Getting personal

Four months ago, talented blogger Britt Bravo tagged me for a meme. The meme was on media consumption.  What’s a meme?  It’s a contagious idea or unit of cultural information that one person can convey to another - like a joke, proverb, fashion, etc.  In this context, as described by the Daily Meme, it’s a list of questions that you saw somewhere else and that you decided to answer yourself.  Britt had a list of questions she answered about media consumption and wanted me and other bloggers to also share personal favorites in terms of reading, music, etc., as she had on her blog.  I told Britt I’d reply, but that I wanted to post on the whole concept of memes because I didn’t think you, dear readers, were exactly dying to know what magazines I read.  In fact, to be honest, my first reaction to ‘memes’ was that they were were not that interesting.  I suspect you come to this blog to learn about marketing rather than my personal preferences about other topics.  Then I started to wonder… maybe I was wrong (and we all know THAT is such a rare occurence).

In all seriousness, I think there is a good reason memes like this thrive and spread.  Our desire to connect is profound.  Our tendency to search for common ground is strong.  The personal is fascinating - and powerful. 

That means that when we support something, including a cause, we want to know and understand the people who are part of it.  The people who work there, the people helped, the people who support it.  That’s why it’s so important to put a human face on our work.

I recently advised a few nonprofits that have amazing staff - specifically, groups of lawyers that run around protecting threatened lands - to put those people at the center of their story.  A “green swat team” is a more interesting than an “advocacy project.” I’d like to know about that swat team, and I’d support them.

An incredibly successful recent campaign with Barack Obama that several readers wrote me about (thanks, Samantha and others) was all about the personal.  Barack is raising a lot online, and one of the more interesting appeals offered dinner with Barack to four random donors who gave any amount in a certain time period.  Good idea.

So here’s the type of meme I’d like nonprofits to consider—Who’s the most unusual staff member at your organization?  What’s the thing they’re most proud of accomplishing?  What is the most surprising story of someone you’ve helped?  Can you humanize your work and the things you make better in this way?  I think we should.  We create connections and common ground through the personal.

In that spirit, I read both the New Yorker and Us Weekly cover to cover.  I like Made to Stick and Beyond Buzz for marketing reading.  Waiting was the best fiction I’ve read lately.  Big Love is my favorite TV viewing.  And Death Cab for Cutie is recommended for your iTunes.