Campaign organizers mobilized staff members in 240 libraries across the state to ask their communities to Tell Us Your Story.
Countless Jersey-ites who rely on public libraries for computers to aid in job searches, free summer programs for kids, books, DVDs and films stepped up to share their stories here.
The organizers used these terrific stories (you can read some of them here) locally and in a statewide media campaign.
There’s lots to learn from the way the Library designed and marketed this campaign. Here are the campaign’s main success factors:
1. Mobilizing and training first-line messengers – library staff – as campaign advocates
This fantastic campaign harnessed on-the-ground staff to solicit patron stories. But organizers didn’t just expect that library staff would know what to do or would spend the time to figure it out.
Instead the organizers trained library staff (a.k.a. messengers) via a marketing toolkit supplemented by a library communication network linking more than 500 users.
2. Motivating the second-line messengers – Library users to library champions
Campaign organizers knew that NJ library users had a lot of good stories to tell. And that their favorite library staffers could motivate to do it.
But they made involvement more compelling by naming it. Become a Library Champion is a far more powerful invitation than Share Your Story. It tells library users that their story will help sustain the library and gives them a name easy to remember and repeat.
3. Putting the stories to work in an all-state media campaign
The campaign generated powerful stories on how libraries have helped users in areas as varied as job searches to providing audio and braille books for blind users. But it didn’t stop there.
It used NJ library users’ stories as the core of a strategic media campaign that reached millions of people, including elected officials, through stories, commercials, outreach and the website.
4. Building a core of citizen advocates – From sharing a story to fighting for library funding
It’s likely that many of those who shared their stories would never have stood up to fight for library funding if asked directly. But sharing their stories engaged them.
And now, the Library has compiled a database of library champions (you can become one here) to update them on urgent legislative issues as they arise.
Due, at least in part to this campaign, the 2011 cut in library funding was reduced to 42% of the 2010 budget, from the 74% slashing initially proposed.
NJ State Library’s campaign design and process of engagement is a definite success, and a fantastic model for your organization. Of course the celebrity champions didn’t hurt – but they alone wouldn’t have had the same impact.
What are you doing to mobilize your colleagues and base as messengers? Please share your story here.
P.S.Get more in-depth articles, case studies and guides to nonprofit marketing (and video) success — all featured in the twice-monthly Getting Attention e-update.Subscribe today.
I was vacationing last week, doing some winter unwinding in warmer climes. In that relaxed state, it was particularly startling to walk by this graphic banner outlining the foie gras production process.
These multiple graphic images of force-feeding geese helped me understand how foie gras is produced, in a few seconds. Those dining in the restaurant these protesters were targeting didn’t stop eating, but I know they learned something too.
What worked here was:
Relevance: The protesters made their case on site, right in front of a restaurant serving foie gras.
Strength of messaging: Messaging was mainly graphic here. These strong, unforgettable images told the story. More than you wanted to know.
Call to action, with a clear, doable act outlined: The brochure distributed a card from the Humane Society stapled to it, ready to be detached to give to the waiter or owner of a restaurant serving foie gras. Easy.
But here’s what could work even better:
When I asked the protesters what organization they were with, they couldn’t answer. One said they were just individuals, not an organization. Another handed me a brochure from In Defense of Animals.
That was confusing, and raised a question of credibility for me. Have your story straight, and be consistent in sharing it.
Any examples of in-your-face advocacy to share? Please email me or share via Comments.
P.S. Get more in-depth articles, case studies and guides to
nonprofit marketing success — all featured in the twice-monthly
Getting Attention e-update.Subscribe today.
Universal confirmation roots Obama's win in the melding of community organizing and internet-based networking (parlayed into a high-power ground game).
If your organization has poo-pooed social media or simply shied away from it, there's no bigger signal that it's time to step in.
More to come.
P.S. Obama got this simple and heartfelt thank you email out to his network just minutes after his victory was declared. That's immediacy.
My husband Sean, who works down in the Wall Street area, called in yesterday with this hot story: The Rainforest Action Network(RAN) had hoisted a huge "FORECLOSURE" banner, printed on a 150 square foot American flag, over the Wall Street bull. About 50 protesters and an interested crowd had gathered, including several media reps. Sean’s photos here.
Frame or be framed, as they say. RAN did a fantastic job in framing their campaigns as attacking the foundation of the current financial crisis. You see, RAN is generally perceived as a typical environmental organization. But for some time now, the org has broadened its focus to include a socially just and ecologically sustainable economy. It’s just that most people don’t think of RAN that way.
