August 18, 2010
Marketing is not as complicated as some want you to think. Good marketing is based upon common sense, though such sense is uncommon.
With a commitment to successful marketing, I invite you to join me in believing that:
- Marketing will flounder when not in pursuit of a measurable goal.
- If a product, service or even a person cannot be differentiated, it cannot be marketed.
- Marketing will fail unless strategy drives tactics, not vice versa.
- Marketing must be based upon the concept of exchanges. Without a quid-pro-quo exchange, we will never have a solid marketing program.
- Value can be defined only by the customer, not by the company producing the product or service. (Nonprofit organizations especially have trouble with this.)
- The social media revolution is the best thing to happen to marketing in a long, long time, even though the tools for achieving marketing success have forever changed.
- Old-school marketers who try to control the message will become increasingly frustrated, disoriented and ultimately obsolete.
- You are still functioning in a 1.0 world—even if you’re using 2.0 tools—when you are not creating community and engaging people in conversations.
- If we aim our message at no one in particular, we shouldn’t be surprised if no one in particular responds.
- Communications comes at the end of the marketing process, not at the beginning.
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Life in General, Marketing & Strategy | Tagged: 2.0, communication, differentiation, marketing, nonprofit, social media, strategy | 
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Posted by Duane Hallock
February 3, 2010
A friend of mine, Mark Whitaker, is an experienced market research professional. His official title is Strategic Research Consultant at The Kansas City Star.
That’s an impressive title, but what does it mean? What does he really do? What impact does he actually make?
In seven words on LinkedIn, Mark summarizes his job as “helping you find the information you need.”
I really like that “job description” for three reasons:
- It’s simple. I can understand it without having to translate industry jargon.
- It’s differentiating. It really describes what he does, not what his company or co-workers do.
- It’s outwardly focused. He describes what he does for others. He focuses on the benefits he provides, not the process involved. Read the rest of this entry »
6 Comments | Marketing Oneself | Tagged: communications, differentiation, fundraising, LinkedIn, marketing, nonprofit, personal branding | Permalink
Posted by Duane Hallock
December 3, 2009
Two years ago I served on the Finance Committee of my church. Like many nonprofits facing an unbalanced budget, we debated the merits of yet another fundraising campaign. I was among a minority who felt that another campaign was not the “silver bullet.” I shared my thoughts in an e-mail sent to my fellow committee members.
Believing that some of those ideas may be relevant beyond the parochial boundaries of my church, I share them with the hope that nonprofit professionals will be more strategic and less reactive when raising money. Here’s what I wrote back in July 2007:
— — — — — — —
Dear friends. First, I acknowledge that the budget needs an infusion of cash. Without question, we need more money and we need to do something quickly and dramatically. But…
Without the backdrop of a strategic vision, a fundraising campaign may ultimately do greater long-term damage to our finances. If we ask people for financial engagement when too few feel engaged at other levels, they may become calloused to our financial needs. How many hundreds of times have they heard us cry, “The sky is falling!” because expenses exceed revenue?
I begin, though, with the following assumptions:
- People everywhere are experiencing donor fatigue. They are saturated with fundraising appeals, not only at church but in their everyday lives. The needs are endless and the appeals keep coming.
- In the absence of a compelling, strategic vision, people become disengaged and uninspired. Members truly want to be inspired, engaged and strategically led. The congregation is comprised of good people who want to be involved and who are capable of generously giving more.
- Once members feel inspired, engaged and strategically led, they will come alive and be much more involved.
Within the Finance Committee we have discussed various reasons why people should give. I’ve clustered all those messages into the following three categories: Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | Marketing & Strategy | Tagged: fundraising, nonprofit, strategy, vision | Permalink
Posted by Duane Hallock
December 1, 2009
This time of year we hear from lots of people asking for money. That includes my charity-of-choice—the American Red Cross—which recently launched its holiday giving campaign.
Everywhere I turn someone’s hitting me up for another contribution. Isn’t it enough that I’m a leadership giver to United Way? Or that I also tithe at my church? Or that I buy trash bags, cookies and popcorn to support worthy causes?
As I drive around town, I’ll often see a homeless person panhandling at a busy intersection. His “case for support” will likely be handwritten on a crude cardboard sign.
