Your “new” is not news

These are two common questions I hear:

How do I communicate to supporters about my new logo/brand?

How do I launch my new newsletter or website?

My answer is this: Your “new” is not “news.” You should not communicate what is new in your universe. You should communicate what matters to your constituents.

If you have a new logo or brand look-and-feel, that’s nice, but it doesn’t mean a thing to the outside world. What matters to the outside world is how they experience you—an experience that unfolds as the people that work for your cause answer the phone, help others, convey messages, provide services. Think about how to make that new brand come alive as an experience. In other words: show, don’t tell your brand.

If you have a new newsletter or website, figure out what is incredibly interesting IN that newsletter or website. Show what your audience members can they do that they could not before. Think like a person who writes coverlines for a magazine – what is the tantalizing content or promise that will make people want to open the magazine when they see it in the check-out lane? Or in your case, what will make them want to read that newsletter or go to that website? THAT is what you want to communicate, not simply the fact that you made a change.

 

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People (women especially) say they’re really generous

Today SunTrust Bank’s PR agency (Edelman) sent me a summary of a survey the bank conducted in advance of their new charity promotion. SunTrust is giving new checking account customers $100 to donate to the new customer’s favorite charity or a $50 gift card that customers can spend on themselves. 

The telephone survey of 2,058 adults over the age of 18 found this:

More than half of respondents (59%) said they would prefer to give the donation to charity rather than get the cash (33%) for themselves. 

I asked Edelman the obvious: Now that the charitable promotion, called MyCause, is underway, are that many people really choosing charity over cash?  The reason for my question is, people are notoriously bad predictors of their behavior.  They tend to answer what they feel they should say rather than what they really think.  In my book, I tell the story related by Kristen Grimm about everyone in a focus group claiming how much they’d love a yellow boom box.  As they left, they were given a gift of a boom box, and they got to choose the color.  Most everyone picked black over yellow.  This is a limitation of research that’s probably even more pervasive with charity—we all want to look charitable, after all.

Edelman said it’s too soon to tell, but I look forward to hearing more about the results when they are in.  I hope people really are that generous, because I’d like to see giving-related promotions succeed.

SunTrust also asked a bunch of questions about past charitable activities (which is probably more sound than predictive data), and the results are very interesting.  I applaud them for sharing this data, so we can learn from it.  I also applaud SunTrust for incorporating charity into their promotions. 

Here’s the run-down:

-Nine in 10 Americans regularly donate to charitable causes

-Women are more likely than men to give to a charitable cause (93% vs. 87%); women are also more inclined to choose the $100 SunTrust donation over the cash incentive (65% vs. 54%) 

-Younger Americans (18-34 year olds) are also more generous with their non-monetary support than older Americans (35+ years old), and are more willing to purchase products to support a cause, volunteer with the organization, attend fundraisers and participate in large-scale events.  They are also more likely to wear bracelets or other accessories associated with a cause. 

-Respondents were also most likely to support causes relating to their church or other religious organization (53%); to organizations that combat hunger and poverty (50%); or to provide disaster relief from hurricanes and other natural catastrophes (48%). The non-profit organizations least likely to receive donations from survey respondents were those supporting animal causes (32%) [Note: this was pre-Michael Vick]; environmental issues (25%); or the arts and culture (21%).     

-The survey also found that most Americans don’t have an “either/or” approach to supporting their favorite causes: Those who had made recent monetary donations to charity are also significantly more likely (94%) to support non-profit organizations in other ways than those who haven’t donated recently (74%).

-On average, Americans spend 4.1% of their annual household income on charitable causes; those over 55 years of age donate the largest percentage (4.6%) versus those 18-34 (3.8%)

-Across gender, age and region, Americans were most motivated to give back for two reasons: It’s the right thing to do (89%) and because they want to help others (88%). Just 26% of respondents say they donate money to receive a tax write-off

-Three-quarters of Americans (76%) prefer to support their charity of choice by giving money instead of by volunteering time

-Southern adults donate the highest proportion (4.5%) of their income to charitable causes, followed by the Midwest (4.2%), the West (4.0%) and the Northeast (3.6%)

-Two in three Americans (63%)  give money directly to people in need, such as those on the street or via churches and community organizations

-Seven in 10 Americans are inclined to do business with companies that give back to their communities

For more details about the SunTrust “My Cause” poll or promotion, go here. 

