Category: Messaging

The 2 Biggest Messaging Pitfalls & How to Avoid Them

Posted on: by Erica Barnhart

Bootcamp Week #6

Avoiding Pitfalls

(this week’s vid)

Pitfall #1: Talking about features vs. benefits

For most people, it’s much more comfortable to talk about how we do something than why. The why can feel nebulous, squishy. Better worlds, opportunity gaps, common good. Our brains struggle to understand concepts this big.

The how is specific. It is tutoring programs, immunization initiatives, the Picasso exhibit that just came to Seattle.

But our hearts yearn for the why. They thirst to know the benefit of what we are doing.  Our hearts don’t care about features (i.e. the what and how of what you are doing). We engage first with our hearts, then our heads. That’s why it’s so important to talk about benefits and resist the temptation to talk about features. Features can wait.

Your supporters will naturally talk to you in “benefit-speak” so if you’re wondering what that sounds like for your organization, go ask!

Pitfall #2: Staying Brave (or Resisting the Urge to Quantify Everything)

If you’ve done your homework, your Engagement Proposition will feel big and brave. It should make you nod your head in agreement…and it should scare you a bit. You are doing big, brave work. Your messaging must do justice to that bravery.

You may not be able to statistically prove that your why matters, that it’s worthy of engagement. Initial engagement isn’t about numbers and stats and quantifiability. It’s about your gut. It’s about your beliefs. It’s about your heart.

If you try to quantify your beliefs, you will end up with messaging that shies away from what you really want to do, to achieve.

To avoid this pitfall, don’t wimp out. Stay brave.

This Week’s To-Do

Revisit your Engagement Proposition. Change any features to benefits and make sure it does justice to what you believe.

Next Week

Top-Level Message. Woo hoo!

About Claxon’s Nonprofit Messaging Bootcamp

This is week #6 of our Nonprofit Messaging Bootcamp. If you’re just joining the Bootcamp, here’s what you need to do to get started.

 

Gimme an E.N.G.A.G.E.

Posted on: by Erica Barnhart

Bootcamp Week #5

Your Engagement Proposition

(this week’s vid)

 

Messaging is useful to the extent that it makes people DO something. Specifically, it should make people ENGAGE with your organization, take action on behalf of your mission. Otherwise, it’s nothing more than a lovely turn of phrase.

That’s why you need your Engagement Proposition (EP). You must be crystal clear on how the world will be a better place if someone engages with your organization.

Here’s the formula (with links to vids on each of the topics)

Belief Proposition+Mental File Folder+Unique Differentiator=Engagement Proposition

On our next stop on the Nonprofit Messaging Roadmap (after we talk about common pitfalls), you will make your EP speak directly to the hearts of your believers…but first make sure you have an EP that is true for your organization and only your organization, i.e. if you can put a competitor’s name in the EP and it sounds okay, try again!

This Week’s To-Do

Write your Engagement Proposition. Swap out the name of your organization for each of your top three competitors. Keep refining until it sounds goofy to have one of their names as part of your EP.

Next Week

Avoiding common pitfalls!!!

About Claxon’s Nonprofit Messaging Bootcamp

This is week #5 of our Nonprofit Messaging Bootcamp. If you’re just joining the Bootcamp, here’s what you need to do to get started.

Wonderful doesn’t cut it

Posted on: by Erica Barnhart

Unique means “the only one of its kind”.  Not just wonderful, but one of a kind.

What makes your organization the only one of its kind?

Many organizations share a ‘why’, i.e. you are probably not alone in believing all children deserve access to quality education or that animals should be treated humanely or that we should protect our planet for future generations.

You would likely find yourself filed with at least a few other orgs under the same mental file folder, e.g. elementary school math, climate change advocacy, microfinance in Latin America, etc.

Your why is critically important. (It’s why the Messaging Roadmap starts at the Belief Proposition.) But it isn’t necessarily unique or compelling.

However, what and how you are going about solving your why should be unique and compelling. (Otherwise you wouldn’t have created an org to do it, right?)

Look at your lists from last week on competition. What makes you different? What sets you apart? What is it about your organization that would make a busy, busy person take the time to learn more?

