New Study: The Wired Fundraiser

Today Network for Good released a new study, “The Wired Fundraiser: How technology is making fundraising ’good to go.’”  It covers: What happens when people with a cause take it to cyberspace; why marketers and fundraisers like us should care; and what we should do about the phenomenon.

The full report is here, but if you just want the highlights, below are the key findings.

In the meantime, if you’d like to be a Wired Fundraiser yourself, support victims of the wildfires sweeping California with this widget.  Link to it in emails or click on the Share tab within the widget for code to display it online.

KEY FINDINGS

1. When Wired Fundraisers Talk, People Listen: Wired Fundraisers are regular people with a cause and a keyboard, and they are proving highly effective at fundraising for their favorite charity in an ever-widening personal sphere of influence online.  That’s because today, the messenger matters even more than the message.  People trust messengers they know, like friends and family.  These messengers naturally communicate in the most effective ways – through personal means, in a conversational tone, and with great stories.  A promotion from a charity can’t compete with that level of intimacy, authority or authenticity. 

2. Not Every Wired Fundraiser Is a Champion: The successful Wired Fundraiser has a relatively rare combination of true passion and a means to lend a sense of urgency to their cause.  Not every Six Degrees fundraiser or Facebook Cause is a winner, but a proud few – the superactivists - are very effective, raising $9,000 on average and reaching 150 people. 

3. Technology Gives the Wired Fundraiser Special Power:  Widgets and social networks make personal fundraisers more effective for four reasons. Widgets – bits of code that enable you to generate and place content anywhere online, including on Facebook pages or blogs – make it possible for personal fundraisers to take their message anywhere they communicate online, including social networks where messages spread very efficiently.  They make it possible for the fundraiser to evangelize in their own way, in their own words.  Because they make fundraising so easy, widgets attract a new group of fundraisers.  Importantly, widgets also make it easy and convenient for friends and family to give instantly, when they feel an impulse to give. That means more donations to more causes.

4. Smart Charities Embrace the Wired Fundraiser:  Technology enables anyone to be a fundraiser, anywhere online.  The control over the message is in the hands of the Wired Fundraiser.  Wise charities see this as something to embrace rather than something to fear.  They tap into the opportunity to spread their message further, by new means, via new messengers.

More on how to be a Wired Fundraiser or tap into their power is here in the full paper.

 

 

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Read this if you market to teenage girls

There’s a fascinating YouTube channel where a group of young women critique the ads targeted to them. Hat tip to AdAge for this link. The videos are worth a watch for a few reasons:

1. They remind you: audience, audience, audience. Know your audience. Speak to your audience. Forget your audience at your own peril.

2. They show that your audience talks back. We’re in an age of unprecedented consumer control, and your audience will not sit quietly and obey your message. Your audience expects to have a conversation with you.

3. The 3iYing crew, who work as consultants, are on-target about what works: speaking to an audience’s values and being credible and authentic. Cheesy, disingenuous messages that miss the mark will get - and deserve - the flip.

Check it out:

 

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Move them, then make it easy to act

One of the great things about online advocacy is you can move someone emotionally and then give them an immediate way to act upon that emotion.  This makes conversion quite easy.  Always keep this concept front and center in your mind, with every communication you make online.  You always want to:

1. Tell a great story that makes your case - and creates the impulse to give
2. Give people a way to act that’s as simple as a few clicks of the mouse

Speaking of clicks, below is a great video example of tapping into emotions, then telling people what to do with them with a big emphasis on how easy it is to make a difference.  I found it via Creativity Online. 

Now imagine having the donate button right next to this video on YouTube for Nonprofits, where it’s not yet placed.  That would be even better.

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Online Fundraising & Nonprofit Marketing Training Opportunity

By Jono Smith

In July, Network for Good launched Nonprofit 911, a free training program for the overwhelmed nonprofit. Every 2-4 weeks, we cover a new topic related to nonprofit marketing and online fundraising.

What can you learn about nonprofit marketing in 60 minutes? Find out, during our next Nonprofit 911 free training series:

October 23, 2007 from 1-2pm (eastern)
How to Tell Your Story: Tips for Better Storytelling, Fundraising Success & Media Glory
Speakers: Katya Andresen & Macon Morehouse
Details here.

