Ten Marketing Communications Activities You Must Do

Ten Marketing Communications Activities You Must Do Michele Levy www.brand-strat.com October 27, 2010 Use Twitter Hashtag #npweb Special Thanks To Our Sponsors

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Ten Marketing Communications Activities You Must Do Michele Levy www.brand-strat.com October 27, 2010 Use Twitter Hashtag #npweb Special Thanks To Our Sponsors

Helping ordinary people raise extraordinary amounts for nonprofits is all we do, and we love it. A Proud Sponsor of NonprofitWebinars.com

Today’s Speaker Michele Levy brand strategy consultant Hosting: Sam Frank, Synthesis Partnership

What will you learn? •! An overview of 10 cost-effective marketing communications activities •! Practical tools that every organization can use to implement and maintain these efforts •! Tips on how to measure the effectiveness of your efforts

The caveat •! These tips are, by nature, fairly generic…I’ve deliberately compiled a list of activities that will apply across most organizations •! In each mission area (education vs. social services vs. museums, etc), there are an additional layer of top tactics. For instance: –! Independent schools are finding postcard mailings quite effective –! Organizations with a product set must create a comprehensive “catalog” of offerings –! Museums have to find ways to bring the on-site experience alive online –! etc.

First, a quick poll Do you have a favorite marketing communications tactic? Is there something you budget for every year, because you know it works? What kind of an organization do you represent (school, museum, social service, etc.)?

1. It all starts with your audience •! Start by asking how they see you, what they need from you, how they want to communicate with you, what they see as their other options –! Informal focus groups –! Advisory board –! Online survey –! Website survey –! Event/course evaluations •! Each one of these activities is not just fact-finding, but relationship building •! Watch their behavior (not in a creepy way, of course!) –! Web analytics (you’d be surprised!) –! Response rates (especially to e-newsletters) –! Event attendance

2. Keep an eye on the competition •! Where else can your supporters spend their time and money? What other outlets do they have for their individual passions? •! Set aside time to visit those organizations’ websites •! Sign up for their newsletters •! Visit their presentations and booths at conferences •! Learn from their successes, and their mistakes •! Keep watching!

3. Make a plan People can make communications planning sound complicated, daunting and something only a marcom person with years of experience can do. WRONG. Anyone can do this…

3. Make a plan AUDIENCE Who do you want to reach? What do you want to say to them? MESSAGE Be sure to make it about them! What communication tool(s) will TOOL most effectively reach them? TIMING When this will happen? Who is going to make sure this ASSIGNMENT communication step happens? METRICS How will you know it worked? The key = pick a few things, do them well, measure, adapt

4. Plan to network •! Make a list of the individuals and organizations most important to your success (does NOT need to be a long list) •! Agree on “who owns whom”….which staff and board members will take responsibility for building a networking relationship with each of these individuals and organizations. Be realistic about how many contacts each of you can handle •! Review your organization’s yearly calendar to identify good potential points of contact (performances? show openings? Board of Visitors day? a yearly conference…yours or someone else’s?) •! Inventory the tools you have to share with these contacts…what do you have to offer them? What will be most effective in keeping them up to date on your organization? (your monthly newsletter? a quarterly report? your annual report? a new video?...just make sure it’s delivered in a very personal manner) •! Agree on how often you will reach out to these contacts •! Evaluate the list on a yearly basis…weed and add as appropriate

Put it in writing

5. Plan to update your web site •! If you do nothing else…have a plan to keep your website updated •! Convene all “owners” of the web site…all those on staff and/or board who will contribute content and multimedia •! A two step process –! Review your organizational calendar, match web updates to relevant events/activities –! Identify the down times and brainstorm other, non- event, updates –! Don’t forget to plan to update your photos!

Sample: Editorial calendar

6. Layer a social media plan on top •! Take another look at that calendar •! Where are the opportunities to use social media to drive your audiences to events on that calendar, to your web site to learn more, etc?* •! Make sure that everyone in your org responsible for social media is working together! •! For both web and social media planning…strive for 75% planned, 25% opportunistic *Assuming you’ve already settled on the most appropriate social media channels

7. Be easy to find ONLINE •! Search engine optimization…where will you land on Google? •! Search engine marketing…what will you pay to increase/control your presence? IN THE REAL WORLD •! Signage (don’t laugh) –! Are you visible from the street? –! Can people easily find their way around your property (campus, museum, offices, etc.) –! Is it all consistent, user-friendly and brand appropriate?

8. Build your audience, then stay connected •! Always be collecting email addresses (and Twitter followers, and people who like you on Facebook, and YouTube viewers) •! Think about how you can partner with other organizations to build your exposure and audience •! Segment and prioritize your audience (a casual YouTube viewer may not merit the same level of effort as a significant donor) •! Stay in touch in whatever way makes sense to your audience (enewsletter, postcard mailings, print or online magazine, annual report, etc.) –! Use your comms plan to monitor cadence…don’t communicate too much or too little •! Be perceptive, responsive, relevant and compelling.

9. Remember to say thank you •! Silly, hunh? •! It works. •! Look for every opportunity to recognize your audience for their contribution to your success –! Printed notes –! Invites to events –! Shout outs –! Quick emails •! They will be pleasantly surprised. And they will help you again. And again.

10. Measure, measure, measure •! For every tactic you consider, ask yourself “How will we measure our results? How will we know we’ve succeeded?” •! Report, report, report…make sure staff and board are aware of what you’re doing in terms of marketing communication, and where you’ve been successful •! The easy ones: –! Web traffic and traffic patterns –! Enewsletter response rates –! Event registration –! Inbound phone calls –! Press mentions –! Referrals –! Social media metrics

And the bonus tip… •! REPURPOSE (it’s no longer a dirty word) •! Every single piece of content, every single piece of multimedia, every bit of press…they all have more than one use (maybe not in the same format for each channel) •! Think about how to wring every last piece of value out of everything you do (on mission, on brand, relevant and compelling, of course!) •! For example… –! Video –! Press mentions –! Magazine stories

Let’s look at the poll results

Special thanks Thanks to the colleagues who responded when I sent out a late night poll asking for their “must do” communications tactics: •! Nicole Palovich: www.childrenshospital.org/ •! Diane Viera: www.historicnewengland.org •! Priscilla Lund: www.chds.org •! Jennifer Harrington: http://www.hatch12.com •! Sue Landay: www.trainerswarehouse.com •! Jennifer Powell: www.excellentwriters.com

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Ten Marketing Communications Activities You Must Do

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