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Easy-peasy method to test out potential pitch words with link shorteners

July 24, 2013 by Erica Barnhart

link Oh the “quiet” months of summer—at least in the office. Lots of family (and otherwise adventurous) vacations are planned at this time of year. The pace in the office shifts. Ahhhh.

So with this change in rhythm, now is maybe not the best time to rally the troops behind a big, new organization-wide project. But with a little less noise than at other times of year, summer can be a great time to learn some new tricks (you know, when you aren’t out practicing your belly flop or BBQ technique).

The seasonal lull presents a great opportunity to try out some new tools (Google Keyword Tool maybe?) and focus on some of those activities there doesn’t seem to be a good time for. I’m all about words and perfecting your pitch, so how about investing a little time and effort in testing different variations and elements of your pitch online? And yes, I’ve got a tool for that.

A quick and easy way to test the words you use in your pitch is to get them in front of people online with a clear click opportunity (you know, that blue underlined hyperlink thing), and to see which words draw the most attention (to wit, clicks). You can do this on your organizations blog or other pages, anyplace folks come to read about what you do. And you don’t need a fancy-schmancy web analytics suite to do it either. You just need a link shortener.

Now you might be thinking “Why the heck do I need a link shortener? The whole idea of hyperlinking text is that people don’t have to see the links!” Well, yes, this is true. However, most link shorteners allow you to easily access data on the clicks on the shortened links you’ve created. We like bit.ly for this over here.

So here’s what you do: write something—a newsletter, your web page, a blog post—that includes variations on your verbiage. Test out your verbs and your pronouns. Try out pitches developed by team members. For each one that you want to track, find a relevant page on your website. This will be the destination page when someone clicks on thy hyperlinked words in your masterpiece. For example, maybe you want “we create opportunities for children to have fun while they learn” to link to a page that shows some pint-sized service recipients exploring educational games (which you delivered) in their classroom. Take the URL for that page, and create a shortened link. Now, hyperlink the words you’d like to test on your web page with the shortened URL. Follow this process with all the experimental word combinations in your content and then put your content out into the world.

Then log in to your shortener account to check on your stats and learn about your clicks: how many there were and when, where your link was shared, where your audience is located and who shared out your link. Your click numbers alone will help you understand relative interest in the word combinations you are testing out (and you won’t have to dig through those pesky web site analytics). The other data will help you determine the value of your web pages that you’ve linked to. If it’s interesting to friends-of-friends, they will share.

Another variation on this approach would be to test out taglines with your engaged audience by using them in your autosignature. Just swap out taglines on a regular basis.

You don’t have to remove the magic of how you talk about what you do by over-orchestrating it with technology. Link shortening tools are simple and easy. It’s like free market research.

The quest for the perfect word (and other useless endeavors)

July 19, 2013 by Erica Barnhart

Gates Foundation, Jeff Raikes, perfectionism, le bon mot, words, language I love French. I really do. The way everything sounds so sophisticated and deep, even if they’re really just talking about grocery shopping or mowing the lawn.

<start brief personal interlude> From Kindergarten through Grade 2, I was in French immersion. After a brief hiatus from Grades 3 through 6, I picked it back up in Grade 7 and I’ve been been at it ever since. This franco-focus culminated in me spending a year at the university where all French folks with ambitions of making the world a better place through policy and/or politics go, Sciences Po. <end brief personal interlude>

You think I love words? These people were/are obsessed. Obsessed! I sat, bewitched and bemused, as they debated endlessly about which word was le bon mot–the right word. And by “right”, they meant perfect.

Fast-forward a few years (or decades, whatevs, who’s counting?) to this morning when I was reading Jeff Raike’s post on perfectionism. He points out that our question for perfectionism carries a big risk: that in our effort to avoid failure, we narrow our options to those that are low-risk and achievable, rather than risky and remarkable.

Organizations–probably yours–fall into this trap when it comes to words. All the time. Constantly. Thus all those boring thank you notes. Thus yawn-worthy newsletters. Thus homepages that you have to read twelve times in order to even kinda sorta get what they’re saying because you keep nodding off.

