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Audience Research

Relevance Rules—Your Key to Nonprofit Marketing Success in 2012

The stresses of the times are dramatically affecting your organization’s relationships, and that’s likely to continue through 2012. But there’s some very good news.

Despite today’s challenges, there is a way for your organization to build and strengthen vital relationships with the people whose help you need as donors, advocates, volunteers and more. Here are my guidelines for implementing the doable, proven strategy—getting personal to get relevant—that is your single most important key to marketing success in 2012:
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Nancy Schwartz on December 29, 2011 in Audience Research | 0 comments
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Know Your Target Audiences for Nonprofit Marketing Success (Case Study)

A huge part of what I love about guiding nonprofit communicators to greater impact is seeing the “aha moment.” I witnessed a great one last week while presenting the Total Focus Marketing Plan Workshop in Seattle last week, with Kivi Leroux Miller.

DD Coutts, Vice President of Development at Glenbow Ranch Park Foundation was among the terrific group of energized workshop participants. During the segment on getting to know your target audiences, DD had an “aha moment” that will make all the difference in her ability to connect effectively with the very folks who can help move the Foundation’s mission forward.

She had been identifying the Park’s visitor base — the ideal source for volunteers now and donors later — as families but realized, with our guidance, that this broad category didn’t give her the insight she needed to connect with them. There are just to many kinds of families, varying in size, interests, available time, motivation for using the park and other dimensions.

Here’s how DD moved forward to group (a.k.a. segment) her target audiences into three distinct groups that use the park:

  1. Families with young children
  2. Families with older children
  3. Immigrant families

This segmentation led to DD’s next insight — that each group uses the park in different ways. She named and described the segments as follows:

  1. Nibblers: Families with young children. Tend to stay on the periphery of the park and visit for brief periods.
  2. Explorers: Families with older children. Explore the complete park, spend more time there.
  3. Celebrators — Extended families, usually immigrants. Use the park as a gathering spot.

You see how much more useful these segments are, enabling DD to take the next step to profile a persona within each segment — an individual or two who epitomize the segment. Your personas show you what your primary audiences’ wants and habits are, so you know how to pinpoint where your organization’s wants overlap with them. That’s the sweet spot for marketing success!

Kudos to DD for going beyond the obvious!

P.S. Learn more on how to strengthen your nonprofit’s marketing impact with the Getting Attention Guide to Nonprofit Marketing Wisdom.

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Nancy Schwartz on June 23, 2011 in Audience Research | 0 comments
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Your Key to Connection – Take the “Other” to Lunch

Elizabeth Lesser’s dramatic call to action –  lunch with the opposition — in her recent Ted Talk is surprising at first listen but makes a world of sense.

Understanding your audiences — whether they be prospective donors, current members or the legislators your organization is working to influence — is the most reliable key to connection. Knowing what’s important to them — and their wants, habits and preferences — is the only way to make your call to action  relevant (assuming there’s an overlap between your org’s values and goals, and theirs).

How do you get to know your organization’s community and prospects?  Please share your strategies here.

P.S. Get your free 2011 Guide to Nonprofit Marketing Wisdom — benefit from what 127 nonprofit communicators like you learned in 2010.

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Nancy Schwartz on February 2, 2011 in Audience Research | 1 comment
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Invite Your Person(a) to Thanksgiving Dinner

The past few weeks have been busy speaking- and webinar/seminar-wise, with a focus on the secret to messaging that connects — understanding the folks you hope to engage and motivate to act.

That’s my rap of late: because it’s so important but so often overlooked. Knowing what matters to your network (a.k.a. target audiences), and how they live their lives, is your key to engaging and motivating them.

But knowing your network is vital for reasons far beyond effective marketing. Understanding network members is the only path to relevant programs, services, products and fundraising. It’s at the core of organizational health.

But there’s more…When I ask nonprofit marketers like you to tell me who they’re talking with, the typical response is a demographic profile or a segment defined as “donors who have given between $500 and $1,000 in the last year.” That’s not knowing your network, it’s classifying them. That kind of reductive description of your network doesn’t get you anywhere.

