel campaigns. For print and web deliverables, while I am happy to work with a client’s in-house graphics team, I also am happy to bring an artist to you, and have a number of talented colleagues I could call.
If you could use my help, I’d love to speak with you. Drop me a line, and let’s get together.