Words are cheap. Don’t waste your time always looking for le bon mot. There’s a time and place for that. It’s called happy hour in a Parisian cafe. Unless that’s where you work, take off your beret and get back to work.

There are two notable exceptions to this “Good-And-Done-Is-Better-Than-Perfect-And-Drove-You-To-The-Brink-Of-Insanity” rule:

You’re about to invest thousands of dollars in a printed piece: In these instances, spend some QT finding exactly the right words. (And while you’re finding the right words for that piece, I’d also recommend you hack about 50% of the words you’re planning to use because people will only skim the piece anyway, but that’s a post for another day…)
Subject lines of emails: Most people agonize over the content and then dash off the subject line. Reverse that. Nail your subject line and make sure the content is good.

Aside from those two exceptions, your quest for the perfect word is in all likelihood preventing you from achieving your goals–both the little, tiny, risk-free ones AND the great, big, awesome, this-world-is-truly-better ones.

Words are cheap. Take some risks. Scary though it may feel in the moment, you’ll be happy you did.

Embrace the anonymous review—they are equal parts feedback and opportunity

July 16, 2013 by Erica Barnhart

set stern sternchen icon farben sternschnuppe bewertung Phone books, card catalogs, newspaper boys—the way we gather information these days sure has changed. We don’t even have to go as far back as the telegraph because even the yellow pages sound like a quaint throwback.

People share a lot of information in person, which is sometimes hard to believe when you see countless people walking down the street with their eyes glued to their smartphones. So your pitch delivered face-to-face is, and will continue to be important. But with the shift of so much of our non-face-time to online, the internet is providing more diversity in terms of where we go to find information. Back in the early days of online living (we’re talking 1997 here), there were a handful of webpages being cataloged by some technology enthusiasts. Today, if someone’s looking for information, they ask a search engine or their Facebook friends and they could end up in one of a countless number of places that contain the exact information they are looking for. The types of sites and tools that offer information are multiplying like tribbles.

All of this might sound like trivia that will maybe interest you next time you are researching a new car purchase or deciding whether to keep a giraffe as a pet. But it’s also important to how you communicate your mission to potential donors and supporters.

Review sites are growing in visibility, specifically in the nonprofit space. Sites have been developed that leverage either the assessment of experts or the wisdom of the crowd to deliver ratings on organizations working to improve out world. Greatnonprofits.org is a good example. People like to consult with other people when making decisions, especially the kind of decisions that separate them from some of their money. The Yelpification of world-changing work is here to stay.

You might think “that’s nice but is it really that big of a deal?” Consider that these sites (which search engines just lurve) are competing for the online eyeballs of your future donors. So at the very least, you want to show up well on these sites. You know, considering the fact that you’ll show up right next to a few thousand other organizations your donors could be supporting.

A few ideas for making the most of the almost unavoidable reality of your visibility on one of these sites:

Review the listing for your organization, or add it if it isn’t there. These sites are all about gathering more data. Claim your organization’s profile and ensure that the data is accurate.
Read and learn—if people are talking about you, you are the lucky recipient of some free market research. Review sites generally attract opinion outliers (those that had either extremely good or bad experiences), so take it all with a grain of salt. But assume it is valid feedback.
Get active in generating (and using) reviews. Here are some great tips on doing that.

I can remember how exciting it was to find restaurant reviews online, how helpful it was in making a decision on dining options when there were so many choices available. You r future donors might be feeling that very same way about some of these review sites.

The words your supporters use are as important as the words you use

July 11, 2013 by Erica Barnhart

Words are important. We’re clear on that, right? Verbs, pronouns—they matter. They make people feel and act. They are the tools you use to explain WHY you do what you do.

Now I don’t want to bore you by getting technical, but there is another reason why words are important: they are what make search engines work (well, words and a bunch of boring code). Words are what people use to find and learn about your awesome work online. So the more that you use the words –the ones your future donors are searching– on your website, the more likely they are to find you, and fall in love with you.

