Effective Marketing Communications on a Shoestring
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Transcript of Effective Marketing Communications on a Shoestring
Effective Marketing Communications on a Shoestring
Michele Levy
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Today’s Speaker
Hosting:
Sam Frank, Synthesis Partnership
Michele LevyBrand Strategy Consultant,
Brand Strategy Consulting
Assisting with chat questions: April Hunt, Nonprofit Webinars
Welcome!
Webinar goals
• To share some ideas and approaches that have
worked for other nonprofit (and startup) organizations
• To equip and inspire you to tackle your marketing
challenges in a manageable, sustainable way
• For participants to walk away with at least one concept
or tool they can implement within their organizations
A shifting role
The new way:
Director of Marketing
Communications,
focused on building
the brand across all
touchpoints, utilizing a
broad, integrated mix
of tools, tactics and
channels
The old way:
Director of
Communications,
focused on
publications and
public relations
The agenda
• Who is the target audience (or, as is more likely,
audiences)?
• What are your goals (build awareness? generate
leads? strengthen relationships?)
• What are some effective (and cost effective) ways to
reach those audience segments?
• How will you know what’s working?
A caveat
Assuming that you have already built
a strong foundation…that you have
clear, consistent messaging to apply
across the communications tools
we’ll be discussing.
Who’s your target audience?
Make a mental picture
• Start by making a list of all the types of people who
are important to you (for instance, funders, partners,
served population).
• Include both those you communicate with/interact
with now, as well as those you’d like to.
Make some hard choices
The list was the easy part…then you must prioritize it!
Ultimately, all of your marketing decisionmakers
(including your board) must agree on your
audiences, and how you have prioritized them.
And one other question
Where are they?
How do you get smart on your audience?
• Ask and observe
– Phone interviews/focus groups with a combination of long-term
and newer members, volunteers, clients, etc.
– Online surveys with members, clients (survey monkey, etc)
– Conversations with partners, the press, other external
stakeholders
– “Watch” their behavior across your touchpoints (in person, online,
written communications)
– Keep it up!
• And remember…
– They can’t ALL be your most important audiences.
– A relevant brand is NOT the same as trying to be all things to all
people (and “following the funding” is one of the surest ways to
muddle your brand)
– In the words of Dorothy…
Students
Faculty and
staff
• Highly driven, well-
rounded individuals
• The ideal student
“customer” is a
visitor, and is not
necessarily an art
major…but they are
willing to explore
new things and new
ways of thinking
• Passionate,
dedicated
individuals engaged
in the broader
college community
• Not limited to the art
department
• Developing their
ability to think more
broadly
• Having an impact on
their community
• Developing “real
world” experiences
• Getting it all done
• Occasionally taking a
break from getting it
all done!
• Finding opportunities
to expose their
students to real works
of art and new ways of
thinking
• Keeping their teaching
relevant/fresh
• Occasionally taking a
break themselves
Audience Description Desired perceptions/behaviors Our messages to them
• ALL
• We are a valuable resource.
• We offer the unique opportunity
to see real works of art in your
own backyard.
• We can help bring new
perspectives to your studies, and
to your hectic life.
• We are accessible across a
variety of channels (don’t be
intimidated!)
• We are “safe haven”, extremely
supportive of experimentation.
• We support experimentation and
risk-taking.
• FACULTY AND LEADERSHIP
• Our collections, programs and
staff can help enrich the
academic experience, and help
create better students.
• We share your high intellectual
standards and can be a valuable
partner in helping to differentiate
the Wellesley College
experience.
• To understand the role
and value of DMCC
within the context of the
College
• To see DMCC as a
valued resource across
a variety of dimensions
(and to utilize it
regularly)
• To act as ambassadors
for DMCC within their
own spheres of
influence
• To understand the role
and value of DMCC
within the context of
the College
• To have greater
investment in DMCC
and what it offers
• To see DMCC as a
valued resource and
collaborator
Audience key concerns
Let’s get detailed…
What are your goals?
It starts with your strategic plan
• As an organization, what do you hope to accomplish
over the next 12 – 18 months?
• What about over the next 5 years?
For example…
• From the strategic plan: Over the long term, we wish to
redefine ourselves as an institution of national scope and
relevance
• Two key strategic goals directly relate to branding and
marketing:
– Strengthen our leadership position in the historic,
genealogical and cultural sector
– Increase the influence and loyalty of our target audiences and
to expand the number of members, users and donors
Sample brand/marketing goals
• Build awareness, familiarity and support within key
target audience segments
• Expand reach and communications impact across
new geographies and new target audience
segments
• Support strategic plan in general, admissions and
fundraising goals specifically
It’s critical that you have agreement
on your brand/marketing goals
People can make communications planning sound
complicated, daunting and something only a marcom
person with years of experience can do.