October 30, 2007 from 1-2pm (eastern)
Event 101 for Fundraisers: Putting Your Mission Into Action!
Speaker: Jeff Shuck, Event 360
Details here.

Can’t attend? Download an audio transcript from www.Fundraising123.org. 


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If Buddha Had A Website

Katya’s note: Today we have an absolutely inspirational Guest Post from my buddy Mark Rovner of Sea Change Strategies.  Some of you may remember him from the recent Network for Good teleconference bearing the unofficial title, “Your Website Sucks - Fix It For Free.”  You can hear that teleconference - “Website 101” or read the transcript here.

MJRPicture

By Mark Rovner

You learn a lot from Buddhism. And while — to the eternal relief of our clients — I am not one to go around spouting bits of Buddhist dogma, my whole approach to communications strategy is profoundly affected by the Buddhadharma.

This week, His Holiness the Dalai Lama will receive the Congressional Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor the U.S. gives. It is long overdue, delayed by decades of placating China. Now that we are entering the “WTF were we thinking” phase of our China relationship, Tibet’s exiled ruler — arguably the world’s most famous refugee, can get his due.

So it’s a good week to step back and offer some of the ways that Buddhist teachings can influence modern communications strategy:

+ The whole point of everything is not to gain but to lose. Enlightenment comes when you lose your distraction, your pre-conceptions, and your obscurations. We’re already brilliant. Your organization is already brilliant. We just have to let it out. There’s a deeper level to that lose not gain bit, but we’ll save that for later.

+ When you strip away clutter, brilliance ensues. My teacher frequently inveighs against what he believes to be one of the great scourges of Western society: too much thinking. When you strip away all the ifs, ands, and buts of who your organization is and what it’s all about, your true brand, in its naked accessible simplicity, can shine out.

+ Clarity and openness are more important than gimmicks or cleverness. Nuff said.

+ How you are is more important than what you say. It’s sort of ironic that we spend so much time fussing over “messaging” when the 3,000 other ways we reveal ourselves speak so much louder than the words we choose. Look at Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama. Obama’s supporters are as in love with how he is as they are his policy positions. Hillary’s lead in the polls notwithstanding, people find it difficult to feel connected to her. The lessons are old, but their contemporary value is obvious.

Anyway, don’t take my word for it. Check out this website. Listen to the Dalai Lama’s live webcast. You have nothing to lose but confusion.

 

 

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10 ways to win a corporate partner

I’ve been asked by fellow bloggers at the Giving Carnival to answer the question, “Is relationship everything in philanthropy?”  It will come as NO surprise that my answer is yes - I’m always ranting about treating individual donors like an audience not ATMs.  So I’m going to take on a fresher angle today—striving for a relationship with your corporate partners or potential corporate partners.  Because they don’t like being ATMs either.

Put yourself in their shoes for a moment.

There are about 1.5 million nonprofits, and most are hitting up you - the businessperson—for money.  That’s a lot of competition.

And that’s the bad news.

The good news is, most nonprofits do a lousy job approaching businesspeople.  It’s easy to stand out by doing better.  Simply stop treating corporate folks as sources of money and start treating them as an audience.

Here are ten steps to doing that:

1. Find your match.  Think of yourself as searching for a relationship (not a fat check) with a company.  Any relationship needs compatibility to work.  Ask yourself, who wins when I win?  What corporations are natually aligned with my audience and my mission?  You want to partner around mutual benefits or you won’t be partnering at all.

2. Find out the business AND philanthrophic agendas.  You need to do some homework BEFORE you pick up the phone or fire off an email all about your organization.  What are this company’s business priorities?  Philanthrophic goals (because they likely already have some)?  How can you align with those?

3. Find an entre.  Find a board member or even LinkedIn connection who can introduce you so you’re not cold calling.  I always respond to people who come recommended by someone I know, and businesspeople do, too.

4. Try to get to the businesspeople rather than the community service people.  They have more power and can get things done faster.  You’ll usually fare better if you’re coming in as a partner who can drive a brand or business initiative.