With today’s dramatic action, RAN linked its Global Finance and Sustainable Economies campaigns to a broader
concept of sustainability. In connecting its work with the financial debacle as follows, RAN grabbed headlines and boosted awareness of its focus, work and impact:
It is critical that we look beyond the bailout to the underlying cracks this crisis has exposed in our financial system. We have an unprecedented opportunity to rebuild our economy and establish a financial system that operates within ecological limits. It’s time for Americans to demand structural solutions that put families before financiers and the planet before profits.
Linking your org’s work and impact with page one news works time and again to boost media coverage. Make that connection clear to your media contacts who cover those issues/stories. It’ll increase awareness and engagement among your entire base while charging up your staff like the Wall Street bull.
P.S. Learn how to craft a compelling story for your org in 8 words or less.Download the free Nonprofit Tagline Report for must-dos, don’t dos, case studies and 1,000+ nonprofit tagline examples!
Urging millions around the world to “play the game” and ”deliver nets,” the UN Foundation’s Nothing But Nets(NBN) campaign just launched an intriguing interactive game to build understanding (in an incredibly fun way) of how insecticide-treated bed nets to prevent malaria get to users in Africa.
”Deliver the Net” teaches users about bed net distribution and challenges individuals to deliver as many virtual nets as possible before the sun goes down and malaria-carrying mosquitoes come out to bite. Players are urged to “race the sun and hand out as many insecticide-treated bed nets as you can to African families. The more nets you deliver—before the mosquitoes come out—the more lives you save. Once you’re done playing the game, sign up for news about the campaign and a life-saving bed net will be sent on your behalf!”
This is one of the most ingenious nonprofit marketing campaigns I’ve seen, ever. Here’s why:
Launched at the beginning of the month, the game is a build up to World Malaria Day on April 25th. I can’t imagine a better attention-getter; and this generates donations too.
NBN sent an engaging, colorful email invite to get participation going with this clear subject line: Play to win. Send Nets. Stop Malaria.
The game is truly fun and engaging; learning is organic rather than pushed and so has greater staying power.
Providing your email address at the end of the game — when players “get it,” and enabling follow-ups from the campaign — generates a $10 gift to NBN from its partners. $10 covers the cost of purchasing a long-lasting insecticide-treated bed net, distributing it to a family in need and educating the recipients on its proper use. And, players are invited to donate additional nets, at the affordable price of @$10.
After providing your email address, you’re brought to an online video of a UN worker in the field talking about the project and challenges of the difficult security situation. It’s on YouTube, so easy to pass on.
It’s a fun game that delivers a powerful impression at the end when you see the guy inside his tent, filming the video, with the generator running in the 110 degree heat. The video creates a real sense of what it’s like for African’s fighting malaria.
Just a few days post-launch, 2,673 players to date have generated a gift of a net to Africans, and understand how nets can combat malaria — all while having fun. Fun while learning; nothing’s better than that.
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I never thought much about the potential political power of the nonprofit sector — stemming from its influence and economic contribution, thinking more along issue lines. But now, with the launch of the V3 Campaign, Robert Egger (President of the D.C. Central Kitchen) clarifies the power of the nonprofit sector’s "Voice, Value and Votes."
Many of Egger’s factoids are startling in their quantification of nonprofit impact:
90% of college freshmen have performed community service
Nonprofits, via donations received, represent 7% of GDP
14 million in the US work for nonprofits
Nonprofits collectively hold $3 trillion in assets.
What’s incredible is Egger’s mobilization of nonprofit staffers to use their power (and their votes) to vet candidates at all governmental levels. All I can say is, why haven’t we used our voice before? Now that we know how strong it is, let’s shout it out.
Over the past few years, text messaging has become a core organizing tool for advocacy orgs, even more so in Europe than it is here (yet). So it’s not surprising that NARAL Pro-Choice America put texting to work to motivate citizen advocates to contact their representatives on to protect choice.
What is astonishing is that (and how) Verizon Wireless rejected NARAL’s application for the short code required for texting:
VZW will not accept programs that are issue-oriented from lobbyist [sic], PACs, or any organization that seeks to promote an agenda or distribute content that…may be seen as controversial or unsavory to any of our users.
Seems that because NARAL makes Verizon Wireless cringe, users of the service can’t get the text messages they have subscribed to. And, since texting is not legally protected by telecom legislation, Verizon Wireless censors because it can.
Happy ending though, and a great example of how a nonprofit that’s on the ball can turn a crisis to its advantage. NARAL (a Verizon Wireless customer) worked this story big time:
Getting a story placed on the first page of today’s New York Times (they never would have been there otherwise)
Putting its highly effective online organizing machine to work with an email campaign to Verizon Wireless promoted to its email list (got mine at 10 this morning) and via its Web site, most effectively targeting Verizon’s action as a censorship issue. NARAL generated 20,000 emails in two hours.
