| The grant writing and submission process is in many | | | | competition for us to successfully capture the "market |
| ways, very much like Direct Response Marketing. | | | | share" of any particular type of funding, however, if |
| Direct Response Marketing is the sale of something to | | | | we can successfully capture the "mind share" of a |
| a single individual, usually one sale at a time. Even | | | | funding entity, we will have tapped into a flowing |
| though the original RFP (request for proposal) may be | | | | stream of consistently available capitol. How do we |
| seen by hundreds, or even thousands, it's seen by and | | | | accomplish this goal? By establishing relationships with |
| responded to by one person or organization at a time. | | | | our funders, one mind at a time! |
| Direct response marketing can further be defined as | | | | "It is estimated that 95% of the reason a prospect |
| selling a product (usually by mail or over the internet) | | | | buys involves a subconscious decision. The purpose of |
| that the purchaser pays for before actually getting. A | | | | this book is to show you what goes on during the |
| funded grant application is payment for a program or | | | | sales process that triggers a sale and how the |
| project the funder has yet to receive. | | | | subconscious mind responds to various aspects of an |
| Grant writing is the sale of an idea to a funding entity | | | | offer." (Sugarman, Triggers, 1999) To paraphrase the |
| (which should be thought of as a single individual). In as | | | | above quote, we can estimate that 95% of the |
| much as, you have little personal contact with the | | | | reason a funder funds, involves a subconscious |
| entity you are soliciting funds from, whether by phone, | | | | decision. |
| mail, or e-mail, it is necessary to create an application | | | | It behooves us as grant writers to study proven |
| that will speak for you in an individual and memorable | | | | marketing, copy writing, and social networking |
| way, and ultimately elicit an action. Your application is | | | | techniques, and determine how many, and where, they |
| submitted in the midst of hundreds if not thousands of | | | | can be successfully incorporated into a proposal. You |
| other applications - a cacophonous din of "fund me", | | | | may not be able to use all of them all of the time, but |
| "fund me", "fund me;" which begets the question posed | | | | you will be able to use some of them all of the time, |
| by the Funder, "who should we fund, and why?" | | | | and given enough applications, you will find you've used |
| In their online course, 21 Mental Motivators, (2002) | | | | quite a few of these elements. |
| Yanik Silver and Alex Mandossian quote the following | | | | With practice, using these elements, and realizing |
| from Jay Conrad Levinson, "as Direct Response | | | | opportunities to use these elements will become |
| Marketers, you have to go after mind share, not | | | | second nature to you. You will see yourself as an |
| market share." Too many times, we as grant writers | | | | artist, and each new application as a fresh canvas on |
| are looking for "market share." There is way too much | | | | which to paint a masterpiece. |