This is a special social media edition of the Clairity Click-it, since so many folks tell me they’re not doing as effective a job as they wish they were. Help is at hand! Take a look at these practical, and sometimes thought provoking, tips from some of my favorite nonprofit and for profit marketing gurus.
Fun events may bring in hundreds of attendees, but a fundraising event is not an end in and of itself. Often the charity never sees these folks again (or at least not until the next event) because these folks are golfers or ‘thoners, not donors. These events are a waste of your precious resources.
Don’t tell me that you “raised awareness.”
Unless you raised awareness towards a particular end (usually generating greater philanthropic support) – and you have a plan to intentionally build on this awareness — then everything your attendees may have learned about you will go in one ear and out the other. Awareness that isn’t reinforced lasts about two seconds.
Don’t tell me that you “raised good money.”
Did you really? Well, think again.
Adopt an integrated inbound marketing and fundraising strategy.
If you don’t know what that means, you’re in trouble. Read on.
If you do know, are you really doing it?
It’s time to stop pussy footing around this.
Here’s why:
(1) Nonprofit marketing and fundraising have changed more in the past five years than the preceding 50. I’m not kidding! The digital revolution ended business as usual.
(2) Fundraising and marketing must be seamlessly integrated. They cannot be separate silos any longer.
It’s not about the money. It’s about the mission and the impact. This year-end fundraising blog post from 2013 by a recent nonprofit client of mine, One Justice, absolutely nails why we ask folks for support. It’s about what will happen if we don’t engage in fundraising.
I encourage you to read and consider the full post. For while we may be at the beginning of the calendar year, there’s no reason you can’t use the key elements of this approach year-round. It’s not just about the prose; it’s about the attitude.
This week’s links, some free stuff, plus last chance for two great learning opportunities that will help you right now.. Check ‘em out!
It’s the new plague. And a highly contagious epidemic, from which no one is immune.
Are you showing any symptoms? I feel like:
If you checked off three or more, you’ve got the disease. 8 or more and we need to rush you to an unplugged vacation. All of the above and you need a sabbatical!
I really want you to blog. Did you know that Social Media Examiner’s 2013 State of Social Media Report puts blogging #1 at the list of the top 14 social media channels you should be exploring? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: Your blog is the hub of your content strategy (or it should be). Build a blog and rock it. You’ll simultaneously put in place a content strategy that will enable you to easily share relevant content across every communication channel you use. Online and offline. There’s no better way to offer your constituents meaningful engagement. So… what are you waiting for?
BTW: You can learn a lot more if you download my free webinar,The Keys to Nonprofit Blogging that Drives Engagement. Did I mention it’s free?
Here are 10 tips to get you started, or to help you simplify the process so you can focus and deliver.
When you ask a fundraiser what the most difficult part of their job is, chances are you’ll get one of two answers – acquiring donors or retaining donors. Any fundraising organization is bound to come up against these problems at some point. But here’s the thing that is often overlooked – if you do a better job retaining donors, you can spend less time and money trying to acquire new donors.
Could this be the secret formula for fundraising success? Well, not entirely. But it’s a solid start.
Donor retention can seem elusive for many non-profits. It’s frustrating to pull up your annual reports to find out that you’ve only had 50% of last year’s donors make a gift again this year. Sometimes, it can even feel like a personal defeat.
If you’re working on the annual giving side of development, keep track of thousands of donors is nearly impossible. Your database can quickly become your archenemy. Having the highly personal relationships that major gift officers have with donors is a novel pipe dream.
But what if it was possible to scale this concept to create a system that retains donors?
It’s perplexing to still hear folks ask “Do we really need social media?” Do you need to text and respond to your kid’s texts? Well… only if you want to be in touch! That question is so 2008. In 2013 it’s more like “my way or the highway.”
Here’s the problem if you’re a small nonprofit:
You’re resource challenged. You don’t have enough staff to do everything that needs to be done as it is. Now you’re supposed to add social media?! Well, which channels? You can’t do it all, for goodness sakes. There must be one best channel. Maybe you can just squeeze that in.
I was playing around on Mashable yesterday and happened on The Key to More Successful Email Campaigns: Time. Since I recently offered you Top 10 Tips for Successful Nonprofit E-Appeals (and the big 11th is coming on Monday – you’ve still got time to guess what it is and win a free e-appeal review!), I thought I’d share this with you as a nice complement.
It’s something that should be a no-brainer; but, as Pooh describes it, sometimes we all can be “a Bear of No Brain at All.” How can we be the Best Bear in all the World?
To build authentic rapport with folks you must show them you care. And the simplest way to demonstrate affection is through a heartfelt ‘Thank You.’ It can be in person, in writing, over the phone, through a text, via video or any which way you choose.
The key is to begin with thank you, and make it personal and prompt.
