Welcome to my personal blog on Robin Hood Marketing—the concept of stealing corporate savvy to sell just causes—and my life as a marketer, from Washington DC to Madagascar to points in between.
9 Ways to Fix Bad Email
Posted by katya on Fri, October 03, 2008
I’m very excited that my organization, Network for Good, has partnered with Emma to offer a new Email campaign tool. I won’t use this space to extoll its virtues (though as a marketing person, I have to say there are many), but I did want to celebrate the fact this week with a couple of email posts.
Here are 9 ways to create vastly better emails:
1. Define Your Audience. You could buy an enormous list of cold prospects (WARNING: bad idea!) or focus on a carefully built list of people who care. You’ll do much better with the latter group who has given you permission to communicate with them. No one likes spam. (Some people enjoy SPAM®, but that’s a whole ‘nother can of meat.)
2. Define Your Message. Do you have the right message and right time for that message? Focus your message on your audience’s interests, aspirations and desires rather than your own need for money. It’s all about “you marketing” versus “me marketing.”
3. Get to the point in spectacular fashion, in the first few words. The subject line of your email needs to seize the audience’s attention. Don’t ever bury the lead. (A good trick that usually works - throw out your first paragraph.)
4. Offer something of value to the reader-helpful tips, for example. Those are likely to be saved, not trashed. People will think of you in a favorable way.
5. Segment and personalize. The more the missive speaks to the receiver as an individual, the more likely they will perceive it as something other than spammy slop.
6. Be different. People are drowning in email. Whether it’s the tone of your message or the startling honesty of your subject line, a standout element is required.
7. Make the call to action so incredibly easy to do, people just can’t say no. Strive for a one-click or one-second level of ease.
8. Make it easy for people to unsubscribe or get off your mailing list. Include an unsubscribe button and an easy way for people to contact you to update their information. It’s convenient, transparent for you and keeps you in line with CAN-SPAM rules.
9. Don’t email donors, subscribers, etc. via Outlook. Ever. It will get you into trouble. You need a professional email outreach tool.
Do you have 5 year old or 9 year old marketing?
Posted by katya on Wed, September 24, 2008
My daughters will illustrate.
I asked them both how they would get someone to buy a toy.
This is what the five year old said:
Mommy can you please buy it?
I said that might not work. So what would be another option?
She said:
Mommy can you please, please buy it?
The nine year old said this:
First you have to make a good toy. Because it’s cheap, people will get mad and sue you.
Then you have to tell them all the great things about it and why it’s wonderful. Don’t make it too expensive.
Then you have to get them really excited by telling them the cool things it does for them.
Make the commercial colorful, interesting and realistic.
So which kind of marketing do you have?
Please, please, please give me money. Pretty please. (Repeat often.)
Or: We have really amazing programs, here is why they are interesting and here’s why you should care.
Model website… from the government no less
Posted by katya on Mon, September 22, 2008
I get a lot of inquiries during speeches and here on the blog about good websites. Which websites do I think are effective? Who has the right stuff?
These are hard questions to answer, because most nonprofit websites fall prey to “all about us disease.” They fail to be laser-focused on the audience. They forget to answer the question “how we can help you?”
Today, I was alerted to a website that does all these things right - and it’s from the government, no less. Bravo.
The newly launched healthfinder.gov has all the things a home page should:
-A big engaging visual focal point
-Clear calls to action (in this case, ways to get fit that are easy, clear and rewarding)
-A clear set of benefits for taking action
-Tools that help me
-Clever information-gathering mechanisms for the site owner - they are going to get great audience data from the quizzes on here
The only thing that’s missing is a way to take these cool tools and share them or post them on my blog or Facebook page. But I’m told they are planning widgets soon.
This is great stuff. Unlike the dreadful redesigned food pyramid, which I panned in my book, this is health advice I understand and want to use.
Follow this model. It’s going in my next speech.
Hat Tip to Dan Jeffers for the site information.
GREAT branding: Bald Girls Do Lunch
Posted by katya on Fri, September 19, 2008
Suppose you’re creating an organization for women with alopecia areata — the autoimmune skin disease which stops the normal growth of hair on the scalp, brows, lashes and body. You want to convey that you are about community, support and fun. You want to make women with this condition feel empowered. And you want them to be absolutely COMPELLED to join you.
Typical nonprofit approach?
Call it the Alopecia Areata Association.
A brilliant approach?
Call it Bald Girls Do Lunch.
Congratulations Bald Girls Do Lunch on amazing marketing.
PS Full disclosure: I learned about this group when they signed up for Network for Good fundraising services. I work at Network for Good. When I saw their name, I just had to know who they are. But this post isn’t about business, in fact they don’t know I blogged this:) Yet.
