How to compete like a champ

I recently chatted with a roomful of nonprofit folks before giving a speech, and I heard the same things over and over:

1. Money is tight.
2. They feel a keen sense of competition for resources from other organizations. (No wonder, given more than 100 new nonprofits crop up every day)
3. They are anxious about the future.

So how do you stand out?  How do you compete in that environment?

By focusing on your audience, NOT your competition.  This is about reaching out to your audience better than anyone else.  You must do a better job connecting with those people than your competition does.

We get into so much trouble imitating others organizations.  Don’t waste energy worrying about another nonprofit’s website, event or corporate sponsor.  Focus like a laser beam on pleasing your audience.

When you meet with corporate partners, stand out by impressing them with your ability to listen to them and by showing how you’re uniquely qualified to help them reach their business and philanthropic goals.  It’s not about your needs, it’s about theirs.

When you reach out to supporters, stand out with your ability to connect to their interests and values - and with your gracious gratitude for their help.

That’s how you win - by focusing on the people you want to reach, not the organizations around you.

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Ask Without Fear interview is online

If you’d like to listen, to my interview with Marc Pitman is online here.

You can check out some of Marc’s fundraising tips here.

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Tune in to hear me talk on Ask Without Fear

If you’d like to hear me field questions from Marc Pitman on his Ask Without Fear show tomorrow, check it out here.  It’s at 11 am EST.  I’ll be talking with Marc about how I stumbled (literally) into social marketing, trends in fundraising and my book.

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The two essential, yet oft-forgotten, marketing questions

There are two questions you should ask yourself before planning any kind of marketing or communication effort.  I’m sure I’ve mentioned them here before, but they bear repeating.  They are so often forgotten.

THE TWO QUESTIONS

1. Who is my audience?
2. What do I want them to do?  (DO, not think - awareness is not a marketing goal)

The answers to these two questions are the first sentence to a marketing plan.

You must answer these two questions before you ask questions like:  Should I blog?  Brochure or flyer?  Green or red?  This message or that message?

When you know your audience and what you want them to do, the answers to all the tactical questions become clearer.

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What makes for motivation

Jeremy Gregg at the Raiser’s Razor blog asked me to answer the following question: What drives your philanthropassion? 

In other words, why have I, like you, chosen to be overworked and underpaid in the third sector?

Part of the answer for me is, I spent a number of years working as a journalist in very poor countries.  And the poverty and pain I saw on a daily basis was hard to simply witness, over and over.  So I stopped reporting and started working to remedy what I was seeing.  (This is not to say journalism does not do much to contribute to the social good or to right wrongs - it does.  I just wanted to be more involved in the story.)

So part of my motivation is based on need.

But the bigger part of it is based on change.  I saw enough good when I was reporting that I also grew to believe there was hope in most situations.  And that, ultimately, is the most motivating thing of all.

I started my book this way: We all have moments in life when we happen upon our calling, and mine was when I encountered a giant, smiling condom in Cambodia.  I go on to tell the story of being inspired by the ground-breaking work of the nonprofit PSI to make AIDS prevention fun and hopeful (including via a giant condom balloon), to great success.  I saw the good in the story and possibility in the future.

I think ultimately, what makes for the most powerful motivation (at least for me) is not how bad something is now but rather how much better it could be.

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More sticky advocacy: The girl effect

  • Mon, June 09 2008
  • Filed under: Advocacy

I like it, and I think it works - it got forwarded to me, after all, and I forwarded it.  That’s what sticky advocacy is all about…

Thoughts?

UPDATE: Be sure to read the comments to this post - I agree with the commenters that the call to action could be better.

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How to make advocacy sticky

  • Thu, June 05 2008
  • Filed under: Advocacy

Imagine you had to mobilize an audience of working moms to advocate for paid sick days - something that too few receive.

You could talk about the importance of paid sick days for the working mom.  Yawn.

Or you could use humor and interactivity to relate to how moms experience this issue - which is by living in fear of getting ill and avoiding sick people like the plague.

I pick door #2.

So did RisingMoms.  This is the first RisingMoms email (and they send too many) I’ve really liked - because it makes the issue sticky and VIRAL!

 

 

 

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3 ways to transform your message

1. Put it in someone else’s mouth - someone who loves - but does not work for - your organization.

2. Start the message with the word YOU not WE.

2. Put in online, so if people are moved, they are one click away from action.

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Three pieces of fundraising advice

Here is my Fundraising Success column for June, featuring my alter ego, the maven.