Now you may have identified some of the logical search terms your audience would use to find you—perhaps something along the lines of “clean water charity”—because it’s fairly obvious. But consider that your supporters of the future might not know they are looking for you. Perhaps they are researching clean water technologies for their high school biology project, or maybe they are planning a trip to Africa where (unbeknownst to them) they will become aware of challenges many villages face in providing potable water to their residents. Should they come across your mission online, they will learn of your work, maybe follow you or sign up for a newsletter. So the key, when it comes to keywords (see what I did there?) is to understand all the many ways people—the kind of people you want to attract—are finding information related to your work in some way.

So how does one access information on the keywords that people use to find stuff online? The search engines analyze and provide (oops) this information to potential advertisers. Because keyword search patterns are valuable to companies making investments in search advertising. And fortunately, this information is also available to you for free.

A great tool to try out is Google’s Keyword Planner. Search for keyword ideas by entering some of your known keywords (the aforementioned “clean water charity” in our example). You’ll find a list of relevant words, some of which you might not have thought of like “how to purify water”, and data like the average number of monthly searches for the terms and competition from websites or ads that employ those words.

I’m not saying you should load up your pitch with a bunch of Google-generated words and phrases. That would definitely have you sounding a like a robot. Just consider using some of these words in how you tell the story of what you do. Expand the diversity of your words to help new searchers find you.

Some traditional marketing opportunities are like Joan Rivers: they’ve gotten a nip and a tuck and they keep on working

June 30, 2013 by Erica Barnhart

Photo courtesy of Wikimedia (David Shankbone)

The internet has changed how people make purchase decisions. The availability of data (like online reviews) and search algorithms that seem to predict the exact thing you were looking for with only a few keystrokes (you know, right before you delete your search history so your kids can’t see that you were researching boarding schools) can shorten the time between the decision-to-purchase and the actual purchase. Of course, same goes for decisions people make about where to invest in making the world a better place. Interested in advancing adult literacy? You can have information on a number of reading programs on your computer screen in mere seconds. Want to know who has been helped by those organizations? YouTube will likely bubble up some compelling testimonials.

But remember back in the old days? You know, like the 90s? When marketing was made out of paper and handshakes? Have we changed so much since then that the old way of marketing no longer works at all? Should we completely shun the old for the new?

As much as we hear that newspapers are dead and that people are increasingly engaging with organizations online, there are some “traditional” marketing approaches that have been on the receiving end of a little nip and tuck, but still work. Particularly when looking at activities where someone first gets to know your organization—way before they decide to engage with you—there’s still opportunity to kick it old school…with a little twist of channel integration.

Sponsored events (with a dedicated Twitter hashtag, e.g. “#givingtuesday” ), press interviews (now most likely to be read online and hyperlinked to your website) and speaking engagements (which, if recorded, may generate significant interest on YouTube) are great examples of traditional channels that have gotten a makeover, courtesy of emerging digital channels, and come out looking even better than before.

So as you evaluate your investment in traditional marketing activities, consider the possibility that what’s old is new again with the additional reach that comes from technology.

Bling out your email with a little alternative channel juju

June 26, 2013 by Erica Barnhart

gears background People give to organizations whose visions align with their values—organizations that they trust to make an impact. To build that trust, you’re likely reaching your target audiences—the collection of people who already support you, the people that may support you in the future, and the people and organizations that help connect you to your supporters—in multiple different ways. People visit your website, read about your progress in a newspaper article, meet one of your pitch-perfect volunteers at a party and then they become your supporter.

Even if you have carefully selected the channels via which you will put your message out to the world, creating that multi-touch experience for your potential supporters doesn’t happen magically (despite how many times you say “Shazam!”).

Sure some people will experience your work organically (like when they are researching an issue they are passionate about online and come across your web page and a video of an event you put on), or when they are tried-and-true believers who subscribe to your newsletter and follow your progress on your Facebook page.

But a great many of the people that will fuel the success of your work in the future are having a very singular experience with you. They downloaded an impact report and never heard from you again. They get your newsletter but never look at your website. And wouldn’t it be cool for them to know about your Director of Development who kicks-butt on Twitter? Well, they don’t.