Wall Street is tanking, but your ROI is gold.
Posted by katya on Thu, September 18, 2008
It’s easy to worry the financial crises rocking our markets are going to kill fundraising this year.
Just remember, in an era when Lehman is nearly worthless and so many investments look like they’re offering low returns, you are priceless.
Remind your donors of their amazing ROI with you.
For a few dollars, they get a helper’s high. They feel good because they did good. It’s cheaper than therapy.
Their investment in your organization doesn’t yield paper profits. It changes lives. Always.
Be passionate and persuasive about your emotional ROI - and your human ROI.
Those who can afford it will get it and give.
Good thoughts from Seth Godin
Posted by katya on Wed, September 17, 2008
Seth Godin kindly donated his time to Network for Good yesterday, presenting our most popular Nonprofit 911 call ever. Over two thousand people registered for it! You can listen here, but here’s my most favorite thing he said (and I paraphrase slightly): we have to stop spamming people for support. Stop trying to interrupt them and get them to pay attention. There are too many people doing it.
As Seth said, this not working as well as it used to. The number of people who are trying to interrupt audiences has gone way up. The noise has increased dramatically, so a lot of nonprofits are struggling.
If you take this approach, you have to talk to 100 people to get one donor or 1,000 people to get one trustee.
Instead, you should get your biggest supporters talking for you.
That changes the equation fundamentally.
So what do you do? The opportunity is to not to interrupt people. What you do is empower people who already believe in you to speak up on your behalf. Create ideas worth spreading.
People don’t talk about our causes for many reasons, from discomfort to laziness, so we have to change that by organizing our work to be worth talking about.
You can read Seth’s free publication on this - called Flipping the Funnel here.
Thank you Seth for your ideas and inspiration!
Why and how to listen
Posted by katya on Sun, September 14, 2008
My father does a funny thing with chairs. If he hasn’t seen you for a long time, he’ll rearrange the furniture so he can sit directly across from you and fully absorb every word you utter. At my house, he once moved an immense armchair and ottoman clear across the living room to better hear an old friend sitting on my sofa.
It was startling gesture for the friend. It was something I’m used to. My father always removes any obstacle that gets in the way of listening to friends or family or patients in his work as a psychiatrist. My whole life, he has started most conversations with the words, “Tell me everything.” Now he says it to my own children.
This is very, very rare.
We don’t face each other very much any more, and we rarely listen. We are stunned when someone devotes their full attention to us. Imagine if you did that for the people you want to reach. Imagine what might change.
Bad things happen when we stop paying attention to the people around us. We lose them. Our relationships suffer. Social injustices occur – just ask a homeless person how invisible she feels. Our supporters abandon us. Our customers hate us. (Our customers really hate us – look no further than untied.com, a website devoted to people frustrated their complaints are not heard by United Airlines.)
My frolleague Mark Rovner and I believe that extraordinary things happen when we recognize people – when we truly hear, see and acknowledge them. Making people FEEL HEARD creates great relationships, strong societies, powerful organizations and profitable, popular businesses.
That’s different from listening to everything people say and acting upon what they say. Seth Godin has helped me see that distinction. They key thing is to make people feel heard - and then as a leader of a customer service department or philanthropic organization, figuring out what patterns in the comments and subtext beneath the comments signal something you should address.
Make sure, as Seth says, you have a way for them to speak. That gives you a way to make them feel heard.
More on that this week.
Becoming a Purple Nonprofit
Posted by katya on Thu, September 11, 2008
Author, blogger and marketing guru Seth Godin has spent his career helping nonprofits find a way to stand out. Next week, Seth will be offering his advice directly to nonprofits during Network for Good’s Nonprofit 911 teleconference series. As with all of the trainings, this call is free and we’re excited for Seth to share his words of marketing wisdom to teach nonprofits to become “purple,” as well as give an introduction to Squidoo. Registration’s open now for anyone interested in calling in.
Last week, Seth also stepped in as our guest author for the Online Fundraising and Nonprofit Marketing Tips e-newsletter. You can read it here. If you would like to be in the loop about future trainings and events, you can subscribe to Tips, too.
4 ways to turn one-time givers into monthly donors
Posted by katya on Fri, September 05, 2008
At one of Network for Good’s recent Nonprofit 911 calls, Alia McKee of Sea Change Strategies and I were asked, how do you convert one-time donors to habitual givers. Thanks Alia for helping me answer this one!
Here’s what we said:
•Make sure your donation form asks what type of gift the donor wants to make ("Do you want to give us a monthly gift?"). Whenever you’re asking for money, ask for the monthly pledge, not just a one-time gift.