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Eight things your home page should have

Last week, my frolleague Mark Rover of Sea Change hosted our free Nonprofit 911 call here at Network for Good.  It focused on easy fixes to underperforming web sites, and I wanted to share a few gems from him.

First, the FOUR-SECOND RULE:

Anyone should be able to tell in four seconds who you are/what you do.

And…

Eight Things A Nonprofit Home Page Should Have

1. A guessable URL
2. Your postal address (so you look legit and so people can send you a check if they want)
3. Your phone number (shows you’re real, makes you accessible)
4. Email sign-up (so you can cultivate people after they visit)
5. Keyword density (so people will find you via search) - this is so important!
6. Donate Now buttons (on the main part of the page and in the navigation)
7. A pathway for learning more about the organization (a case for why you should donate)
8. Images - strong, emotional ones that are clickable (people expect images to be clickable - send them to your case for giving or your donate form)

What it should NOT have?  Too many words.  Or any of the qualities of the wretched sites Mark highlights here.

Stay tuned for details on the next Nonprofit 911 call - you’ll be invited.

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What to do about that new generation


By Darrenxyz, flickr.

I’m turning 40 next week, and one of the depressing consequences is realizing I’m not really a “new generation” of anything anymore.  Oh well.  Whatev. 

My day was brightened today, however, by having Network for Good’s Six Degrees profiled in an article in the Wall Street Journal on the “New Generation of Philanthropy.”  The article says:

Young donors and volunteers, snubbing traditional appeals such as direct mail and phone calls, are satisfying their philanthropic urges on the Internet. They’re increasingly turning to blogs and social-networking Web sites, such as MySpace and Facebook, to spread the word about—and raise funds for—their favorite nonprofits and causes. They’re sending Web-based fund-raising pitches to their friends and families, encouraging them, in turn, to forward the appeals to their own contacts.

So what does this mean for nonprofits?  What does one do in an online world that is increasingly about this kind of portability and personalization?  Is your web 1.0 web destination site enough anymore? 

What do you do when the “new generation” is constantly generating new stuff, and you’re feeling decades behind in this decentralized new world?

I want to share how some smart people just answered those types of questions.  Micro Persuasion just dubbed this the “cut and paste” era, which I think is a very good way of summing up the Internet today.  Steve Rubel means:

Imagine for a moment that you can take any piece of online content that you care about - a news feed, an image, a box score, multimedia, a stream of updates from your friends - and easily pin it wherever you want. Once clipped, you can drop the content on your desktop, an online start page like Windows Live or Pageflakes, “the deck” of your mobile device or even “a crawl” on your Internet-connected television… It’s the coming era of the Cut and Paste Web.

Here’s what he - and one of his readers - recommends you do.  I agree on all counts.

1. Think web services, not websites.  What he means here is, make things that plug into other sites.  Or better yet, use things that do that for you - like fundraising widgets.

2. Connect people.  Help consumers clustering around different goals (making money, being entertained, etc.) with something that gives them value while promoting your cause.  The LA Fire Department uses twitter to alert people when disaster strikes.  I get local government disaster alerts on my cell phone.

3. Make everything portable.  Make everything you’ve got to offer, embeddable.

4. (This one from his reader, Rich Pearson): Understand where and how your content is being used.  Check out what is spreading so you know what works, what doesn’t, and what is your ROI.

If I had to sum all this up, I’d say this: Do not expect anyone to come to you any more.  Go to where people are online. 

 

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If your website sucks, call this number

My wonderful frolleague Mark Rovner of Sea Change Strategies is presenting a FREE teleconference on Thursday.  Topic:  How to fix a bad website for next to nothing.  This is part of our Nonprofit 911 teleconference series here at Network for Good. Details below!

