#ADVOCACY: Make Sure Pitch Has Call To Action, Not Just High Concept
What happens when you get corporate assistance to launch a new campaign, or pro bono development from a commercial ad agency? You can get some fabulous ideas and some valuable insights on establishing your brand. You can get your materials into some of the best publication and on some of the most visited sites on the web.
But as some of our colleagues at Sofii.org have discovered, you can also get a good deal of expensive nothing. The commercial backer or ad agency might not be sensitive to the constituents who want to be involved with various types of nonprofits. They might encourage outreach through channels that are quite unlikely to reach the people your charity traditionally reaches. They might give you a fabulous product on the design board (Indeed, I think it’s safe to say that they certainly will give you a fabulous design.) that falls flat in the real world. Let’s look at a couple of examples from Sofii.
Popularity: 1% | Category Advertising, Advice, Advocacy, Blogs, Campaigns, Case Study, Cause Marketing, Communications, Copyrighting, Crowdfunding, Design, Development, Donor Acquisition, Fundraising, Graphic Design, How-to, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Measurement, Media Review, Newspaper Article, Nonprofit, Nonprofit, Public Relations, Publications, Publications Design, Resource, Reviews, Sponsorship, Storytelling, Strategic Marketing, Study, Writing | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#COMMUNICATIONS: Make Your Next Fundraiser An Online Conversation Too
A Twitter Wall adds dynamism to even the smallest event
Though weather in the mid-Atlantic continues to flirt with spring while staying surprisingly loyal to winter, it is the season to be planning summer festivals, fundraisers, and rallies. And if you really want to stay on top of your nonprofit’s schedule, start planning your end-of-year banquet as well (and use Tungle). But in this day and age, a nonprofit’s fundraising festival should be but one component of a multi-media plan to engage constituents, volunteers, and supporters both at the event and in the social networks of those attending.
We have recommended ‘Tweet Tables’ in previous posts, and today we draw on a really useful compendium of ideas from Trevor Jonas at Mashable.com.
Popularity: 2% | Category Advertising, Blogs, Cause Marketing, Communications, Community, Crowdfunding, Events, Facebook, Facebook, Fundraising, Gala, Geo-Location, How-to, iDevice, iPad/Tablet, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Media Review, Mobile, Newsletter, Nonprofit, Nonprofit, Public Media, Public Relations, Reviews, Site Administration, Social Media, Social Networks, Storytelling, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits, Twitter | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#SOCIALMEDIA: Online Communication Is A Team Sport
Prep your staff for social media success
Difficult not to start this post with a shout-out to the Baltimore Orioles, who beat the Red Sox at Fenway last night after 17 innings. One of the best of the many anomalies of the game is the fact that the O’s Designated Hitter, Chris Davis went 0-for-8, with 5 strikeouts − and was the winning pitcher, throwing two shut-out innings when the rest of the staff was used up. It takes a team, and everyone contributes something critical to the overall success.
And it should be that way for your nonprofit or charity as well. Whatever the extent of your staff, you need to structure a social-media team who are dedicated to listening, contributing, and monitoring your outreach both quantitatively and qualitatively.
Popularity: 2% | Category Advertising, Advice, Blogs, Campaigns, Cause Marketing, Communications, Crowdfunding, Development, eBook, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Measurement, Nonprofit, Nonprofit, Permission Marketing, Public Media, Public Relations, Publications, Resource, SEO, Site Administration, Social Media, Social Networks, Strategic Marketing, Writing | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#INTERVIEW: Chris Forbes, Co-Author of Guerrilla Marketing for Nonprofits, Offers Great Advice to Groups
Chris Forbes is the co-author of Guerrilla Marketing for Nonprofits and a certified guerrilla-marketing coach. His varied background in marketing includes experience in the faith sector and work on five continents, and he has pioneered several media initiatives in public relations, television, radio and the Internet. The interview was conducted by Don Akchin, a principal of Nonprofit Marketing 360 and a frequent contributor to the MKCREATIVE blog.
MKC: What drew you to the marketing field?
CHRIS: I grew up in a marketing family. My mom had a product-administration service and worked with grocery stores and established networks with, say, free samples of food. When I was 14, she wanted me to dress up as Twinkie the Kid in a big foam-rubber costume to pass out Twinkies. When I was 15, she wanted me to dress up as Freddy the Fresh Guy from Wonder Bread. Then at 16, she asked me to be the Planter’s Peanut guy, but you have to wear leotards for that costume. I drew the line there.