5. Start your sentences in the right way.  Instead of: “This is what we do,” say “This is what we can do for you.” 

6. Sell the benefits to them along with the social impact.  Instead of: “We need x,”  say “We understand you need x, and we can help make that happen.” Don’t only say: “This is who will benefit,” ADD, “AND this is how this benefits your image, bottom line, etc…”

7. Go into partnerships - like relationships - with open eyes.  No partnership is perfect.  Look for more positives than negatives in regard to fit and benefits and devise a plan for compensating for weaknesses within the alliance.

8. Put work into it.  Inevitably, the benefits that partners receive will change, and one partner may perceive diminishing value.  Create new benefits if commitment is flagging on one side.

9. Communicate constantly.  Keep your partner energized by regularing sending them updates, examples of good press, positive reactions from people, stories about impact, etc.

10.  Know when to call it quits.  Knowing when to stop a partnership is as important as knowing when to start one.  Declare success and move on when a goal has been achieved, or set a new, finite goal together.  Better a clean finish than death by disintegration.

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Is your s*@t detector on?

  • Wed, October 10 2007
  • Filed under: Writing

Ernest Hemingway said in the Paris Review once, “The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shockproof shit detector.”  I love Ernest Hemingway.  His writing is so clean and authentic, it gleams.

We should all strive to have this essential gift so we can be good communicators.  It’s oh-so-easy to fall into jargon, foundationspeak and meaningless blather.  In fact, a professional I shall not name said a write-up I just gave him was “MBA B.S.” because it lacked the usual zest.  I guess he has one of those detectors.  It seems to have a very sensitive instrument panel.

I’ve got BS on the mind as I read a most hilarious book on marketing and corporate culture—Martin Lukes: Who Moved My Blackberry?  of Financial Times fame.  If you’re not familiar with this gem, it lampoons my profession in fine style.  The fictional Martin works for a company that spends a fortune on rebranding from A&B Global to the absurdly umlaut-adorned a-b glöbâl and hires firms like !Eureka!Wow! which is a “one-stop talent shop to leverage solutions that excite clients.”  Martin is so full of BS and yet so close to the mark in his satirical BS, marketing “blue sky, out of box” thinking that I burst out laughing - and blush for my whole profession.

My point is, I fall into BS - albeit generally by accident, not intention - and so do most marketers.  So do many fundraisers.  The trick is to have a built-in detector, or to know someone with one,  that can keep you honest, hype-free and therefore more compelling as a communicator.  Someone who notices the jargon and calls foul at cliches.  You ESPECIALLY need this person if you have to write a lot of grant proposals to foundations AND appeals to donors.  The foundation world will create some bad habits - you’ll fall into words that work for foundations but flop with donors.

Here are some words that should set off your detector: synergy, leverage, empowerment, participatory, unrestricted.  When I worked at CARE and got information from the program department, I regularly had to pencil through “lactating women” in favor of “nursing mothers.”

Here is a helpful detector to keep jargon away: Nonprofit jargon finder

Do you know others?  Please share them.

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Robin Hood Joins a Book Club

  • Tue, October 09 2007
  • Filed under: Fun stuff

RobinHood5

I’m absolutely thrilled to announce that my book Robin Hood Marketing has been selected for the MarketingProfs Book Club!  I can’t wait to discuss and debate the Robin Hood Rules with you and all the MarketingProfs out there.  We’ll be answering questions like, “What do mattresses have to do with social change?”  “How can the Marlboro Man help charities?”  And, “How do you get donors to ‘Just Do It?’” 

I have to confess, I feel a bit like the physics fan who comes to every Stephen Hawking lecture, only to have Stephen one day shout down from the stage, “Why don’t you come up and tell us what you think?”  Marketing maven and Book Club leader CK was the one who called me up to talk, and I’m very flattered by the invitation as well as excited to learn from the great discussion that should ensue from the sharp thinkers in the MarketingProfs community.  Thanks CK for putting this together!

