Direct mail envelopes–five ideas for nonprofit fundraising

(Another stellar guest post from nonprofit fund raising expert Rick Schwartz!)

My family usually shops for groceries with canvas bags that I pick up at conferences. But every third or fourth week we ask the checkout clerk to use paper bags instead, so we can use them to recycle newspapers, my son’s homework assignments, and about 99.5% of the direct mail we get, unopened.

A good half of my direct mail is from nonprofits and, even in my modestly generous home, nine out of 10 new appeals go unopened into the recycling bag.

I hate to say it, but yours may have been one of them. Too bad. With very little cost, effort, and imagination, you could have gotten me to at least open the envelope. Then who knows what might have happened!

Your first competitor is indifference

So says branding expert Harry Beckwith. A boring envelope signals boring contents. Sadly, experience has proven that true. Just one more lackluster appeal for money. Do you open those letters at your house? Me neither.

Remember, direct mail is a science, not an art. As such, marketers test everything about an envelope:

• color and quality of paper
• shape and size of envelope
• postage stamp or bulk mail indicia (Herschell Gordon Lewis, Direct Mail Copy That Sells, recommends a postage meter)
• “teaser” (Robert Bly, The Copywriter’s Handbook, says “no teaser” unless it’s really good)
• typeface (gotten any ‘hand-addressed’ mail yet?)

Truth is, some methods work until consumers catch on to them. Then direct mail marketers have to find something new. Here are five ideas gleaned from real appeals I’ve received that made me at least stop and think. Most of these should fit into reasonable budgets; you just have to print the envelope.

Hey, I get something for free (benefits)

Some effective envelopes appeal to most people’s desire to get some kind of benefit (other than moral) from giving to your organization. You do have stuff to offer: maps of great hiking trails, 10 tips on choosing a doctor, note cards, a down-to-earth explanation of charitable giving. No, you’re not selling your soul to the devil by “selling” your nonprofit.

Words you might find yourself using: “free” and “enclosed”. Robert Bly suggests you include something that can be felt in the envelope. It doesn’t have to be expensive, something like a calendar magnet. (Be aware that some studies show that giveaways like tote bags and stuffed animals lead only to short, superficial relationships.)

What the heck’s in the envelope? (curiosity)

Some envelopes raise questions whose answers you must know, but can only find inside. Two examples from Planned Parenthood include envelope copy that reads: “They’re coming after our organization with everything they’ve got” and “More unintended pregnancies in 6 easy steps.” Another organization touts a curiosity-arousing “ultimate offer” on its envelope.

I’m special (exclusivity)

Making donors feel they are part of an elite group leads directly to the largest gifts (in many cases). Herschell Gordon Lewis says four words work here: “private”, “advance”, “invitation”, and “exclusive”.  Recently, the Smithsonian sent me something announcing on the envelope that I was one of a few select readers in my state to be chosen to complete a survey. (The envelope is pictured above.) Other appeal envelopes I receive come from celebrities or luminaries who sign their names in the return address slot. Another envelope told me” “We’re not for everyone, but then, maybe you’re not everyone.”

Uh, oh! (fear)

It’s sometimes powerful to call attention to a looming threat. Examples include an envelope bearing the message “A gathering storm of anti-Jewish hate” or one warning that “The religious right wants to change the way you live.”

To dream the impossible dream! (a call to arms)

Nonprofits should excel at enthusiastically stating the essential challenge. That’s what makes the boring envelopes above so unforgivable. Tell the prospective supporter what he or she is fighting for. Real-life examples include envelopes with the following printed messages: ” It’s one of the most powerful and dangerous initiation rights imaginable–and every day more than 5,000 girls are at risk” or “94 million American children with no health care; zero has been done to stop global warming; 155,000 US troops stuck in Iraq—49 US senators are behind it all.”

I’m so embarrassed (guilt)
Guilt: the gift that keeps on giving. I know LOTS of nonprofit folks who truly believe that everybody who is not supporting their cause should feel guilty. I almost always find that the nonprofit just hasn’t made its case well. That said, guilt can be used in strange ways. One example is a photo envelope of a mother polar bear and two vulnerable cubs with the headline “Please help.”

A few other ideas
Other effective envelopes I’ve seen:

• blank except for the recipient’s handwritten address
• a personal note (in real ink) on the envelope
• way oversized envelopes

Your turn
There’s very little about envelope ideas above that you can’t tailor and re-create economically for your nonprofit of almost any size. Follow these steps:

• Know the dramatic selling points of your cause
• Package the information your nonprofit can share
• Understand the motivations of your donors
• Save sample envelopes you love (and hate)
• Test ideas on your friends and family. Don’t give them more than four seconds to look at the envelope.
• Devote the time and resources necessary to make the envelope work.

Thanks, Rick!

