Communicate!

Helping you win loyal friends through your communications

5 Lessons You Can Learn from Children’s Books

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Books aimed at children have a lot to teach us too. It all depends who we are and what we wish to learn.

Are you a nonprofit organization? 

Find out what stories you should be telling. Can Your Nonprofit Tell a Story to Save Its Life? 

Learn how to tell those stories and suck the reader right in. What Nonprofits Can Learn from Peter Pan

Make sure your fundraising is not too hot, not too cold, just right. Goldilocks and the Three Nonprofits

Are you a marketer for either a business or a nonprofit?

Get inspired to make your audience feel the difference you can make in their lives. Putting On the Shoes: What Ray Bradbury Taught Me about Marketing

Are you a consultant, like me? Do you know what pleases your clients? Read:

What to Do When the Client Asks for the Moon

 

Now it’s your turn. What’s your favorite children’s book, and what have you learned from it about communicating?

 

 

Fundraising Tuesday: Get the Picture

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stand out

Photos make your appeal stand out

At the end of 2015, I went through all the appeal letters nonprofits had sent me. (Yes, yours too.) What I found was shocking.

People are becoming more visually oriented, and a photo helps your appeal stand out. Yet 40 of 90 letters I received were text only!

Another 24 included blurry black-and-white photos, or nice color photos that added nothing to the message.

What a wasted opportunity!

What a Photo Does for Your Fundraising Letter

Words matter–but only if people read them.

When a donor receives your letter, she takes about three seconds to decide whether to read it or throw it in the recycling. In three seconds, what can she see? Possibly:

invite meBut more than any of these, a photo with a caption invites the donor in.

<–See what I mean?

Time to Take the Photos

I’m a words guy. Like the candidate who shall not be named on this blog, I have good words. But they do my nonprofit no good if nobody reads them.

You have a camera in your pocket. Use it. Every week–every day, if possible–snap a photo or two that help your nonprofit organization tell its stories. Collect those photos in your storybank. When you write your fundraising letter, pick the photo first!

Then your fundraising letter will stand out like a penguin wearing shades. And your future will be bright.

 

Every Tuesday this season, I’m offering a tip on how to write better fundraising appeals. Find the rest of the series under Fundraising Tuesday.

Goldilocks and the Three Nonprofits

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just right

When are your communications just right?

Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Goldilocks.  She liked to give away money.

One day Goldilocks went exploring the forest of letters, email, and online posts she received.  She found herself in the house of three nonprofits.  She sat down at their table and sampled what they were offering.

She tasted the first nonprofit.  “Oh, this is too hot!” she exclaimed.  The nonprofit was sending her something every day, and all of it was peppered with funding appeals.

She tasted the second nonprofit.  “This is far too cold,” she realized.  The nonprofit was communicating with her only when it was asking for money.  And by the time she received a thank-you letter, she’d reached the bottom of the bowl.  She had no appetite for any more donations.

Goldilocks tasted the third nonprofit.  “Ahhh,” she breathed.  “This is just right!” Here was the porridge she’d been looking for.  The main ingredient was content that pleased her palate, spiced with a healthy dash of humor and with nuggets of information to chew on.  The funding appeals had absorbed the flavor of the dish and went down smoothly.

“Someone’s been eating my porridge,” Goldilocks heard a voice say.  There was the Communications Director of the third nonprofit, smiling.  And behind her was the Development Director, asking “Would someone like to sit in my chair at my next event?”

 

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