The Girl’s Guide to Homelessness: Messengers Matter
- Sat, September 12 2009
- Filed under: Marketing essentials
After Brianna Karp was laid off a year ago, she ran out of money. And moved into a camper. As started blogging. She writes the Girl’s Guide to Homelessness about her experiences. Now CNN, Elle Magazine, and media the world over are writing about her. Here’s the blog, called Girl’s Guideto Homelessness: You may be homeless, but you don’t have to be a bum.
Her efforts have led to a sometimes editorial gig at Elle. Don’t miss her post for Elle on thrift shop fashion.
This is just the latest in a long line of proof that when it comes to social issues, outreach and onprofit marketing, messengers matter. Real people rule. And stories stick.
Please: reconsider your next outreach piece. Don’t make it just about the numbers, the scale or the policies. Make it about people, and let those people tell the story. Authentic messengers capture the attention of the world in a way your own promotional efforts never will.
(No excuses! If you’re worried about anonymity for those you help, let your front lines people be in the spotlight.)
Comments
This is such an important message for NPO types to hear. I’d just add, from the perspective of an organizer/advocate, that not only will your message be more compelling with these voices center stage, but it can also be a transformational experience for those you serve to tell their stories, thus amplifying what you’re trying to do (help them escape homelessness, or recover from addiction, or live with mental illness, or etc…). When we tell the stories ‘our way’, not only do we produce inferior marketing materials, but we unintentionally send the message that they are to be silenced. Thank you for the link, too!
Your post makes a lot of sense. In Journalism 101, we learn about the effectiveness of telling the story of a war through the eyes of one soldier. It’s tempting to fill a news release with tons of statistics reflecting the big picture - the overall severity of a situation, but we forget that human beings are emotional creatures. Readers and viewers may not fully apprehend faceless statistics about homelessness. Yet they certainly understand Brianna Karp and her message.