Dear Marketing Maven,

My donations are down, my heart is heavy, and my job is on the line.  Worse, I think I’m coming down with something.  Paging Dr. Dollars!

-Sick in Syracuse

Dear Sick,

I don’t need a stethoscope to diagnose these ailments.  You’re suffering from one or all of the three most common diseases in the nonprofit world.  Sadly, they are at epidemic proportions.  We’ve got to stop their spread!

#1: “Field of Dreams” syndrome. Those who have this disease believe that, “If you build it, they will come.” By “they,” I mean a big team of generous donors.  For example, if you have FODS, you think that if you build a website and stick a DonateNow button on it, donors will arrive and click.  This disease also manifests itself as an assumption that uttering your mission statement will inspire people to give.  If you find yourself saying, “If people only knew, they would” then you have FODS.  Declaring your existence is not a fundraising campaign.  It is a symptom of FODS.
The cure? You need to reach out to people and build relationships with them.  Then maybe they’ll want to support you.

#2: “It’s all about us” disease. Nonprofits suffering from this disease are easy to spot—their home pages, emails and all of their correspondence reads like an “About Us” page. Sometimes, this ailment is called “Nonprofit Narcissism.”  Mission statements, the history of your organization and other related details should not be found everywhere and do not constitute a strong message. 
The cure? Make it about your donor, not you.  Why should they care?  What can they accomplish?  How have they changed the world with their support? 

#3: “Call to inaction” problem. In order to generate donations and increase your donor base, you need to have a clear call to action. It’s not enough to state who you are, what you do and what’s new. You need to clearly state what you are asking and appeal to prospective donors to take that action.  “Save the earth” is not a call to action.  Nor is “support us.”
The cure?  Be specific.  As in, “Click this button and give us $10 for a bed net so a child will be saved from malaria.”

Be well,

Maven

Dear Marketing Maven,

Our image is not what I want, so I’m thinking of rebranding with a new logo.  Thoughts?

-Making Over in Hanover

Dear Makeover,

Bad idea.  Branding is not about logos, it’s about how people perceive you.  That’s got a lot more to do with how you treat them, how you conduct your programs, and how you communicate your achievements than it has to do with your logo.  Don’t spend a cent on a new logo until you dig deeper into these aspects of your brand.  Without that level of makeover, a new logo or color palette is about as effective as slapping lipstick on a pig.  I don’t think it’s worth spending money on a logo change unless you conclude after fixing everything else that your logo is in direct violation of the brand you’ve built. 

Happy makeover,

Maven

Dear Marketing Maven,

Why did you not open my last eNewsletter?

—Hurt in Halifax

Dear Hurt,

I get about 20 email newsletters a week.  I read about two.  I must have somehow overlooked yours – I’m sure it was worth a read, unlike the other 18.  For what it’s worth, here are some thoughts on newsletters:

1. Maybe you don’t need one.
People are inundated with newsletters.  I’m not the exception – we all get too many.  Yawn.  Why not put your time and energy into something truly exceptional?  Like the packet a friend just got from DonorsChoose to thank him for buying a carpet for a classroom.  He got a picture of the kids on the carpet – along with the students’ little handwritten notes and pictures.  Wow.  Not feasible, you say?  How about simply sending out something useful to your audience?  At Network for Good, we send out weekly free fundraising tips rather than a newsletter about us.  Our nonprofits love it!  If you’re an organization focused on diabetes, how about weekly tips for managing diabetes? 

2. If you do an enewsletter, don’t forget the “e.”
You can’t just slap your print newsletter into a PDF, email it, and consider yourself the editor of an “enewsletter.”  Write to the medium. Online communications need to be shorter and formatted for the web. People skim online.  They don’t read.  Don’t make them download a PDF and turn pages on your computer. Grab attention with photos, short text and good stories.

3. Make it about the donors and not you.
Don’t manifest “All about us” disease in your newsletter.  Your newsletter should not be about how great you are.  It should be about how great your donor is!  Make your donor feel like the center of attention.  No one can resist reading about themselves – or about what they accomplished.

Write on,
Maven


Stay tuned… more on email newsletters in next month’s column!

 

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Make your business card a marketing hero

I have a pretty boring business card, but that’s about to change. Ever since a designer friend handed me a clear plastic business card with a field for inking a personal note, I realized this is a neglected opportunity.

What are you doing to make your card about your cause?

Here’s a great source of inspiration from librarians.  Librarians rock.  Not only do I love them, I think they are marketing superheroes.  Here’s the proof.  Is this a fabulous card or what?  I share her source of power, by the way:  coffee.