•Revisit the language you’re using in your appeals. Frame your ask in such a way that it’s a win-win situation—monthly donations for you, convenience and budgeting for your donors.
•Package the appeal in an exciting way. For example, some organizations have an ambassador program or a sponsor-a-child every month program. Put a face on that sustainable gift. This way you’re creating some tangible tie to the idea of giving every month.
•Don’t be afraid to ask for a monthly gift of support after someone completes a one-time transaction. It can be ingrained as a nice thank-you message: “Thank you so much for making a one-time gift. This is how you can put your support to work for us each and every month. Would you consider becoming a monthly supporter?” We’ve seen great success in converting first-time online donors into monthly donors by doing that within the first three days of them making their first online gift.
Should you make your CEO blog?
Posted by katya on Fri, September 05, 2008
No. Unless they really, really want to.
•It takes a huge amount of energy and time to blog. You have to be really enthusiastic about the medium, or it’s really not going to work.
•Your CEO may not be your best spokesperson. Perhaps you have a volunteer, another staffer or a constituent that can speak better to what you’re attempting to accomplish through this mode of communications.
•You’re welcome to blog yourself, but others may be doing it already! If you don’t want to start a blog yourself, what bloggers in your community are talking about your issue that you could reach out to and engage so they’re spreading the word on your behalf?
It really comes down to the commitment and the purpose behind the blog. You need someone who will continually contribute and enjoy the process as it’s happening. And, it’s a great opportunity to think about whom you have helped, or what other champions or advocates you have who could blog to advance your mission.
What You Get Is Why You Give
Posted by katya on Tue, September 02, 2008
This is my new column for Fundraising Success.
Soon after I was divorced, I heard a story on NPR that really got to me.
I was driving home from work, half-listening to a profile of East St. Louis. It was about the area’s extreme poverty and the efforts of some extraordinary people to rise above their circumstances and make better lives for themselves and their families.
The details are long lost, but I remember one person from the story perfectly. She seized my complete attention. She was a single mother working long hours to support her two daughters. She’d cobbled together the funds to send them to a good school, and she was doing all she could for their future. She kept going, against all odds, for those girls.
As the single working mother of two daughters myself, I was amazed and humbled by this woman. Though my life is far easier than hers, I did have an inkling of just how much strength it took to do what she did.
When I got to work, I tracked down the NPR reporter, emailed him, thanked him for the story and asked him to put me in touch with the woman. After he got her permission, he gave me her contact information. I told the woman how much I admired her and thanked her for inspiring me, and then I sent a small check to support her daughters’ education.
While technically I was the donor in this relationship, there is no question that she did more for me than I could ever do for her. She gave me faith that the job of raising two daughters alone could be done, even in the hardest of circumstances.
I tell this story because it illustrates something so important: that giving and receiving go hand in hand. Fundraising is not simply about what you ask of people, it’s about what they get in return. You don’t have an empty, outstretched hand. You have a lot to offer donors, and you should frame your ask accordingly.
In crass marketing terms, we call this the benefit exchange. It is the answer to the question, what do I get for my money? If I’m manufacturing pricey anti-wrinkle cream, the benefit exchange might involve $100 as the price for hope I can regain my youth. If I’m fundraising, there are many possible benefit exchanges I can offer to my donors – faith in themselves, inspiration, a feeling of accomplishment, or – on a more mundane level—a plastic wristband or logo-laden coffee mug.
Think about this formula the next time you ask for money. Remind donors of the returns of giving, which are precious indeed.
Here are a few qualities of a great benefit exchange:
IMMEDIATE: What will people get right away in exchange for doing what you ask, whether you want them to give money, volunteer or quit smoking? Some good causes deal with the immediacy challenge with a gift like a t-shirt, hat or wristband. These offerings provide the person that donated money or took some action with an instant benefit, for example, recognition. Other options? Show how someone can save a life RIGHT NOW. Demonstrate they can feel good by making a difference THIS SECOND. And above all, make it incredibly EASY to act, so people will believe they will get the benefit exchange pronto.
PERSONAL: Our audience members need to believe from our message that the reward we’re offering for taking action will make something better for them personally. The private sector understands the importance of making rewards personal. They don’t sell you a car by explaining the way the engine is built; they tell you the car is reliable, safe, or fast, depending on who you are and your personal priorities. They take the attributes of their product and translate them into personally desirable benefits. That translation is easy to make for most products. It’s harder for good causes because we get swept up in the huge scope of what we want to accomplish. But remember, at the end of the day, it is always the personal connection, not the grand concept, that grabs our attention.