Consistency and repetition of your message across channels strengthens your brand and builds relationships. Yet, according to a study by Convio, only about 55% of nonprofit organizations are serious about integrated marketing. Forty-five percent of you aren’t doing much to nurture those high-value, multi-channel relationships—you aren’t giving the people who have already expressed an interest in your work more opportunities to experience the magic of what you do.

I’m not suggesting a marketing overhaul; if you know how the people you care about find you and experience you, creating connection between those places—so they can meander, learn more and share— can transform something like an email campaign from a one-hit wonder to a relationship-builder.

Here are some ideas to consider:

Make your email communications shareable. You don’t have to have a social media presence to reap the benefit of some viral sharing of your message. In every email, add social media share buttons or links and when you are communicating with your supporters, by all means, ask them to share! It’s not icky. They believe in what you do.
Consider landing pages for campaigns. Instead of sending people to the home page of your website, send them to a page with messaging consistent with your campaign and designed to move them to the next step in the engagement process (for example, signing up for your newsletter).
Add a link to your Facebook page on your direct mail pieces.

Here are a few resources with more ideas:

Practical Tips for Multi-Channel Fundraising

What it means to Do Multi-Channel Right

How to Improve Your Email Marketing with an Integrated Approach

Giving USA: giving is lookin’ good

June 25, 2013 by Erica Barnhart

Giving USA, philanthropy, fundraising This morning, I got a whirlwind run-down on Giving USA 2013. Tom Mesaros, of The Alford Group, gave a lively overview of all those charts and graphs. (Shout-out to Pacific Continental Bank for making this info-packed, muffin-filled breakfast possible!)

Tom made many good points. One of his Great Big Points was that, as a country, we’re pretty darn generous. Total contributions were $316.23 billion in 2012. Not exactly chump change. 72% came from individuals. Foundations account for 14%. When you figure that lots of the foundation money comes from individuals, this paints a rosy picture of our altruistic acumen.

Tom also spoke to some of the challenges we face as a sector. Terrible note-taker that I am, I didn’t manage to get them all down, but one really stood out: the growth challenge.

Are people still hungry? Yes.
Are there still homeless children on our streets? Yes.
Is the environment still in danger of going up in smoke? Yes.

The list goes on and on. There is still significant unmet need. If we’re going to realizing our vision of a better world, we have to grow in order to meet his need.

Although we’re making a comeback from our 2008 ‘hiccup’, the report estimates we still have six to seven years to go before we hit pre-recessionary levels (adjusted for inflation, mind you). Cramped influx of capital with high unmet need. It’s kind of a conundrum.

Broken record alert: we’re only retaining 3 out of 10 donors. I feel like there’s a connection between this stat and the charts/graphs in the Giving USA Report and the aforementioned conundrum. If we can make headway on retention, imagine what that would do in terms of growth! Makes my heart palpitate.

Smart growth is complicated. Expanding and deepening engagement is complicated. I’ll give you that. But as I was sitting there this morning, I couldn’t help but think how much we’re under-utilizing a really cheap asset–language.

We’re using words anyway (at an average rate of 15,000 per day). If we made them count more, how much would that help with retention? With meeting unmet need? With engaging more people at a deeper level in this thing called philanthropy? Even if all we did was fixed our pitches, what impact would that have?

I wonder. I really, truly do.

Most of the places you “should be marketing” don’t matter

June 21, 2013 by Erica Barnhart

control panel You’ve probably heard from experts about the “best place” to reach the people that support your mission. There’s lots of talk about where you should be focusing your efforts: events for fundraising, social media for generating engagement, etcetera.

You have more choices than ever before and sometimes it feels like the hits just keep on coming. While you work to bling out your e-newsletter, you start hearing about the cool stuff organizations are doing with video. It feels like a never-ending cycle of just trying to keep up.

And while all the new channels give you options to meet your future supporters in countless different ways, at the end of the day, most of those channels won’t matter to your organization. Don’t care how shiny they are, they just won’t matter. Sometimes it feels like separating the wheat from the chaff is as laborious as actually separating wheat from chaff (whatever that is).

