In an era where even Loehmann’s (THE original discount ladies clothing store w/famously-communal dressing rooms, spent many Saturday afternoons there with my mom as a child) has a Facebook page, you know it’s hard to get through to your network of supporters, much less engage them.
But giving folks a chance to go beyond — whether behind the scenes, after the show or standing in the shoes of – is a great way to do just that. Here are two great examples: ==> Behind the scenes: As a long-ago member of New York’s American Museum of Natural History, I was invited to participate in a behind-the-scenes tour of the entomology (bugs) department.
It was incredibly compelling, and gave me a real understanding of what it takes to find, research and exhibit the incredible shows at the museum. The research side of the institution is something the public is largely unaware of, and this was a powerful way to show how an exhibit evolves.
I renewed my membership for several years thereafter.
==> After the show: My husband and I see many experimental performances in the Peak Perfs series at a local university.
The performances frequently raise questions (and consciousness) and are often complemented by a live discussion with performers and/or director directly after the performance, continued online for a month or so.
Those opportunities ensure that we keep thinking about what we saw, and Peak Perfs! We renew our series year over year.
How does your organization open up your “behind the scenes” to your network? Please share your experiences in Comments. Thanks!
Behind the scenes is a proven method of increasing engagement, so if you’re not doing anything along these lines why not experiment with a test program this fall?
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.
Subject: Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Visits HealthRight in Vietnam
Healthright-nonprofit-marketing
I was thrilled last Thursday to receive this timely e-news alert from HealthRight International. It’s nonprofit marketing at it’s finest.
This scrappy organization doing fantastic grassroots public health work worldwide had learned just a week prior that it had a fantastic marketing opportunity on its hands: Hillary Clinton had selected its Smile of the Sun center in Hanoi (a model for providing support and advocacy services for children and families living with HIV) as the stage for her signing of a five- year agreement with the Vietnamese government to fight HIV/AIDS.
Healthright’s executive director Mila Rosenthal (in photo in white shirt) is a close friend who happened to be visiting us a few days before Clinton’s visit. She couldn’t leave her Blackberry alone for a minute – not like her – and when I asked why, she shared the news as she continued to work on visa issues.
Mila knew that:
Nothing’s more powerful than connecting your nonprofit with a major news event. Clinton had already done that. It was HRI’s job to make the most of it.
Clinton’s visit was the biggest media/marketing opportunity HRI had ever had, especially since her team had vetted many programs before selecting HRI’s program as the “set.”
This was a priceless moment for HRI to a) build awareness of its work and impact with existing supporters, and to b) engage many others as supporters, or at least pique their interest.
Mila better be there, on the scene, herself.
Despite visa delays, Mila did make the signing. Then she and the HRI team capitalized on it. They:
Captured as many photos as possible, with Mila included when possible (the visual connection between Mila and Hillary is worth a million dollars).
Distributed two press releases, one each the day before and the day of the visit, including one featuring the photos.
The only additional suggestion I have for HealthRight is that they continue the story across online and offline channels, including the blog (nothing there yet on Clinton’s visit).
Remember that engagement is fleeting: Once your organization does engage a new or re-engage an existing audience, make sure to keep in close touch with related content (in this case, more about the trip, the center and HealthRight’s work in Vietnam and other countries. It’s much harder to re-engage them, than to keep the conversation going.
Please share your stories – in the comments box – of connecting your organization’s work and impact with a major news story. Don’t forget to mention the results. Thanks!
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.
The late Senator Robert Byrd entered politics on a song. And your organization can do the same via savvy nonprofit marketing.
He took up the fiddle when he was growing up in West Virginia coal country. and put it to work years later to build support in his first run for office – a seat in the West Virginia House of Delegates.
Byrd fiddled his way into hostile meetings and bars in communities where he wasn’t known. And only after he had charmed his audience with his tunes, did he introduce himself, first as a fiddler and then as a candidate.
He knew that one-to-one engagement, especially when built on wonder and pleasure, was the strongest tie there was. So he made that personal, gut-level connection before anything else.
When you meet or greet your base as an individual, especially in a way that shows your humanity, special interest or quirk, connection. Your team should do the same from time to time, just like Patricia Wilson, executive director of the Greater Bay Area Make-a-Wish Foundation who launched a diet-based fund-raising campaign to help close the gap on her org’s $200,000 deficit. It’s nonprofit marketing at its finest – read more case studies here.
Here is Byrd’s strategy. Put it to work for your organization!
“That fiddle has opened many doors for me. I’ve gone into hostile groups that back in those coal-mining towns might have been a group made up of United Mining Workers, or it might have been the opposition in those days. …A Republican lawyer had told me, ‘Bob, you take that fiddle and make that your briefcase.’
“You play a tune or two, put the fiddle down and quote a piece of poetry and tell them what you stand for and sit down. And that’s what I did. And I led the ticket. That fiddle got me places where I couldn’t have gotten in at all.”