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Own the Room–Some great presentation advice

flickr/constantly-Jair

Lots of us tend to underestimate the potential ROI from a great presentation. If we absolutely have to do one, we default to PowerPoint and spend as little time as possible in development and preparation. Other communications tactics we’re working on are considered much higher priority.

Yet, most of us know that face-to-face communication is the top rung on the ladder when it comes to effectiveness. Mobile is awesome, but human beings still like to communicate in person. Think about that the next time you (reluctantly?) agree to make a presentation. Spend as much time as you need to ensure the desired effect. And, of course, the first step to that end is knowing what that desired effect is—ah yes, back to strategy. Set a goal for your presentation, just like you do with other tactics, so you’ll have some way to recognize whether you’ve succeeded.

I’m going to share some great advice from a new book called Own the Room, written by three experts on business presentations. It’s packed with good sense about strategy and useful how-to’s, but I’m going to focus on one aspect of the book—openings.

The best way to lose your audience in the crucial first 60 seconds of a presentation is to use a traditional, polite but dull opening aimed at everybody (and nobody). You know the kind: “Good morning. I’m Patricia Smith from the blah-blah organization. I’m delighted to be here this morning, and grateful to have this opportunity to talk to you about…..”

Everyone’s already looking at email on their phones or twittering that another lifeless speech has begun. Your opening has to get the audiences’ attention, and interest them enough in what you’re saying so they’ll stay tuned. As the authors point out, our brains are wired to pay attention to novelty and surprise–so use that knowledge. Be unpredictable—skip the tedious introductions and shake things up a little. Engage your listeners from the minute you open your mouth.

Here are three suggestions from the book about how to just that.

Ask a counterintuitive question

People may believe they know the right answer, but you then show them what the real truth is in a way that starts to frame the rest of your talk. The example given in the book is: “China has a history of disregarding copyrights. Of all the products whose copyrights are infringed where do you think the most violations are found?” Most people say movies or CDs. But you point out: “The number one copyright infringement in China involves Prozac.” From this opening you can move into the theme of your talk (trade, legal issues, depression, etc.) knowing you’ve gotten your audiences’ attention through surprise.

Make an attention getting statement

The example given is “Attractive people are more persuasive than average-looking people. How does this affect your business?” Again, from this opening you can segue into ways to level the playing field, aspects of persuasive speaking, etc. But you’ve gotten everyone to start thinking about how they fit into the attractiveness spectrum, and that engages them in your real topic.

Tell a personal story

Use the first few minutes to tell the audience something surprising or novel about yourself. Demonstrate why you’re passionate about your topic through a personal anecdote. Make it riveting, and full of visual details that help them see what you’re describing. People far prefer to hear a story rather than a lecture. Usually, we also find such stories more believable and memorable.

When using each of these techniques, the authors urge that you tailor your presentation to your audience. Generic openings don’t connect with anyone. To do that, you need to provide personal experiences, stories, concepts, or ideas in enough detail to make them interesting and relevant to listeners’ own experiences. Signal immediately that you know your audiences’ needs and expectations.

They also suggest that you reveal your personal values. Become a human being to your listeners, not just a speaker. (If that means revealing a small weakness they can identify with, go ahead.) Give them a window to your thoughts and feelings. If listeners feel like they know you, they are more likely to believe you.

And finally, the book encourages you to present your point of view on the subject. This helps your audience quickly understand your intention, context, and passion. The authors recommend that you picture your listeners with remote controls in their hands. Your job in the first few minutes is to keep them from flipping channels. Examples of a few great (and instructive) openings are included in the book.

Developing and preparing for a presentation—including one for a videoconference or YouTube—is a great opportunity to put all your communications wisdom to work. This book can help, as can many other books, blogs, and websites. Take the time to learn all you can about how to do good presentations. Your audiences will thank you!

CC photo credit: constantly-Jair

Own the Room is by David Booth, Deborah Shames, and Peter Desberg.

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Working Effectively with Consultants: Tips for Nonprofits

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Having now sat on both sides of the nonprofit desk—hiring consultants and being hired as a consultant—I’ve learned something about creating productive relationships between nonprofits and freelancers. So, I thought I’d share a few  tips.

Know what skills you want

Be explicit about what kind of skills and experience you need for your project. If you’re looking for a writer—what kind of writer? Someone who specializes in interviews and profiles? Someone who writes direct mail? Someone who writes opinion pieces and executive speeches? Once you know the kind of writing you’re after, you’ll be able to ask the right questions to winnow out the best person for the job. All writing is not created equal. For instance, someone who can write a brilliant annual report may produce lousy video scripts. Likewise, what kind of designer are you after? Do you want traditional design, avant garde design, whimsical design, dramatic design? Pick designers based on how well they do that particular kind of design, judging by their portfolios. The same principle holds true for other creative talent, like photographers and graphic artists. If you’re looking for a strategist to help you plan, try to make sure they’ve worked with nonprofits before. Once you know what you want from a consultant, be crystal clear in setting up those expectations for the people you interview or hire. Be specific about deliverables, timetables, and quality requirements.

