Communicate!

Helping you win loyal friends through your communications

Is Your Nonprofit Event as Exciting as a Blizzard?

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I live in New England, where people line up for ice cream in the middle of a snowstorm. This year, though, people are snow-shy. Every time the white stuff is in the forecast, people are remembering a month of being snowed in last winter.

The Blizzard of 2015 had great publicity, and it was all free. Can your nonprofit do as well?

A Storm of Free Media

A blizzard has no bank account. It has no marketing budget. Without paying a cent, however, the storm that hit New England on Tuesday had its own hashtag…and hundreds of unpaid photographers.

I went on Facebook one Tuesday morning last January and found this:

Car covered with snow

And this:

Clearing snowy street

And even this:

Dog looking at snow

The Secret of the Storm’s Success

It snows every year. Why do people rush out each time it snows and snap photos?

I think it’s because a storm is a shared event. By taking pictures and posting them, people say, “I was here. I was a part of this.”

Can You Do As Well as a Blizzard?

Are you making people feel that your events are shared events? When they attend your events, do they want to claim them and show they were there? You invite them to show up in person. Are you inviting them to show up online, with their photos?

 

Nonprofits, Make Your Donors Love You

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You’ve heard the saying, “It’s not what you eat between Christmas and New Year’s–it’s what you eat between New Year’s and Christmas”?  Similarly, it’s not what you write to your donors in your end-of-year appeal letter that determines how they feel about your organization. It’s what you write all year long.

Communication in marriageCommunications are the key to a good marriage. Your nonprofit’s communications are the key to a good relationship between your donors and you.

By next Valentine’s Day, make your donors love you. Here are the four steps to win their hearts.

This winter, work on your email.

When donors or prospects give you their email address, it’s like they met you on a blind date and decided to give you their phone number. What they’re saying is, “I want to hear from you.” It’s a huge gesture of trust.

Be worthy of their trust.

  • Find out the kind of content they want to see, and send it to them as often (and no more often) than they want to see it.
  • Write subject lines that signal, “I wrote this especially for you and I know you’ll want to read it.”
  • Personalize every email. “Dear friend” is not acceptable in 2015. It tells your donors they’re not worth your time.
  • Keep your list up to date. There are good email tools out there: MailChimp and Constant Contact are two that many nonprofits use. Buy one and learn how to use it. You–and your donors–will be glad you did.

This spring, take a good look at your website.

Your website is your online living room. If you’re going to invite donors there, you want them to stay a while.

  • Make the lighting comfortable. Is the font size large enough for middle-aged eyes? Does it read as well on Chrome or Firefox as on Internet Explorer or Safari? Can donors read it on their mobile devices? Can they read it with their screen readers (if they have limited eyesight)?
  • Make the room easy to get around. Place navigation bars on the homepage and on every page. Clearly label your pages and tabs, and don’t get too cute: “About Us” or “Who We Are” are better than “The 411.”
  • Put out the treats.  Your donors need to find what they’re looking for quickly or they’ll leave your site. Be sure everything is within three clicks from the home page: for instance, 1) home page, 2) contact us, 3) email. If you’re inviting people to sign up for an event, consider using a landing page with its own URL.

This summer, spice up your blogging life.

Did you ever meet someone and think to yourself, “I love talking with him. I could spend all night just listening to him?”

Writing a blog gives your donors a chance to say that about you.

Blogging is better for those long explorations than email. It’s more of a conversation than the rest of your website. Blogging is for lovers.

This fall, finally get social.

What would the love of your life think if when you were together, you only talked and never listened? Or if you only listened when he or she was talking about you?

Not very romantic, right?

But too many nonprofits think the reason to use social media is to have one more place to rattle on about themselves.

Social media are really more like social gatherings: parties, conferences, Chamber of Commerce meetings, public forums. You go those events to meet people and become an important part of the community. You go on social media to do the same.

Over time, if you pay attention to them, people come to know, like, and trust your organization. They actually seek you out for information and advice and opportunities to volunteer. They start thinking of you as “their” organization. They fall in love.

How do you use social media to make donors love you? I’ve been studying this subject for years, and I’m happy to share it with you.

social mediaThe No-Nonsense Nonprofit Guide to Social Media: How You Can Start Small, Win Loyal Friends, and Raise Funds Online and Off is your step-by-step guide to courting your donors.

Download it now, and by next fall, you can be happily engaged.

By next winter, you can be busy writing thank-you notes.

By next Valentine’s Day, your donors can be yours for life.

The No-Nonsense Nonprofit Guide to Social Media: How You Can Start Small, Win Loyal Friends, and Raise Funds Online and Off

Nonprofit Marketing: Between Consenting Adults

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Woman grimacing at phone

My wife, Rona Fischman, runs her own real estate company, and so marketers constantly try to chat her up. Recently, one went too far–and nonprofits can learn from his example.

“Hello, is this Rona?” The man on the other end of the line was selling a service that would help house hunters find Rona’s company. “Let me schedule a product demonstration  for you with one of our experts.”

Rona was interested, but she was also busy. “Just send me information. I’ll look it over and get back to you.”

A few days later: “Hello, Rona!” This time, it’s a woman’s voice on the phone. “I’m calling for the product demonstration you scheduled.”

“But I didn’t agree to schedule anything!”

You Can’t Force Anyone to Like You

The telemarketer had heard Rona say “Send me information.” But he  made the appointment anyway, without her consent.

Rona felt violated. Any interest she’d had in the product turned to loathing. And would you blame her?

Clearly, the marketer had no interest in what she wanted. All he cared about was what he wanted: scheduling that appointment. He probably “scored” (got paid) whenever he put a notch on his calendar.

That’s terrible, you say. But is your nonprofit organization doing the same thing to your donors?

  • Do you appeal to everyone with your same smooth line, no matter what they care about?
  • Do you ignore it when they tell you “No phone calls” or “No email” and keep on making your advances?
  • Do you reach out and touch them only when you want something from them? Is it “wham, bam, thank you ma’am” until the next fundraising appeal?
  • Do you hire and fire and pay your fundraising staff based on the dollars they bring in today? Do you forget to consider the lifetime value of the donors your people satisfy?

Then you are brute force fundraising. And you are violating the donor’s trust.

Building a Relationship that Lasts

Good marketing–and that includes nonprofit fundraising–is a relationship between consenting adults. You want your donors to get to know, like, and trust your organization.

That takes time. And it takes care. It takes leaders who understand that they are building for the long run.

At the very least, it takes respect for the donor’s wishes. So, if a donor says, “I never give over the phone. Send me something in the mail,” do not send them a pledge card filled out with the amount YOU think they should give!

Your donors are adults. They can say no, or they can decide to say yes. Do the things that will make them want to say yes. Don’t force it.

 

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