Last week as I walked into my favorite bookstore, I was accosted on the sidewalk by the same man who’s been there years. Quite literally, that’s his “job”—begging for money. That brief encounter prompted me to think about the similarities and differences between a panhandler and a nonprofit fundraiser. Here’s what I came up with:
How are they similar?
- They both want my money.
- They both think they are quite deserving of a contribution.
- They both act as if it’s my patriotic duty or moral obligation to support them.
- They both will say thank you once I’ve given.
- Neither will likely follow up to let me know the positive impact my gift had.
How are they different?
- One is dressed nicer than the other.
- One has showered and shaved today.
- One is more likely than the other to have my e-mail address.
- One might publish my name in 6-point type in an annual report.
- One is more likely to ask me to give again, reminding me how much I gave last time and even requesting an increase.
Read the rest of this entry »
2 Comments | Marketing & Strategy | Tagged: contributions, donations, donors, fundraising, nonprofit, Red Cross, United Way | Permalink
Posted by Duane Hallock
October 13, 2009
Business success requires effective marketing. People have spent considerable energy trying to define marketing, but just for fun I’ve listed 10 things marketing is not.
- A silver bullet. Some people unrealistically expect a single marketing tactic to be extremely effective or to easily cure a major prevailing problem.
- Pixie dust. Although marketing can produce magical results, there’s no magic potion or formula that can produce instant results.
- Icing on the cake. Marketing must always be an essential ingredient, not something that’s added later to make the product or service look prettier or taste sweeter.
- Communications. Too often, especially in nonprofit organizations, communications is used synonymously with marketing. They are not the same thing. One is a subset of the other.
- A black hole. Rarely does an investment in marketing disappear into the cosmic void. Marketing does, however, require a minimum investment of resources for it to yield the desired return.
- Rocket science. There’s an art to marketing, but it is not an esoteric science. Brain surgery—yes. Rocket science—no.
- Snake oil. Rightly done, marketing has no gimmicks, fakery or fraud. Neither is it a panacea that cures all.
- Hocus pocus. Marketing is not “putting a spell” on people to manipulate them into doing something against their will.
- Quick fix. The law of the harvest tells us that you’ve got to plant the seed and nurture the crop before you can expect to reap a bountiful harvest.
- Cotton candy. Although cotton candy is colorful, sweet and attractive, it lacks substance and nutritive value. Effective marketing is both attractive and substantive.
Marketing is sometimes hampered by unrealistic expectations so occasionally it’s helpful to look at what marketing is not.
1 Comment | Marketing & Strategy | Tagged: brain surgery, communications, marketing, nonprofit, pixie dust, rocket science, silver bullet, snake oil | Permalink
Posted by Duane Hallock
August 27, 2009
In my opinion, too many nonprofit organizations have Facebook fan pages.
They were probably created because 1) everyone else was doing it 2) the technology was available or 3) someone with influence told them they needed to be on Facebook. The problem is they don’t know why they have a Facebook page.
At the American Red Cross of Greater Kansas City, we decided not to launch a Facebook page until we could tie it to our strategy. As marketing director, I did not want to naively launch a traditional 1.0 tactic using a new 2.0 tool. Though I’m a huge proponent of the social media revolution, I wanted to understand how a Facebook page would fit into the smorgasbord of all the communication tools available.
We had just redesigned our Web site (kcredcross.org) and I wanted our Facebook page to be complementary rather than redundant. Our Web site would continue to serve as a useful reference in the 1.0 world of broadcasting or pushing information, whereas our social media activities would hopefully spawn interaction, provoke conversation and ultimately engage members of our 2.0 community.
The strategy came into focus as I re-read Seth Godin’s book Tribes. The Red Cross Facebook page could become the place where our “tribe” would gather to share information and rally around a common cause. Read the rest of this entry »
Leave a Comment » | Marketing & Strategy | Tagged: 2.0, communication, donors, Facebook, fundraising, nonprofit, Red Cross, Seth Godin, social media, stories, strategy, volunteers, Web site | Permalink
Posted by Duane Hallock
Duane Hallock is a marketing guy who focuses on strategy before tactics, loves the social media revolution and believes our best days are yet to come.
