Make Your Communications Planning a Team Effort, From The Very Beginning

This afternoon, in my meeting with a prospective client for a re-brand, I was struck with how vital this maxim really is.

The COO of this well-known, long-lived, positively-perceived nonprofit reviewed for me why the org is pursuing a new brand just a few years after its last rebrand (every brand should last at least five years, if not ten). Branding has to be flexible enough to embrace your org through continual evolution, but specific enough to engage your audiences -- a challenging balance.

Anyway, the story here is that there was trouble with the current brand even during the development process, and the board (not marketing experts) ended up picking and choosing (and changing) some of the brand elements. The result, not surprisingly, was an alienated staff (who remain marketing-avoidant as a result) and a weak brand.

Making marketing planning a team effort -- from the  get go -- is the way to avoid  this  disaster. Here's who to include and what they can contribute:

1. Executive Director/CEO: Senior leader support validates your efforts and influences other key players to get involved. Also, can get rid of some of the institutional red tape out of your way.
2. Functional Support: Make sure your plan is technically feasible via consults with IT, HR, finance and other related functions.
3. Program & Issue Experts:  These folks are the source of accurate, relevant topical content and context.
4. Regional/Site Staff: These on-the-ground colleagues can provide vital input on the customer/donor/volunteer experience, and what's important to them.

When your marketing plan reflects the insights and knowledge of key stakeholders (including your colleagues, too often left out), it's more likely to generate the buy in critical to real success.

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How to Get Your Nonprofit Team's Bios Right -- Small Changes, Big Impact

When it comes to building trust with prospective donors and volunteers, service users or program participants, board members and other key audiences, the smallest details can make a huge impact.
For instance, pithy, punchy staff bios--with photos--can have prospects intrigued you before they even dig into the details of what your nonprofit has to offer.

Here are some tested tips for crafting bios that will help audiences connect with your organization:
1. Make the bios should be brief (no more than two paragraphs) but punchy

• Skip non-essential details. Avoid listing your hometown and all of your degrees.
• Include items of professional interest. Do make note of any professional designations, associations and awards. These show you have deep connections in the field.
• If you have written any articles or books, make sure you mention them. This becomes a subtle third-party endorsement.
• Add a personal endnote as a finale. This is the kind of info that readers can relate to on an emotional level. 
• Longer versions of senior management and other key player bios should be offered as PDF downloads and as  separate, high-profile pages like this warm intro to NARAL president Nancy Keenan. Amnesty International USA does a great job of providing the long and the short of it here.

2. Don't forget bios of program, communications, fundraising and other directors -- these are the folks audiences will be dealing with every day

• When I'm probing an org I'm thinking of giving to the first time, one where I may volunteer, or a prospective client, I want to know who's on the ground, not just who's running the show.
• These are the folks that the media will want to source as experts in the field.
  
  • Remember to link to bios via your Newsroom and Experts listings, as well as in your r About Us/Leadership content.
• Plus, the perspectives and expertise of your organizations directors and managers add up to a strong take on your focus and values.
  
  • Sometimes showing it is just (or more) important than saying it.
• Remember, different audiences will want to make connections at different levels. A prospective board member may limit his digging into senior management; but a prospective new organizational partner or hire is going to want to learn more about his possible colleagues-to-be.
• Beware though -- this isn't the mainstream approach.
  
  • AmnestyUSA, NARAL. Appalachian Mountain Club and Greenpeace tell me nothing about who's doing the work on the ground. As a matter of fact, each of these stellar orgs provides only one bio if that, of the CEO/president.
  • The ACLU capitalizes 100% of its compelling bios of senior and middle management.
    
• If your organization is huge, and it's not feasible to feature all directors, cycle their bios on your Web site.

3. The photo makes the initial connection -- make sure it's a good one

• Use a pro to shoot your entire management team; group pricing tends to be more reasonable and no bio should run without a photo.
• Use a great headshot that is in color and at least 3x4 inches. Some prospects will just look at your photo and draw a conclusion; the picture needs to be so good it can stand alone.
• Make eye contact, and dress neatly and professionally. As my mom used to say, "appearances matter."

