This is the first post of a series where we open the curtain and show you a few of the features we’re working on for Encore.
A fundamental part of Encore’s methodology is the belief that a good email starts with good content. No matter how you try to make something look pretty, you’re just putting lipstick on a pig if all you have is asks, press releases, and more asks.
Here’s the problem with content: during our research, a common thread we found among many organizations was that, by the time someone sat down to create an email campaign, it was already too late to tell the organization’s most powerful stories from scratch. It’s hard to go back in time and capture the emotional detail, photos, and videos of the moments that are worth sharing.
Our solution: Encore helps organizations activate their passionate Storytellers to capture stories as they happen. Storytellers are the people on the front lines who directly experience or create the impact every day. These could be staff members, volunteers, board members, donors, or even the beneficiaries themselves. They’re the tutors who work with the kids every day and see the kids grow, not the administrative staff sitting in the office.
We provide these Storytellers with an email address that’s exclusive to their organization, like orgname@sendmystory.com, where they can send in any photo, video, text, or audio stories from their smartphones or computers. Encore does the rest, automatically storing these stories and uploading what needs to be uploaded to the organization’s Flickr and YouTube accounts. In the future, we’ll also be adding rewards for those who send in stories often.
Imagine a student writes a haiku of their own and proudly recites it. With today’s technology, it’s easy to film their performance on a smartphone and quickly forward it to this email address.
By making it as simple as possible, Encore is empowering everyone to do what they already know how to do: tell and share amazing stories. Donors love seeing stories about the difference they’ve made, and this is by far the best way to show that impact. The result is more recognition for the deserving, more voices and engagement, and incredibly vivid content for emails.
The post Encore Feature Spotlight: Call for Stories appeared first on Blog by Encore.
