NTEN 2010 25 ways to increase communications

25 Ways to Increase Your Organization's Communication Capacity Without Hiring New Staff Tirza Hollenhorst ifPeople @tirzalyn [email_address] Mark Sutton Artez Interactive @marksutton [email_address] Join the conversation: #10NTC.25W

Why Does it Matter
Tight budgets = No new staff
> need to communicate across > channels
Stakeholder expectations of interactivity are Up
More noise to cut through

Agenda
Communications Strategy
Process – Scale it
Who’s Involved?

Strategy ( a really, really good one)

1. Define Your Goals
Where are you going?
How will you measure if you are heading in the right direction?

Keep track of goals with quantitative data… Comments New names added to email file Increased donations Voting participants Influential Friends Content of keywords Increased webpage hits Influential blogs linked to you

Define Your Goals
Increase Engagement
Acquire New Supporters
Build Relationships
Increase Donations

Personas are…
Descriptions of individuals that represent your target
They’re not real people
Just archetypes that represent real people.
2. Define Your Audience

3. Go Where Your Audience Is
Speak their language
Address their aspirations
Meet their needs
Go to their communities
Test
Test
Test

Our staff knows fashion. We sell things you can’t find anywhere else. We want to target young women. http://dcgoodwillfashions.blogspot.com/ http://www.fashionofgoodwill.org/

4. Clarify your Key Messages
Starts with the mission
Defines your ‘elevator’ pitch
The context for all communications
Differentiators
Directed to stakeholders

5. Research Your Keywords
Your site has two audiences….People & Robots

6. Listen Broadcast Platform Conversation Medium

7. Build Your Social Database “ Relentlessly Build Your Email Database” –Ted Hart

Process Automation

8. Stop Entering Data

Stop Entering Data
Plone > Saleforce
Staff never touches data
Custom reporting
Automatic response

9. Use an RSS Reader Consume more Data More Efficiently

10. Cross Post Most social media tools have a widgets or features that allow you to bring content in or push it out!

11. Schedule Tweets
What to Schedule?
Schedule calendar events
Non-time sensitive ideas
Links to partners or affiliates
Schedule Re-Tweets

12. Communications Calendar
Key for new forms of communication
Decide what you can do, don’t over commit
Establish the structure & responsibility
Get in a Rhythm

Make Communications Part of Everyone’s Job

13. Create and Use Templates
Easier to Begin
Most communications have replicable format Informal
Consistency
Saves Time

14. Create a Central Info Bank
Central repository of:
Success stories
About us paragraphs
Quotes
Photos
Recent statistics

15. Teach Writing for the Web
Conversational
Direct
Informal
Skimmable
Essay style college writing does not work on the web. So, what works?

16. Be Deliberate About what tools you use

17. Get More People Participating
Delegate Ownership
Incorporate routine communications into your process
Train, document, train

18. Use Checklists
Press releases should not go out without your URL – ever!
Clarify standards
Document process
Enforce quality
Get new staff up to speed

Example Checklist
Email Announcements:
Does your subject line entice readers to open?
Are you making the most of the preview pane?
Is your email easy on the eyes?
Does the message come through, even if the images don’t?
Does this email have a personal touch?
Are you being CAN-SPAM compliant?

19. Identify Guest Bloggers
Spread the Work & Expand Perspectives
Program Staff
Board members
Practitioners Volunteers
Experts (doctors, etc)
Partners

20. ‘Digital Natives’ on Staff
Social media, digital comms is not ‘new’
Not about the tools, it’s about the connections
Natural ‘conversation’ and relationships more likely than broadcasting
possibly ‘edgy’

21. Interns, Interns, Interns
Take the grunt work off your plate.
Offer an opportunity to learn (and learn from them!)
Not fixed overhead (seasonal/project based)
Management & recruitment time a consideration

22. Expand beyond Text
“ A Picture is worth 1000 Words…”
Easy & Powerful
Fast & Inexpensive
Not every piece of content has to be a viral juggernaut
Repurpose content
Events, Galas, Etc

23. Supporters as Fundraisers
Supporters as fundraisers
Supporters as content generators
Videos
Blog posts
Tweets

24. Test, measure and adjust.
Try new things, not all will work
Define success and measure
Cut the things the aren’t working
Test, measure and adjust. Test, measure and adjust. Figure out the right formula for your organization

25. Have Fun & Be Creative

Thank you! Mark Sutton President, Artez US [email_address] Twitter: @marksutton www.artez.com www.artez.com Tirza Hollenhorst IfPeople [email_address] Twitter: @tirzalyn www.ifpeople.net

Evaluation Code: 244 How Was this Session? Call In Text Online Call 404.939.4909 Enter Code 244 Text 244 to 69866 Visit nten.org/ntc-eval Enter Code 244 Session feedback powered by: Tell Us and You Could Win a Free 2011 NTC Registration!

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NTEN 2010 25 ways to increase communications

by mksutts on Apr 16, 2010

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