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Why I Turned My Back on a Compelling, Well-Paid Nonprofit Marketing Gig

I love getting calls out of the blue -- from Getting Attention readers, peers I've never met and, of course, prospective clients. So I was pleased as punch to hear from the communications director at a New York City nonprofit.

He (let's call him Eddy) had found me via a Google search and wanted to discuss a branding project up for grabs. Eddy outlined the project specs which really grabbed me: The organization had evolved dramatically since its founding near the turn of the 20th century, is now focused more broadly than its original immigrant audiences and offers a wide range of programming; but is perceived as being what it always was. Now the leadership had identified the design and launch of a new organizational brand as a springboard to the success of the pending capital campaign (obviously oriented to funding the organization's future, not its past).

This is just the kind of challenge I love to take on; complex, a puzzle, a moment of organizational change and a leadership corps truly supportive of the work at hand. But I didn't submit a proposal for the work. Here's why:

• Eddy rushed through our conversations, clearly not wanting to invest time in talking me through the organization's needs and preferences, and any clear barriers to success.
  
  • My understanding of these factors is critical to shaping the right approach, and a persuasive proposal.
  • Most immediately, the gap in understanding makes it difficult for me to accurate size the job.
  • And, if a prospective client isn't willing to spend the time to discuss these vital issues with me, I get the sense that he isn't going provide the vital in-house insights prerequisite to project success.
• When asked, Eddy said he planned to solicit seven to 10 proposals for the project.
  • Through hard experience, I’ve learned that when prospective clients solicit a large number (e.g. more than four or five) proposals, they aren’t sure what they’re looking for. This organization falls squarely into the "don't know what we want so we'll throw out a hook and see what bites" category.
    
  • In addition, evaluating proposals for strategic work is time-consuming. It's almost impossible to give more than five proposals their due in has to be an exhaustingly thorough proposal review process.
  • Not to mention that the probability of getting the work is so low.
• In most cases, it’s the big shops willing to crank out a proposal in this context, and it's usually a boilerplate
  • For a small firm like Nancy Schwartz & Company, where clients get senior-level expertise across the board, crafting a proposal is a huge investment. We want to make that investment for the right projects when pay off is a real possibility, but when it's not... 
  • The more insight we get from you up front, the better prepared we are to show you that we're a good fit with your marketing needs, or not.

P.S. Get more guidance on working effective with your nonprofit marketing consultant or firm: Read How to Write a Marketing RFP that Gets the Best Consultant or Firm to Deliver Everything You Need – On Time and on Budget.

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How to Write a Marketing RFP that Gets the Best Consultant or Firm to Deliver Everything You Need – On Time and on Budget

As the head of a long-time marketing firm serving nonprofits and foundations, I've probably reviewed over 500 RFPs in my time, all from nonprofits and foundations seeking marketing services. And I can tell you, no more than 50 of them are effectively designed to motivate responses that are comprehensive and accurate.

Accuracy of course is key. Because if your RFP doesn't cover everything you're looking for – in the way you want it – delivered, budget and time frame are bound to be off. Trash in, trash out as they say. So put some time and effort into your RFP.

Here are some quick tips for writing a marketing services RFP that'll get high-quality service providers to respond eagerly, thoroughly and accurately.

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Alert! Nonprofit Communications and Fundraising Staffs Aren't Talking -- Report from Direct Marketing Association (DMA) 2006 NY Nonprofit Conference

Here's the most striking observation from last week's DMA Nonprofit Conference in New York: There were only 4 other marketing/communications folks, plus me, among the 450 conference participants. That means only 1% of attendees were marketers/communicators.

So where was that crucial conversation and alignment? Lots of discussion about the musts of integrating online and print fundraising communications, but next to none on organization-wide integration of effort and brand.

I was astonished. Donors are volunteers are spokepeople are prospective board members, etc. Prospective funders and donors are news readers are parents of volunteers and program participants. Volunteers are prospective donors are referrers are spokespeople are board members. Program participants are prospective donors are news readers. You get the idea.