If you’re interested in discussing the book, I invite you to join the Book Club and start getting active in the MarketingProfs community.  I regularly read all the blogs and tips there, and I think they are worth your time.  A little incentive is that MarketingProfs is giving 50 of the Book Club members my book free – you can be eligible by signing up by Friday, October 12 at 5pm PST.  Details are here. 

But wait!  That’s not all…

***BONUS FOR YOU:  Social marketer extraordinaire Nedra Klein Weinreich is offering you a great Quick Guide to Changing the World as part of this edition of the Book Club.  You can download that right now at the Book Club.***


 

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You are NOT a “not”

Just for a second, don’t think of yourself as a “NOT.”

Don’t define yourself by what you are NOT, or by what you ARE, but by what you DO for your audience.

If you do this, you will be a better marketer.

You are more than a “not for profit.”

This kind of clear thinking comes from Nick Fellers, a smart guy I met at a conference a few months ago.  (The link behind his name includes his whole treatise!)  I like the cocktail napkin picture he uses on his materials.

povnapkin

He likes to say that impact drives income - NOT THE OTHER WAY AROUND. 

The way I put it is: Don’t talk about the money you need.  Focus on what the donor can accomplish.  Banish the NOTs.

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Tips for Google Checkout, YouTube freebies

There have been two great pieces of news for the charitable sector in the past week:

1. Google Checkout for Nonprofits:  Google is offering its transaction processing service (the Internet giant’s answer to PayPal) for free to nonprofits through 2008.  No fees come out of donations they process for your nonprofit until 2009, when they say rates will be $.20 + 2% per transaction.

2. YouTube for Nonprofits:  Google-owned YouTube is introducing a new nonprofit service called Broadcast Your Cause that provides your organization with a page for posting videos, viewer comments,—and, of course, a Google Checkout button for donations.  In the coming months, nonprofit channels will get a centralized location on YouTube for added exposure.

It’s extremely welcome to see a major for-profit player waiving fees for nonprofits - I sure wish the credit card companies would do the same.  In addition to being a community service, the waived fees are a shrewd customer acquisition strategy for Google, which wants to increase the relatively modest adoption rates of Google Checkout.  As part of this effort, they have offered Checkout free to everyone - not just nonprofits - through the end of this year.  It’s also terrific to see YouTube making it easier for donors and potential supporters to react to the nonprofit videos with its Broadcast Yourself program.

So should you take the Google Checkout plunge and whip out your videocamera in search of YouTube stardom?  Yes—with some caveats.  Here are some tips for playing with these great new - and free - tools.  But before I share them, I want to remind you that I am VP of Marketing at Network for Good, a nonprofit which also offers donation processing for nonprofits.  And our services aren’t free of all processing fees - but they do some important things that Google Checkout does not.  So I’m not unbiased.  But I’m wearing my blogger hat right now, not my day-job hat, and here’s what I’m thinking:

1. You should try Google Checkout.

Heck, you can’t do better than free.  If you have the time, test it.  But if you add Google Checkout to your website or on your YouTube page, I recommend doing two things. 

First, swiftly and warmly thank all the donors for which you receive contact information.  (Google passes on the contact information of donors who agree to hear from you; otherwise, you don’t receive it as far as I can tell.)  This is really important, because the Google Checkout process is fairly sterile - the experience is exactly like buying something.  So you want to follow up with a warm-fuzzy message that assures them you received the donation and reminds people they made a wonderful gift that will accomplish great things.

Second, and please note not everyone agrees with me on this, I recommend you look into registering in all of the states where you have donors.  It’s the safe thing to do.  This is one small downside of the program - Google does not do that for you.  [Nonprofit donation processors that have the status of donor-advised funds (like Network for Good and Just Give) do.]

2. You should not only offer Google Checkout.

Why?  Because you want an alternative for donors seeking some of the following options.

-You need to give donors the option to make recurring donations, which you can’t do via Checkout.  You want as many donors as possible giving to you every month on their credit cards - it’s convenient for them, it’s a steady source of money for you, and everyone’s happy because you’re spending your time thanking people rather than repeatedly asking them for more money.  People also tend to give more over a year with this kind of program.