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.
Here’s my bad…I’m constantly scanning the nonprofit marketing landscape for case studies, models, new tools and more. But I just realized I can strengthen two aspects of our own online communications, both related to changes in that landscape that I neglected to review on a regular basis:
1) If you receive these blog posts via email, you know that the email subject line has always read ” The Latest from the Getting Attention Blog.” And I mean always — every post, every time it is delivered to you.
Several of you have asked me if I could feature the post topic in the subject line, to make it easier for you to assess its relevance to your work and find it when needed. But that option wasn’t available when I launched this blog (and the email feed, at top right here) back in Spring 2006. Just recently, a colleague informed me that Feedburner (the tool I use to send out the emails) now enables users to feature the post’s headline as the email subject line. I’m going to make that change next week — so heads up, email subscribers.
Check mark!
2) Back in the day, when I first strategized SEO (search engine optimization) for archiving Getting Attention e-update articles, I settled on one main approach: To prioritize the marketing topics covered in each article in the title tag (the text you see in white letters on the blue banner at the top of your web browser). That was standard advice, back then.
Since that time, SEO has changed many times over and so have best practices. So I’ll be revising the article title tags accordingly over the next couple of months.
Most important though, is my realization that it’s critical to check in at least twice annually on features and best practices of the techniques and tools you rely on, and more often on those that are mission critical. It’s the only way to make sure you’re getting the most from your org’s communications work.
P.S. Don’t miss out on in-depth articles, case studies and guides to nonprofit marketing success — all featured in the twice-monthly Getting Attention e-update.Subscribe today.
The parking lot at my gym was jam packed this morning.That’s no surprise, since starting a new year always generates the best of intentions.
Your waistline is your business. But growing your skills, growth and satisfaction in your communications work is something we can work on together.
Here are my famous-male-author-inspired strategies for growing my satisfaction and skills this year. Try them on for size — they’re no-lose, possible big-win strategies for all nonprofit communicators:
1) Embrace vacilando: Definition: To take one’s time getting there, enjoying the scenery (aka process). Used heavily by John Steinbeck in Travels with Charley.
I’m a results-driven person (especially in this pressured climate) which works well, except when that hyper-focus narrows my learning and/or creativity along the way. Good work takes the time it takes. So I’m striving to increase my patience and comfort level with the process of my projects, convinced that vacilando is going to make a huge difference in my work satisfaction and impact!
Try integrating vacilando into the way you tackle your next project, and let me know the results.
2) “Never mistake motion for action:“ Ernest Hemingway nailed it here. It’s all too easy to focus on the short-term busy work and to-dos, and very challenging to think beyond those needs, even if ultimately they’re not the tasks that will advance your org’s communications impact. Just because you’re moving doesn’t mean you’re moving in the direction you want to go.
To do that you have to do what you know is really important and in alignment with your goals. So I’m staying laser-focused (and urge you to do the same) on my core goalsfor 2010. Define your communications goals today, if you haven’t already. Them print them out in large type and stick them where you’ll see them daily. Most importantly, use those goals as a litmus test for honing your priorities.
I’m also using the well-tested tactic of time-blocking to carve out the thinking/working time I need to achieve my goals. Every morning from 8-10 I turn off email, IM, etc. and focus on my priority project. I’m trying to fit another two-hour block in later in the day. Either way, I am guaranteed to stay moving towards my goals.
Please share your 2010 communications resolutions with me in Comments below or via email. We’ll keep each other on track!
P.S. More effective messaging is a priority for most nonprofits. Learn how to craft the most essential message — your tagline. Download the free 2009 Nonprofit Tagline Report, filled with must-dos, don’t dos, case studies and 2,500+ nonprofit tagline examples!
Thanks to Fast Company for highlighting this fantastic example of effective graphic communication. Take a look here to digest the entire poster, then move quickly to hide your bottle of water under your desk.
More seriously, this is graphic communication at its finest. I learned (and retain) more about the detriment that bottled water production contributes to our world (and our health, in some cases) in five minutes here than I ever would have in digesting a few paragraphs of text.
Graphics are a definite advantage in making complex and/or dense information (the kind nonprofits have lots of) more accessible and memorable. And my graphic learning experience is making me think hard about how I can help client orgs communicate more effectively via non-traditional graphics.
How are you using graphic information to complement your narrative content? Please share your experiences with the Getting Attention community in the Comments field below or email me today.
P.S. Don’t miss out on in-depth articles, case studies and guides to nonprofit marketing success — all featured in the twice-monthly Getting Attention e-update.Subscribe today.
Every nonprofit communicator worth her salt works from this lens: Where does our organization’s passion and impact intersect with the needs, interests and desires of our network? Making that connection is the key to engaging your base. Without it, you’re like the proverbial two ships passing in the night.