Know (and share) the parameters of your project

As a consultant, the clients I love most are those who have already figured out what the audiences, goal, deadline, and budget for a specific project are. (Unless the project is strategic planning, the process that helps  figure those things out for all communications.) One way to force yourself to do this is to write an RFP—even if you’re not going to circulate it. It’s great discipline to have to define a project clearly. I’m happy to respond to RFP’s, but I see many RFP’s that are too vague to respond to meaningfully. As a person who’s hired dozens of consultants, my best results came from trusting them enough to share the project budget up front. Don’t make them play pin the tail on the budget. Rather than just asking them to give me an estimate out of the blue, help them understand the financial limitations nonprofits face and give them a full picture of the entire project, not just their piece. The better informed they are, the better they understand their role and the more accurate their estimate.

Know the field of freelancers

Look around before you interview consultants for a project. Ask trusted colleagues at other organizations which freelancers they use and highly recommend. Keep a current file of names. Google the names of consultants and check them out on LinkedIn—especially for background and recommendations. Look at their websites or blogs and check out past work portfolios and client lists. (Be alert for other nonprofits in those lists; that’s a good sign.) Try to gauge how closely they match the skill set you’ll need, and how much experience they have. Then, pick a couple of top candidates and bring them in for a “get to know you” interview. Ask them to bring in more work samples. Focus on their knowledge level, attention to detail, follow-through, and sense of humor. You’re going to be working with this person fairly closely; hire someone you feel comfortable with and have confidence in.

Be wary of pro bono offers

I’ve both accepted and rejected pro bono offers during my career. (Ah, the tales I could tell. ) What those experiences taught me is to be wary. Yes, some altruistic communications agencies and consultants genuinely want to contribute to the success of nonprofits. They take their pro bono work very seriously, do it well, and I applaud them. (I had the pleasure of working with one of these agencies in Minneapolis.) Others are less reliable. Often, they can’t deliver on their promise. They end up giving the work to the least senior members of their staff and sacrificing nonprofit  deadlines to meet for-profit deadlines. If you’re offered pro bono work, take the time to explore the offer in-depth. Call their past pro bono nonprofit clients and ask about the experience of working with this person or agency, and the quality of the product. And, if you do accept such an offer, get the specific agreement in writing if you can. Pro bono may look like a magical gift when it comes knocking, but looks can deceive. Just be careful…and realistic.

Give them what they need

Now that you’ve hired someone, you need to become their reliable partner. Projects may require the expertise of an external consultant, but they nearly always require the deep subject knowledge of an internal staff member. Even very independent freelancers are going to have to bring you into the project at different junctures to give them information, make suggestions, or review and approve. If they’ve given you a production timeline (they should), it’s important for both of you to live up to the deadlines. Delays in getting consultants what they need can make you miss your deadline. Make yourself and others on staff available to them as required. They should let you know in advance when and who is going to need to be involved.

Be honest about problems (and praise)

You do no favors to freelancers by delaying criticisms of their work. If there are problems, tell them immediately. Be specific, not only about what’s wrong, but what they’d need to do to make it right. After that, if the work still isn’t up to snuff and you’re losing confidence they can do the job, you may have to let them go and hire someone else. What you don’t want to do is make that big move when your deadline is near. You need time to start over and still meet deadlines. On the other hand, if a freelancer is exactly hitting the mark and you’re thrilled with the work—be generous with your praise.

If you have any other questions about how to work effectively with communications or creative consultants, please add a comment and I’ll try to answer it.

CC photo credit: oooh-oooh

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A 5-step quide to social media strategy for nonprofits

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Many nonprofits have already dipped their toes into social media. They see others doing it and figure they should be doing it too. So they jump on Twitter and create a Facebook fan page. Or they put event photos on Flickr, or buy a Flipcam to get videos on YouTube. Then what?

Back up.

Grab your strategic communications plan and start over.

But first, understand that social media is not about marketing, it’s about community. Yes, nonprofits can reach influencers and raise money through these channels, but that’s the tip of the iceberg. To succeed with social media, you have to genuinely appreciate the idea of community—offering help and value with no expectation of return. (I’m not saying it’s not great if you do get support in return, just don’t demand it.) These are useful channels for building relationships.

Using social media, nonprofits can:

• gain insights about audiences and issues
• spread important ideas and create awareness
• share resources and opportunities
• build networks and social movements
• strengthen trust in your organization

Step one–the match game

Looking over your communications plan (or your organization’s strategic plan)—identify goals that could be supported by using social media in one of the five ways above.

