Clairification

Psychology of Giving: Influence Your Affluence by Using the Science of Persuasion

2012-03-06T22:18:00.000-08:00

Six universalprinciples of persuasion are key to assuring your favorite social benefitorganization will reap the affluence it needs to live well and prosper. I’dlike to give a shout out to Katya Andresen for her recentblog summarizing the principles espoused in Influence, by Robert Cialdini. The essential keys are:

MARCHing to a Different Drum: Who’s in Charge of the Brand Experience – Development, Marketing or... ?

2012-03-05T02:30:00.000-08:00

The digital revolution has made it easierfor each individual to beat – and march to – their own drum. This means we no longer lead the band(or, shall I say, brand). So if neither marketing nor development is wieldingthe baton, does it matter how they’re connected or separated? Yes! But the way it matters may be different thanappears at first blush.

"If a man loses pace with hiscompanions, perhaps it is because he hears a different drummer. Let him step tothe music which he hears, however measured, or far away. "

-Henry David Thoreau

Let us not lose pace with our constituencies.I’ve had a lot of feedback (thanks to all!) on Friday’s post, Please Stop theMadness in March (and any other time): Integrate Fundraising and Marketing. Much of it boils down to who controls the constituentexperience. There’s territoriality and turf protecting going on; also a bit offear, I sense, from fundraisers who may feel they don’t have the technologyskills required in today’s marketplace. But how we feel – and what we fear –may not really matter much in 2012 and beyond. So, I thought it might be interesting to look at the issue of marketingintegration from a different perspective.

Please Stop the Madness in March (and any other time): Integrate Fundraising and Marketing

2012-03-01T20:22:00.001-08:00

Shall we join forces?

Fundraising is notbasketball, but it’s madness not to play as a team. I’ve spoken with threenonprofits in the past several months that, rather than joining forces, have decoupled their marketingand development departments. I surmise they do this because marketing doesn’tunderstand development. Or development doesn’t understand marketing. Or the CEO doesn’t understand either. Or they're mad as March Hares and Hatters.

Stop the madness,please! You’re driving your constituents nuts, you’re wasting resources andyou’re weakening your brand in the process.

Purely Practical SMIT for February – Growing Your Email List

2012-02-28T22:13:00.001-08:00

Lastmonth I began my 2012 series of monthly *SMITs (Single Most Important Thing I have to tellyou). The term comesfrom TomAhern of Ahern Communications.Thank you Tom! This month I’m channelinga wonderful two-part post from Karen Zapp’s Nonprofit Blog. Thank you Karen! Confession: this is allKaren; I’m just sharing. It’s a great roadmap. One caveat: All mapsare just guides. You must test this for yourself. SMIT. And you must keeptesting. As it is said: Pastperformance is no guarantee of future results!

18ways to grow your email list for fundraising, cultivation, part 1 and part2. Karen provides us with this lesson:

First and foremost: Emailought to be as integral to your fundraising and cultivation efforts as directmail and your nonprofit website. Earlierthis week I posted asking about thehealth of email in the nonprofit world. The post and the comments agree with the premise that email is far fromdead. In fact, it’s still the number onemost cost-effective form of online media. To be effective, however, it must be done right. If you do the right thing, but don’t do itthe right way, then… why bother?

Here are my favorite email list-building tips from theaforementioned blog, with a few of my own comments:

Lost in Translation: When Email Hits Mobile, Then What?

2012-02-26T23:26:00.000-08:00

The Case of the Incredibly ShrinkingTechnology

My last post wasabout email, and how it’s not going away any time soon despite the ascension ofsocial media. We have to do both. In fact, we have to do offline mail as well.Most of us don’t like this fact. We have to work longer and harder than everjust to keep up with all the media channels. It’s a fact of life. And it’s about to get worse.

In TheAge of Mobile Email Has Arrived. Are You Ready? technology strategistCameron Lefevre points out it’slikely one-quarter of our subscribers are reading our emails on their mobilephones, and thisnumber is growing quickly . No bigdeal, right? Wrong.

Our constituents’propensity to get up and go – and take their email with them – often meansthat the content and links we slaved away at simply got up and went. Similarly,our constituents’ willingness to engage with us while on the go – staring atteeny screens and links the size of a fingernail, scrolling up and down andusing their thumbs to click and engage – also left the room.

Theless-than-pleasant mobile phone experience (we love them; we all complainabout them) can negatively affect how our supporters engage with our email –unless we go the extra mile to make their experience supremely customer-friendly.