Writing (and publishing on its Web site) a blistering letter to the company from NARAL president Nancy Keenan.
Result? By 11:25 this morning, when I combed the Times online for the censorship story, I found that at 10:30 Verizon had reversed its decision. Win-win-win for NARAL now able to text, better known than ever before and even perhaps piquing the interest of civil liberties supporters not previously involved in pro choice activism.
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I asked fellow bloggers to weigh in on best practices in nonprofit use of online video (the faintest outlines are just appearing as it’s a whole new world) for this week’s Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants. Here’s my take, which I’ll introduce by sharing a Greenpeace video that had a huge impact on me and explaining why it works:
The imagery grabs me:
It’s so different from how we’re used to seeing children — we’ve comfortable and familiar with seeing children in bright colors, playing happily. This child narrator is almost post-apocalyptic; frightening but 150% compelling.
It’s stark, monochromatic and exceedingly simple. I think it’s yet another example of less is more.
His narrative is startling; angry, grave, serious, graphic. I feel that as an adult, I owe it to him to listen, and to act.
Blame is assigned to adults, like me. It makes me want to do better. The immediacy of being blamed makes me sit up and listen.
It’s short(1:43) but includes everything I need to know, including a call to action.
Surprise is the strategy of success here. Just as I find that surprising my 4-year-old (let’s say with a new strategy to get her to dress quickly for school) always works, we all respond to what’s different. Here’s a child demanding his rights, which he does deserve. Video offers an almost endless number of opportunities for surprise — in narrative, in background sound or music, in imagery.
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These two case studies are compelling examples of effective use of a host of new communications tools, most of which fall under the ’social networking’ umbrella. Because these are new tools, and most of us don’t have a lot of time or money to experiment in depth, case studies are more important than ever. Look for more to come in the course of the next few months.
Read my comprehensive interview with Jacob Colker here to learn his six steps to building and maintaining a loyal social network for your nonprofit.
Frogloop, a blog published by the online progressive community Care2, reported recently on an amazing primary victory by Peter Franchot, a candidate for Maryland Comptroller. It was amazing because the victory was generated primarily (claims Frogloop’s Justin Perkins) via volunteers recruited and motivated by the power of social networking — MySpace and Facebook to be specific.
As the election nears, and I hear and read constant coverage of the bitter, hard-punching battles between incumbents and their challenges, I’ve been thinking a lot about how social networking can be put to work for campaigners. This recent MD victory, reported first in a great article by Chicago Tribune reporter Mike Dorning on social networking’s role in the 2006 elections, is just one of many influenced by social networking. NOTE: I’ll dive into Dorning’s article for more social networking being put to use in these midterm elections in another post.
What’s particularly interesting about the MD campaign is the warp speed — only four weeks — with which 23-year-old organizer Jacob Colker recruited 80% of the entire volunteer base (by searching for college students in the region whose profiles indicated a poli sci major and liberal perspective). and put them to work making 15,000 phone calls and dropping the 50,000 pieces of campaign literature. Pretty incredible, very inexpensive, very easy and very likely to have implications for your nonprofit.
Colker credits the success of his online organizing skills to his experience promoting his band, Medici. Strangely enough, even prior to this win, the folks at Care2 had produced Think Like a Rock Band: How to Use Social Networking Sites for Political Campaigns which guides nonprofits and campaign staffs alike to use the Web and social networking sites to engage and motivates audiences.
Remember — If your target audiences include those under 35 (and that ceiling is likely to change), your nonprofit can’t afford to ignore this increasingly important channel. Take a look at the free first chapter for a useful checklist of prerequisites to effective messaging in an online social network.
Social networkers, take your mark. The elections, and your issue areas, are up for grabs.
Note to readers: Care2 and Getting Attention are both members of the Nonprofit Blog Exchange.
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The Getting Attention blog is a source of ideas, tactics, and tips for nonprofit communicators focused on helping their organizations succeed through effective marketing.
About the Author
Nonprofit marketing expert Nancy E. Schwartz is the primary author of the Getting Attention blog and e-newsletter. Nancy also founded and runs Nancy Schwartz & Company, providing results-driven marketing and communications services to nonprofit organization and foundation clients. Specialties include communications planning, message development, online communications innovations (she stays way ahead of the curve to put these tools to work for clients asap), and developing revenue streams for nonprofits. Email me
As a Jersey Girl , I was thrilled to hear that the New Jersey State Library was recently honored for outstanding marketing of its Tell Us Your Story advocacy campaign with a 2010 John Cotton Dana Award.
