One in eight women will develop breast cancer at some point in their life, and October — Breast Cancer Awareness Month — is the perfect time to educate ourselves about this disease and support those affected by it.Any type of brand can join Breast Cancer Awareness Month and make a difference using BEE’s new breast cancer email template. Consumers like brands that care about social issues, and if you’re going to choose a cause on which to focus, breast cancer is a hugely important one.Let’s look at a few ways you can build a personal connection with your audience members and create effective fundraising messages to send to them!
#1. Be creative
Do you think you can’t connect breast cancer awareness to your brand? Think again. It’s not only medical companies that have an angle here — any type of brand can run an effective Breast Cancer Awareness Month campaign.If you make fitness apparel, talk about the importance of exercise when it comes to lowering your risk for breast cancer. If you’re in the financial industry, send emails that talk about how patients might struggle to cover costs associated with chemotherapy. No matter what industry you’re in, you can find a way to take what you do and connect it to breast cancer to create a compelling fundraising email.Subject line: It’s time to end breast cancer
#2. Be careful with copywriting
When it comes to cancer fundraising emails, copywriting is everything. This is a topic that’s personal and sensitive for a lot of people, so the way you present your campaign is going to be huge. Through your copy, work to connect with your audience in an authentic way — and if you’re not sure you’re getting things right, reach out to someone who has been personally affected by the disease and run your ideas by them.This Bumble and Bumble email starts out with a strong subject line “Let’s fight breast cancer together” and, inside, reiterates that every little bit helps.Subject line: Let’s fight breast cancer together.
#3. Tell a story
If you’re struggling with what to say, let someone else do the talking: Storytelling is 22 times more memorable than facts, so consider reaching out to a breast cancer survivor and asking them to share their story.If you haven’t experienced breast cancer, you don’t know what it’s like. Someone who has, however, will be able to communicate the emotions surrounding the disease much more effectively. That’s what Gap did with their recent email campaign in partnership with the Breast Cancer Research Foundation — the company sent emails that shared the story of its PR director Mackenzie Dougherty, who is currently fighting breast cancer. Gap’s email is even more effective because they chose to spotlight one of their employees, someone the company personally knows and loves.Subject line: Hear Mackenzie Dougherty's story
#4. Donate a percentage of your sales
It’s a hugely popular tactic among brands to donate a percentage of their sales on certain products. That way, you’re not explicitly asking people to donate; instead, they can simply buy one of your products (which they might have done anyway) and know that part of the money is going to a good cause.You could also create an entirely new product that’s just for Breast Cancer Awareness Month. That’s what Panera Bread did here — the restaurant’s ribbon-shaped bagels are exclusively available in October, and for each bagel purchased $0.10 will go to the American Cancer Society.Subject line: Hailey, this bagel gives back.
#5. Educate
Many people might not know much about breast cancer, so consider using your cancer fundraising email to educate them on the disease. You can either include statistics and stories in the copy of your email or link to external articles on the topic; educating people on breast cancer through your fundraising messages will make them more likely to give.
#6. Use a cancer fundraising email template
By using a cancer fundraising email template, you can create effective fundraising messages to send to your subscribers. BEE recently released a Breast Cancer Awareness template created by Gaia Zuccaro, an external designer with BEE, that’s ideal for emails seeking donations. (We have other designers, too -- find more information in our template catalog.) This free template is easy to use and can be quickly customized with the details of your fundraising campaign. With a cancer fundraising email template, you can make a difference for good during Breast Cancer Awareness month!
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