We/Me --Gore's We Campaign 5-Star Launch

Al Gore and team just launched the We Campaign -- the centerpiece of his Alliance for Climate Protection -- with a media blast featuring high-impact full-page ads in key newspapers including The New York Times. The campaign is a 5-star model of effective nonprofit marketing.

The simple ad -- mostly text with a lot of white space (making it easy for readers to digest), highlighted with the green (but, of course) logo at left -- introduced the Alliance's beautifully simple construct, built on the constitution:

• No one else can/will solve the climate crisis
• But you can't do it on your own
• You & me (we) are the ones to do it
• We (our org) will help organize and guide you to...
• Effectively pressure our political and business leaders to make and maintain critical changes.

The Alliance does a fantastic job of:

• Appealing to "me," the modus operandi of many of us (and especially Millennials)
• Simply but clearly connecting multiple "mes" into "we" (they're using the Web address "WeCanSolveIt.org."
• Positioning the Alliance as the critical organizing body, with subject expertise, policy knowledge and relationships, can to guide the "mes" into the vocal force of "we," and to effectively pressure leaders for change.

This last point is a great model for nonprofits who are concerned (as they should be) about displacement by self-created, issue-focused communities of interest (like those building on MySpace or other social media). No better way to engage your base.

I do believe there's significant value in nonprofit orgs that offer subject expertise, organizing, advocacy and service provision experience, and the strategies to reach and build relationships with key influencers in making systemic, issue-focused change. The Alliance is the first org I've seen that's making that value loud and clear to the climate-concerned community.

PS Take a look at Steven Heller's insightful analysis of why the We Campaign's logo works, in yesterday's Times.

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How to Make Better Design Choices for Your Nonprofit -- Take this Free Webinar at Your Convenience

Take an hour to learn all from this comprehensive webinar (training seminar available via the Web) available at no charge from The Communications Network (a professional association of foundation communicators). It'll give you great value for your 55-minute investment.

Your Challenge--What's the right medium, message and (especially) design? Nonprofit and foundation communicators alike are constantly working to pinpoint the right medium, the right message, the right design to make the greatest communications impact. However, when it comes to evaluating design, most of us rely on little more than our own taste.

But there is a better way...as graphic artist Charlie Hess shows you in this webinar. You'll learn:

• How a few basic page design techniques can make text more readable and interesting (hint, you'll learn about hierarchy design-wise -- the relative importance of each element on the page or screen and how to guide audiences accordingly)
• Why black-and-white photography may be preferable to color
• What different choices in typography communicate beyond what the words themselves are saying
• And much more.

P.S. Remember that this webinar was developed for foundation communicators, to help them make better graphic design choices for their foundations and be more informed advisors to grantees. But it's very valuable to nonprofits as well, and may give you a toe up in your quest for foundation funding.

Click here to strengthen your design skills in 55 minutes. (Note--you may wish to fast-forward about 6 minutes to the point where the presentation begins.)

While you're at it, to take 15 more minutes to power up your graphic design through these tutorials:

• 5 Steps to Great Graphic Design for Your Nonprofit
• The Three-Fold Path to a Productive Graphic Design Process: From Nonprofit Communicators and Designers

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A Picture Says a Thousand Words -- Free, High-Quality Photos for Your Nonprofit Communications

Photographs are a vital tool for engaging overloaded audiences. And when you're publishing online -- be it a blog, e-newsletter or Web site -- it's easy to cut and paste in just the right shot. Presentation skills experts emphasize the impact of photos too -- ideally screen size with text overlaid, rather than those deadly text bullet points. Unfortunately, photos can be very expensive, and rights issues a mess to deal with.

My solution of late is Stock.xchng for no- or low-cost photos. Some photos have restrictions in terms of type of use (e.g. not in pornography) and requests to contact and/or credit the photographer. But with those few steps, there are thousands of great photos here, yours for the taking.

Flickr is another great resource. Lots of great photos with few restrictions.

Update
Nonprofit tech experts TechSoup has just released its list of free and low-cost photo sources.  I hold with Stock.xchng as my source of choice, but find some of these recommendations great for specialty images. Take a look at the Yellowstone National Park digital photo file for no-charge nature shots (just inlude the "NPS photo" credit) and Mayang's Free Texture Library of over 3,000 images of walls, signage, fabrics, nature, stone, plants and more.