Date: Thursday, August 23, 2007

Time: 1pm-2pm (Eastern)
Noon-1pm (Central)
11am-Noon (Mountain)
10am-11am (Pacific)

Cost: Free. A service of Network for Good for nonprofits.

To register and receive the dial-in instructions, please visit this page.

 

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Ten tips for not getting trashed

This is your audience.  Really.

So what do you do about this situation?

Here are ten tips to avoid getting trashed:

1. Think before you send.  Do you have the right audience, right message and right time for that message?  Not sure?  Then freeze!  Put down the postal meter slowly and take your finger off that send button.  Don’t waste your time—or your audience’s.

2. Send to people who want to receive your message.  You could buy a ginormous list of cold prospects or focus on a carefully built list of people who care.  You’ll do much better with the latter group, who have given you permission to communicate with them.  They will be far less likely to consider you trash.

3. Focus your message on your audience’s interests, aspirations and desires rather than your own need for money.  It will work better.

4. Keep it simple - too many ideas and too much text will get you trashed. 

5. Get to the point in spectacular fashion, in the first few words.  The headline of your envelope or 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.)

6. 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.

7. 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.

8.  Be different.  People are drowning in (e)mail.  Whether it’s the shape of your envelope, the tone of your message or the startling honesty of your subject line, a standout element is required.

9. 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.

10.  Make it easy for people to unsubscribe or get off your mailing list.  Listen to Dr. Wilson and include an unsubscribe button—or a prepaid postcard allowing people to tell you they don’t want your mail or prefer different kind of communication (a feature you could advertise on the outside of the envelope).  Getting that kind of postcard would amaze and delight me!

 

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How to sell a nose bidet

This week I became acquainted with with the BadPitch blog, and I’m loving it.  As a former journalist, I experienced more bad pitches than I can count, many of them from nonprofits.  I had a very large circular file at my desk.

Let me share with you the ways to really irritate a reporter:

1. Call simply to ask if someone got your press release.  This is the #1 pet peeve of most journalists.  Don’t do it.

2. Pitch something that shows you did absolutely no homework on the reporter or their media outlet—ie, pitching a story they’d never cover or one they just did.

3. Fail to get their attention and interest in the first five seconds/words of your contact with them.

I could go on like the cranky journalist I once was, but instead, let me share the following mold-breaking pitch of a bizarre product, courtesy of BadPitch.

What, you may ask, is this thing?

It’s a nose bidet – or nose douche.  Yep, it is.

Now, imagine your job is to pitch this product to media.  Do you feel a rush of gratitude that it’s not?  OK but imagine it is.  What would you do?

Now check out the pitch job that was done and the coverage that resulted.  And that’s not counting Oprah.  Or USA Today.  Or NPR.  Wow.  The pitch (which has the word sh*t in it, just warning you)  actually became the story.  And that wasn’t all that bad an outcome, considering.  Wow.  Now that’s creatively engaging a jaded member of the media.

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Does chewing gum save the children?

Today I received the following note from a sharp-eyed reader of this blog:

Hello Katya,
I attended one of your online fundraising seminars in Washington, D.C. last fall and I’ve been following your blog since then.  Today as I was exiting the metro in DC and heading off to work, I noticed people passing out samples of Trident gum. This type of marketing is not unusual here. But what I did find unusual was that the people were wearing Save the Children t-shirts while passing out samples of Trident Splash! gum.  What do you think is the marketing plan here? What’s in it for Save the Children? Name recognition?
Best,
Tara Karasch

Hmmm… good question.  What was the connection, and why wasn’t it made clearer at the point of distribution?

I googled “Trident” and “Save the Children” and found this microsite.  It says:

Trident® sugarless gum and Save the Children® U.S. Programs have teamed together to bring a smile to children’s faces by supporting literacy and nutritional initiatives that benefit children in need in rural areas throughout our country. Join us as we celebrate Trident supporting Save the Children® U.S. Programs. Trident has generously donated to this worthy cause. Pass along a smile!

On the site, you can donate to Save the Children, download wallpaper, send ecards, see pictures of yourself taken by the gum-distributing smile patrol, etc.