Popularity: 4% | Category Advertising, Advice, Book, Branding, Campaigns, Case Study, Communications, Community, Cross-Post, Facebook, Facebook, Facebook, Interview, LinkedIn, Marketing, Marketing Budget, Marketing Skills, Measurement, Nonprofit, Nonprofit, Permission Marketing, Perspectives, Perspectives, Pinterest, Public Relations, Research, Resource, Social Media, Social Networks, Strategic Marketing, Tumblr, Twitter, Twitter, YouTube | | 0 Comments
Written by: Don Akchin
#FUNDRAISING: 2011 Was A Good Year For Email Outreach By Nonprofits
With all the excitement about all the social networks and all the purchases that Facebook has been making lately, it’s worth remembering that not only do more ‘traditional’ media exist but they also can be of greater value than the newest platform that has all the media and investor eyeballs. Such should be especially remembered by nonprofits who might not have the resources to establish a presence on the latest Pinterest trend.
According to the latest eNonprofit Benchmark Study by NTEN (Nonprofit Technology Network) and M+R Strategic Services, a substantial email list and a well-crafted email campaign remain the most valuable fundraising tools in your charity’s box. Just how valuable?
Popularity: 3% | Category Advertising, Advice, Campaigns, Cause Marketing, Communications, Community, Crowdfunding, Design, Development, Donor Acquisition, eBook, eNewsletter, Facebook, Fundraising, iPad Apps, iPad/Tablet, iPhone Apps, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Media Review, Mobile, Nonprofit, Nonprofit, Publications, Report, Resource, Reviews, Social Media, Technology, Web Design | | 1 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#ENVIRO: CBS/EcoMedia Partnership Expands To Bring Revenues To Green Nonprofits
The alliance between CBS/EcoMedia began just last year in an effort to bring advertising dollars directly to nonprofits, and the success of the program is beyond doubt as five more nationally recognized environmental nonprofits have recently joined the ranks. The effort of the partnership is allow corporate sponsors who buy advertising through the CBS conglomerate to direct some of that money toward the nonprofits themselves. According to the EcoMedia mission statement, “We’ve developed partnerships with cities across America, all of which have environmental projects in need of funding. When companies advertise with us, dollars go directly into these projects, thereby turning traditional television commercials, radio spots, online advertising, and outdoor billboards into EcoAds.” − as this advertisement demonstrates:
Popularity: 3% | Category Advertising, Cause Marketing, Civics, Communications, Environment, Grants and Funding, Greening, Marketing, Newsletter, Nonprofit, Nonprofit, Press Release, Public Media, Public Relations | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#SM4NP: ‘Kony 2012′ Still Stirs Engagement, Controversy, And Embarrassment
Director's breakdown raises further questions
The controversy surrounding the viral video ‘Kony 2012′ continues even as its views on YouTube surpass 85.4 million as I write. The director, Jason Russell, had something of a mental breakdown a week ago, when he was arrested for indecent exposure while ranting almost incoherently about support and friendships. As reported by ABC.com late last week, “According to the National Institutes of Health, brief reactive psychosis is triggered by extreme stress, such as a traumatic event or the loss of a loved one. The symptoms, which include delusions, hallucinations and strange speech, can last up to a month, and the person may be completely unaware of them. … Alan Hilfer, chief psychologist at Maimonides Medical Center in New York City, said the backlash over Russell’s “Kony 2012″ campaign could have been traumatic enough to trigger the meltdown.”
How might disconcerting behavior of the video’s producer shift the discussion of the video and the appeal by ‘Invisible Children’ to raise awareness of Joseph Kony’s ‘Lord’s Resistance Army‘?
Popularity: 4% | Category Advertising, Campaigns, Case Study, Cause Marketing, Civics, Communications, Crowdfunding, Fundraising, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Media Review, National/International, News and Current Affairs, Newspaper Article, Nonprofit, Opinion, Politics, Public Media, Reviews, Social Media, Social Networks, Storytelling, Technology, Video, YouTube | | 3 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#PHILANTHROPY: Google Can Give Time, Resources, & AdWords To Nonprofits
Google is the great behemoth of web searching and video hosting. Google.com is default homepage in millions of browsers and YouTube has inspired citizen journalists in war-torn Syria and video mashups of cute kittens in suburbia. Google.org is perhaps not as well known, but its philanthropic outreach is huge, and it offers that money and support numerous ways – some of which your organization can surely take advantage of!