This gap amazed me. Gotta say -- I always guide my clients to ensure marketing/communications and fundraising teams work together, and know what the other is doing.

The marketing/commmunications and fundraising partnership is equivalent to the marriage of sales and marketing folks in the corporate world. The researchers behind Sales & Marketing Alignment, a new report on this vital relationship just released by MarketingProfs, tell us that companies in which the sales and marketing teams are closely aligned grow more quickly, close more proposals (a.k.a. gifts) and lose many fewer customers (donors, in your case). You can certainly extrapolate these advantages to the value dervied from close alignment of your nonprofit's communications and fundraising teams.

So why aren't nonprofit fundraising and communications folks working closely together? What's to lose? There's everything to gain.

Any ideas? We've got to solve this problem, asap.

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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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.
          

Need to Find a Marketing and Communications Specialist for Your Board? boardnetUSA Can Help.

Is your organization contacted by the media? Do you have to make the community aware of a new program? A board member with communication skills can offer valuable insight in developing a media policy or structuring a name change process. boardnetUSA can help you find the right person.

I learned about boardnetUSA a few years ago when I finally had time to join a board. It functions like a no-fee -- for 501(c)(3)s -- matchmaking service. Nonprofit organizations are able to easily generate a list of prospective board members (who have completed comprehensive profiles) with the skills they need. They contact the prospect through boardnetUSA and take it from there. It worked great for me and I urge you to try it to build your board's communications expertise.

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Nonprofit Management & Marketing Guru Peter Drucker Dies at 95

You've probably read that Peter Drucker, best known as the father of modern management, died last week at the age of 95. What you probably don't know is that Drucker directed more than half of his consulting practice to nonprofit organizations, and frequently focused on nonprofit management and marketing issues in his teaching and writing.

As Drucker's long career evolved, and he saw that the competitive environment prevented many businesses from embracing the employee-oriented practices he advocated, he began to focus on the nonprofit sector (which Drucker called the "social sector.")   He advised organizations like the Girl Scouts to think more like businesses, even though their bottom line is "changed lives" rather than profits. Drucker was one of the first to advise that donors would begin to evaluate nonprofits on their results, rather than their mission.

In recognition of his contribution to the field, Frances Hesselbein, the former director of Girl Scouts USA, founded the Peter F. Drucker Foundation for Nonprofit Management in 1990(now known as the Leader-to-Leader Institute) to provide nonprofits with training on Drucker's perspective, and management and marketing concepts.

Managing Colleagues and Staff Critical to Your Nonprofit Marketing Success

The sharpest marketing plan in the world won't do a thing for your nonprofit if you aren't working effectively with colleagues and your staff members. Nothing is more important than people in getting a marketing agenda up and going, with success.

A frequent cry I hear from nonprofit marketers is the lack of budget. Many nonprofit leaders seem to be allergic to the "M" word (marketing), but somehow expect programs to be filled, volunteers to flock and donors to give and give. Wrong. But the only way to get the budget you need is to consider your nonprofit's leadership, and colleagues at all levels, as your organization's marketers. They do spread the word after all -- in every correspondence and conversation. What's crucial is that they understand your marketing strategy, especially how it stems from your organization's program goals. Once they do, you'll have the support and, most likely, the budget you need. As a bonus, you'll have an organization-wide marketing corps. Nothing better.

All too often I hear from nonprofit marketers who are trying to do it all themselves, rather than to share the work with their staff members. Sometimes it's a concern about lack of experience, otherwise an attitude of "it's just quicker to do it myself." Forget it. You'll be able to do the most, most effectively, with a strong team at the helm. So consider yourself a mentor, as well as a boss. Invest in training your staff, involve them in your decision making and give them responsibility. In return, you'll get a loyal team who will increase your organization's marketing impact.

Read these articles for more guidance on managing people to increase your nonprofit's marketing effectiveness:

• Building Internal Support for Communications
• Getting the Approval and Budget You Need to Do Marketing Right
• How to Get the Most from Your Marketing Firm or Consultant

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