RELEVANT: We can’t easily change what our audiences believe, but by plugging into their existing mind-set we unleash great power behind our benefit exchange and our message. The values of our audience may have nothing to do with our cause, but we can still use them. A famous, frequently cited example of the value-based principle at work in social advertising is the successful Don’t Mess with Texas campaign. The phrase has become so famous that many people outside Texas don’t even realize that this is not a state slogan but rather a long-running marketing effort to get people to stop littering. The young Texan men who were the target of the campaign didn’t care about littering, but they did care about their macho image, and no one doubted the fierce pride they had for their home state. By tapping into these powerful feelings with the Don’t Mess with Texas concept, which didn’t have a thing to do with trash, the ad agency that created the campaign (GSD&M) drastically reduced roadside litter.
The bottom line? Doing good is not a one-way transaction. It’s an exchange – I give your cause support or dollars, and you give me some thing or some feeling that I want and value, right away. In my case, I gave to a woman in East St. Louis because she gave me faith in myself. And that is a benefit that not only compels a donation, it is also most certainly priceless.
Katrina’s wake: happy facts and fundraising lessons
Posted by katya on Wed, August 27, 2008
On NPR this morning, I heard an unusual story about New Orleans - it chronicled the way people’s lives and life outlooks are improving there on this anniversary of Katrina. The relatively rare reporting of good news was probably great news to people in New Orleans:
After hearing so many of the positive changes and innovative projects post-Katrina, we’ve decided enough is enough. It’s time to put an end to the negative press in mainstream media. We know that the levees broke. We know that our city is dysfunctional. We know that. But do you know about Prospect.1? Or about the influx of young professionals into New Orleans? The world needs to know about the NEW New Orleans. And to quote Brad Pitt, “If you’re going to rebuild something, why not rebuild it right?” Amen brother.
This is the sentiment behind New Orleans 100, an effort to highlight the most innovative and world-changing ideas to take root in the city since Katrina. All Day Buffet, which is leading the effort, is working via social media to spread the word about these ideas and to “combat top-down media during the anniversary of Hurricane Katrina.”
Here’s what I like about this effort:
-It’s a list (and lists are always good, sticky ideas)
-It’s collaborative and celebrates many organizations
-It’s specific and tangible
-They did a nice pitch to me as a blogger
While we’re on the topic of Katrina, if you’ve never read it, check out the White Paper we did here at Network for Good on disaster giving. It shows how it fast - and fleetingly - people give in response to a crisis.
P.S.: I hope Gustav stays away.
How to raise $2,657 in 90 minutes
Posted by katya on Tue, August 26, 2008
Disclaimer: These results are not typical. This story is the fundraising equivalent of the bikini-clad woman in the Slimfast ad - a special success story.
That said, uber-networked bloggerista and social networking guru Beth Kanter did it. And in the process, she showed us how we might do it, too. Read the story here.
Okay, so you may not have hundreds of Twittering friends at the ready or even know what the heck is a Gnomedexer, but there are some lessons here.
The messenger is everything. If you want to raise money, get people who like you to ask their friends and family for funds on your behalf. When Beth reached out to her community - in person and online - people responded.
Well-networked messengers are gold. When those fans of yours have extensive online networks, they can touch an amazing number of people.
The simpler and easier the ask, the bigger the conversion. Asking people to make a $10 with a few clicks is not a big request, and so it’s hard to say no to it.
People are total conformists. Once people see their peers doing something, they’ll follow. Beth got a bunch of technically inclined people to reach out to their networks in public, and that’s peer pressure on steroids. Social norms, meet social networks.
Tangibility is key. Beth didn’t raise money for “girl’s education in Cambodia.” She asked people to help a specific young woman with her college education. That makes a big difference.
Transparency is essential. A ticker with real-time results measured against a tangible goal makes people feel trusting - and compelled toa ct.
Thank-yous are appreciated. Beth is great at thanking people, recognizing them and celebrating what their donations accomplished. That kind of gratitude is the happy ending to a fabulous fundraising campaign.
Thanks Beth for the inspiration. And for all you do for Cambodia, a place very close to my heart.
Robin Hood radio interview
Posted by katya on Mon, August 25, 2008
It’s online if you’d like to listen.
Thanks to the AMA for having me on the show!
Talking Robin Hood on the Radio
Posted by katya on Fri, August 15, 2008
I’m going to be on the AMA’s Marketing News Radio on August 20 at noon Eastern/9am Pacific to talk about my book, Robin Hood Marketing.
It’s free to listen - and the first five callers into the show get a free copy of the book!
Here are the details.
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