Popularity: 4% | Category Advertising, Advice, Blogs, Campaigns, Cause Marketing, Civics, Communications, Community, Crowdfunding, Desktop Apps, Development, Donor Acquisition, eNewsletter, Fundraising, Grants, Grants and Funding, How-to, Major Gifts, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Measurement, Nonprofit, Nonprofit, Public Relations, Site Administration, Social Media, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits, Video | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#TECH: Facebook Timeline Rolled Out-Nonprofits Roll In
Last week a much-anticipated feature was released by Facebook’s developers. No, not the stock IPO (Initial Public Offer), but the Timeline feature/app that can turn one’s activities online into, well, a timeline. In one sense, one’s posts and posts of one’s friends (including organizations) created a proto-timeline. What the new feature offers is the opportunity for one’s activities outside Facebook to be brought into one’s Timeline, a development of what the folks at FB call ‘The Open Graph’.
The paradigm, and the opportunity to develop applications to link your nonprofit/business/media conglomerate/reading circle/music application…, was first presented in mid-January and now some 80+ such organizations have developed apps (the numbers shift periodically as more organizations make such apps, but some are blocked after being reviewed by Facebook). The numbers of nonprofits taking advantage of Timeline are not yet huge, but many are discussing how they might in the near future.
Popularity: 5% | Category Advertising, Branding, Cause Marketing, Communications, Crowdfunding, Facebook, Facebook, Fundraising, How-to, Marketing, Measurement, Media Review, Nonprofit, Nonprofit, Permission Marketing, Reviews, Site Administration, Social Media, Software Review, Storytelling, Technology for Nonprofits | | 4 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#COMMUNICATIONS: Hashtags Haunt McDonalds’ Foray Into Social Media
If anyone suggests to you that social media lay the yellow-brick road to huge fundraising or provide the silver bullet to finish off negative responses to your company, just smile sweetly and back away. Like any power tool, social-media platforms offer opportunities to do fine work to reach out to new customers, and they offer the chance to do serious damage to your organization in a stunningly brief period of time.
The most recent victim of a social media/PR blitz that went awry is the McDonalds‘ corporation, who wanted to put a human face – one interested in good food – on its restaurant chain. But for a while, it looked like Mickey-D’s slipped terribly out of its own control.
Popularity: 4% | Category Advertising, Campaigns, Case Study, Diet, Health, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Media Review, Public Relations, Social Media, Twitter | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#SocialNetworks: Facebook Faces Backlash As Public Offering Nears
The social networking phenomenon that is Facebook offers wonderful opportunity for connection, for spreading the word, for sharing, for changing the world. But it also offers unnerving chances for friction, for spreading rumor, for sharing a too personal party pics of friends, and for changing our skin-and-blood friends into an array of advertisers’ targets. MKCREATIVEmedia has often praised the opportunities to spread the good that an organization’s page offers, but we have occasionally wondered where all this private-made-public material is going – especially for individual citizens.
And as Facebook heads towards a likely Initial Public Offering early next year, we see a swelling trend of even Millennials who are backing off the platform. Is Facebook on the wane?
Popularity: 3% | Category Advertising, Blogs, Campaigns, Civics, Communications, Community, Facebook, Facebook, Marketing, News and Current Affairs, Newspaper Article, Social Media, Technology, Web and Print | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#Enviro: Does a Green Xmas List Really Help The Environment?
We enjoy looking for, and perhaps even presenting ourselves, challenging ideas for our readers. And one idea we came across challenges our desires to find just the right holiday gift for a loved one while maintaining our green/environmentalist cred. Piers Fawkes, founder and CEO of the New-York based firm PSFK, argues in a recent blog post that ‘buying green’ this holiday season really misses the boat when it comes to helping the environment or changing the habits of businesses.
Are we indeed doing more harm than good when we buy from those ‘Green Gift Guides’ that show up in many of our (e)mail inboxes?
Popularity: 3% | Category Advertising, Blogs, Cause Marketing, Civics, Climate Change, Community, Environment, Greening, National/International, News and Current Affairs, Opinion, Politics | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#Tech: Online Security For Your Person-Not Just Your Passwords
What is to be done?