-It’s good to have a donation solution that allows people to make gifts in honor of other people - we find about 20-40% of donors choose to do this (it’s highest in December).

-You want to offer donors who aren’t lovers of Google or holders of Google IDs (which you need in order to use Checkout) another way to give.  Without offering two things side-by-side, you have no way of knowing if you’re scaring off people.  Here’s some information on who uses Checkout and their satisfaction levels.

-If you’re getting any serious donation volume, you want to have a least one branded flow (it looks more professional and is a warmer experience) that allows you to own the relationship with the donor—and their contact information.

3. You need to manage expectations about “overhead.”

When you position Google Checkout on your site, it’s great to highlight that the option saves you money and encourage its use.  But don’t go so far in pushing it that you start setting up donor expectations that there are no administrative fees involved in running your charity.  There is no “free” in the nonprofit world.  We all face this problem - we need money to keep the lights on, to fundraise, to pay staff, etc., but donors often want all of their money to go direct to beneficiaries.  I think we should be efficient with overhead - and show our efficiency - but not create a false impression that we have no overhead.  It could come back to bite us later.

4. Play around with YouTube if you have already covered the online basics.

I’m often asked by nonprofits if they should start a blog or play around with YouTube.  My answer is usually yes, if you have already covered the basics.  First things first - do you have a great page on your site that makes a compelling case for giving (you’ll need that for links on YouTube and elsehwere)?  Are you collecting donations?  Are you emailing donors with thanks and updates?  Do you do outreach to existing bloggers and videographers?  If you’re doing that, you’re ready for more ambitious things like video.  And you’re ready for this wonderful primer from a bunch of bloggers on how to use video, courtesy of Getting Attention.  Read ALL of this advice and then go play!

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Millennials think corporations need a conscience

At Network for Good, we were recently trying to figure out what to call a new section of our site that will help nonprofits navigate the world of social networks.  We bandied about terms like “social networking,” “social media,” Web 2.0.”  We were stuck because we think most people don’t say any of this.  They say things like “Facebook and YouTube” or “what people younger (than I) are doing online.”  And they say it with awe and confusion.  I understand the awe and confusion.  We nonprofits think in terms of the people using social networks, and we think of them as people other than us.  They acquire a certain scary mystique that stumps our marketing minds.

Cone has some slightly old but still valid research about these younguns - aka “millenials” - that is worth sharing. Millenials include “teens” (13-17), “college” (18-22) and “young adults” (22-25) in Cone’s online survey.  Cone’s main finding was this is a very socially conscious group of people - far more focused on causes at a young age than my aimless Generation X, and they reflect those values when buying things.  As a firm involved in cause-related marketing, Cone has an interest in doing this type of study and showing this kind of result, but that shouldn’t detract from these findings, which seem very solid to me.  Thanks Cone for sharing them.  You can read more here.

1. Millenials are skeptical of marketers.  They will not respond to products or services that don’t seem genuine.

2. A way to gain their trust as a corporate marketer is to align with good causes, but few companies do so.  61% of millenials are worried about the world and want to make a difference, and 81% volunteered in the past year.  70% of millenials believe companies don’t do enough to support good causes.

3.  To reach these consumers, traditional marketing needs to evolve.  Companies need to create a new generation of fiercely loyal customers passionate about working with corporations to change the world.  83% say they will trust a company more if it is socially and environmentally responsible.  69% say they consider a company’s social and environmental commitment when deciding where to shop, and 89% would switch brands if price and quality were the same if the second brand was associated with a good cause.

So what does this mean to us?

Bring this research to your next appointment with a corporate partner.  It can help make the case for why a company should support you.

If you do get a new corporate partner, don’t forget #1—these millenials are skeptical.  Cause-related marketing needs to be genuine, and in your partnership, you need to be clear about EXACTLY HOW the corporate partner supports you and how much of a purchase benefits your cause.  Cause-related marketing can be a boon or backfire depending on your degree of honesty and transparency.

PS - Read more about reaching Millenials here.  (Thanks Mark for the head’s up.)

