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message development

Be Consistent, Not Confusing with Multi-Channel Nonprofit Marketing

Call it what you will — integrated, holistic, multi-channel fundraising and marketing — but there’s no variance in my recommendation that you take this approach right now, if you’re not already.

Without multi-channel marketing and fundraising, your target audiences are confused by the inconsistency of what they’re hearing from you via various “channels” (your emails vs. Facebook page vs. in-person events). No one likes to be confused and in many cases, the response is to flee your call to action. This doesn’t mean you have to use every channel. It does mean that when you focus on the channels where your target audiences already are, strive for consistency.

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Nancy Schwartz on October 6, 2011 in Strategy | 2 comments
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Your Annual Report’s Opening Message:
6 Ways to Motivate Readers

Thanks to guest blogger, Kimberlee Roth, one of our team’s valued writers. Kim has written for the Chicago Tribune and The Chronicle of Philanthropy among other publications, and provides writing and editing services to universities, health systems and other nonprofits.

I harbor no ill will toward opening messages. In fact, I believe they can be an important component of a nonprofit’s annual report. When done well–well being the operative word–they provide context for the rest of the publication. They personalize it and make it more immediate, and they help point readers to key information and calls to action.
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Guest Blogger on September 19, 2011 in Annual Reports | 0 comments
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Learn the 4 Keys to Pitch-Perfect Messaging – Free Webinar Oct. 5

Register now to learn
How to Stop Striking Flat Notes with Your Target Audiences and
Join the 16% of Nonprofits Whose Messages Resonate and Spur Action

Date: Wednesday, October 5, 2011
Time: 3:00-4:00PM EST/12:00-1:00PM PST
Replay: If you can’t make this time, register anyway. All registrants will get the video recording.

REGISTER NOW

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Nancy Schwartz on September 15, 2011 in Branding and Messages | 1 comment
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How to Shape Messages that Persuade Leaders to Act (Worksheet)

Over the last years, American Rivers has conducted in-depth research with a variety of Chesapeake Bay leaders on their understanding of polluted stormwater runoff and potential solutions, and their response to a variety of messages.  They do great work.

So I was thrilled to find this clear, well-tested message development worksheet American Rivers developed for organizations advocating for better stormwater solutions. This approach is applicable to your message development around any issue, in any region.
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Nancy Schwartz on September 12, 2011 in Branding and Messages | 0 comments
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Got Writers’ Block? Ask these 3 questions

I’m pleased to welcome back guest blogger, Kimberlee Roth, one of our team’s valued writers. Kim also writes for the Chicago Tribune and The Chronicle of Philanthropy among other publications, and is author of Surviving a Borderline Parent.

As a writer, I hear these complaints all time: “I never know where to start”; “I don’t know what to say”; or “I know what I want to say, but I can’t seem to find the right words.”
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Guest Blogger on August 11, 2011 in Writing | 2 comments
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3 Steps to Video Annual Report Success: VolunteerMatch Case Study

I dug into VolunteerMatch’s recent annual report in video format the minute it reached my inbox. READ MORE

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Nancy Schwartz on August 9, 2011 in Annual Reports | 0 comments
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100% Guaranteed: Messaging Disconnect Will Alienate Your Audiences

I’ve advised you to piggyback your nonprofit content on headlines and notable days to catch your target audiences in their open-minded moments. It’s an easy and reliable way to connect with your base and increase engagement.

Not surprisingly, the converse is also true. Here’s a dramatic example of how a messaging disconnect alienates the very folks you need to engage to move your mission forward:
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Nancy Schwartz on July 26, 2011 in Branding and Messages | 3 comments
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How to Shape & Share Your Nonprofit Stories – Recruit the Right Board Members

I’m happy to welcome guest blogger Kim St. John-Stevenson. She is the communications officer at the St. Luke’s Foundation of Cleveland and a powerful advocate for funding nonprofit skill building in Communications!

“He was splashing…enjoying the jungle’s great joys…when Horton the Elephant heard a small noise… Just a faint little yelp, as if some tiny person were calling for help.”