Let’s consider the challenges faced by mobile users, and how thisimpacts their behavior. Recent research among nationalnonprofits found that mobile phones accounted for between 12%and 17% of emails opened. However, mobile users were less likely than desktopusers to take the next steps of clicking and donating or taking action. Mobileusers were reading – but they weren't engaging as much as desktop users. Theywould only account for 5% of those who actually made a donation online.

Now, let’s consider a solution:making our emails and landing pages look great and be easy to use on mobile.Most of us don’t have a clue how to do this, but hopefully we’ve got techsupport that does know. If not, thefolks at M+R Strategies have provided us with anifty ‘how-to’ with step-by-step instructions and before and afterexamples. The results are visuallystriking. Not only that, when themobile-optimized versions of email were tested against non-optimized versionsof the same email, the optimized versions resulted in greater click-throughsuccess.

And it’s not just email, but alsoe-newsletters, blogs and websites that are being viewed on phones. Weshould optimize all of these for mobile (and there are numerous examples on theweb, from CampaignMonitor’s review of how they optimized their eNewsletter to simple tipson Mashable and SocialMedia Examiner . And do check out Katya Andreson's recentpost on Connection Café regarding 4Questions to Ask Before Going Mobile.

Ask your tech support staff to helpwith the optimization, or simply outsource this and get someone on it soonerrather than later. Otherwise, you’regoing to be missing a large chunk of your audience. You may be able to control the day/time youlaunch an email, but you can’t control where your constituents will open theemail. If they’re on the go, you’ve gotto go after them. Good luck!

Comments are welcomed below. Thanks so much for sharing yourwisdom, experience and questions.

SPECIAL REQUEST: If anyone can tell me why my blog post introsget all squished together (some of the words run together without spaces) when they arrive in your email in-box – both regularand mobile – I’d be eternally grateful. I do proof these things, and they look fine on the blog itself, so I’mstumped!

Email is Alive and Well(ish) – There’s No Fat Lady Singing

2012-02-23T19:53:00.001-08:00

Email is still the number one reasonpeople go online. It still commandsthe highest return on investment of any online media. It’s a much bigger dealthan Facebook, which has about 860 million users last time I looked. Twitter, growing by leaps and bounds, is atabout 500 million. Email has about 3.1 billion users! Put that in your pipe and smoke it.

People of all ages use email,compared with a somewhat younger demographic on other social media. And the numbers using email, whileplateauing, are still increasing. Check out this great article by Tod Rathbone,TheReported Death of Email Is Premature, for all sorts of great data thatproves this point (just in case you need to persuade any “powers that be”).

Yet email can be used effectively or…not so much.
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Shall we Dance? How Often Should We Ask our Donors?

2012-02-21T23:12:00.000-08:00

Forget about making aproposal. We’re just dating!

Pretend we’re at adance. Girls on one side; guys onthe other. What’s the proper etiquette? It'sa tricky dance, and everyone is different. Some folks love to dance every single number; others prefer to sit out afew. Some like the tango; some the waltz. We’re not only tasked with when toask, but for what? There is a rightanswer. There just isn’t one right answer.

We can make someonethe belle of the ball or a wallflower. We’ll be sought after as a partnerif we figure out: (1) who wants to be asked to dance, and (2) which dancereally turns them on. Ask not what our partnerscan do for us, but what we can do for our partners! We can make them feel wanted, needed and – dareI say it? – popular! That’s why I mustagree with KenBurnett and Tom Belford, via The Agitator, that “generally we should askmore.” We don’t want to make wallflowersof our donors.

The Winter of our DisCONTENT: Why, even with a content plan, marketing feels so cold to much of our audience

2012-02-21T01:43:00.000-08:00

We’re leaving too much of ouraudience cold, despite the fact that we now have content plans. Brian Solisof the Altimeter Group bloggedon a new report released by his colleague, Rebecca Lieb, “Content: The New MarketingEquation Why Organizations Must Rebalance.” A principle take-away is that,while we’ve been more conscious about creating what we think to be relevantcontent, we’ve ignored the fact that what was once a static audience is now an audiencewith an audience of audiences. As aresult, we’re only delivering value to a small slice of our potentialconstituency. The rest are left chilly.

Let’s consider theparts of our audience that may feel frozen. In YourAudience is and Audience of Audiences Within Audiences, blogger KatyaAndresen channels new media gurus Jay Rosen and BrianSolis in talking about the dramatic shift in the way we must think about –and target – our audiences in today’s digitally revolutionized world. It’s no longer about us and them. It’s about them. Oh, sure. We still speak. But we need to plan carefully before we uttera word. Because the PFKATA (People FormerlyKnown As The Audience) may turn what we say into a social object. This can be fabulous for us. The sharing. Thecaring. But…

There’s No Place Like Home: Bring Your Social Customers Back to Your Home Page

2012-02-16T18:26:00.000-08:00

Think your website is‘social’ because you’ve put a twitter and facebook button up there? Thinkagain.