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Campaigns to emulate: Tips from Ploughshares

Katya’s note:  Blog reader Michael Stein wrote me recently to ask me my thoughts on his online fundraising campaign for Ploughshares Fund: PeacePrimary.org.  I liked it, and so I asked him to tell us what he learned in running the campaign that would help us.  Happily, he obliged.  Here is a very helpful guest post from Michael. 

By Michael Stein

Ploughshares Fund in San Francisco is conducting an innovative online fundraising campaign in conjunction with its 25th anniversary with a project called PeacePrimary.org.  Twelve nonprofit organizations working on peace and human security issues were selected by Ploughshares to be in the running to win a $100,000 grant to amplify their message during the 2008 elections.  Each selected organization has to campaign online and offline for votes, one dollar equals one vote and the organization with the most votes by Oct 31 wins the grant.  Each organization also gets to keep the money they’ve raised throughout the two month campaign.

A few things we’ve learned so far running this campaign:

1) The biggest factor in driving donations and votes for PeacePrimary.org has been the email campaigns conducted by the twelve selected organizations.  On average, the organizations are emailing their constituents every two weeks during the two month campaign.  Email fundraising is alive and well.

2) “Matching gift” fundraising campaigns are excellent for motivating donors to make online gifts in a short period of time.

3) Collaborative fundraising campaigns (where several nonprofits band together to raise money) offer a fresh approach to reaching out to an online and offline constituency, which could apply to any type of advocacy coalition.

4) Facebook has helped us reach out to colleagues and friends online, and our Google Analytics show a strong ability for this to drive traffic to PeacePrimary.org.  The personal nature of Facebook communications is useful to draw attention to a cause.

The twelve nominees are: American Friends Service Committee, The Center for Arms Control and Non-Proliferation, Citizens for Global Solutions, Faithful Security, Genocide Intervention Network, Global Green USA, National Religious Campaign Against Torture, Peace Demands Action, Refugees International, True Majority, Union of Concerned Scientists, Women’s Action for New Directions. 

Please vote. 

Michael Stein is an Internet strategist based in Berkeley, California.  Read his blog here.

 

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The fundraising good, the bad and the ugly

First, the ugly.  Last week, I woke up one morning to find my face had swollen like a balloon due to a mysterious allergic reaction.  It was horrible, uncomfortable and disfiguring, and it lasted six days.  It’s gone now, but I’m still not over the experience - my children found me scary and when I looked in the mirror, I did not recognize myself.

Enough of the self pity.  My point is, it doesn’t feel good to look at something that should reflect you and not see yourself.

Now, the bad.  My alma mater, Haverford College, earlier this year sent me a bad emailed appeal.  I lamented this poorly led, “all about us” missive.  Here’s what it said:

January 1 is New Year’s Day, according to the Gregorian calendar.  Sometime between January 21 and February 21 is the Chinese New Year, also known as the Lunar New Year.  Many cultures celebrate the New Year on the day of the vernal equinox, which is also when the ancient Babylonians used to celebrate it. April is the month of the Nepali, Thai, and Cambodian New Year’s celebrations, among others. And at Haverford, when the calendar hits July 1, it is the new fiscal year!

The last fiscal year was one of unprecedented success for the Haverford Fund, with 52% of our generous and loyal alumni contributing $4.2 million dollars!

The 2007-2008 fiscal year promises to be an exciting year on campus, with the arrival and inauguration of Steve Emerson ‘74 as president. We hope to show him how committed the alumni body is to the current life of the College by sustaining and improving upon last year’s great success by increasing our participation to 53%!

Why do I care about these dates, the fiscal year or the development department?  What does this have to do with me?  I looked at this appeal and I did not see myself.  I did not recognize the do-gooder, warm institution I remember.

Now the good:  Haverford sent me a fantastic mailed appeal this week that is gold-standard marketing.  I looked at this and I saw myself.  Literally.

haverford

You can almost see the line over to Katya ‘89, who is marketing for good.  Open it up and it says, “Haverfordians make a difference in the world through their support.”  And it asks me to support the education of people like them.  It’s about me, people I can help, and the difference we all make.  I love this appeal because it connects to the reader literally and emotionally.  It’s like looking in the mirror and seeing a reflection of myself - and my aspirations.