For instance, advocacy groups may want to use social media to build networks and social movements. Foundations may want to use them to spread ideas and create issue awareness, or share research findings. Other nonprofits may want to use them to learn more about the needs and preferences (or complaints) of the clients they serve. Some nonprofits may want to use them to deepen trusting relationships with their donors.

This little match game should highlight areas that hold the most promise for your social media use. Refine and prioritize these into a set of social media objectives (what do you’d like to accomplish).

Step two–grab the earhorn not the megaphone

Before you start investing in social media, listen to what’s already being said about your organization and your issue. Get the “feel” of these media and how people are using them.

Even if you’ve decided social media isn’t a good investment for you, every nonprofit should at least have a listening outpost. Set up Google alerts for your organization’s name, executives, news release titles, and issue keywords. Research which bloggers are writing about your issues through Alltop or Technorati and subscribe to their blog feeds.

Organizing all this through Google Reader makes it easier for a staff member to keep up with relevant online conversations. Listening is not just a one-time exercise; it should become part of your standard day-to-day operations. That means expressly making time for it (1 hour a day) in someone’s schedule. That person should routinely report significant findings to not only executives, but to all staff members. And you should think about developing a way to make sure that anything negative you hear is addressed!

What do you do with what you hear? Check out these 17 ideas from Kivi LeRoux.

Step three—who, what, and where

If you have a strategic communications plan you already know who your key audiences are. If you don’t, use your organizational strategic plan and ask these questions: What changes are we trying to make in the world? Who can make those changes happen? Those groups are your key audiences. Be very clear about what they need to do to make the changes you desire happen—those are the actions you’re aiming to trigger through your communications.

If you don’t feel that your listening outpost captures your key audiences well enough, enhance it so you can find out more about what these particular groups of people think about your organization and its work. You especially want to find out which social media are popular with these folks. Do you need to start tracking Facebook because your audiences are there? Are they Twittering? What blogs do they follow? Are there other online communities they participate in? What kind of research do you need to do to find out where they are congregating online? It might also be helpful to scout out which social media your peers and competitors are investing in.

Once you know who you’re trying to reach, what you want them to do, and what social media they’re using—you’re more than halfway home. Remember, just developing a deeper relationship with your key audience members can be an “action” goal.

Step four—putting it all in context

There’s a huge universe of social media out there, so don’t get carried away. Stick to your objectives and key audiences. Pick out a couple of social media that offer the most promise of reaching your key audiences, then focus on going deep with those.

Once you’ve chosen them, think about the larger picture. How are these social media tactics going to integrate with your website, email strategy, publications, media relations, and special events? (Don’t forget widgets.) These are all threads in the same cloth and they need to interweave and reinforce each other. (They also need to reflect that there are human beings behind your logo.)  Write down your integration plan, even a starter time line for the next few months.

Get creative about how you repurpose content in all these media so you’re not reinventing the wheel but still providing valuable content in fresh ways.

Step five—the rubber hits the road

Now, the tricky part. Who’s going to be responsible for what? Who’s going to generate the content and when? Who’s going to do the organizational listening? Who’s going to handle IT and legal support if needed? Do you need outside expertise? How are you going to measure ROI? Who’s going to gather that data?

Are you opting for an organizational voice or are you inviting employees to participate as individuals? How will you handle negative online comments about your organization? What are the budget and staff implications? (These media may be free to use, but they require a sustained investment of staff time to be effective.)

Some people put this question as the very first one an organization ought to ask itself in the process of developing a social media strategy. I don’t. I think that once you understand if, how, and why you need social media to advance your agenda, you’ll probably find a way to shift resources to handle the workload. Maybe you can adjust your other communications commitments to free up time. In the beginning, you may need to rob Peter a bit to make room for social media. Your efforts don’t have to be perfect, but they do have to be consistent and professional.

If you want estimates about how much time Twittering, blogging, managing a Facebook or YouTube page takes—ask one of the nonprofits successfully using these media. From my own experience, listening and Twitter take me about an hour a day, and blogging takes 3-4 hours a week.

Even with a modest investment in social media, you also probably want to create a short user-friendly policy for your organization. Keep this in simple-to-understand language. There’s a good example at the end of this helpful Mashable blog post.

These statements can help trumpet and clarify for your employees the cultural shift that participation in social media represents—toward more transparency and openness, less control of marketing message, trust-building rather than self-promotion, and more authentic, multi-way engagement with partners and potential supporters.

Now, you’re ready to start using social media strategically—more confident that your investment of time and energy will actually advance your mission and goals.

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Nonprofits have two missions to balance–cause and corporate

Before I start talking about strategic communications planning in coming weeks, I want to point out a fact that most nonprofits vaguely sense but few clearly articulate.

You have two missions—a cause mission to change society and a corporate mission to sustain your organization. It’s important to keep clear about these two missions, the tension between them, and the communications resources required for both.

