GOOD:  I recently read an article about ‘accidental marketing’ describing serendipitous moments when we ‘sell’ our product/service without having really planned it.  In this case, it was a nonprofit staff member (let’s call him Joe), who went out to pick up some donated furniture.  Joe accidentally knocked on the wrong door.  In explaining to the neighbor who he was/why he was there, Joe was so passionate in speaking about his organization that the neighbor made a donation.  Talk about a good elevator pitch! Serendipity, however, can be squandered unless we give it a boost.

            Marketing Take-Away: Plan ahead to take advantage of serendipity.  Joe’s organization had a culture of philanthropy and customer service where every single person on staff lived and breathed the mission.  They had trained all their staff to create a great customer experience and deliver a good elevator pitch. They worked collaboratively, rather than in silos. Joe knew a lot about the organization’s work and its impact in the community.  He was proud of this.  He wasn’t just a pick-up/delivery guy in that moment. He was much, much more. Purposefully assure your entire staff are mission-based marketers.

            Marketing Take-Away: Plan to provide value that will satisfy your constituents’ desires.    You can’t just apply a tool and hope against hope that, by accident, the tool will deliver the right product. Posting any old thing to your Facebook page will not create engagement. You don’t get points just for using the tool (unless you get lucky). Hopefully we’re operating on more than a kiss and a prayer. Use strategic planning tools and research to determine what folks find value in. Define the ways you provide this better than your competitors. Never lose sight of the consumer perspective. Purposefully promote the benefits (not the features) that satisfy your constituents’ desires/needs.

UGLY:  Ugly marketing occurs when you just don’t give a d—m. In this ‘accidental marketing’ article we learn from Elizabeth Kraus about businesses that insist marketing is simply a by-product… an unplanned, word-of-mouth activity – that presumes that what you’re doing is so awesome people will just come to you. This is like thinking folks will buy all that stuff in your garage even if you don’t plan a garage sale.  Or like thinking folks will donate to you even though you never ask for a gift. As the author so aptly describes:

An even uglier form of accidental marketing is described in Kivi Leroux Miller’s blog post about the accidental rebranding of the Komen Foundation.   It’s about what happens when you don’t plan ahead for how you’ll communicate.