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Nonprofit Marketing Resources Worth Your Attention -- October 2006

Email Marketing Metrics Report Summarizes Trends in Your Audience's Habits and Preferences

E-news service provider Mailer-Mailer tracked all messages sent through its system in the first half of 2006 to generate these key findings:

• Open and Click-Through Rates - Overall open rates remained relatively steady compared to the last half of 2005.
• Take away: Don't give up on email. It remains an important marketing channel for your nonprofit organization, but you have to do it smarter.
• Best Days to Send - Mondays, Tuesdays, and the weekends earned higher open and click rates.
• Take away: Reconsider when you launch your e-newsletter, and even all-organization or all-customer/client emails. Despite these findings,
  I'm not a fan of Monday e-blasts, as I feel audiences aren't as receptive as they are later in the week.
• Subject Lines - Emails with shorter subject lines outperformed emails with longer subject lines.
• Take away: Less than 10 words is best. If you go longer, make sure that the key message is captured in the part of the subject line that's visible to recipients without opening your email. Read more about email subject lines here.
• Personalization - Emails that used personalization received higher click and open rates.
• Take away: Remember to capture nonprofit e-news subscriber names (first and last, in separate fields) so that you can personalize. You'll already have names for clients and members.
• In addition, capture subject interests (via a clickable form) so you can customize content, in addition to addressing each reader by name.

Fast Company's 2006 Masters of Design

Here's Fast Company's annual design round up, one of my favorites as far as design trends. You'll find sage advice on what design can (and can't) do for your nonprofit -- and get an eyeful of some amazing examples of the craft. The To Read the Consumer's Mind article, on the importance of in-depth audience research, is just one of the many highlights here.

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For Best Results, Find A Graphic Designer Who's A Decent Writer

You know all that copy that goes on your website, in your brochures and in your nonprofit's emails?  Who’s writing it? Derek Powazek explains why it’s important for web (and print too, as I see it)  designers to sharpen up their writing skills. And in his web article "Calling All Designers: Learn to Write," Powazek asserts that designers should start considering themselves as "creators of experiences." And that includes content as well as design.

Powazek asserts that any designer who prides himself on really creating the user experience for that blog or brochure has to be concerned with the content too. And recommends that you ask prospective designers what they like to read. Maybe even give them a crack at writing your brochure intro or website About page.

Any GA readers using designers who can write or edit? Let me know.

More about strengthening your graphic design here:

• 5 Steps to Great Graphic Design for Your Nonprofit.
• The Three-Fold Path to a Productive Graphic Design Process -- From Nonprofit Communicators and Designers.

The Three-Fold Path to a Productive Graphic Design Process – From Nonprofit Communicators and Designers

 I recently spoke with three nonprofit communicator colleagues and four graphic designers who outlined this three-fold path to a process that will ensure high-impact design for your nonprofit. But your even get to the design process itself, remember to follow these five pre-design steps to effective graphic design, from finding the right designers to crafting a creative brief.

Your colleagues advise:

• Be clear, comprehensive and realistic
• Build a solid, candid, ongoing relationship with your graphic designers
• Don't try to be the graphic designer

For the complete story, and the nitty-gritty of the how to, read the full article.

And don't forget to download the Getting Attention Creative Brief  template.

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This Creative Brief Template Helps Ensure Powerful Copy and Design

Many creative marketing projects get underway without a clear sense of expectations between a nonprofit's marketing and organizational leadership, and the creative folks (whether in-house or freelance) delivering it. The result? An extended and expensive creative development process with many revisions – not to mention chewed-up nails, bruised egos and depleted momentum.

Taking the time and energy up front to craft a thorough creative brief will save your nonprofit time and money, and ensure you get the fundraising brochure, campaign website or annual report you envisioned. And, in going through this process you may realize that another medium or approach will work better than the one you had in mind.

Click here for the nitty-gritty on how to use a creative brief and downloadable template ready for your use.

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5 Steps to Great Graphic Design for Nonprofits

Nothing is as compelling as managing the design, of a printed piece or web look for your organization, service or campaign. It’s easy to get swept away envisioning the impact it will have on your target audiences. And the creative adventure of bringing that piece, or web design, to life, is usually a welcome change from strategic and administrative work.
   
However, the excitement often fades when you dive into the process of finding, hiring, and managing a designer or design team. I urge you to take these five steps to generate the design results that make the greatest impact for your nonprofit:

===> Step One: Take your time to find the RIGHT designer.
NOTE: Take this step immediately, not when you're in desperate need of a designer.
       
    Here's how to find your designers:
   
==> Step Two: Gather favorite design samples
       
Keep a folder of favorites, printed materials you identify as good design in the same range as your
organization's image or the image you want to establish. Bookmark website designs too.
                                 
==> Step Three: Compile your list of prospective designers
   
Contact communications colleagues (make sure you like their design sensibility first, judging by their products) and ask for designer recommendations. Get basic information on pricing, work style, and client base. Also contact the communications director at those organizations who produced the print materials or websites you've tagged.
    
==> Step Four: Hone your list to the top three or four by interviewing ten to twelve designers
       
Contact the top ten to twelve before you have a design project ready to go. At that point, you won't want to waste a minute in getting design estimates in.
               
==> Step Five: Write a creative brief the moment you get a whiff of a pending writing or design job.
                        
For details on the "how-to" of each step, read the full Getting Attention article.