How to Project Manage Your Nonprofit Story
For years nonprofits have worked from the “inside out” in terms of prioritizing constituencies to target. It was accepted wisdom that effective fundraising was an “inside out” proposition and that we should work our networks beginning with those with the greatest reasons to give (e.g., board members, clients, family and friends). As resources allowed, we’d then move outwards in concentric circles – pushing with all our might to broaden our constituency. Something has happened to turn this traditional paradigm on its ear.
Incidentally, this is the way for profit businesses developed their brands too. They picked their own brand direction; then blasted it out for the entire world to see. Marketers worked from gut instinct, and a good deal of arrogance, confident that their vision of their brand would resonate with their potential customers. Those who guessed right won; the others, not so much.
Pushing outwards doesn’t work today, and here’s why:
- We’re in the midst of a digital revolution that’s changing the way our constituencies (and potential constituencies) connect with us. We can’t afford not to jump on the social media train if that’s where our constituents are. And many of the ‘close in’ folks are there as well. Marketing (which nonprofits used to call ‘development’) is now very much an “outside/in” proposition. It’s not about a gun… blast… our any outward-bound messaging. It’s about inbound dialogue and engagement.
Example: Imagine asking your constituents to pin visuals from your website of the programs they most value onto your Pinterest board; then imagine other folks repinning these visuals. You get valuable research regarding your constituents’ priority interest, plus you begin a virtual dialogue that may engage new potential supporters. Red Envelope engaged in a powerfully interactive Father’s Day sweepstakes contest that used this principle.
- Our constituents have the tools to push out to us and change the entire rhythm of marketing. They’re defining our brand for us. They can ‘unfriend us’ and let all their friends know. They can leave a bad review on Yelp. They can put up an unflattering You Tube video. They can send out negative tweets. They can post unflattering visuals on Pinterest. If we’re not in those channels actively, we’re not poised to respond and do damage control.
Example: Some years back Susan B. Komen took more than 24 hours to respond to consumer compaints; it took them quite some time to recover.
- What our constituents value begins with them; not with us. If we really want to find a need and fill it, then we have to listen to and engage with our constituents to learn what they believe they need. People today are very informed. It’s not about us informing them anymore. They want to inform us. And they want to tell us when and where they want to hear from us. The growth of permission based marketing is testimony to this trend.
Example: How are you going to encourage folks to subscribe to your email list? You must offer something of value. Don’t just say “Subscribe to our list”. What’s in it for them? Ask them to sign up for something specific (e.g. news, advocacy alerts, behind-the-scenes happenings, recipes, recommended readings, etc.). Then… make sure you deliver on your value-based promise.
- It’s all about the customer experience. Rather than designing programs and products and promoting features we need to think in terms of designing customer (donor-investor) experiences and promoting benefits. Think: What’s in it for them? What do they value? How can you give it to them? How can you help them?
Example: Blog about something useful (e.g., “How to Keep Seniors Safe at Home”). Send helpful tweets with links to useful articles ( e.g., “Make Sure Your Kid Has a Great Summer”). Post recipes created by clients on Pinterest. Share beautiful, compelling images on Instagram.
- You encounter potential constituents in multiple marketing channels so must pay attention to every place they’re coming into contact with you. You can’t simply focus on pushing your message out in one or two forums.
Example: Send a survey to find out which social media channels your constituents frequent. Then go to the virtual party, and give your guests gifts they’ll value. Don’t make them go somewhere they don’t like to meet you. Don’t pick something you like; pick something they’ll like.
While you’re ‘pulling’, always remember this: The digital revolution has given us some great pull tools, but it’s still a people-to-people endeavor and requires relevance and personalization . Before you can ask for a gift you need to meet your constituents where they are; then bring them along a continuum — from awareness… to interest… to engagement… to investment. This requires purposeful, holistic marketing/development (which is why I argue that the two departments should become one). Working together as an integrated team is the best way to get to know your constituents; then show them that you know them.
Do you disagree and think we should still market from inside/out? If so, why?
12 Comments
what a nice blog. your posts are really helpful.Good reasons but provide some beneficial tips for people.Push Marketing
Claire: You write persuasively and with conviction — no doubt about it. But when you write about paradigm shift — and everybody does — you need to provide more evidence and not only compelling opinion. Susan G. Komen is "evidence" of a giant political blunder. They still have not recovered — and may never. But, you need to provide more everyday examples. So, it's not a matter of agreeing or disagreeing with you. In a complex world, my guess is that we need both "inside out/outside in" efforts.
Thanks Sarah and Anonymous.
I do try to provide helpful tips in addition to highlighting issues that are of concern to many of us. You make a good point, anon, and I'll try to provide more specific examples in the future.
You may wish to join some of my group discussions on LinkedIn. By crowd sourcing, many examples from a variety of different types of organizations are surfaced. Check me out on LinkedIn http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=306749&trk;=tab_pro and see if any of the groups I participate in may be relevant for you.
Thanks again for reading/commenting!
I agree that links to more everyday examples would be beneficial.
In seeking to increase my own awareness of the character of past successes I located this blog posting —
http://www.causemedia.com/connect/what-we-can-learn-3-social-media-successful-nonprofits
Those are great examples you found Anon. I'm wondering if anyone has examples from smaller and more local charities. The principles are the same; however, one can have the best plan in the world and it won't result in success if there are no boots on the ground to work the plan. So smaller orgs need to pick a few bites they can chew.
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hi team… it would be interesting to find out where the main $$$ in your areas of operation is coming from – for example, we’re in South Africa, and individual donors are just about non-existent, because in a “developing economy”, the majority of people simply don’t have money …. in order to survive, we rely solely on corporate CSI funding and funding from large funders e.g., EU, IDC. Govt, etc … it would appear that there is a significant difference between the 2 areans – “first world” versus “third world”, or, to be politically correct, “developed” versus “developing” economies … this needs to be taken into account, because the funding dynamics appear to be different … also, our challenges on the ground appear to be more existential in nature – the fight for survival of a large proportion of our folks – therefore, if we are to look for thought-leadership from the developed economies, which I believe is absolutely vital because you’ve solved problems we’re still grappling with, you guys need to give this some thought – we need all the help we can get … m …