Communicate!

Helping you win loyal friends through your communications

Hello, Email. Welcome!

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I heard a knock at the door. “Oh, no,” I thought. “Who could that be?”

welcome visitor

Will they welcome your email?

I hadn’t ordered a pizza. I wasn’t expecting a package.

I went to the door and peered through the peephole, braced for someone trying to convert me to their religion (and/or sell me a magazine subscription).

What a pleasant surprise it was when my friend Miriam was there with a bundle of fresh-cut lilacs from her garden!

 

Is your email a welcome visitor?

You know how many emails you get every day. They can turn into one big blur. You might start reading them in order, but soon, you scan for names of friends and leave the rest of the messages unopened–or even delete them.

Your audience is just like you. They get overwhelmed just as fast. And the delete button is always handy!

If you want people to read your email, you have to be like Miriam.

  • Be a good friend. (Not that guy who only shows up to borrow money!)
  • Come bearing gifts. Present them with something they want: entertainment, information, a chance to see their friends and feel good about themselves at the same time…
  • Knock. Make sure the subject line of each email announces you in a way that makes your readers say, “I’m so glad you stopped by. Come in, come in!”

The Case of the Unknown Audience

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“You’ve got to help us,” the Executive Director said. “We have all these different audiences, and we don’t know them.  We’re communicating in the dark.”

Do the detective work to know your audiences

Do the detective work to know your audiences

“A hundred dollars an hour plus expenses,” I said.  As a private detective, I’m used to searching in the dark.  Besides, it would be a break from snooping on cheating husbands and wives.

Here’s how I tracked down the unknown audiences.

Searched the case files.  I looked through the database for tips about donors and prospects.  I combed the Board bios and meeting minutes to get the skinny on the directors.  For clients, the agency balked: confidentiality, they said.  I’d heard that one before.  “Give me a sample of client folders with the names removed.  I’ll take it from there.”

Talked to informants.  Who knows each audience the best?  The nice lady at the front desk told me stories about the people who come in looking for help that would curl your hair.  The program directors dished the dirt on the organizations they collaborate with: thick as thieves, but not as well funded. The Executive Director herself knew all the politicians in town.  I made notes.

Beat the pavement.  Take a tip from an old gumshoe: don’t wait by the phone.  Get out and talk to people.  Interview people from each audience.  Find out their motives.  How else will you know how to motivate them?

Tail the suspects.  These days, people leave trails a mile wide all over the Internet.  Track them.  What footprints can you find through a web search?  Who do they visit on Facebook?  See what business they’re conducting in LinkedIn groups.  Read the notes they scrawl and toss onto Twitter.  You don’t have to snap photos: they’re doing it for you, on Instagram and Pinterest and other juke joints all around.  Make yourself known there and see who talks.

Follow the money.  Are your audiences making payments to other organizations?  Look at donor lists to see what relationships they have on the side.

Get the suspects in a room.  Call it a focus group.  Call it an advisory board.  Call it Ishmael, if you like–just ask them the questions.  Put them at ease and they’ll sing like a room full of canaries.

I made my report.  The Executive Director was grateful. “Now we know who they are, what they want, where to find them, and how to talk to them.  I can just see the volunteers and donors coming in!”

“Good,” I said.  “Don’t spend it all in one place.”  They would need to do more investigation as their audiences changed.  Good investigators don’t come cheap.

Here’s Your Communications Strategy. Fill In the Blanks.

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Your organization needs a communications strategy.  Why?  For a lot of the same reasons why Kivi Leroux Miller recommends having a content strategy:

  • To focus on your supporters’ goals.
  • To make your readers think of you as a welcome guest who shares expertise.
  • To take your random content and turn it into a larger story.
  • To make your communications boost your programs and your fundraising.
  • To get results.

Developing a communications strategy takes time and patience.  But who has time these days?  And patience, too, is rare.  So, here are seven statements that make up a communications strategy.  Read them.  It will take one minute.

  1. A key audience we’re trying to reach is ___________.
  2. If we engage with that audience successfully, they will do ___________.
  3. A typical member of that audience has these characteristics __________, and cares about __________, and their favorite way to get information is _____________.

Therefore:

4. Our key message to this audience is __________.

5. We will communicate with this audience primarily through __________ and secondarily through __________.

6. The resources we will use to put this strategy into action are __________.

7. We will measure our progress by __________.

Are you aiming at more than one key audience?  Rinse and repeat.

What It Takes to Fill In the Blanks

Seems simple, right?  And it is.  But surprise, it will still take time and patience!  Chances are, people inside your organization have different ideas who the key audiences are.  You’ll have to list your audiences (current and desired), then discuss them, in order to make one or two your priorities.

What do you really want from the key audience you have in mind?  Do you want them to be your brand ambassadors and spread the word about your good work?  Are they potential volunteers?  Are you looking for major donors among this audience?  “All of the above” will not do.  What’s the first step you want them to take?

And so on.  To fill in the blanks, you may need to do research.  (Who are these people, anyway?)  You may need to shift time and money away from some other project to make your communications strategy feasible.  It’s a big undertaking.  But when you can write a strategy statement like this one  you will have taken the crucial first step:

Example: A key audience we want to reach is grandparents of children in our school.  If we engage them successfully, they will make annual donations and meet with us about including  the school in their wills.  A typical grandparent is Janice, 68, a widow and recent retiree who’s active in her church, rides a bicycle everywhere she goes, and cares about leaving a healthy planet to the next generation.  She keeps in touch with her family via Facebook but hasn’t followed any organizations on Facebook yet.

Our key message to Janice is that she can involve her grandchildren and their friends in learning about the environment through our school.  We will post photos of children engaged in learning, recycling, and gardening on Facebook, along with links to relevant policies, curriculum, and publications.  We will also include these themes on our website and regularly scheduled emails.  We will need teachers and aides to take photos, and the development director will work with the PTA president to produce other content.

We will measure our results this year by how many grandparents follow the Facebook page and comment on or share posts.  By next year, we will measure the number and amount of this audience’s donations to the annual appeal and the number of in-person meetings to discuss planned giving.

Does your organization need help to fill in the blanks in its strategy?  Please pose your questions in the comments section, and let’s see how we can help each other.

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