Write me if you have a heroic business card.

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Old vs. New Marketing Haiku

And the winner of the haiku challenge is…

Lorraine.  Not only is she good, she’s prolific.  I loved them all, but she takes the cake (book, actually).  Here’s my favorite from her body of work:

Old Marketing Haiku

Such a big, loud ad
Costs your client a fortune
With no ROI.

New Marketing Haiku

Want to sell your stuff?
Stop shouting at your buyers.
Try conversation.

Lorraine, email me your address for your free copy of Robin Hood Marketing!

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Marketing Haiku

Continuing with haiku week (don’t forget to submit yours!), today is dedicated to marketers.

Marketer Haiku

The truth is better
Threaded through the target’s eye
A web of beauty

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Donor Haiku

I declare this week nonprofit marketing haiku week.  Best haiku gets a copy of my book.  Submit via comments by Sunday COB:)  Here is my rather snarky submission for today.

Donor Haiku aka “Oh Well”

Cyclone drowns Burma
Earthquake follows, so much need
But gas is four bucks

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Post your ideas, get advice

Just wanted to let you know that I’m a guest advisor over at Ideablob this week.  You can post your ideas there anytime and receive advice from folks with a lot of business savvy.

Ideablob.com is an online community where small business owners and social entrepreneurs (including nonprofits!) are sharing business ideas in exchange for feedback, advice and votes from the community. Advanta, one of the nation’s largest credit card issuers (through Advanta Bank Corp.) in the small business market, awards a $10,000 monthly prize to the best eligible idea, as determined by the votes of the ideablob community.

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Synching your online & offline marketing

Here is today’s fundraising and marketing tip from Network for Good!  You can sign up to receive them via email here.

Online fundraising only makes up a portion of your overall marketing plan. It’s not a stand-alone initiative—it’s an integrated part of your communications strategy. Not only is your strategy multi-faceted, but your donors are too!

Below, check out our tips for integrating your offline and online tactics to best reach your donors across all channels in your online plan: 

Offline Mailing Tips:

•Ask your donors their preference. No, we’re not talking about pizza toppings or movie genres. Reach out to your donors and find out what communications and donation options they prefer. You may think the majority of your folks are strictly offline (or exclusively online). Don’t assume! Get to know them!

•Send a cultivation mailer to your lapsed donors inviting them to visit your website. Direct them to a special page on your site that makes an appeal for why they should make another gift. Learn how to make this landing page compelling.

•Use email to boost direct mail response. Remember: Your donors hang out in multiple channels, and you want to give them options. You can email your subscribers telling them to watch the mail, or wait for the call. You can also try following up a special appeal with an email, saying, “We hope you read our recent letter, just click here to make your donation online today. It’s convenient and saves us money.” The first renewal effort might be conducted by email, followed by the usual multi-letter series, and eventually a phone call.

•Develop a program to gradually gather the e-mail addresses of direct-mail donors who want to add email to their communications with you. Test asks in the direct mail (P.S., buckslip, reply device, etc.) and track response to find the most effective and least expensive ways to gather e-mail addresses without depressing gift response.

•Follow up with email. Email is the fastest and cheapest way to let your donors know what happened after they donated. If your donation appeal made the situation seem urgent, your donors will be left scratching their heads if they don’t hear anything else from you about it.

•Create complementary content. Entice donors reading your printed communications to visit your website for “exclusive” content. Not sure what to offer? Maybe you have educational tips (“Download 10 tips for managing your diabetes!”) or other downloads of content people can’t get from a postcard or letter.

Tips for Other Channels to Consider: 

•Events. Having a fundraising walk? Hosting an educational program? Create an email list sign-up sheet to capture in-person email opt-ins.

•Marketing collateral. Craft your call to action on your brochures and handouts—and let that action have an online option! If you’re requesting donations, give potential donors the address/directions to donate online if they so choose. Remember: Include your website on everything you print/produce. 

•Business cards. In a previous article we advised building your email list in a variety of ways, including email opt-in information in your email signature. Next time you order business cards, why not include a small call to action? (Ex: Donate online at…  Or, Visit our website to learn more…)

•Phone calls. Did you just collect a donation over the phone? Does a donor want some follow up? Try this: After you finish a telemarketing call, tell the donor, “We’d like to send you a receipt to acknowledge your gift. The most efficient way is via e-mail - that way we don’t have to waste paper and postage.” (Thanks to the great Madeline Stanionis for this tip!)

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