Viken Mikaelian

Tell Your Heart Surgeon to Go Away
Planned Giving Marketing
Viken Mikaelian

Tell Your Heart Surgeon to Go Away

If your administration does not realize the importance of planned giving, your job is to explain it to them. The money is there — and it shows up when people understand the need. Would you ever tell your heart surgeon that his fee is not in your budget?

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On Productivity, Planned Giving and Your Career
Planned Giving Marketing
Viken Mikaelian

On Productivity, Planned Giving and Your Career

Do you set daily goals? Do you think multitasking is helpful? Do you know the difference between motion and action? These 8 hacks will get your productivity — and your career — energized.

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What We Don’t Do
Uncategorized
Viken Mikaelian

What We Don’t Do

Companies like to boast about what they do. Apparently, many firms also like to do far more than they should. More and more in the planned giving community I see “marketing” firms promising their clients the world.

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Kill Your Print Marketing Campaign
Planned Giving Marketing
Viken Mikaelian

How To Kill Your Print Marketing Campaign

Direct mail is king. But kings can be dethroned. Well-intentioned organizations do it all the time. Avoid these common mistakes to ensure your direct mail campaign is as kingly as it should be.

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Marketing Planned Giving to Advisors
Planned Giving for Financial Advisors
Viken Mikaelian

Marketing Planned Giving to Advisors

In a perfect world, all of your benefactors who receive your planned giving mailing will immediately decide it’s a good idea, call their advisor for the go ahead, and then make your institution a gift that changes not only the trajectory of your long-term revenue goals, but your career as well.

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Prepare and Achieve
Self Improvement & Career
Viken Mikaelian

Prepare and Achieve

You know that feeling of spinning your wheels? That feeling you get when you are burning through time and exhausting yourself yet having little to show for it in the end? Preparation is critical, but what gives you bragging rights at the end of the day is the action you take

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Better Than Average
Self Improvement & Career
Viken Mikaelian

Better Than Average

Do you wish to be better than average in your career and in your life? If you do, then you need to behave in a better than average fashion. It’s an obvious statement, but an endless number of people belie this sound reasoning.

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Email vs. U.S. Mail
Planned Giving Marketing
Viken Mikaelian

Email vs. U.S. Mail

Trying to save money by using eMarketing? Think again. According to the 2015 Response Rate Report by Direct Marketing Association (who also does eMarketing), direct mail outperforms all digital channels in a big way. The response rate for direct mail was 600% higher than that all of the digital channels combined. This number is too big to ignore.

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