Duane's Dartboard

Write a communications plan to move donors along the relationship continuum.

Donors are real people who have genuine relationships with nonprofit organizations. More precisely, they have relationships with other people who represent those nonprofit organizations.

As a professional marketer, I want to connect with these kind-hearted individuals. My role as a nonprofit communicator is to nurture relationships with donors, volunteers and other key stakeholders. Communication helps to move the right people along a relationship continuum into deeper levels of intimacy, involvement and engagement.

Using a blend of the appropriate marketing techniques, I find great satisfaction in assisting people as they decide to move through the following stages of the continuum:

1. Acquisition—giving for the first time.
2. Retention—repeating the donation again and again.
3. Engagement—becoming involved at a higher level on a sustained basis.

Explain to a potential donor the value of making an investment in human services.

They say the best way to learn is to teach. Likewise, one of the best ways to remain passionate about a cause or an organization is to explain to someone how he or she can make a positive impact with a generous contribution.

A good marketer or fundraiser will differentiate giving opportunities. It’s not enough for us to to say, “We do good things are therefore worthy of contributions.”

Instead, we must build a compelling and differentiating case for support that says, “We are the best investment in the the things you care about, and here are the reasons why.” A good story can then bring to life that case for support.

Cotton candy communications won’t work. Fluff won’t make the sale. Only a solid product or service, combined with substantive communications and creative packaging, will attract donors.

Doing the work necessary to attract others to support a worthy cause can, in and of itself, be very rejuvenating.

Tell success stories of real people who have been helped.

Nothing beats a good story, especially one that tells of the unfolding human drama of someone going from despair to hope.

At the American Red Cross, we are daily surrounded by such stories of people who who have been helped. These are dramatic, compelling tales of human achievement. These are people who, after receiving our help, went on to overcome significant adversity. These stories are worthy of a Hollywood script.

The difficulty is finding, honing, collecting, organizing and telling those stories. My job as a communicator, though, is to overcome those difficulties. After all, there is no better way to describe the impact we have than to tell a story of someone who relied upon our organization at a time where there was no other source of relief or help.

Two distinct outcomes of our telling good stories are:

1. People will better understand how the Red Cross can help them when they themselves are in need of help.
2. People will see opportunities to reach out an help others by giving of their money, time or expertise.

Profile our competitors and define our key points of differentiation.

Competition is an inevitable reality of life. Every individual, group and business—even a nonprofit organization—competes for survival.

I’ve long struggled with the concept of competition and whether it is compatible with an abundance mentality which says, “There’s enough for everyone.” The opposite is a mindset of scarcity which believes that for every winner there must be a correlating loser.

Our traditional paradigm of competition is founded on scarcity. No where is this more evident than in sports (which I love). In an athletic competition, one team’s victory implies another team’s defeat. A tie, of course, is the outcome when two teams lose.

I prefer to think with an abundance mindset which creates win-win scenarios. The best competition in nonprofit marketing comes when we compete against ourselves in a quest to excel. Then, when we excel, we are truly in rarefied air. We have carved out our unique niche. We have differentiated ourselves. To me, that’s the essence of competition in a world of abundance.

That’s rejuvenating.

Review our key marketing messages.

When I began working at the American Red Cross four years ago, I searched for ways to succinctly describe the profound impact of our complex organization.

A small group of us went through a creative process to develop key messages that would be 1) conversational, 2) memorable and 3) differentiating. The upshot was that we defined our role here in the Greater Kansas City region using these three simple words:  We are there.

All of our marketing materials, communications efforts and media relations can anchor on that theme. We are there!

To add dimension and depth to that phrase, we added these three points:

Identify marketing peers at other Red Cross chapters.

A distinct advantage of being part of a national organization (in my case, the American Red Cross) is that each local market does not have to independently “reinvent the wheel.”

I am impressed as I look at my very creative and gifted colleagues in other cities throughout the U.S. I’d be a fool not to tap into their creativity, experience and wisdom.

I already have a loose network of other Red Cross marketing colleagues, but I intend to make even stronger connections in the months ahead.

I want my professional network to serve as a sounding board, a ballast and a source of creative inspiration.

Tap into the creativity and wisdom of local marketing professionals.

A couple years ago a respected nonprofit leader invited me to join him as he launched an informal “breakfast club.” He selected a handful of people who would meet monthly to talk about nonprofit marketing, social media and professional development.

The conversations of our small group always invigorated me and helped to keep my mind sharp and alert. As Proverbs 27:17 says, “As iron sharpens iron, so one person sharpens another.”

For personal reasons, a couple members of the group quit meeting on a regular basis. To fill that void, another man and I are now creating a marketing exchange where a very small group of us will meet on a planned, organized and regular basis to talk about marketing trends, technology and strategy. Tentatively, we have identified criteria for considering individuals who might be part of our group. We want to interact with other marketing professionals who are:

• Insatiably curious about lots of things.
• Creative, out-of-the-box thinkers. (Extra credit for not even knowing there was a box.)
• Committed to learning via traditional and nontraditional means.
• Exceptional communicators.
• Early adapters of 2.0 innovations and are eager to help create whatever comes next.
• Proficient on several social media platforms.
• Well-branded personally and professionally.
• Authentic, transparent and vulnerable.

Read the rest of this entry »

List three things I’ve added to my resume this past year.

One indicator of a stagnant career is a fossilized, unchanging resume (or professional profile on LinkedIn). If a resume cannot be updated yearly, perhaps its owner needs to reinvent himself or herself.

A marketing professional can have a relatively short shelf life. Like milk in a grocery store, we have expiration dates that can quickly turn us into stale, sour and unmarketable commodities. Consequently, we must reinvent ourselves on a regular and ongoing basis.

I recently compared my annual accomplishments list with my resume from last year. In so doing, I identified four areas for possible revision.

This week I intend to pause for a few moments to think about what my resume might look like a year from now. I will then deliberately work on projects that will keep my professional profile fresh, creative and relevant.

Read the rest of this entry »

Schedule downtime to foster creativity, incubate ideas and reflect on life’s priorities.

Everyone needs a sabbatical, a scheduled downtime to recharge batteries and regain a sense of balance.

I try to protect a few minutes each day, a day every week and several days a year for the rich experience of withdrawing from the usual routine of my busy, fast-paced life. For me, Saturdays are a change of pace, a time to let go of the urgency of the week, a time to read inspirational literature and perhaps to write in my journal. This is a time to nurture my creative spirit and to deepen my spiritual roots.

Paradoxically, being away from work for brief periods of time actually helps me to be more productive when I return to work.

Read the rest of this entry »