This will help you answer the question we all ask when deciding whether to engage: “Why you?”

“Because we’re wonderful,” isn’t a compelling enough answer.

This Week’s To-Do

Go ask your donors, volunteers, members, donors, and fans why they decided to engaged with your organization. (To the extent possible, write down what they say verbatim. This will be handy when you write your top-level message.)

Next Week

Your Engagement Proposition (and, no, it doesn’t involve rings or getting down on one knee!)

Nonprofit Messaging Bootcamp

This is week #4 of our Nonprofit Messaging Bootcamp. If you’re just joining the Bootcamp, here’s what you need to do to get started: 1. Download the Messaging Roadmap, 2. Sign up for our free Tune-Up Tuesday videos, and 3. Complete messaging to-do’s outlined for you each week on our blog. Get caught up by reading posts from Week #1, Week #2, and Week #3!

January Tune-Up Tuesday Re-cap: The Nonprofit Messaging Roadmap

Posted on: by Erica Barnhart


In January, we held our monthly Tune-Up Tuesday meet-up at The Hearing, Speech and Deafness Center in Seattle where we reviewed the Messaging Roadmap and discussed how to relate it to participants’ organizations. Below is a re-cap of our lively discussion.

(Note: This month we also presented at AFP Washington’s Martini Mondays where we discussed the Top 5 Nonprofit Messaging No No’s. This re-cap includes some questions and concerns about nonprofit messaging that came out of that presentation as well.)
  

Common Questions and Concerns about Nonprofit Messaging

 

What is the basic difference between a tagline and an elevator pitch?

 

A tagline is read not said.

An elevator pitch is said.

What is the difference between how we’d write a mission statement and how we’d write top-level messaging?

 

Most mission statements (but not all!) speak to the what and the how. Top-level messaging relates to the why and speaks to the hearts of your audience.

Note: There is great value in the process of creating mission and vision statements internally. To develop great messaging, you need to go one step further. Take the work that goes into creating your mission and value and make it compelling.

When we try to do messaging, it gets picked apart and everyone has a word to add.

That’s why we discourage messaging by committee! Messaging is about what your target audiences want/need to hear, not what internal stakeholders want them to know. This is a tricky, and important, distinction to make.

How do we convince our board to see the value of marketing and messaging work in particular?

First of all, don’t use the word Marketing. Marketing and Fundraising are part of an engagement continuum. Marketing is critical to any organization that wants to engage new supporters and retain current ones.

Even within our Fundraising Department, we say different things. How do we get on the same page?

Many organizations have departments that work in silos. If you are in Fundraising you may find that your major gifts team isn’t on the same page as your general fundraising team, for example. Getting people to the point where it’s about the audience perspective is key. Start by writing a job description for your fundraising team (see this post for more on this idea) – including the role of your major gift officers – showing how everyone has a piece in accomplishing your goals. Remember: Your audience doesn’t care about your silos; they care about how they can support what you’re doing.

How do we get our messaging shorter and more impactful?

  • Often we have the tendency to speak to the what. We lead with what we do instead of leading with what we believe. If you are in Microfinance you could lead with “We believe poverty can be eradicated. Microfinance is a powerful tool that can help us do that.”
  • Ask your supporters what resonates with them using surveys or focus groups…or just pick up the phone and do a quick, informal check-in! Asking those further away from the day to day work will often speak to the why of what you do. (Plus, it’s a great cultivation tool!)
  • Be careful not to pack your everything into your messaging. Often, board and staff are nervous about leaving something off. It feels really uncomfortable to not talk about everything.

Our current messaging is just not resonating. What should we do?

First, start by going back to the why (Point A on the Messaging Roadmap). You need everyone in your organization to come to an agreement on an answer to the following questions: Why do we exist? What would be different in our community if we didn’t exist?

How do you talk without jargon?

Every year, Lake Superior State University publishes its Banished Words list—make sure to avoid these! In the end, speaking to your audience’s heart is the key. Turn statistics into stories. For example, if you’ve been around since 1850, how many generations have you helped?