Securing one’s passwords, email accounts, and banking information rightly gains the lion’s share of attention in the media. Having one’s email hacked into – even if the account contains no particularly personal or truly incriminating information – can be a terrible headache for oneself and for one’s family and friends.
But are we aware of just how much of our activity is tracked and counted and bought and sold as we browse the internet outside any personal accounts? Computer scientists at Stanford Law School’s ‘Center for Internet and Society’ have been pursing this issue for a few months now, and they trace the myriad ways our identities are shared via even the most innocuous of surfing.
Popularity: 5% | Category Advertising, Case Study, Communications, How-to, Marketing, Measurement, Media Review, Public Relations, Research, Resource, Reviews, Site Administration, Study, Technology, Web and Print | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#Interview: Michael Stein, Author, Blogger, & Veteran Nonprofit Technology Strategist
Michael Stein, Senior Account Executive for Donordigital, is a veteran nonprofit technology strategist whose areas of expertise include online fundraising, email messaging, email list growth, blogging, website content, mobile messaging, and social media. With Nick Allen and Mal Warwick, Michael wrote the groundbreaking 1997 book Fundraising on the Internet: Recruiting and Renewing Donors Online.
The interview was conducted by Don Akchin, a principal of Nonprofit Marketing 360 and a frequent contributor to the MKCREATIVEnonprofit blog.
MKC: How did you get into this field?
Michael: About 20 years ago, I was working for an environmental group just as the Internet started to emerge. I got in on the ground floor, building bulletin board systems for Greenpeace activists and others tracking toxic chemical emissions around the U.S. I helped build the pioneering Internet provider called IGC.org that trained nonprofits to use the Internet, which then morphed into the first experiments in online fundraising on the Web for Rainforest Action Network. In the mid-1990s, I hooked up with legendary direct mail fundraisers Mal Warwick and Nick Allen, and we started to think about what the future of fundraising might look like with the evolving Internet. Together we wrote the first book about fundraising online.
Popularity: 9% | Category Advertising, Advice, Blogs, Branding, Campaigns, Communications, Community, Copyrighting, Cross-Post, Database, Development, Donor Acquisition, E-Mail, eNewsletter, Facebook, Facebook, Fundraising, Grants, Grants and Funding, Interview, iPad/Tablet, Major Gifts, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Measurement, Newsletter, Nonprofit, Nonprofit, Permission Marketing, Perspectives, Public Relations, Social Media, Storytelling, Technology, Tools, Twitter, Writing | | 0 Comments
Written by: Don Akchin
#SocialNetworks: Google+ For Business Is Now Open!
Yes, the release of Google+’s Business Pages is the biggest news in social media this week. And in business news. And in design news… The release of business pages within Google+ did not go without incident: Many were led to believe they could get their pages up, only to discover their accounts were not part of the list allowing early adoption – an inconvenience that mirrored the rollout of individual accounts as well.
But over the last day or two, the Business Pages have been presented to all Google+ users (one must have a Google+ Personal Page before one can build a Business Page), and the bandwagon has been overwhelmed ever since. What will Google+’s Business Pages bring to the social-media landscape?
Popularity: 3% | Category Advertising, Advice, Communications, Community, Design, Facebook, How-to, Marketing, Measurement, Media Review, News and Current Affairs, Nonprofit, Nonprofit, Public Relations, Reviews, Site Administration, Social Media, Technology, Technology for Nonprofits, Web Design | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#Tech: QR Codes, Smart Phones, And Prunes Come Together In South Korean Subway
The BBC and PRI’s The World offered a story on the ‘virtual grocery stores’ that are starting to pop up on the walls of some of Seoul’s subway stations. They are the brainchild of Homeplus, the South Korean affiliate of the British supermarket chain Tesco (which has only a minimal presence in the US market as a part of the ‘Fresh & Easy‘ stores). The advertisements have images of the foods sold at the market and QR Codes associated with each product. Use your smart phone to snap a shot of the QR Code, which places your order into a bag or bags, all of which will delivered to your home.
Will such a convenience move beyond the Korean peninsula? Probably, though some resistance is found even in South Korea’s subway.