We’re introduced to aprofound change in the way we’ve been thinking of websites in Social MediaToday’s recent post: WhatNeeds to Be on Your Digital Agenda in 2012? We’re told we must have ‘social websites.’ Sure, weknew websites were no longer just online brochures (though, sadly, thereare still quite a few of those out there). But we thought we were pretty cool with our buttons and sharingfeatures. Not so.

Websitesas we have come to know them are dead.

To Do, or Not To Do. 10 Budget and Work Plan Considerations.

2012-02-15T00:54:00.000-08:00

We’resix weeks into 2012, and our new year’s resolutions may be beginning tofade. For those on a June-July fiscalyear, it’s planning time. What should webe thinking about when it comes to allocation of our energies and resourcesthis year?

First, let’s clear out some space. I’ve participated in many a planning session,and seldom do I recall – if ever – reallyfocusing first on what we could stop doing in order to make room for newendeavors. We pay lip service to thenotion; usually it's just an afterthought. As a consequence, we try to stuff too much into our work plans and endup doing nothing as well as we should. For this reason, I’mintrigued by Dorie Clark’s recent post in Harvard Business Review: FiveThings You Should Stop Doing in 2012. It boils down to the following:
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THE PRESENT IS MY PRESENT THIS FEBRUARY

2012-02-13T16:59:00.000-08:00

I still don’t write poetry, though

I wish I did to convey

how I feel this February.

in a time of blossoming,

and groundhogs, valentines,

love and promise. Not a beginning,

middle or end. Just now. A most precious time;

I don’t have to race through it.

Yet I’m wired to race,

Embrace Your Errors – Ignoring Online Customer Complaints is not Bliss

2012-02-12T21:18:00.000-08:00

What do you do when a donor leaves anegative review on Facebook, Yelp or Twitter? Do you just chalk it up to one whiny person,ignore it, bury your annoyance and move on? If so, you’re missing an opportunity.

You can turn unhappy campers intoloyal, repeat campers. Research shows that when customers are treated withrespect and generosity, they become not only happy but brand loyal. In RepliesCan Change Customer Minds the neuromarketing author Roger Dooley notes:
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Keep on Trucking the Digital Blues Away

2012-02-10T00:26:00.000-08:00

...and see what tomorrow brings.

Sometimes the lights all shinin’ on me;

Other times I can barely see

Lately it occurs to me what a long, strange trip it’s been.

The digitalrevolution we’re a part of is trippy, for sure. There’s so much we should do, and it’sevolving at the speed of light. We can’t live with it or without it. Yet, we must! Jeff Bullas recently wrote anothercompelling post discussing some of the marketing media we ignore at our peril. I’mnot sure what scares me more. The technology or the vocabulary? Dis-intermediationmy Aunt Sally Sue!

Not that it matters. Being scared and sticking my head in the sandis not going to stand me in good stead. It’s only going to stand me on my head. With the blood rushing to myfeet, I won’t be able to think. Oh,dear. Gotta think smart. Gotta think fast!

It’s the Relationships, Stupid: Making Friends of our Donors

2012-02-08T22:23:00.000-08:00

Listen up. In “No” is not the end of the conversationChuck English channels the old Dale Carnegie manifesto, How to Win Friends and Influence People,and reminds us of the significance of listening -- showing genuine interest inothers and encouraging folks to talk about themselves. This has always been thekey to success, both in sales and fundraising (though, personally, I’d prefer ‘making’to ‘winning’ friends ; they’renot a prize but, rather, someone with whom we align in a mutually supportiverelationship).

The digital revolution is not going to change howhuman beings behave. When it comes to sustaining donor relationships, the factthat there’s so much noise in today’s multi-channel marketplace makes it evenmore important that we distinguish ourselves in the donor’s mind as distinct,relevant and caring. Caring? Yes.
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Should You Hire a Social Media Coach and Do Your Own Quarterbacking?

2012-02-05T15:32:00.000-08:00

When it comes to playing the socialmedia game, what’s the best combination of talents to create a winning strategyand team? Of course, you can beg thequestion and just keep punting… but that’s not really going to get you veryfar. Did you know we spend 22% of ourinternet time on social media? Of marketers today, according to a report bySocial Media Examiner, 28% outsource social media management – double the 14% who did so in 2010. This isno longer child’s play. As we enter the New Year, I would suggest it’s time forthe mindless punting to stop.