This Thanksgiving, I urge you to go deeper and really forge these relationships. Here’s how:

  • Choose just one of your target audiences and drill down within that group to identify a persona–a fictional individual who represents one type of person you hope to engage.
  • Flesh out her story and write it down, based on whatever audience research or anecdotal insight you have. Include the personal side–from upbringing and neighborhood to marital situation and hobbies–as well as the professional, and patterns such as news content read regularly.
  • Create a name for her and insert a real head shot in her profile.
  • Now invite her to your Thanksgiving feast, imagining how she responds throughout the day: to your Uncle Buddy’s discussion of the flopped U.S. manufacturing sector, to the overflow of food on the table, to your family tradition of going around the
  • By Friday, you’ll have a much better understanding of who you’re speaking with. Jot that down and remember to bring your persona in to work on Monday.

This may sound hokey but it does work to build understanding, and so connection. I urge you to try it out and let me know how it goes.

Here’s more guidance on understanding your network:

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.

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Nancy Schwartz on November 24, 2010 in Audience Research | 2 comments
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How to Connect with Your Target Audiences – Get to Know Them!

Nothing’s more vital to the success of your organization’s marketing than knowing your target audiences.

Without knowing each group well—what’s important to them, what motivates them and their habits—you’ll never connect. And there’s no convincing without connection.

Kivi Leroux Miller and I have been talking about this challenge a lot recently, as we prepare for next week’s Total Focus Marketing Plan Workshop.

We’re thrilled to have this opportunity to help organizations like yours get the most from your marketing investment. Connecting with your audiences is one of the focal points of our limited-enrollment seminar and as we were discussing this topic, we decided to record our conversation. Please listen here to learn about connecting with the people who matter most to your success.

Please join us for the workshop next week in New York City. Tomorrow (Friday, Oct. 1) is the last day to register. The 7th is just about sold out, but we do have room for you on the 6th. We’re also presenting the workshop in Washington DC on October 28.

Hope to see you there!

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Nancy Schwartz on September 30, 2010 in Audience Research | 0 comments
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How a Russian Spy Strategy Can Strengthen Your Nonprofit Marketing

audience researchI’m fascinated by the Russian spy ring’s attempt to  extract U.S. secrets. They counted on their ability to burrow deep into typical American life to develop their understanding of the U.S. government’s goals and strategies.

One of their primary strategies in doing so -  knowing their “audience,”  the neighbors and other folks who had to believe they were just “regular folks” – is the key to advancing your nonprofit’s marketing impact. In your case, it’s an absolute must for strengthening the relationships with your current and prospective donors, advocates, volunteers and more that are the foundation of effective nonprofit marketing.

The goal

To understand your audiences well, in order to find the intersection of their wants and needs and those of your organization. That intersection is where connection happens, followed by engagement.

The spies had their audience down cold

“A neighbor of the Murphy family described them as “suburbia personified. Richard Murphy mowed the lawn; Cynthia Murphy came home from work…with daffodils and French bread in her hands.

“Relatives, friends, classmates, neighbors and co-workers of the three couples expressed shock at the arrests, and they searched their memories for signs that something was amiss, but mostly came up blank,” according to a story in today’s New York Times.

Clearly, the spies and their colleagues back at Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service had thoroughly studied these communities for the spies to embed themselves so successfully there.

Read the full article to learn how to get to know your audience without putting espionage to work

Trench coat, anyone?

P.S. Learn more about personas here: Create Personas to Bridge the Gap with Target Audiences

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Nancy Schwartz on August 5, 2010 in Audience Research, planning | 0 comments
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NetSquared’s Website Redesign Process — Strong Model for Your Org

NetSquared's Website Redesign Process -- Strong Model for Your OrgI’m continually on the prowl for strong nonprofit communications models to share with you since there’s no better way to learn how to strengthen your own initiatives. And I have a great one for you today.

NetSquared.org, the “online landing pad for social changemakers leveraging technology for social change”   has been working hard on the redesign of its website. The site is the core of the NetSquared community so its effectiveness is vital to the success of the organization. The redesign goal is to provide users with easier ways to connect to useful tools and each other.

NetSquared has excelled in engaging site users in shaping its redesign, a powerful strategy to ensure your site works for your base and reinforces their loyalty. People like to be involved.

Here’s how the NetSquared redesign process works. The team:

  1. Solicited input on site improvements via an online voting form. Received input from 100+ users.
  2. Crafted a wish-list of redesign wants and needs from that input, and shared next steps with the community.
  3. Creates redesign mockups, one site section at at time — and inviting the community back into the conversation.
  4. Solicited input on home page ideas
  5. Solicited input on the challenge gallery.
  6. Will solicit input on additional site sections in the weeks to come.

To follow the rest of the story, and see the outcome, read the Redesign thread on the NetSquared blog.