Here’s a personal example. Recently my son found he’d have an unexpected layover in San Francisco. I jumped at the opportunity to join him for dinner, though it meant cancelling plans with my friends. The next morning, as he was getting on the plane, he texted them: “Thanks for changing your plans so I could see my Mom. I appreciate it.” You may be thinking ‘no big deal.’ But it IS a big deal. He showed my friends he saw their flexibility as a gift. And someone (who?) taught him to always send a thank you for a gift. My friends were touched. Mama was proud.
Look for the hidden gifts and thank folks for them. (Click to Tweet) My friends gave me and my son a hidden gift. I’m guessing your donors do this too. They remember to send in a matching gift form. They agree to make a few phone calls. They send you their alma mater’s newsletter as a sample. All these things are worthy of acknowledgment. Send great thank you letters for cash donations too, of course. But endeavor to touch your supporters whenever and wherever you can.
If any of the following apply to you, your nonprofit is not ready for the 21st century. The cure? Read Monday’s post to get serious and avoid being pranked — or spanked! — for failing to embrace the fact that we’re all social businesses now. Truly, it’s time to get serious (just not today; for now, have a little fun, a super good week-end and… get determined after April 1st). Let’s get in the spirit!
Do you:
First you get in the game. This should go without saying, but I still hear too many executive directors saying they don’t want to play. Folks: you gotta play to win. And it’s not the lottery. Your chances of winning are really good. It’s a game of skill, not luck.
Then you acknowledge that everyone is getting into the game. So you won’t get noticed just because you’re on the field. An October survey of U.S. nonprofits by VerticalResponse found that more than three out of five nonprofits reported spending more time on social media than they did a year ago. Nearly two out of five reported devoting six or more hours per week to social media. Ninety-six percent of nonprofits said they were on Facebook; 80% of these organizations reported posting on the site multiple times per week. Twitter also gets significant attention from nonprofits. The site was used by nearly three-quarters of nonprofits, and the organizations were more likely to post several times a day on Twitter (19.5%) vs. Facebook (13.8%).
Just because you’re flitting and twitting around doesn’t mean you’re getting anywhere fast. It reminds me a bit of the big pile-up on the football field. An amorphous mass.
In Part I: Share, Part II: Shareable and Part III: Talk of this S.S.S.T. Series we covered the importance of sharing your blog, making it shareable by others and getting folks to talk about you with their online networks. But there’s one important component of your super-sonic blog promotion strategy that we’ve missed. Here it is:
SEARCH
Let’s begin with why it’s important to talk about search. Because you want more readers for your blog, right? Well, the people who are your friends, plus the people who are their friends, are not all the people in the world. They’re not even all the people who may be interested in what you do! Search is how most people find you. Search is the most common online activity after email, and that fact cuts across generations.
I’m a huge blog booster for nonprofits. So much so that tomorrow I’m offering a free webinar on the topic with the folks at Good Done Great. I’ll also be posting a series of articles on this topic in the coming week. If you don’t have a blog yet, you should get one. Pronto! Yup, I think they’re that important.
Here is an overview of what I’ll be covering in tomorrow’s webinar, plus I’ll have a special bonus offer for webinar participants. If you can’t make it, you’ll find a few actionable tips in this article. Plus you’ll find more actionable tips all week. I truly want you to do this, and I don’t want it to kill you. So I’m going to give you some easy steps you can take to make your blog (1) doable, and (2) a super investment of your time and resources. I’m betting that pretty soon you’ll wonder what you ever did without it!
How often do you gift this gift to donors? I’ve personally declared November ‘Gratitude for Blessings’ month. For me, this means finding opportunities to demonstrate gratitude. And today I’m grateful for you, my readers. Whereas donors are the center of your nonprofit’s universe, you are the center of mine. When I can’t my ideas, …
What we’ve been exposed to whets our appetite, but it’s not food You lack relevant content. You’re just broadcasting something/anything…. without a plan or editorial calendar… without researching your constituents’ needs or desires… waiting until the last minute… You’re focusing on the medium; not the message. Through whatever broadcast medium we choose to engage, the…
Does this box need anything else to fill it? Or is it good to go? A recent post by the inimitable Seth Godin poses the question What’s in the box? The point of the post is to make us question our quest for perfection and all the needless worrying we put into imagining every thing…
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has been likened to the shop window of the 21st century when it comes to brand awareness. Just as consumers increasingly research their purchases on to obtain the best deals, so too do prospective donors increasingly research nonprofits on. So how we manage our social networking presence is of prime importance if we want…
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The current zeitgeist is one of information overload, as highlighted in a recent article, Content Rivers and Information Gluttony. The availability of information is not the problem, however. We’ve been in overload at least since 1970, as described by futurist Alvin Toffler . Our inability to limit our choices is what gets us into trouble. …
Yesterday I asked if you or your Executive Director are writing your own fundraising letters. We discussed the fact that you and your key staff are simply too close to the organization to write effective, persuasive . And we talked about the fact that the lion’s of your supporters – let’s call them the…