Is Your Marketing on Remote Control: What to Do With Too Many Channels

2012-02-01T18:45:00.000-08:00

We’re a nationafflicted with remote controlitis. With so many marketing channels from which to choose, we constantlyswitch from one to the next. We don’tfocus as much as we used to, and we’re certainly not loyal to one media overanother. First, a moment to define this disease.

Social Media Moves to the Head of the Class

2012-02-01T00:31:00.000-08:00

Recently I posted on the desirabilityof CEOs becoming active TweetieBirds on Twitter. It was a bitof a tongue-in-cheek suggestion, but the point was that as social media becomesmore and more embroidered into the fabric of how we do business, leaders aregoing to want to understand what the heck it’s all about.

Beyond understanding, leaders willwant to lead. To do so, they will need to fully embrace social media in abig picture, strategic way. It’s time to finally make social mediaabout people, rather than technology. David F. Giannettorecently posted onTop Four Enterprise Changes Driven by Social Media, suggesting we’vefocused too much simply on the mechanics of making it work inside ourorganizations: facebook pages twitter accounts, YouTube channels, and the like.He encourages a step back to consider the purpose of the technology and thecontext within which we’re now operating.
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There’s No Place Like Home: Bring Your Social Customers Back to Your Home Page.

2012-01-30T18:38:00.000-08:00

Think your website is‘social’ because you’ve put a twitter and facebook button up there? Thinkagain.

Are we Heaping our Plates too High at the Information Buffet?

2012-01-27T13:17:00.000-08:00

The current zeitgeistis one of information overload, as highlighted in a recent article, ContentRivers and Information Gluttony. Theavailability of information is not the problem, however. We’ve been in overloadat least since 1970, as described by futurist AlvinToffler . Our inability to limit our choices is whatgets us into trouble. We heapour plate until it’s overfull; it gives us a pain in our tummy.

It’s hard to go on adiet however. And this is why mostof us are grappling with the issue of “information overload”. Clay Shirkyargues in his talk “It’sNot Information Overload. It’s Filter Failure” that we’re to blame becausewe’re indiscriminately eating everything in sight. We need to filter for quality.

Purely Practical SMIT* for January: Nonprofit Newsletters

2012-01-24T13:27:00.000-08:00

Thank you to Jeff Brooks’ wonderful post in Future Fundraising Now and Tom Ahern of The Domain Formula for donor newsletters for some great hints on how to raise money with nonprofit newsletters. Confession: this is all them; I’m just sharing. It’s a great roadmap. And *SMIT (Single Most Important Thing I have to tell you) comes from Tom. One caveat: All maps are just guides. You must test this for yourself. SMIT. And you must keep testing. As it is said: Past performance is no guarantee of future results!

How to raise money with newsletters

Tom Ahern provides this lesson:

In the 1990s, a Seattle fundraising shop called the Domain Group took the donor newsletter and began testing to see if they could come up with something better. Domain eventually developed a formula that made a donor newsletter HIGHLY worth doing: some Domain clients began raking in more gifts through their newsletters than through their direct mail appeals.

How could a newsletter make more money than an appeal?
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Show Me That You Know Me*: 5 Things You Must Do To Sustain Donor Relationships in 2012 -- and Beyond

2012-01-23T20:46:00.000-08:00

Today I have an article in TheBridge discussing the importance of actively embracing strategic donorrelationship-building management. Seriously, there is nothing more importantyou can do this year. It’s all about relationships – and it takes some work tobuild and sustain them. What are you doing to show your donors you know them?The article is reprinted below.

Let’s pretend you and yourdonor are not connecting meaningfully right now. You’re not sure why. Could it be that your donor’s portfolio isdown… their salary was cut… they feel financially insecure… they’re worried fortheir kids… they’ve been let down by politicians… they’re just feeling cynicaland/or hopeless? For whatever reason,things aren’t singing between you and them. They seem to have other priorities.

So, you decide to go tocouples counseling to reinvigorate the relationship. The therapist makes a wise observation:

Come On Get Happy: Avoid Top 5 Deathbed Regrets

2012-01-22T23:03:00.000-08:00

Today begins the celebration of Chinese New Year -- the end of winter, and the harbinger ofspring to come. As we enter the Year of the Dragon, what better timeto reflect on our lives and make new choices for the coming period? We all havethings we wish we might change or do differently. Sometimes it takes only a little reflection, and some tinkering with the system, to reap immense rewards. Toward that end, I’m finding it helpful toconsider these five major regrets reported by hospice patients, as outlined by life coach Colleen Lilly.