Handouts

  1. Messaging Roadmap
  2. Messaging Framework

Nonprofit Messaging Resources

  1. Watch AFP Washingon’s Martini Mondays Nonprofit Messaging No No’s.
  2. Subscribe to Nancy Schwartz’s Getting Attention Blog.
  3. Participate in Claxon’s 9-Week Nonprofit Messaging Bootcamp! (Here’s how to get started: 1. Sign-up for Tune-Up Tuesdays Video Series, 2. Read our blog starting with Week #1 of the Bootcamp and 3. Sign-up for next month’s Tune-Up Tuesdays Meet-up in Seattle.)

Competition is not a dirty word!

Posted on: by Erica Barnhart

Bootcamp Week #3: Identifying Your Competition (watch this week’s vid)

Although some will say the hokey pokey is what it’s all about, when it comes to getting people to engage with your organization, standing out is what’s it’s all about.

And you can only stand out if you know what you’re standing out from, right?

There are the obvious sources of competition: other nonprofits doing work similar to yours. However, in the early stages of engagement when you are simply trying to get the attention of people who care about your cause, your biggest source of competition isn’t other organizations–it’s the busy-ness of life.

Think about the factors that demand potential supporters’ attention: commuting, kids, grocery shopping, work, soccer games, fixing the faucet…it’s a long list.  How does what you want them to do fit with what they have to do?

Remember that supporters take notice when you speak to their hearts not their heads, so don’t get caught up in numbers and data at this point. You can get to that when they say “Tell me more!”

This Week’s Messaging To-Do’s

  1. Make a list of your obvious sources of competition and what makes them compelling.
  2. Make a list of less obvious sources of competition, e.g. busyness of life, apathy, fear, etc.

Next Week:

We’ll tackle unique differentiators and what makes your organization compelling…

Nonprofit Messaging Bootcamp

This is week #3 of our Nonprofit Messaging Bootcamp. If you’re just joining the Bootcamp, here’s what you need to do to get started: 1. Download the Messaging Roadmap, 2. Sign up for our free Tune-Up Tuesday videos, and 3. Complete messaging to-do’s outlined for you each week on our blog. Get caught up by reading posts from Week #1 and Week #2!

Mental File Folders

Posted on: by Erica Barnhart

Bootcamp Week #2: If you’re just joining the Bootcamp, here’s what you need to do to get started: 1. Messaging Roadmap, 2. Sign up for our free Tune-Up Tuesday videos, and 3. Complete messaging to-do’s outlined for you each week on our blog. (Go back and do last week’s to get caught up!)

Point B: Mental File Folders (watch the vid)

Last week, you figured out your Belief Proposition. You identified why your organization exists and what would be different in your community if it didn’t exist.

This week, you need to pick your mental file folder. Many organizations fall into the trap of reciting everything they do right out of the gate. When you tell people your everything, they remember nothing. Bummer. That’s why the goal is to whittle it down to the one thing that you do that represents the essence of your organization. This is what fuels word-of-mouth marketing. Why? Because you are making it easy for people to refer others to you. Why? Because they only have to remember one thing about you–and that one thing is the most compelling, authentic thing. So, in the end, it all works out. It just feels scary at first.

(If you don’t believe me on this, listen to Seth Godin. He’s really, super smart.)

If you’re still feeling like you can’t possibly distill what you do down to one thing (or at most two), read this post about Treehouse. If they can do it, you can do it.

This Week’s Messaging To-Do’s

Write down answers to the following two questions:

  1. What would be the “tab” on the mental file folder you want people to associate with your organization?
  2. What do you do? (Not everything–just your main thing.)

Next Week

Identify your competition. (Hint: You have more of it than you might think!)

Need Some In-Person Help? Come to our Tune-Up Tuesday monthly meet-up in Seattle.  Learn more and register here.

 

Get your messaging booty in shape!

Posted on: by Erica Barnhart

To get your nonprofit’s messaging booty in shape in short order, we are launching a 9-week DIY Nonprofit Messaging Bootcamp. To join in the fun, Messaging Roadmap, sign up for our free Tune-up Tuesday videos, and complete messaging to-do’s outlined for each week on our blog.