Too often, the bulk of nonprofit communications resources are channeled into supporting  corporate mission—raising money. That’s understandable, especially in times of funding scarcity, but it’s also a little short-sighted.

Your cause mission is the raison d’etre for your organization. How well you accomplish it is probably the single most important factor in your long-term fund raising success. If you can’t continuously report impact and progress related to your cause, donors will soon find a nonprofit that can.

Nonprofit communications is not just about marketing your organization to funders, donors, and volunteers. Communications can also powerfully advance your cause mission by helping you shift public opinion, coalesce networks, and build social movements. You’re going to need to think more deeply and creatively about how to do that as you start planning. (For starters, read some of the recent posts on Beth Kanter’s blog about using social media to build social movements.)

You may believe that your cause mission depends on the success of your corporate mission (“we can’t do any programs if we don’t have money”); I believe it’s the other way around (“we won’t raise money if we can’t show program impact”). Realistically, it’s a little of both. Consider that when you’re allocating communications resources next year.

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Communications audit: Step three—your digital identity

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In the past two weeks I’ve taken you through the major steps in conducting a communications audit, but we’re not quite done. Do keep in mind—this entire audit is set against the backdrop of your current strategic communications plan to help you assess how effectively you’re reaching your goals.

This week I’ll cover the final two steps of an audit—your digital identity and a competition analysis.

As part of your review of the communications you produce (part one of the audit), you’ve already analyzed your current social media platforms, including ROI. Now, you’re going to take a little different approach to how your organization is represented online: piecing together your digital identity.

Your Digital Identity

Whether you know it (or like it), your organization is being talked about and judged all the time. Word-of-mouth can be the most powerful form of communication going today, so you need to know what’s being said and thought about your nonprofit and its work.

The good news is, Web 2.0 has made it much easier and cheaper to track that kind of information. Many of you already have organizational listening strategies that continuously monitor online conversations. That’s important. But for this audit exercise, inspired by Nancy White’s in-depth work with digital identities, you’re going to do online searches while pretending to be these three people:

• a potential donor
• a potential employee
• a member of the media

1) Do a Google search for for your organization, including any possible abbreviations or acronyms. Read every search result-–first from the viewpoint of a donor, second from the viewpoint of a potential employee, and third from the viewpoint of a media representative. For each persona, make note of anything good about your organization that’s highlighted (and where) and more importantly, anything negative or that might raise confusing or troubling questions. Also, generally, make note of opportunities. For instance, if you run across a listing that includes your organization that you didn’t know about, don’t waste any chance you have to submit better profile information.

2) Do this same search exercise for your executive director and board chair. Does your executive director and/or board chair have a Google profile? If not, create one.

3) Do a Google image search for your organization, executive director, and board chair. Know what images are out there possibly representing you.

3) Do searches for your organization, executive director, and board chair on: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, del.icio.us, flickr, and YouTube. Pay attention to what messages your avatars, photos, and videos send to these three personae, as well as what content, links, comments, and rankings convey. Note anything that could be harmful to your nonprofit’s reputation. You don’t control online conversation, but you need to know what’s being said so you can consider what kind of action might be taken to help correct misperceptions or end dissatisfactions. Be prepared—some problems may go deeper than communications to involve aspects of your programs. If there is nothing or very little being said about you on these platforms, you need to think about that, too. Is that a good thing or a bad thing vis a vis your communications plan?

4) Do searches for your organization on popular charity Web sites and directories: what information is being shared? Are you being rated? If so, what are the results? Are you missing from sites where you should be included? Here are a few sites to get you started: CharityNavigator, Guidestar, CharityGuide, InsideGood, GreatNonprofits,and Idealist.

When you’ve finished these inquires, you’ll have a better sense of what potential donors and employees, as well as reporters can (and will) find out about you online. If  you discover significant problems with your current digital identity—especially inaccuracies—address them right away. Also make note of opportunities to better represent your organization online. Those should be woven into your new strategic plan.

Competition Analysis

There’s one more piece to a communication audit that I highly recommend for nonprofits and foundations–a competition (or peer) analysis. Find out how to do one in my post from a few months ago. Be sure to include social media platforms in your review—not just websites and publications.

In coming weeks, I’ll talk about the nuts and bolts of crafting a new strategic communications plan for your organization. But rest assured, if you’ve done the audit—you’re miles ahead in understanding which of your communications need to be changed or discontinued.

CC photo credit: krazydad/jbum

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Communications audits: Media Analysis

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Last week I provided guidelines for assessing the communications that you control. But that’s only half of the story–especially in today’s conversational Web 2.0 environment.

This week, attention turns to what the media is saying about you, and next week—what the Web is saying about you, and what your peers and competitors are up to.