This is audience research at its finest — succeeding in harvesting vital info from site users and further engaging them with NetSquared at the same time. Win-win, NetSquared!

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Nancy Schwartz on July 29, 2009 in Audience Research, Case Studies, High-Impact Websites, Nonprofit Communications | 2 comments
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Here’s How to Solicit Free & Vital Input on Your Web Site Design, & Make Your Base Love You More than Ever!

Here's How to Solicit Free & Vital Input on Your Web Site Design, Make Your Base Love You More than EverNTEN is redesigning its Web site, and it’s calling far and wide for its network (members and non-members alike) to participate in the process. Here’s one of the invites.

Audience research is the only way to ensure that any communications initiative has maximum impact. And Web site design is so complex (look at how many folks it keeps in business) that soliciting input on your site design is even more important than it is for most other communications channels.

I admire NTEN’s openness in its call for input (they’re reaching out via their blog, to members via email and in other ways). It speaks volumes about the organization’s desire to serve the nonprofit sector, and will definitely generate a new Web site that’s far more effective.

Give your two cents today! You can do it here, in only 10-15 minutes. When you do, you’ll get a bonus — some great ideas on putting your network to work to strengthen your org’s communications.

P.S. Read this guide to shaping your org’s Web site to generate the actions you need.

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Nancy Schwartz on June 10, 2009 in Audience Research, High-Impact Websites, Nonprofit Communications | 0 comments
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What Environmental Org Does Most? Rate it — GreatNonprofits 2009 Green Choice Awards

What Environmental Org Does Most Rate it -- GreatNonprofits 2009 Green Choice AwardsIn celebration of Earth Day (April 22nd), GreatNonprofits is holding a contest to ID the best environmental nonprofits out there, as rated by volunteers, donors and others in the know.

The winning orgs will be featured in national media coverage and all voters are entered to win prizes such as earth-friendly wines from Fetzer, a stay at Joie De Vivre hotels and more!   

So environmental nonprofits — here's your call to action: Email those who know your impact (everyone, be creative) and ask them weigh in here, today.

Crowdsourcing in the most useful and positive way. Love it!

P.S. GreatNonprofits solicits ratings from folks who know what orgs work, and which don't! Not only is this info used by prospective donors, volunteers, program participants, etc. — it's valuable audience feedback at no effort or cost to you. Make sure you use what's there on your org.

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Nancy Schwartz on April 2, 2009 in Audience Research, Awards, Nonprofit Communications, Special Opportunities | 0 comments
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National Wildlife Federation Puts Base to Work to Design Website that Works For Them

National Wildlife Federation Puts Base to Work to Design Website that Works For ThemNothing's more vital to your org's health than constant interaction with your base to ensure your marketing, programming, etc. is intersects with their needs, wants and interests. So I was pleased to see the National Wildlife Federation's recent audience-based approach to designing a more useful and engaging Web site.

NWF's approach, described here, centers around inviting its supporters and other site users to provide feedback on what they want in the new  site — from content, design and functionality to event registration and live chats. NWF is soliciting input through this online survey, which is ultimately efficient — easy for users to complete and easy for the NWF team to review results and trends (stats are automatically generated and compiled by all the major online survey services).

To filter responses, the NWF is asking for input solely from those who use the site (they're going to be able to provide the best direction on what to change, as they've experienced frustrations — or successes — themselves in using the site). And they go beyond general questions to request feedback on a few home page designs — usability testing at the front end.

NWF further cements audience loyalty with its gift of a free screensaver  to survey participants — as you can imagine, they have some wild photography on hand. The fact in itself that NWF is asking for help (and people like to be asked to help, it makes them feel involved), is going to make its network feel more involved with the organization. So it's a real home run.

One suggestion — If I were the NWF team, I'd capture the emails of survey respondents and invite them to join an information Web site advisory board. Then I'd call on the advisory board for input along the way as the site gets built (and after launch). They'll be an ideal group to test the site before the public launch, to ensure the actual new site is doing its job.

Informal advisory boards such as this are a great way to monitor the pulse of your org's base and continue to evolve your marketing to be most effective.

P.S. The right messaging is critical to the success of every nonprofit Web site! Download the free Nonprofit Tagline Report for must-dos, don't dos, case studies and 1,000+ nonprofit tagline examples!

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Nancy Schwartz on March 12, 2009 in Audience Research, Case Studies, High-Impact Websites, Nonprofit Communications | 1 comment
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