 

Week #1

Point A: Your Belief Proposition

Watch the first episode of Tune-Up Tuesdays to learn why having a clearly articulated ‘Belief Proposition’ is so important to connecting with people who care about your cause. Also, review this previous post about how the United Negro College Fund articulated their Belief Proposition.

This Week’s Messaging To-Do’s

 

Write down answers to the following questions:

  1. What would be different in your community if your organization didn’t exist?
  2. Why does your organization exist?

Next week

Learn about Mental File Folders.

Need Some In-Person Help?

Sign up for a coaching session.

Inspirational Messaging: InvestED

Posted on: by Erica Barnhart

This week’s bit of messaging inspiration comes to us from InvestED, a Seattle-based nonprofit that understands seemingly small hurdles can be huge barriers to student success. Formerly The Saul and Dayee G. Haas Foundation, InvestED’s message is specific and focused: Get immediate help for students in need.

Because sometimes a pair of sneakers is what it takes to graduate, InvestED encourages secondary school students to stay in school, return to school or get involved in their learning community by providing funding to schools for a range of items including school supplies, appropriate clothing, and activity or course fees.

Is there more to InvestED’s story than this? You bet. But, when it comes to their messaging, they make it easy to understand what they do, how they do it and–most importantly–why they do it. It’s inspirational in its simplicity.

Watch Naomi explain the importance of that pair of sneakers and the impact they made in Naomi’s life.

Inspirational Messaging: Treehouse

Posted on: by Erica Barnhart

“Would you like to give foster kids a childhood and a future?”

This wasn’t what I expected the volunteer elf to ask when I was buying tickets for my family to ride the holiday carousel in downtown Seattle. But she did.

What the elf meant was that all proceeds from the carousel are going to Treehouse, a Seattle-based organization that provides a wide range of services for foster kids and families.

Now, if the elf had asked if I wanted to support an organization that provides services to foster kids and their families, I probably would have said, “Sure.” But her delivery was so much more compelling that I said, “Absolutely!!” and joyfully jumped at the opportunity to do so.

Inspired to learn more, I went online and was thrilled to see that Treehouse is extremely consistent across its many communications channels. Yeah, Treehouse–compelling and consistent! (See this post about Global Partnerships for more on the importance of consistency.)

It would be understandable for Treehouse to want to explain everything they do because all of it is critically important. Instead, they focus on their essence: giving foster kids a childhood and a future. Nuff said.

As Seth Godin recently explained, “The answer is simple,” is always more effective than, “It’s complicated.”

If you are tempted to say that what your organization does is so complicated it can’t be distilled into a compelling, easy-to-understand message, just remember: if Treehouse can do it, so can you.

P.S. If you want to give foster kids a childhood and a future, there’s still time to go ride the carousel!

 

Inspirational Messaging: A Child’s Right

Posted on: by Erica Barnhart

In last week’s post, we invited you to embark on a messaging journey. As inspiration to do so, we shared a video featuring Scott Harrison, Founder & President of Charity: Water, an organization that brings clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations.

This week, we find inspiration from another water-focused organization.

A Child’s Right: Every child has a right to clean water.

Whether you consider this an irrefutable truth or pie-in-the-sky, you know what A Child’s Right is all about: kids and clean water. Eric Stowe, the organization’s Founder & Director, doesn’t muddy the waters (pun intended) with a bunch of details. And whether you peruse their annual report, check out their website, or see one of their water filtration systems in action, it’s always the same message. Concise, consistent…compelling.

Some of you are probably thinking something along the lines of, “Yeah but what we do is so much more nuanced and complicated.” A Child’s Right brought clean water to 250,000 in four years. And they are going to bring clean water to 1,000,000 more in the next ten years. How’s that for complicated?

A Child’s Right keeps their top-level messaging focused on the belief that motivates them every day, the ‘why’ behind their work. It makes you want to ask, “Yeah, but how?!” (For anyone wondering, here’s how.)

Do you communicate as effectively as you think?

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Do you communicate as effectively as you think?

Take the quiz to find out!
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