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Goldilocks and the Three Nonprofits

March 7, 2016 by Dennis Fischman 4 Comments

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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For Small Businesses: Search or Referral?

January 31, 2016 by Dennis Fischman Leave a Comment

Take a good look at your business. Where do you get your customers?

Maybe, they find you. They’re already looking for the product you make or the service you offer. They look it up online, check out your website, and give you a call.

If your customers find you, you want to be easily found. So, you want to work on getting good reviews on Yelp and Craigslist. And you should optimize your website to show up high on the list when potential customers Google you.

But maybe, they get introduced. Your best customers often come through referrals from other satisfied customers!

What can you do to ensure great referrals? It’s not search engine optimization. (They’ve been introduced, so they already know your name!)

  1. Give great customer service.
  2. Stay in touch with customers after they buy (through email, blogging, and social media).
  3. Continue teaching them how they can solve their problems.
  4. Ask for referrals. (Surprisingly easy to forget!)
  5. Use your website to show new customers how you can help them. Remember, it’s not about you, it’s about them!

You need to decide: do I want to be found, or do I want to be introduced? Then, put your marketing budget there.

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How Your Nonprofit Can Use Twitter–Even If You Don’t Tweet

August 13, 2015 by Dennis Fischman 3 Comments

What are people saying about your nonprofit?  Who lives in your area and cares about your cause?  Who’s looking for your help right now?

You can find out.  You won’t have to hire a private investigator or ask the NSA to give you secret data.  What you need is Twitter search.

Is Your Constituency on Twitter?

You may be surprised at who’s using Twitter these days.  “For Black Americans, the social network of choice may very well be Twitter, as 25% of Twitter users are African Americans (approximately double the U.S. population),” says marketing expert Jay Baer.

In fact, a Pew study reveals, “The typical Twitter user is an 18-29 year-old educated minority with a well-paying job, and slightly more likely to be male than female…Use of Twitter across all age demographics is on the rise.”

Listening In to Conversations

Twitter offers you the chance to be a fly on the wall when the people you care about are talking.  As Tao of Twitter author Mark Schaefer points out, “If you search Google, Bing or Yahoo, your results will be articles, videos, and websites. But if you search Twitter, the results are real-time conversations.”

What could your nonprofit find out by listening in to conversations on Twitter?  Let’s say your mission is to create affordable housing.  You could find:

  • People living in your town who have expressed positive sentiments about affordable housing
  • Tweets that mention your agency by name
  • Elected officials who have (or noticeably have not) addressed the issue
  • Media personalities who take an interest in the issue
  • Donors to your organization and what’s on their minds

Getting In On the Conversation

Even if you never send a tweet yourself, this information could be highly valuable to you.  You could add like-minded people to your mailing list, or recruit a public figure to speak at your next event.  You could find out how you look to your community.  You could do donor and prospect research that produces more gifts.

But if you tweet, you make yourself part of the conversation.  Imagine:

  1. Building a relationship with that high-powered donor who’s too busy to have a meeting, but always answers his tweets.
  2. Answering questions about affordable housing so that people know you’re the thought leader in the field.
  3. Lobbying a public official and having many of your supporters join in.
  4. Finding someone who needs housing right now, helping them obtain it, and watching them sing your praises online.
  5. Getting on the radar screen of people who might never have seen your name any other way.

Whether you use Twitter search to gather information or also tweet to take part in a conversation, it could be a powerful tool for your nonprofit.

Are you already using Twitter at your nonprofit?  What advice would you give an agency that wants to start using Twitter?

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