And so begins the children’s book Horton Hears a Who, in which Horton the Elephant happens upon a small world on top of a dust speck.
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Guest Blogger on July 19, 2011 in storytelling | 1 comment
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How the Right Metaphor Generates an Immediate “Aha”

Being that I’m a less is more person, I’m continually looking for the right metaphor to integrate in my writing as a short cut to understanding.

That’s what metaphors do — relate something your audiences don’t know or understand to something they are familiar with. It’s one of the most reliable techniques there is (as long as you know your audiences well enough to be confident that they’ll get it — the same criterion goes for using humor in your communications).

Metaphors are a simple and proven way to build connection with your target audiences. And they frequently deliver a bonus — many metaphors are highly-visual and greatly enliven plain vanilla content to make it much more memorable.

Here’s a great metaphor model shared by Mary Beth Lambert, a participant in the recent Total Focus Marketing Plan Workshop held in Seattle. Mary Beth participated on behalf of The WashBoard.org, the program she markets for the Washington Scholarship Coalition.

A program name like that raises so many questions: It is related to clean laundry, highly-developed abs or what? But Mary Beth clarified The WashBoard.org’s focus and impact in a second with this metaphor: “It’s the E-Harmony for scholarship students.”

This metaphor enables us to immediately understand that the program makes matches between students seeking scholarships and scholarship providers. The imagery is still fresh in my mind!

What metaphors have you used that generated an “aha?” And which ones have fallen flat, and why? Please share your metaphor experiences here.

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 30, 2011 in Branding and Messages | 2 comments
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Deadline for Reinvigorating Your Org’s Messaging – July 6

Every marketing task your organization tackles should incorporate a frequent analysis of ROI (return on investment).

It’s the only valid, vital framework for running an effective marketing program especially when resources are limited, as they are for most nonprofit organizations.

I encourage you to apply an ROI analysis to all that you do. Consider this…

  • Take my recommendation and strengthen (or shape) your organization’s messaging by enrolling in the Tagline Focus Project (TFP).
  • Follow the proven 11-step message development process as you work closely with your target audiences, your colleagues and with me. Work with me one-to-one to fine tune your final tagline draft and then roll it out.
  • And then, six months to a year later, look at your ROI in terms of what you learned and produced in the Tagline Focus Project.

For your investment of tuition and effort, you’ll learn how to shape messages that connect. The Tagline Focus Project process and product will lead to:

  1. New supporters: As you take your place among the only 18% of organizations with taglines that work to engage the supporters you depend on. And it’s always hardest to build new supporters.
  2. Increased loyalty: Your current network will understand your organization’s unique value and impact more clearly than ever, which will strengthen their sense of appreciation and connection. Everyone likes being a part of a winning organization.
  3. A team of powerful messengers: As your network of supporters more clearly understands what’s so special about your organization (they always knew it—that’s why they support you—but they couldn’t easily articulate it) and has a recognizable, memorable tagline to work with, it’s far easier for them to spread the word to family and friends. Especially when you ask them to do so.
  4. Stronger skills for all messaging components: Learning how to craft a tagline equips you with the skills to write high-power taglines for your organization’s programs, services and campaigns, so those marketing agendas are equally successful; and gives you a great base to work from in writing the other key components of your organization’s (and programs/services/campaigns) message platform—the positioning statement and talking points or key messages.
  5. Less stress and better marketing outcomes: When you have to start from scratch writing content for your organization, trying to get it right time and time again, it’s a huge drain. It’s just plain hard to crank it out, and then to revise content through the countless rounds of review and approval.

With a well-researched and tested tagline in hand, you’re ready to go with the essence of your messaging, and can build from that proven foundation each and every time.

We’re starting on July 6 and have just a few seats still open.
So if you’re interested in using this summer to vastly improve your organization’s messaging, I encourage you to go ahead and register today for the Tagline Focus Project.

It would be great to work together!

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Nancy Schwartz on June 28, 2011 in Branding and Messages | 0 comments
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