Media Analysis

You all know your local media outlets, and you should be continuously tracking coverage of your organization and issue in them through Google alerts. But for this exercise, collect all the major coverage you’ve had in the past year—online and in print. (If possible, make this exercise an annual one so you can track trends over time.)

Don’t just read through the coverage, create a spreadsheet and answer the questions below for each story. There are two ways to approach this: 1) start with the media that you most wanted coverage by and work down to the media that covered you that you didn’t aim for, or, 2) start by tracking the coverage generated by your specific media relations efforts/news releases and work down to coverage that you didn’t generate yourselves. Both of those collection methods will yield insights.

For each story:

• Where did it appear? (name of specific medium plus whether it was print, electronic, or online)
• What date did it run?
• Who wrote or produced it? Do you have any kind of relationship with that person?
• Was it long, medium, or short?
• Did it feature a photo, or a side bar?
• Was is positive or negative about your organization or its work?
• Did it include a quote from your organization? Who was quoted?
• What was the main message about your organization that came through? (state this message in one simple sentence)
• Was that the main message you wanted to come through? If not, what was the message you were aiming for?
• What was the genesis of the story? Your news release, a call to a reporter, etc.
• Were any parts of your news release repeated in the story?
• Was the issue framed in the way your organization is framing it? Did media use any of the same language you are using in your frame?
• Was there any measurable ROI for each of your major media pushes, e.g. attendance spikes at media-promoted events, a sharp increase in website hits from a media article, a rise in donations following a media feature, etc. Always try to track tangible results for your organization during and after a media push.

Glean trends and insights

Now, look over the spreadsheet for insights into how effectively you met your media relations objectives.

• Are there any reporters writing about your issue, especially on a regular basis, that you haven’t built a relationship with? If so—start a relationship now, when you aren’t pushing a story. These relationships are as much about helping reporters/bloggers as they are about getting a story.
• What was the biggest source of coverage—your news releases? your phone calls? other kinds of media networking you did? partners’ media relations? etc.  (If the biggest source wasn’t your organization, think about the implications of that.)
• How does the coverage match with your strategic communication media goals? (e.g., If you’re trying for big hits every quarter—did you achieve that? If you’re trying to up your coverage in one particular media outlet—did you achieve that?)
• Are there any media “holes” that you need to focus on: media popular with your key audiences that aren’t covering you at all.
• Did your photos end up being used? (If not, consider why that may be. Are they of high enough quality? Are they compelling and relevant? Do they include human beings, especially faces? Do they tell a story?)
• What’s the ratio of negative to positive stories? If there were negative stories you think were unfair and inaccurate, try to analyze what happened and consider how you can improve your credibility with those reporters.
• Is there a recurring negative message or meme out there about your organization or work or issue you need to be aware of and try to correct? Is there a recurring positive message you’d like to reinforce?
• Are the positive messages that appeared actually the most important messages you would want people to hear about your organization and its work? If not, you need to work on your message platform so you’re repeating the most important positive messages every chance you get.
• Who is most often interviewed from your organization by the media? Does that person do a great job every time, or could they profit from media training?
• Is your frame is gaining traction?  Are your language and metaphors being used by the media.
• Were the correlations between media channels and ROI what you wanted and expected? e.g., did smaller, niche media deliver more than mass media? did online perform better than print? did TV disappoint?
• Does the media seem more interested in some topics than others? Ask yourself why that might be and how you can use that knowledge.

You may even want to write a little summary of the image of your organization as it’s portrayed in last year’s coverage to clarify what you need to focus on changing. This whole analysis gives you a rich context to start planning the media relations component of your next strategic plan.

If you have additional ideas for things to watch for in a media coverage analysis, please add them below!

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First step in strategic communications planning: Communications audits

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If I had one piece of advice to give any foundation or nonprofit communicator in this new financial paradigm of thrift, it would be to develop a strategic communications plan. It may be your biggest conservation tool. If you already have a plan, the second half of the year is a good time to revisit it for fine-tuning or mid-course corrections

Some people quake in their boots at the words “strategic plan.” The trick is doing it step by step, and not rushing to tactics. If you spend 75 % of your time getting strategy right, you’ll only need to spend 25% of your time figuring out tactics—because they grow organically out of your strategy.

For this series of posts, I’m assuming you don’t have money hire a firm or an external consultant to help you with a plan, but you still want to do as much as you can internally to improve the effectiveness of your communications. I’ll try to keep my advice realistic and doable.

This week, I’m going to talk about the first step in the process—communications audits.

If you’re planning on redecorating your house, you don’t just go out one day and buy paint and furniture willy-nilly. You first look around and see what you already have. That helps you develop a vision for what you want, and exposes what needs to be changed.

That’s what communications audits do. You need to know where you are to figure out where you want to go next and how best to get there. Audits assess your current communications practices and products, and highlight areas that need improvement. There are lots of ways of doing them, but I’m paring it down to what I think can help you the most and not overwhelm you. (But it will take an investment of your time. No way around that.)

