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The Nonprofit Marketing Guide, by Kivi Leroux Miller: a review

July 1, 2013 by Dennis Fischman 2 Comments

Kivi Leroux Miller feels your pain.  And she wants to help.

Kivi Leroux Miller

Kivi Leroux Miller

You work at a nonprofit organization.  Either it’s too small to have a communications department or nobody has recognized the need to market what you do until now.  You’ve recognized the need, but you feel daunted.  There are so many things you could do…and the so-called experts want you to do all of them yesterday!

Where do you get started?  How much can you do?  What will work best for your group and its cause? You don’t need theory or grandiose notions.  You need a friend who’s been there and can guide you through the process. Kivi wants to be that friend.

Throughout this book, you will hear great advice that you can put to use right away.  If you love the idea of a “quick and dirty marketing plan,” this is the book for you.

Be warned, though: “quick” is a relative term.  There are no magic wands to wave and no lamps to rub to get a genie to do the work for you.  This book will give you a good sense of what you need to do to be ready to plan and of all the resources–mostly time–that you’ll need to turn that plan into reality.  Knowing all that ahead of time will reassure you.  You’ll be able to see the road ahead.

As you go on reading the book, I predict that you’ll stop feeling daunted and start feeling excited.  You’ll see that (in Miller’s words), you can do it yourself without doing yourself in.  The later chapters of the book offer excellent advice on how to organize your efforts, how to take advantage of outside help when you need it, and “where to spend your limited dollars and where to scrimp.”

In other words, all the things you’d ask a trusted, wise advisor if you could sit down with her over lunch?  They are either in this book or on her blog.  Spend some time with each.  Then get started.

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Trust Agents, by Chris Brogan & Julien Smith: a review

June 25, 2013 by Dennis Fischman 2 Comments

Benjamin Franklin famously said that you will catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.  In Trust Agents, Chris Brogan and Julien Smith update Franklin for the digital age.

Ben Franklin

You can’t force anyone to pay attention to your message. These days, there are just too many other things they could be doing.  Even on broadcast TV, people changed channels to get away from ads.  Now, there are more “channels” than ever, and many of them are online. People won’t listen to you unless you give them a reason to: namely, that they trust you.

Here are some of the ways to behave to win people’s trust, especially online.

Hang out with them. In social media, for instance, find out where the people you’re interested in meeting congregate and spend time there.  Even better, if you can: create a meeting place where they’ll want to spend time.

Listen. Don’t rush in and blurt out a sales pitch. Take time to find out who’s “in the room” with you.  Learn what they like, and how they talk and don’t talk.  Give them time to feel you’re one of them.

Be helpful. Share information, provide tips, make referrals, help solve problems.  Don’t count favors provided versus favors owed. Cast your bread upon the waters, as the Bible says, and it shall return to you in many days.

Rely on relationships.  Use what you have that’s valuable to others to make them more interested in sharing what they have that would be valuable to you.

Build social capital.  Put yourself at the center of relationships and whole networks that make everybody stronger.

This book was published in 2009, and many of us have gotten the message since then.  If you are still wondering how to make “this social media thing” work for you, then this is the book to read.  If you know the how-to, this book will remind you of the reason why.

I have to say, the book nearly lost me in chapter 2, where the framework is all drawn from games and hacking.  It seems there’s a fine line between using social media and using people, and this part of the book made me feel I was on the wrong side of the line.  If you have the same reaction, skip that chapter and read the rest. It will be worth your while, whether you’re trying to build a career, a business, or a nonprofit organization.  In fact, I will blog soon about how nonprofits are better positioned to win trust than businesses.  Stay tuned!

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Trust Agents, by Chris Brogan & Julien Smith: a review

June 25, 2013 by Dennis Fischman 2 Comments

Benjamin Franklin famously said that you will catch more flies with honey than with vinegar.  In Trust Agents, Chris Brogan and Julien Smith update Franklin for the digital age.

Ben FranklinYou can’t force anyone to pay attention to your message. These days, there are just too many other things they could be doing.  Even on broadcast TV, people changed channels to get away from ads.  Now, there are more “channels” than ever, and many of them are online.

People won’t listen to you unless you give them a reason to: namely, that they trust you. Here are some of the ways to behave to win people’s trust, especially online.

Hang out with them. In social media, for instance, find out where the people you’re interested in meeting congregate and spend time there.  Even better, if you can: create a meeting place where they’ll want to spend time.

Listen. Don’t rush in and blurt out a sales pitch. Take time to find out who’s “in the room” with you.  Learn what they like, and how they talk and don’t talk.  Give them time to feel you’re one of them.

Be helpful. Share information, provide tips, make referrals, help solve problems.  Don’t count favors provided versus favors owed. Cast your bread upon the waters, as the Bible says, and it shall return to you in many days.

Rely on relationships.  Use what you have that’s valuable to others to make them more interested in sharing what they have that would be valuable to you.

Build social capital.  Put yourself at the center of relationships and whole networks that make everybody stronger.

This book was published in 2009, and many of us have gotten the message since then.  If you are still wondering how to make “this social media thing” work for you, then this is the book to read.  If you know the how-to, this book will remind you of the reason why.

I have to say, the book nearly lost me in chapter 2, where the framework is all drawn from games and hacking.  It seems there’s a fine line between using social media and using people, and this part of the book made me feel I was on the wrong side of the line.

If you have the same reaction, skip that chapter and read the rest. It will be worth your while, whether you’re trying to build a career, a business, or a nonprofit organization.

Share this:

  • Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) Facebook
  • Click to share on X (Opens in new window) X
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  • Click to share on Pocket (Opens in new window) Pocket
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  • Click to share on Pinterest (Opens in new window) Pinterest
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