WRONG. Anyone can do this…
Typically, three (integrated)
strategy buckets
• Build awareness and familiarity (who are
you and why do you matter)
• Generate leads (I might want to engage
with you)
• Strengthen relationships (I really want to
engage with you)
Very simple
AUDIENCE
MESSAGE
TOOL
TIMING
ASSIGNMENT
METRICS
Who do you want to reach?
What do you want to say to them?
Be sure to make it about them!
What communication tool(s) will
most effectively reach them?
When this will happen?
Who is going to make sure this
communication step happens?
How will you know it worked?
The key = pick a few things, do them well, measure, adapt
A bit more complex
• Brand blueprint (elevator pitch, message matrix, proof points,
brand attributes, etc.)
• Target audience (who your audience segments are, their
needs and expectations)
• Competitive landscape (a brief overview of alternative options
available to your served populations and supporters)
• Communications goals (what you want your activities to
accomplish)
• Communications strategies (the high level ways you plan to
accomplish your goals)
• Communications tactics (specific activities you will engage in,
with timing)
• Measurement and evaluation (how you plan to track results)
• Budget
• Editorial calendar
• Communications calendar
Case study
Davis Museum and Cultural Center (Wellesley College)
• First…who are we marketing to?
• Second…how do we leverage our re-opening?
• Third…how do we prioritize our marketing resources?
DMCC: Communications strategies
Leverage the opening
(and related activities)
to re-engage with
current stakeholders
June - September October - December Spring semester
Continue to build the
relationship with those
who re-engage as a
result of opening
activities
Leverage exhibits and
re-installation to begin
to engage with new:
New stakeholders
from current
audiences, as well as
new audiences
PHASE I
PHASE II
Brand awareness activities (buzz)
Continue to build the
relationships…
Ongoing
DMCC: Marketing communications tactics
Leverage opening celebration (and related
activities) to re-engage with current
stakeholders
June - September October - December
Continue to build the relationship with those
who re-engage as a result of opening activitiesPHASE I
Print collateral
Invitations to opening with targeted phone follow up
Guide to the Reinstallation
Flyers/posters
Friends of Art brochure
E-collateral
Evite
e-flyers
Signage (decisions to be made)
Kiosk
Banner/windows
Sandwich boards
Plasma Screen
Media
Paid media (see page 18)
Press Releases
Calendar Listings
E-communications
Newsletters, as appropriate
Other
Personal attendance at meetings
Letter writing campaign to targeted groups
First – Year Orientation Aug 27
eNewsletter (3x/year, all)
eBlasts (as relevant, all)
Events
Museum printed piece (replaces
Calendar of Events, ready to mail
October)
TACTICS
Brand awareness activities (buzz)Ongoing
NOTE: throughout, make
every effort to track results in
order to have a better
understanding of what’s
working, and what’s not (and
to adjust tactics as
necessary). Each tactic will
support a different tracking
mechanism:
• Track press success with
press clips
• Track print advertising and
arts calendar via data
collection with on-site events
form.
• Track events listing via click
through to web site (make
sure event is listed on site!)
It really can be as simple as a single
spreadsheet
Let’s get more specific
Awareness building tactics
• Advertising
• Public relations
• Networking
• Search engine optimization (SEO)
• Social media
Advertising
• You are least likely to utilize this tactic
– It’s expensive
– It can generate a lot of “waste”
• Unless you can do it with some significant impact,
and/or in a highly targeted way, your marketing
resources are better spent someplace else
– “Three times is the charm”
– Keep it simple
– White space is good, too much copy is bad
– Make it professional
– Aim for the bullseye
Public relations
• Includes media relations, events, speaking
engagements, publication
• Similar to networking in that it’s very much about
building relationships AND having something
worthwhile to share
• Think about how you can “package” information as
news, education, etc.
• Treat the media and other public relations contacts
as one of your audience segments…know who they
are, what they want, what they tend to write about,
etc.
• Make it easy for people to use your information (and
use you, in the case of speaking engagements!)
Public relations
• Important to differentiate between calendar listings
and feature articles
• And NEVER just mass mail releases
• Photos/images help
• Keep it electronic
Most important…
M3 = Merchandise your media mentions!