Make a list

You’re going to be gathering and analyzing all of the communications you currently produce. So, the first thing to do is make a list of them all—from your Facebook page to your annual report, from grantee announcement letters to the voicemail message on your organization’s main telephone line, from the signatures on your emails to donor thank you cards.

Don’t think just in terms of print or written communications—include all your digital communications and social media platforms as well. Even include your signature special events and small group meetings if they’re important communications tactics with external audiences.

What you’re trying to get from this audit is a complete picture of the panorama of communications tactics you’re currently using, and a sense of the cost/effectiveness for each.

Once you have this list, add some details for each item (create a grid):

• Time frame  (e.g., annual report—March; enewsletters—Jan, April, August, Nov.)
• Audience/Purpose (who you’re trying to reach and what you want them to do after receiving your communication)
• Reach (e.g. how many publications are printed and distributed/how many you have left in your storeroom; how many facebook fans you have; how many people receive your email newsletters; how many twitter followers; web visitors, etc.)
• Cost (real cost, not what you budgeted)
• Staff time (note whether staff time investment in this communication is intensive, moderate, or small)
• Any known return on investment/ROI  (through your strategic planning you’re going to get better at measuring this, but put down anything you know right now—total donations through facebook page, results of reader surveys for major publications, how many website downloads, etc. What you’re trying to discover is which communications best lead to people taking the action you wanted them to take.)

Analyze this information in several different ways.

• Look for duplicate efforts; maybe you can eliminate the tactic with less ROI.
• Notice where you have no idea about ROI; you’re flying completely blind there. You need to build in evaluation.
• Notice any correlations between cost, reach, staff time, and ROI–the ideal communication causes the most people to take the action you want them to take and costs the least amount of money and staff time. Are you spending the most staff time and money on communications with the largest reach to key audiences and biggest ROI?
• Are you inundating any of your audiences? Ignoring any ? Are your communications choreographed to arrive at optimal time intervals with each audience? Are you leading audiences into a deeper relationship with your organization with every communication?
• Are there important audience actions that aren’t covered in the “purpose” of any of your communications?
• What’s the balance you’re striking between print, digital, and face to face communications? Are you too heavy into print? Are you slighting face-to-face? Are you spending too much time on social media?

Gather samples

Now, gather as many actual samples of all your printed pieces as possible—including your letterhead and business cards and print-outs of your digital landing pages. Lay them all out on a big table or tape them to a wall. (For clearer insights, arrange them horizontally according to when they occur during the calendar year and vertically according to audience.) Overall, what you’re looking at is your visual identity. Notice how things cohere and reinforce each other (what you’re striving for) or how different they all look (uh-oh).

Some questions to ask while reviewing these items:

• Is your logo/wordmark/tagline and contact info on every piece? Does your logo/wordmark look identical, except for size, everywhere?
• Are you using a limited, consistent, easily recognizable palette of colors?
• Is there some kind of design consistency throughout, even though every piece doesn’t have to be identical? Would someone easily recognize these pieces as all being produced by the same organization?
• Is there design consistency between our printed and digital communications?
• What three adjectives do you think people would think of when looking at your current visual identity? (Be honest. If you don’t trust yourself, ask some friendly strangers from the next office to come in and offer opinions.) Are these the three adjectives you want people to think of when they think of your organization?
• Does everything look professional—even if cheaply produced?
• Is there a warmth, a “human being” sense to your communications, or are they cold and institutional?

Now study the content of your communications.

• Are they immediately engaging for the reader? Are there high quality compelling photographs that reinforce main messages? Are headlines meaningful, informative, and attention grabbing? Do you use subheads, captions, drawn quotes, and sidebars to layer information for skimmers? Is the content really interesting to your audiences, or is it just something it was easy for you to pull together?
• Are you conveying your one or two main strategic messages throughout our communications mix?
• Look for conflicting messages; if you’re messages contradict each other you’re confusing audiences.
• Are you providing easy cross-referencing  for audiences to all your channels—Are there links to your latest newsletter and social media pages on your website home page? Is your web address front and center in your printed materials? Are your publications featured on your social media pages, and vice versa?
• What’s the quality of writing? Is your web writing just like your publication writing? (It shouldn’t be. See my free ebook about best practices in nonprofit website design.) It is it in plain, easy to understand English, or full of complex sentences and jargon? Is your writing too long?
• Do you include other voices in your writing, or is it always you talking about what you’re doing and why it’s important?

By the end of this part of the audit, you should have a pretty good idea of 1) how your products and practices are either hitting or missing the mark and 2) which ones are the most cost/effective in light of your communications goals and your institution’s strategic plan. Make notes about all the weaknesses, opportunities, and improvements you’ve discovered, and record any ideas and insights. This will all help set the context for your strategic planning.