So in those moments when you are reading about the new online thing and it sounds as sexy as whatever Apple is putting out this week, stop. I mean it…stop…and ask yourself:

What are my marketing objectives and is this channel consistent with meeting them?
Whose support will I need to meet those objectives? Who is my audience?
Where does that audience hang-out? How do they consume information?
Does this channel create meaning for that audience?

For example, donor retention might be high on your list of priorities. And when you look at the people who give to your organization, you find that a good old-fashioned, hand-signed thank you note (the non-boring variety) means a lot to them. And while you could reach these folks by Twitter, a “Thanks peeps #yourock” isn’t going to pack the same punch, either because your donor audience isn’t down with the bird, or because that type of interaction doesn’t make them feel like you really care.

Every channel isn’t for every organization. So when someone starts to tell you that you really should be using [insert the much hyped channel du jour], don’t jump to “how do I make this work for my organization?” Think about what your marketing is supposed to help you accomplish, i.e. what’s your goal, , who the people are on the other end of that marketing, and the types of interactions that get them excited about what you do.

In sum, resist shiny object syndrome. It’s expensive and will makes you want to poke your eyes out with little bamboo sticks. Ouch!

Seeing is believing: pictures tell your story

June 17, 2013 by Erica Barnhart

Once upon a time, storytelling was an oral tradition—we didn’t have TV and the interwebs and, going way back, newspapers, etc. So great tales were passed down from one generation to the next. Technology has done a lot to change that. Granny may still gather the kids around for story hour. But now little Johnny may make her stories into blockbuster movies. We live in a world of visual storytelling.

With today’s widespread use of social media (even Granny has a Facebook account!), our affinity for the visual medium continues to evolve. Kind of like how Uncle Jim’s story of rescuing a kitten a dog chased up a tree eventually came to include a harrowing trip across a rushing river and not one but two large bears.

You can’t shake a virtual stick online without poking an artsy-fartsy Instagram montage, a carefully curated Pinterest board or a chock-full-o-data Infographic. They are everywhere and they are sticky as all get-out. People like pictures. They help people interpret information quickly and folks feel that they are part of the story. Even if the story is totally random. And they’re compelling. Take a look at this Polio Infographic and tell me if you aren’t left wondering what was going on in Pakistan. And how exactly India and Nigeria made such a big change.

In the data-loving world of impact storytelling, infographics can help future supporters cut through the clutter and see what matters: the size of the challenge, the number of people helped, countries impacted, increases in good stuff, decreases in bad stuff. They allow you to take a few key pieces of data, wrap them in a story and make them memorable and shareable (with just a few mouse clicks). For a little inspiration, take a look at the Pinterest board Beth Kanter has assembled or some of these resources:

Infographics for Nonprofits: The New Storytelling

Data Visualization and Infographics: Using Data to Tell Your Story

5 Infographics About Infographics To Master Basics in Five Minutes

Now forget everything you think you know about how nonprofits should work

June 14, 2013 by Erica Barnhart

Dan Pallotta

Call me a gal with a dream. When I think about the trends I’d like to see in the future—what I really want to see changed—well, I want us to change the way we think nonprofits are supposed to work. No biggie…pretty sure we can have it wrapped up by next Friday. Slurp another cuppa coffee or glass of wine. We’ve got plenty of time.

You might wonder why I would choose such a lofty aspiration for us as a community of people doing good. You have your hands full already, right? “Erica” you might say, “you already asked us to stop thinking of ourselves as mission-driven organizations. Now you want us to change how we work?” What I am suggesting is that we eliminate the double standards that Dan Pallotta talks about in his great, recent TED talk:

Dan points out that there is something seriously messed up with the belief system around how nonprofits *should* operate—the belief that overhead is bad, that people have to choose between making money and serving social causes, that risk in the name of growth and innovation are unacceptable. What I’m hoping is that nonprofits are given “permission” to level the playing field with the for-profit sector and that our attention is focused on investing for optimal outcomes.

And by “permission”, I mean lead the charge on shifting this paradigm. So really I don’t mean permission at all—I mean boldly venturing forth. I mean taking the bull by the horns. I mean stopping this antiquated nonsense. It’s time. Really, truly time.