I asked Tara if she got any of that.  Here’s what she said:

Hello Katya,
This makes sense after reading the press release, but not before. I have to admit that I didn’t read the entirety of their t-shirts, but what I did notice was “Save the Children” boldly printed on yellow t-shirts. How much detail do we really take in while zooming past on our commute? It wasn’t a very successful marketing effort for me. Perhaps if the gum samples actually had the program logo on them (as the packs of gum on the website did), it all would have clicked and made sense for me. However, my experience was walking away wondering why Save the Children was passing out gum. They did make me think though.
Tara

The campaign is certainly interesting but there are some missing links here, I think.

1. Missing link #1: The communication to the consumer.  They need to communicate the program to commuters, quickly.  I don’t think most people will bother to think the way Tara and I did.

2. Missing link #2: The connection between gum and charity.  What is the link between literacy, nutrition and gum?  It feels like a stretch.  The program is meant to show that when you chew the gum, Trident helps a charity, so kids smile and you smile and feel good - at least I think so - but that’s a lot to explain.  If Trident were supporting the charity Operation Smile, I would completely get it.  That would have an intuitive connection that is lacking here.

3. Missing link #3: The connection between action and result.  The site’s actions - wallpaper, ecards, etc. don’t exactly feel like ways to improve literacy, nor does buying gum.  I think they need to connect the actions of the consumer to the results for children more clearly.

Anyone else gotten a pack?  Had a different experience?  Like the new gum?  (I like the strawberry lime myself.)  Do tell!

 

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To blog or not to blog?

My frolleagues (friends/colleagues) Jocelyn and Qui generously have shared the following presentation which answers the eternal existential question: “To blog or not to blog?”  Enjoy.

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Extreme Nonprofit Makeover

By Jono Smith

Last month at Network for Good, we launched Nonprofit 911, a monthly series of training calls focused on helping nonprofits improve the health of their online fundraising programs. We also invited callers to nominate their organization for an “extreme website makeover,” and I’m pleased to announce we’ve selected First Step as the recipient. First Step is a non-profit agency in Southeast Michigan (Detroit area). First Step works to assist victims of domestic violence and sexual assault and to prevent violence in the community, providing emergency shelter, a 24 hour crisis line, assault response team (volunteers who go to hospitals to assist victims), free legal clinics and support, adult and children’s children’s counseling, transitional housing, food, clothing, transportation, date rape risk reduction programs, children’s program and many other services. Last year, First Step touched the lives of over 16,000 individuals. In the words of Theresa Bizoe, Associate Director of First Step:

“First Step has a great story to tell. There are countless stories of women, children and men who have been helped by First Step. These stories have yet to be told and need to be shared with a community who believes that “victims always stay” and that the cycle of violence cannot be broken. Right now, the Detroit area needs to hear stories of hope and healing. However, violence can sometimes be a difficult subject to talk about. Some blame the victims for their situation (if First Step could have a $1 for every time someone asked us why the victim stays we would not need this makeover).
Congratulations Theresa & First Step! And stay tuned to the Nonprofit Marketing Blog for the results of this makeover!
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Information Does Not Equal Action


Picture (“For a minute there, I lost myself”) by doc18, flickr.

This post is on THE MOST COMMON communications mistake in our sector—saying this deadly phrase to yourself: “If people only knew (fill in the blank with something about your issue), then they would (fill in the blank with what you want people to do).” 

Don’t say this to yourself, because it isn’t true.

It is tempting to assume that if people have information, they will act on it. But sadly, information alone does not prompt action.

A lack of information is almost never the cause of inaction. People know they are supposed to do all kinds of things - read to their children, change their diets, help others. The problem is, it is usually more difficult to change behaviors than to stick to the status quo. Good causes are forever in conflict with the status quo.

That means we have to do two things, always:

1. Create a reason for action (not just offer information) that is personally more compelling to our audience than the rewards of sticking to the status quo. 
2. Make it easier to take action than to do nothing.  People will do something if it looks easier than what they’re doing now.

In marketing terms, I’m saying that we can’t just put lots and lots of fine print on the label.  We need to improve our offer while lowering the price of acting on the offer.