Next week I’ll cover three other parts of a communications audit—media coverage analysis, digital identity, and competition analysis. In subsequent weeks, I’ll get into the actual planning process.

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CC photo credit: joebeone

Nonprofit database = Golden goose

flickr/mykl roventine

A nonprofit’s database is the goose that lays golden eggs. Feed it, groom it, keep it healthy.

I read on a blog yesterday that now that social media’s here, nonprofits really don’t need to have an email database. I think that’s way premature. Email—and even direct mail—aren’t dead. And they may never be. So don’t stop caring for and honing your database. Start adding social media information to it, too.

It’s very rewarding to create fabulous communications; but it’s just as important to communicate with the right people. You have to know who they are and be able to reach them—through social media, email, snail mail, telephone, etc. And you have to know their history with your organization, their preferences and interests.

Maintaining and growing your database is the way you’re able to establish and build long-term relationships with donors, clients, supporters, volunteers, and others important to your cause. That’s crucial to your sustainability.

Databases are living bodies of information. It takes constant work to keep one in tip-top shape, but the alternative is wasted time, effort, and money…and occasionally, irritated supporters. (How many times do I receive two or three of the same communications from a nonprofit that hasn’t purged its list to remove duplications?)

Even if, as a communicator, you’re not in charge of your organization’s database management, get involved. A good database is fundamental to your success. I’ve rounded up a few good articles that can point the way. Invest some time and thought into making sure that your database is accurate, effectively segmented, easily accessible and searchable, and consistently well managed.

10 Commandments of data management for nonprofits (John Kenyon)

Five symptoms of list decay (Frogloop)

Best practices for managing a database (Robert Weiner)

8 tips to strengthen your database (Network for Good)

If you have any relevant advice from your own experience, or other resources on this topic to recommend, please add them below.

CC photo credit: Mykl Roventine

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Free tool of the week: VoiceThread for nonprofits

flickr/ //amy//

When I first found out about VoiceThread a while back, it struck me as something that foundations and nonprofits could make good use of. It’s a cool way to capture people’s engagement with a topic and image—to weave the threads of their voices into the story being  told.

A VoiceThread is a multimedia slideshow of photos, video, or documents that allows people to easily leave comments and join the conversation. Visually, it’s a slideshow screen surrounded by a mosaic of little avatars of all the people who comment on the image. When you click on the avatar you hear them or see what they’ve written or drawn. People can comment in five simple ways: by telephone, by computer microphone, by web cam, by writing text, or by drawing.

Once you’ve created the central slideshow story—you can invite people to view it and comment on it. Thus the conversation grows.

Wondering how you might use this free tool?

• How about getting your donors to add their voices to a story about a common cause they all support, telling why they support it?
• How about showcasing your grantees’ work by asking them to add their comments to a VoiceThread story you create about an issue they’re working on?
• How about showing how real living human beings are affected by the work you do? Ask them to add comments to a VoiceThread about how one of your programs has helped them.
• Honoring someone special? Create a VoiceThread testimonial to them including all the voice of people whose lives they’ve touched
• Trying to build a social movement? Here’s a very visual way to start—tell your VoiceThread story and ask supporters to add their supportive comments. Watch the little avatars multiply!

These ideas should help you get started thinking about ways you might incorporate VoiceThread into your website, social media platforms, emails to help achieve strategic communication goals.  It’s very easy to share—embeddable, emailable, etc.

Now, for a little introduction from the Voicethreads folks. And here’s a great step-by-step how-to slideshow, and an example of how educators are using VoiceThread to carry out conversations with students. It’s a very versatile tool…as you’ll see as you browse through the collection of existing VoiceThreads; everything from podcasting tutorials to art exhibitions to children’s voices about what’s happening in Darfur.

As usual, I played around with this free tool—just enough to create a very simple 1-slide central story about the issue of homeless teens. When you get to the page, just click on the lone avatar for the ABCD Foundation to hear the story. (I pretended I was a foundation interested in highlighting the work of its grantees working on that issue.) You’re going to have to IMAGINE other little avatars surrounding it—each from a grantee talking about the impact of their work with homeless teens. (It would be terrific to have some of those voices be the teens themselves.)

There are a few different pricing levels beyond what you can get for free (3 min. maximums on recordings, max. of 50 comments, etc.). But, even the Pro account, which gives you the most creative freedom is only $60 per year.

I see a lot of potential of this tool for the nonprofit sector–and not just for educators. Nothing is more fascinating to us than other people–what they think, what they say and do, what they support. VoiceThread is a unique way to combine your organization’s voice with the voices of your supporters or beneficiaries. It makes for richer, more inclusive, more credible storytelling. Plus—it’s pretty darn easy to use! Try it.

CC photo credit: //amy//

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