Popularity: 4% | Category Advertising, Case Study, Community, Geo-Location, iDevice, iPhone Apps, Marketing, Media Review, Reviews, Social Media, Technology | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#Fundraising: To Bring Donations In, Keep Sending Emails Out
With all the buzz about social media sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Google+, we can lose track of tried-and-true outreach tools. Though these other platforms might be great ways to advertise events or spread late-breaking news about your organization’s work, they are not proving to be efficient fundraising instruments (yet?). John Haydon at Inbound Zombie and Razoo Fundraising has been crunching numbers to demonstrate the fact that email remains the best way not only to bring in donations, but to bring in bigger donations.
What makes email, the communications platform that seems oh-so-90s, so successful as a fundraising platform?
Popularity: 3% | Category Advertising, Advice, Campaigns, Cause Marketing, Communications, Community, Development, Direct Mail, Donor Acquisition, E-Mail, Fundraising, How-to, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Media Review, Nonprofit, Nonprofit, Public Relations, Reviews, Social Media, Technology, Twitter, Web and Print | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#SocialNetworking: How Can You Improve Your Tweet Stream?
Follow MKCREATIVETeam!
The statistics of Twitter’s growth since 2006 are staggering, and Twitter has every right to brag about the numbers. Although research shows that most people use Twitter to follow, not to post, that statistic should be encouraging, not discouraging, nonprofits to sharpen their skills and beef up their presence on the social-media platform. Let us suggest a few things to help. Perhaps the first thing to appreciate if you are a neophyte to Twitter is that no one tweet is likely to break your reputation (Well, there are exceptions). Many folks are learning the medium, and the atmosphere is pretty cordial. In fact, the bigger danger might be playing things so safely that your voice simply gets lost among the millions of daily tweets.
Popularity: 2% | Category Advertising, Advice, Communications, Community, Fundraising, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Nonprofit, Nonprofit, Public Relations, Site Administration, Social Media, Technology, Twitter | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#Interview: Rob Wu, Founder of CauseVox, On Building Online Tools For Nonprofits (Part 2 of 2)
Last week, we introduced one of the founders of CauseVox, Rob Wu, who told us about the integrated platform he and Jefferson Chang developed after their experience working with nonprofits in Uganda in 2008. The young men saw the need to bring together online tools like website customization, social-media outreach, and donor tracking for smaller nonprofits so that they could use all these tools in an affordable and scalable manner. This week Rob shares the lessons he and Jeff learned while building CauseVox.
Rob Wu, Cofounder of CauseVox
Rob and Jeff began to rollout CauseVox in 2009, not an especially auspicious year to start a new business. We asked Rob if the ongoing Great Recession has been hard on the company and how he and his colleagues see CauseVox going forward through this recession. He answered in a manner-of-fact tone that suggested the confidence of an athlete whose team is in a rough patch: “We started CauseVox in a down economy, and we’ve been doing well. So in a way, we’re not too worried about a double-dip or triple-dip recession. We’ve been working through one anyway. But in a way a recession drives nonprofits to look for new sources of funding. They become more willing to try new things. As they are trying new things, we think they will want to try CauseVox.”
Popularity: 5% | Category Advertising, Campaigns, Communications, Community, Crowdfunding, Development, Donor Acquisition, Fundraising, Grants and Funding, Interview, Marketing, Marketing Skills, Nonprofit, Nonprofit, Perspectives, Perspectives, Public Relations, Social Media, Technology, Web and Print, Web Design | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD
#Tech: Near-Field Communication (NFC) Could Turn Smartphones Into Donation Engines
Near-Field Technology (NFC) allows short-range communications between an NFC antenna or engineered SIM card and a receiver. The communication is good only up to a couple of feet, which might help make it a secure connection because eavesdroppers need to be next to the users. It is a technology that first appeared in Taiwan in 2007, and is expected to have a major impact in the US by the middle of next year.
From a hardware point of view, the user needs a smartphone with the necessary antenna or SIM card. For most of us, that would mean a phone upgrade, though a few NFC-ready phones are already on the market (click here for a running list of available phones). With the NFC-ready phone, a user could connect his or her bank through the phone to make purchases with a swipe of that phone. And there is where the debate has started.
Popularity: 4% | Category Advertising, Banking & Finance, Civics, Communications, Geo-Location, Hardware Review, iDevice, Marketing, Public Relations, Reviews, Software Review, Technology, Tools | | 0 Comments
Written by: Christopher Gardner, PhD