A good press release…
• Is short (one page)
• Has a short, compelling headline
• Starts with the most important info (editors cut from
the bottom)
• 1st paragraph = the most important information
• 2nd paragraph = more details, sometimes a quote
• 3rd paragraph = “About us”
Good old-fashioned networking
• Want to raise awareness?
– Get out there.
– Get your board out there.
– And make sure you’re communicating consistently.
• What is your current networking strategy?
A great resource for networking tips:
TABLE TALK by Diane Danielson (founder of Downtown Women’s Club)
Try this with your own team
• Who are the top 5 people you should know?
• What are the top 5 organizations you should be
involved in?
• How can you get to know those people?
• How can you get involved with those organizations?
• Then go do it (and be accountable to each other)
Put it in writing
To tweet or not to tweet…
• Ahhhh….social media.
• Everyone wants to do it. Your board is
chomping at the bit. It’s the silver bullet, right?
Well…
• Let’s go back to your audiences
• Are they using social media? Are they likely to start
using social media?
• If they are using social media, how?
– Twitter…140 characters, gather followers, follow others
– Facebook…more robust, images, fans
– Linked In…business focused, good networking tool
– Blogging…sharing your expertise
– What else?
Remember…
• To get the most out of any social media channels,
you have to really commit to those channels
• It takes time…so make sure it’s actually going to
help you achieve your goals!
• And make sure your audiences are actually there.
Lead generation tactics
• Direct mail
• Email (lead gen and relationship management)
Direct mail
• Three key success factors
– The offer
– The list
– The creative
• Your list or a purchased list
• What are you offering? What’s your call to action?
• Make it “disruptive”
– Colored envelope
– Oversized postcard
– What else?
• Choose your campaign management software
carefully
• Maintain a good “cadence”…don’t over or under
communicate
• Keep your list clean
• Keep it short, relevant and consistent with the
personality of your organization
• Maintain an editorial calendar and jot down ideas as
they come to you
• Establish a standard structure with sections that are
consistent each time (for instance: “meet the staff”;
“client profile”; “general info”)
• Make it opt in/opt out
Additional relationship
management tactics
• Advisory boards (at all levels)
• Events
• Loyalty and other “member” programs
• More networking
• You’d be amazed how far a little simple human
contact will get you.
The basic marketing tool kit
• Web site
• Business cards
• Note cards
• Leave behind brochure (#10 brochure)
• Limited stationery + electronic templates
• Constant Contact template
• Postcards
• Posters
If you do nothing else…
• …have a plan to keep your website updated
• Convene all “owners” of the web site…all those on
staff and/or board who will contribute content and
multimedia
• A two step process
– Review your organizational calendar, match web
updates to relevant events/activities
– Identify the down times and brainstorm other, non-
event, updates
– Don’t forget to plan to update your photos!
A few other comments
• Make sure it’s professional
• Know the norms and best practices for your peer
group
• Layers of information (not all on the home page)
• Know who’s going there, and what they want
• Invest the time/money to establish a basic SEO
program
Sample: Editorial calendar
Layer your social media plan on top
• Take another look at that calendar
• Where are the opportunities to use social media to
drive your audiences to events on that calendar, to
your web site to learn more, etc?*
• Make sure that everyone in your org responsible for
social media is working together!
• For both web and social media planning…strive for
75% planned, 25% opportunistic
*Assuming you’ve already settled on the most appropriate social media channels
How do you know it’s working?
Integrate here, as well…
• Establish clear, agreed-upon success metrics up
front (tangible and intangible)
• Tie the metrics to strategic goals
• Think broadly and creatively
– Visitor traffic
– Brand tracking studies
– Referral volume
– Inbound inquiries
– Hits to Web site
– Email open rates
– Etc.
• Set reasonable timeframes, based on
communications volume and timing
Sample board report format
Goals (consistent across each board report)
• Build awareness and familiarity across key audiences, especially locally
• Effectively manage the brand across an increasingly complex set of marketing channels
• Build a more effective system of internal communications (communications calendar)
• Integrate and streamline for more efficiency, greater impact and cost-effectiveness
• Develop and manage a set of metrics for marketing communications and internal clients
Progress against goals (since last report)
• Progress against Goal #1 (brief summary)
• Progress against Goal #2 (brief summary)
• Etc.
List of media mentions (links if possible, include all since last report)
Topics to be discussed at board meeting (list)
In conclusion
• There are no silver bullets
• It really does help to write it down
• Choose a couple of things, do them well, measure
and continue, adapt and/or add
• Roll up your sleeves
• Use your whole team
• Think “simple, professional and effective.”
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