What’s good: focusing on the donor.  What’s bad: focusing on yourself.  What’s ugly: allergic reactions!

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Marketing belongs everywhere in your org.

I’m reading with fascination the comments to yesterday’s post on the topic of focusing marketing efforts on action, not awareness.  Thank you, readers, for your excellent commentary. 

I wanted to highlight one comment in particular, from Holden of GiveWell blog:

Katya, I could not agree more with this message.

I just want to point out how mind-bogglingly many people in PROGRAM make the same mistake.

From women’s empowerment and business training to AIDS/HIV prevention programs, we’ve seen program after program that goes like this:

1. Gather people in need.
2. “Teach” (tell) them how to improve their lives (use condoms, keep track of finances, etc.)
3. Conduct a survey showing that X% of clients feel that their knowledge improved.

Applying your knowledge of marketing, can’t you see the problem with this?  Aren’t you worried that all those dollars you’ve so tirelessly and brilliantly worked to raise may as well be lit on fire?

Yes, Holden, I see the problem and yes, I’m worried.  Thanks for making this extremely good point.

Marketing thinking should NOT be restricted to the marketing department.  AT LEAST three marketing principles should be part of all program thinking:

1. Focus on the audience.  Your programs, not just your marketing, should be designed from the perspective of the audience (whether donor or beneficiary).

2. Aim for action, not awareness.  As I said yesterday, don’t ever settle for getting someone’s attention.  Channel attention into action if you want to change the world.  Holden is right.

3. Make it easy and attractive to take the desired action.  If the action isn’t clearly doable, no one is going to do it.  People aren’t going to give you money, line up for your services or do anything if you make it really hard.  If someone has to travel, invest time, or search for services, we have to remove those barriers.  Just as marketers do, program managers need to think through each action step from the audience perspective.  Say we’re asking people to vaccinate their children.  Will they know where to go to do that?  When they try to get shots for the baby, will they get prompt attention?  Are there enough places to do it, sufficient supplies, and enough staff to administer the shots? 

I could go on and on.  Here’s the bottom line:  Marketing thinking belongs everywhere in your organization.

  • Comment: (1)

Getting some action

My mentor, Bill Novelli, once said to me, “If we’re simply in the business of ‘building awareness,’ we might as well be shoveling pamphlets out of airplanes.”  He believes marketing is about motivating people to do something - not just think something.  I couldn’t agree more.  Never fall into the trap of saying “if people only knew (fill in the blank), they would (fill in the blank).”  Information does not equal action.

Today I got an email from sharp-eyed blog reader Margaux O’Malley of Grand Junction Design, who writes,

I was wondering if you had seen the “Voice for the Uninsured” ads in the Metro Center station. It looks like the AMA bought every possible ad space in the station, and then some (banners hanging on the sides of the escalators, etc.).  The ads are interesting, and do a good job of connecting with individuals. For example, they have a photo of a young woman with a statement about how she will be forced to deliver her baby in the emergency room because she can’t afford prenatal care. Another photo with a statement about someone who must choose her Parkinson’s meds over her blood pressure meds because she can’t afford both. This is all very compelling.  But I didn’t see a call to action anywhere! All the ads list the Web site - http://www.voicefortheuninsured.org - but it’s unclear to me why I should go there.  Just wondering whether you had seen this, and what you thought of it.

I haven’t seen the ads, but I think Margaux sums up their strengths and failings well.  Sounds like they grab your attention by putting a compelling human face on a problem, but they don’t have a strong call to action.  They are pamphlets from airplanes.  The website is not much better - lots of facts and AMA’s policy position, but no easy way to take action that leaps off the page.  They have some vague language about voting in November, but I don’t get it.  They should have said in the metro ads, “Don’t like these choices?  Demand better by (insert specific action here—like signing a petition, adding your email address to a website list, calling Congress, etc.).”  Then the site should have clear actions.  Instead, you get facts about “1 in 7 people” being uninsured, which doesn’t make me want to do anything at all other than shake my head at the sorry state of our health system.

Don’t ever settle for getting someone’s attention.  Channel attention into action if you want to change the world.

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