Communicate!

Helping you win loyal friends through your communications

Have You Made This #GivingTuesday Mistake? (by Michael Rosen)

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Michael Rosen hits the nail on the head. Like the Ice Bucket Challenge before it, Giving Tuesday is just a gimmick unless you work on welcoming and building relationships with the people who are moved to give that day.

“So, are you doing anything special to retain your #GivingTuesday supporters as well as your other donors? At the very least, I hope you:

  1. send an immediate, personal thank-you letter that does not ask for an additional gift,
  2. tell donors how their gifts are having an impact.”

http://michaelrosensays.wordpress.com/2014/12/02/have-you-made-this-givingtuesday-mistake/

Should You Worry about SEO?

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Worried faceYou get them by email.  You see them as comments on your blog.  You read them through the Contact Us section of your website.  And they want you to worry.

They’re the SEO fearmongers.

My wife Rona Fischman opened an email that began politely, “I thought you might like to know some of the reasons why you are not  getting enough search engine & social media traffic on your website.”  It went on–mostly in bold blue font that screamed from the page–to list the same useless advice that she and I have both seen from search engine optimizers over and over again.

Why useless?  Because it’s generic.  The fearmongers don’t know you and they don’t know your audience.  Here are three reasons not to worry about SEO:

  • You might not need to be found.  If you’re a nonprofit, these days you may already be serving more clients than you can handle!  If you’re a referral-based business, random searches are the equivalent of cold calls.  They’re low-percentage sources.  Why attract people who may never do business with you when you can spend the time and money attracting people who already want your services?
  • Social media may do better for you than search.  If you do need to be found, wouldn’t you rather be found in good company? People are not just Googling “realtor” (for instance) and calling the first on the list.  Instead, they’re asking their friends to recommend someone.   Facebook or Yelp may be more important to you than Google or Bing.
  • What do they find when they get there?  Improving the content on your website may get you better results for less money than increasing the number of people who ever happen to take a look at it.  Spend your resources on content creation and content marketing.

You shouldn’t worry about SEO–but paying just a little bit of attention to it might be worth your while.  Here’s a piece I wrote about “How To Get Found: SEO and the Small Nonprofit.”  It includes ten tips on getting more eyeballs to your site.  But most of them are not SEO.

Don’t worry, be effective!

6 Players You Should Have on Your Communications Team

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Volunteers for the teamNo matter how good you are, you cannot do it alone.

Nowhere in life is this more true than in communications.

It used to be that if you could put a sentence together, you could do a good job marketing your cause or your company. In the age of the internet and the mobile phone, you need more skills than any one person is likely to have.

Who are the players on a strong communications team?

  1. People with stories. They could be your direct service staff or volunteers, your Board members, your customers or clients. Develop them as sources, so they look out for stories you can tell.
  2. Writers. Someone who can take other people’s words and make them sing in print is essential to your team.
  3. Photographers. A picture may not be worth a thousand words. It may, however, make all the words you write more meaningful and memorable.
  4. Artists. Sometimes a good graphic is more powerful than a photo (and often, easier to produce when you need it).
  5. Tech people. Because your newsletter, blog, email, Facebook post, or video is no good if nobody sees it! Someone has to keep the system up and running and figure out the glitches as they occur.
  6. Editor. You need a consistent tone to your communications, and they must appear regularly so your audience expects them. Put one person in charge.

Notice that I said “players,” not “people.” In a small organization, one person may write, edit, and solicit stories and photos. Another may take photos, lay out the final draft, and keep your email from being marked as spam.

Are you still trying to do it all alone, or have you recruited strong players for your team?

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