How to Define Your Zoo’s ICA (and Why it Makes Every Email More Effective)
I’ve noticed a common theme among zoo and aquarium email communications. In fact, this theme is common among many wildlife non-profit organizations.
I’m talking about sending templated broadcast email updates to the masses.
No focus.
No personalization.
Too many things at once.
The result? Readers are overwhelmed, they don’t connect, and the email gets deleted or they unsubscribe.
The solution? Sending personalized emails that focus on one topic at a time.
So how do you connect with readers? Define your ICA so you know now who you’re talking to.
What is an ICA?
In marketing, ICA stands for Ideal Customer Avatar – a fictional, detailed representation of your organization’s perfect customer.
Defining your ICA is the foundation for higher visitor engagement, higher member retention, and stronger donor relationships, and, ultimately, more revenue for your zoo or aquarium.
Your zoo’s ICA is not just someone who wants to hear from the zoo.
Your zoo’s ICA is the main character in your zoo’s story and he or she will have a name, specific motivations, fears, and values.
Every zoo and aquarium will have a different definition of their ICA, however, they will likely all have similar values.
In fact, most zoos and aquariums should actually have at least 3 ICA’s – visitors (non-members), members, and donors. This is where segmentation comes into play.
In your CRM or email marketing platform, you can tag subscribers as visitors, members, or donors. You should have an email strategy for each segment, or list. Each segment should get emails that are written to their specific pain points.
Why? Because visitors, members, and donors all have different motivations for supporting your zoo or aquarium and, therefore, need different messages in order to connect.
Why Every Zoo & Aquarium Needs an ICA
If you’re currently sending templated news updates to your zoo’s email list, then your emails aren’t connecting because they’re written to everyone and they’re filled with too much information.
If your email engagement is low, it's because your subscribers open your emails and they can’t see themselves in your zoo’s story.
If you don’t know how to connect with donors, it’s because you don’t know their pain points and what motivates them.
If your membership renewals have plateaued, it’s because your emails aren’t connecting with your members.
If your marketing team feels stretched thin, but doesn’t know what to say, it’s because writing without clarity takes longer.
When you write every email to one person, every subscriber feels like you’re talking directly to them.
How to Define Your ICA
Defining your zoo’s ICA will transform how easy it is to write emails, saving you and your team time.
You’ll connect with your readers, get more leads, and grow your zoo’s customer loyalty, revenue, and impact.
Step 1: Identify Your ICA’s Problem (that Your Zoo Solves)
The only reason anyone buys anything is to solve a problem.
If you’re hungry, you buy food.
If you’re cold, you buy clothing.
If you want to feel put together, you buy flowers for your home.
If you want to connect with wildlife, you buy a zoo pass or a membership.
In marketing, when we identify and talk about our customer’s problem that we have the solution to, we open what’s called a “story loop” that can only be closed by using your product, service, or, in our case, zoo experience.
A story loop is a storytelling technique that is created when a new story with a conflict emerges and remains open until the story is concluded and the conflict is resolved.
As a zoo marketer, you must ask yourself, “Who am I writing this email to?” and “What problem do they have that I can solve for them with a zoo pass/membership/donation request?”
Questions to ask yourself to help in defining your ICA:
Is your ICA a man or a woman?
How old is she (he)?
Is she (he) married?
Does she (he) have children?
Does she (he) work?
What is their annual household income?
What are her (his) values?
What are her (his) hobbies?
What are her (his) goals and dreams?
Why does she (he) come to the zoo?
What excites her (him) about wildlife or conservation?
What does she (he) feel when she (he) hears from your zoo?
What emotions move her (him) to visit, donate, or renew?
What problem is she (he) trying to solve? (Family outing, connecting with wildlife, education, philanthropy, supporting wildlife, conservation impact, exclusive access, etc.)
What does she (he) need from my writing to connect?
What does she (he) need from me? (Stories about animals, conservation impact of zoos partnerships, clear, focused emails, simple next steps, personalized updates, not mass email blasts, etc.)
And so on…
Once you’ve answered these questions, you should be able to write a few paragraphs about this person. This is now who you will write to every time you send an email on behalf of your zoo.
