The Bullseye

Your development team at work...

Brian Crawford — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 17:11:00 GMT

Operational reports

Brian Crawford — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:15:00 GMT

On Friday, October 2nd, BBDM released a patch that included three new operational reports! These reports provide information about the day-to-day operations of your business, and can be printed or emailed to stakeholders who are not users of the BBDM system (management, vendors, etc). The new reports include:

Export Definition File Layout Report

The Export Definition File Layout report provides a list of output fields contained in an export file. This report can be sent along with the export file to give the consumer of the report an idea of what is contained in the file.

Mailing Summary

The Mailing Summary provides a brief overview of selected mailings that are active and inactive. You can filter the summary to include a selection of mailings within a given date range for a given source code.

Segmentation Report

The Segmentation Report enables you to communicate information about segmentation in an active or inactive marketing effort to stakeholders that are not users of the program. This information includes segments, their order, their coding, the number to be mailed, and all segment criteria. You can choose the amount of detail that shows on the report. It can be printed or emailed to stakeholders.

Multiple test segments

Brian Crawford — Wed, 13 May 2009 18:38:00 GMT

Now released in Blackbaud Direct Marketing 1.8... the ability to create multiple test segments in one sitting!

Here's how to do it...

Open your unactivated mailing.
On the segments tab of the mailing screen, simply highlight (using control-click) those segments that you would like to add test segments for.
Click the add button, then select test segment. Alternatively, right click, then add test segment.
Choose a naming convention for your segments and indicate segment detail.
Click save.

And you're done! Multiple test segments in one easy step.

Show confidence in your cause

Brian Crawford — Mon, 04 May 2009 14:04:00 GMT

At the 2008 Blackbaud Conference for Nonprofits, Timothy Winkler, CEO of Winkler Consulting Group here in Charleston, indicated that "being a fundraiser never means having to say you're sorry". Donors don't want to hear apologies about the state of the market, and you don't want to give the impression that you feel guilty for taking their money. This broadcasts the message that your nonprofit really isn't that important - completely the wrong message to send! And it gives the donor a negative feeling about the gift they have just given, which may deter them from giving again, and again, into the future.

During a recession, as always, it is important to show confidence in your cause. Where Direct Marketing is concerned, keep this tip in mind when creating your asks. Rather than apologizing for taking a donor's money, indicate the tremendous need for that money (now more than ever?), and demonstrate the sorts of causes you will be applying it to. Don't be negative about the economy - donors have already heard enough about that! Instead, remain positive about the many great things that your organization is doing for others. Be bold and stick vehemently to the goals that your organization supports - to raise money for those who need it most.

The full article can be found here.

Get to know your vendors

Brian Crawford — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 17:16:00 GMT

When Blackbaud Direct Marketing 1.8 is released on April 30th of this year (that's next week!), one of the new pieces of functionality that will be coming is the opportunity to record more detailed information about the vendors you work with every day. This is in direct response to one of our most popular user suggestions; that is, the ability to track contact information on the Blackbaud Direct Marketing vendor record.

Below is a screenshot of what it will look like (click to see a bigger image). When the new version of Blackbaud Direct Marketing is released, be sure to check it out.

Your product designers at work...

Brian Crawford — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 19:32:00 GMT

The Bullseye

Brian Crawford — Mon, 10 Nov 2008 21:02:00 GMT

Welcome to the Bullseye, the official blog of Blackbaud Direct Marketing!

Watch this space for tips, tricks, news and other fun and frivolity concerning your favorite Blackbaud product (and if it's not yet your favorite Blackbaud product, it should be)!

Let's kick off the blog with some links to some handy resources that you may not already have quick and easy access to...

Blackbaud User Guides - for when you need to look up how to use the product
Blackbaud Knowledgebase - to find online answers to product questions
Blackbaud Case Central - to create and manage cases for your organization
Blackbaud Direct Marketing System Recommendations - recommended system specifications for the product
Blackbaud Labs - applications, technology, sample code, and other cool stuff for technology fans
Blackbaud.com - for everything else!

If you have any comments or suggestions for content for this blog, please feel free to let us know - we appreciate any and all input! Until next time...