Now there’s a great new resource to help you find that point of connection. Marketing innovator Seth Godin, who is constantly proposing new and often provocative ways of looking at the world, asked 50+ creative thinkers to craft a brief essay on the single word that matters most to them, right now. What Matters Now, available as a free download, is the result.
Elizabeth Gilbert writes on ease, nonprofit marketer extraordinaire Mark Rovner covers timeless (principles) of effective communications, and Chip and Dan Heath, authors of Making it Stick, dig into change. These are just of few of the perspectives you’ll gain in investing the hour or so it takes to devour What Matters Now.
Read this e-book today for the insight and inspiration you’ll need to make these critical connections in 2010.
P.S. Seth’s compilation and release of this e-book is a great example of building engagement. He invested his time and effort to ask 50+ friends to contribute their points of view, edited and released the book, and is now promoting it to his own enormous following. But he’s not alone. He has 50+ well-connected colleagues, each of whom has her own set of relationships, who are doing the same. And so on, and so on….
P.S. Learn how to craft a compelling story for your org in 8 words or less. Download the free 2009 Nonprofit Tagline Report, filled with must-dos, don’t dos, case studies and 2,500+ nonprofit tagline examples!
Newark Mayor Cory Booker is one dedicated civil servant, and a personal hero of mine. He's made it his business (and pretty much his life) to move the city to a state of health and works 24/7 to do so.
Two core components of his strategy are engagement and transparency. Booker and his team communicate constantly, via a broad range of channels, to keep supporters informed and involved. Because making Newark a healthy city is his administration's cause.
I recommend that your organization's thought leaders take a cue from his approach. Here's how Booker does it:
Puts himself out there as the public face of Newark. A face enables a connection; a geography doesn't. Are your thought leaders putting themselves out there, in a full and real way, as leading voices on your issues?
Shares his struggles as mayor, and the issues that continue to plague Newark. Again, we can connect with that struggle. Are your leaders sharing the downs, as well as the ups? That's real.
Is out there always communicating, everywhere supporters, citizens, partners may be. Booker's on Twitter (with 845,00 followers of @corybooker) and active on Facebook (with 15,339 supporters). Recent Facebook posts range from a Judy Garland quote to heads up on the opening Nets game at their new venue. A little humor, carefully done, always helps.
Inspires by thinking and talking vision and future, but also shares the concrete tactics he's putting in place to make it happen. This is a rare but potent combination — the inspirational doer. He shares inspirational quotes, personal hopes and Newark news. Irresistible!
Goes beyond the norm to reach out and engage.
When Conan O'Brien lambasted Newark, Booker was on it (sense of humor front and center) immediately. He responded by posting a video on YouTube and eventually Hillary Clinton settled the fray. You couldn't buy better coverage. Here's a recap.
Booker recently launched CoryBooker.com, interweaving content on the city and himself and it's a hit. Particularly compelling is his "day in the life" feature, where Booker shares each day's schedule. The schedule shouts dedication, awareness and hard work.
Consider how your org's thought leaders are communicating. It's likely they can put some of these strategies to work to advance your cause, whether that includes Conan O'Brien or not.
P.S. Don't miss out on in-depth articles, case studies and guides to nonprofit marketing success — all featured in the twice-monthly Getting Attention e-update. Subscribe today.
I got a bonus! I'm finding many of the comments submitted by voters in the 2009 Getting Attention Nonprofit Tagline Awards to be incredibly useful, and wanted to share a couple of them with you. Here are two of the best reminders:
1) Educate your colleagues and board about communications. Don't assume they know what you do. It's likely that they have as little understanding of the intricacies of planning, decision-making, implementation and tracking as you have of their areas of expertise.
One voter plans to "use selected finalist taglines as examples of excellence for our board members."
2) Focus on what your organization is working for, not what it's working against. If you focus on what you're fighting, you simply bring more attention to it. When you feature what you're working toward, you establish a sense of process and progress that is clear and inspiring!
BTW, thanks for your votes and comments. Keep them coming and I'll share your thoughts here. And if you haven't already voted, please vote today. Polls close midnight, Wednesday, September 30th.
Media planning, like most planning responsibilities, is daunting and seems tedious.
It's hard to know where to start, how to allocate the right time and staff and, most of all, how to motivate yourself to dive in. So many of us just avoid it, as we do with other planning responsibilities.
But this 11-step process will ease your pain — carving out a clear, proven path to media relations planning success.
Dive right in. The water's fine.
P.S.Subscribe nowto the Getting Attention e-update to get your free copy of the 2009 Getting Attention Nonprofit Tagline Report (due in late fall), filled with best practices, trends and a directory of over 2,500 nonprofit taglines.
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
In an era where even Loehmann’s (THE original discount ladies clothing store w/famously-communal dressing rooms, spent many Saturday afternoons there with my mom as a child) has a Facebook page, you know it’s hard to get through to your network of supporters, much less engage them.