 

 

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Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants

 

You can visit this week’s carnival - hosted Nonprofit Leadership 601 blog - here.

Be sure to read the post on why most fundraising doesn’t work!

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It’s “Listen Up” Day

As a marketer - and actually, as a mother and a friend too - I consider it an important part of my role to listen. 

Part of that is listening to what people are saying online.  I have a google alert set up so I know when people are talking about me, this blog, my nonprofit, my colleagues and issues of concern to me.  I have a technorati watchlist too.  Why?  People who go to the trouble to say something about you online feel strongly - and most likely, they have an audience.  For good or for bad, they are important nonofficial spokespeople.

This listening has been an incredibly educational experience - especially when I’m listening to negative feedback. While they hurt at times and can make me cringe, complaints are valuable.  When I’ve emailed and engaged in conversations with people who were dissatisfied, nine times out of ten they appreciated that I was listening and helped me see where my own communications and marketing efforts were falling short. Some of those conversations were so good that I developed an ongoing relationship with the commenters and use them as regular sounding boards in my work.

I hereby declare today “listen up” day.

Go listen to what your donors, supporters and detractors are saying about you online.  (Use those google alerts and technorati watch lists to get you started.)  Talk to people talking about you - not defensively or angrily - but with open ears and an open mind.

While I’m always yammering about stealing corporate savvy, I have to stay that a lot of corporations STINK at this.  I’ve blogged here about annoying experiences with Crate & Barrel and Verizon, yet no one from those companies has ever contacted me.  I wonder if they realize that 20,000 unique visitors come to this blog each month.  I wonder if they realize my comments come up with searches for their company.  Not good publicity…

Check out this.  I would think twice about setting foot in Best Buy after reading these posts and comments—a feeling only reinforced by the fact that Best Buy hasn’t bothered to truly listen or reply in any thoughtful way.

Nonprofits clearly need some work in this area too. 

I’m going to do an experiment here to see who IS listening - and help those that are.  Here is a list of three random nonprofits that participated in a training by me or Network for Good.  For each that picks this up and comments here within 24 hours, I will make a $10 donation.  Further proof that good listeners get rewarded!

Family Of Humanity
Glaucoma Research Foundation
Ageless Dreamer

PS Share your listening experiences - I’d love to hear them.

Update August 14, 10:23 am: No comments, no winners.  Family of Humanity, Glaucoma Research Foundation and Ageless Dreamer—- Please, set up google alerts! 

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Polling data at your disposal

Trying to prove the public is behind you?  Want to influence policy makers?  Trying to identify public opinion trends?

Here’s a nifty resource:  PollingReport.  This is where you can find the all of the latest poll results on all kinds of topics, easily sorted and searchable.

It’s free for national data - for state data, you need to be a paid subscriber.

Another cool resource:  if you want to place your own poll on your website, vizu is another free resource.  Below is a sample of a poll I created there.

Opinion Polls & Market Research

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The puppy factor

Admit it, this puppy (by sandydg350762 at flickr) made at least 80% of you think, “awww.”

A picture of a puppy moves us more than news about people than millions in Darfur.  Just ask Jeff Brooks who explains why in his Save the Darfur Puppy post (from the NYT’s Kristoff.)

A single face (especially the one here, which is canine) is more easy to feel for, connect with, and support than abstractions, numbers and doom and gloom. 

So it is not news that puppies are cute, or that they get our attention.  What IS news is the people who love puppies are amazingly good evangelizers, it seems.  If you got to our Six Degrees top fundraisers page, you will see that the vast majority of the top six fundraisers have the puppy factor.  I think the reason is simple - for animal-related causes, it’s very easy to come up with great photos and compelling stories that connect with a broad group of people.

So what do you do if you don’t have the puppy factor?  You can still put a face and a story front and center in all your work.

I get this question so often - and am so eager to show how it can be done - that here at Network for Good, we’ve hired a writer who’s written feel-good stories for publications like People to put a face to the story of some of the nonprofits using Network for Good services.  These organizations have struggled to put a face on their work, and we’re going to show how it can be done, even for the most process-oriented, abstract and esoteric causes!  Stay tuned.

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