Sample ICA for zoos or aquariums:
ICA: Katie is an overwhelmed mom with two young children. She does not work, her husband is gone a lot and she is home alone with the kids a lot. She values home-cooked meals, connecting with nature and going for walks, but she tends to put everyone else’s needs before her own. She has fond memories of visiting the zoo when she was a young girl and still loves getting to see the animals herself now as an adult.
The Problem: She needs something to do with her kids, so they stop bickering
The Solution you offer: Fun for the her and her kids, connection to nature and getting outside, exercise for mom, space for the kids to run and be loud, positive interactions and memories made, kids are tired after and actually nap.
Step 2: Position Your Zoo Experience as the Solution to Their Problem
When you position your zoo experience as the solution to your customer’s problem, the perceived value of your product increases, and they lean in. Positioning your zoo experience as the solution also closes the story loop for your customer.
Remember, the story loop was opened by identifying their problem. It closes when you position your product as the solution because you’ve shown them that they can solve their own problem by visiting the zoo, buying a membership, or donating to your zoo’s cause. All that’s left for them to do is to decide.
If my goal was to sell a zoo membership to my ICA, Katie, I might send an email to that segmentt that says:
“[NAME],
Do you find yourself running out of things to do with your kids? Are they constantly bickering because they’re bored at home? Bring them to the zoo!
With an annual zoo membership, you can bring your whole family as often as you like. The best part? You get to recharge as you walk through the zoo, your kids running joyfully from exhibit to exhibit and squealing with joy as they see the monkeys chasing each other. By the time you pack up to go home, you’ll have tired kiddos, a connection with nature, lasting memories, and you’ll feel recharged, so you can show up as the mom you want to be.
Family zoo memberships are 15% off through Thanksgiving!
We hope to see you soon,
Your Friends at the Zoo
[BUTTON]: Get Your Membership Now
As you can see, this email will speak directly to EVERY overwhelmed mom on your subscriber list because it acknowledges her challenges, which makes her feel seen.
The result? You build a connection with each one of them and they are more likely to buy a membership, than if they just got a generic announcement in their inbox that zoo memberships are on sale.
When we talk to our customers about the problem they’re having and offer our zoo experience as the solution that they can use to solve their own problem, they lean in and ask themselves, “Does this person/business/organization have the solution I’ve been looking for? Will it work for me?”
If you’ve spoken to their pain points, the answer will be yes.
To identify your zoo’s ICA, start by getting curious and identifying your customer’s problem. The problem is always the hook.
Note: Not everyone on your visitor segment will be an overwhelmed mom, but that’s ok. The ones that aren’t might be grandmas who remember the overwhelmed mom days or a man who sees his wife in the words.
How to Use Your ICA to Make Every Email More Effective
The way you’ll stand out from the noise in peoples’ inboxes is to connect with your readers.
To do this:
Make your customer the Hero
Use “you” more than “we”
Write as if you’re emailing one person (write to your ICA)
Speak like a human, not a press release.
Choose one story and one CTA (Call-to-Action) per email
Align with your ICA’s interests, problems, or desires
Animal births, rescues, conservation wins that they made possible with their donation, behind-the-scenes.
Include only one thing to click on
Position your zoo as the Guide, not the Hero
Your zoo can help them solve their problem
Use segmentation to personalize even further
I will cover segmentation next week!
Common Mistakes Zoo Marketers Make Without an ICA (and How to Fix Them)
Below are some common mistakes I’ve observed in zoo and aquarium communications:
Sending the same emails to visitors, members, and donors ➔ Use segmentation and create separate segments for visitors, members, and donors.
Sending generic newsletters instead of relationship-building emails ➔ Define your ICA for each segment and start writing to your ICA about the things they care about.
Focusing more on social media than email marketing ➔ Use social media to funnel people to your email list and back to your website.
Making the organization the hero, not the subscriber ➔ Make the reader the hero (“This was possible because of your generosity.”)
Trying to include every update in every email ➔ Create a Blog or News section on your zoo’s website and post stories and updates there. Send emails with ONE update at time (choose the one that your ICA will connect with most) and include a link for people to see all updates on your website.
Using “Join our Newsletter” instead of value-driven list-building ➔ Give people a reason to join your email list. Read more about growing your zoo’s email list here.
Download my free Zoo & Aquarium Email Marketing Playbook to start optimizing your supporter engagement.
