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“Did you just tagline me?!”

September 30, 2012 by Erica Barnhart

Elevator pitch, tagline, messaging — Don’t tagline someone at a cocktail party!

Last week at the Idaho Nonprofit Conference, I did a session on Mastering Your Message. We talked about the difference between messaging that is read vs said.

For instance, an elevator pitch is said and taglines are read. That’s why when you use your tagline as your elevator pitch, you end up “taglining” someone.

That’s right, thanks to an awesome workshop attendee, “to tagline” is now a verb. They were asked to share their current elevator pitch with their neighbors and as I wandered by one group, a woman looked up and said, “I think I just got taglined!”

Being taglined is no fun. It’s kind of creepy.

Take the American Cancer Society. They have a humdinger of a tagline: The official sponsor of birthdays. Now imagine you’re at a cocktail party chatting with someone who worked for them and they said: “I work for the American Cancer Society. We’re the official sponsor of birthdays.” Um, okay. Good for you. (Go away, creepy person who is coming on way to strong. That’s what you’d really be thinking.)

If you’re working on your messaging, start by perfecting your elevator pitch, then tackle your website copy and other social properties, and then your tagline. In that order.

Everyone wants to come up with the snazzy tagline. It’s way fun. And that’s why most organizations start there. But it’s much smoother, and completely un-creepy, to transition from messaging that is said to messaging that is read.

Have you ever been taglined?

Help your board get over its messaging hiccups

September 25, 2012 by Erica Barnhart

Messaging hiccups board — Help your board get over its messaging hiccups

Last week, I got to help board members from three different organizations find their words. One of the biggest hiccups they faced was using jargon and/or acronyms. On the receiving end, these both sound like blah, blah, blah.

Staff bandy about some blah, blah, blah with the best of them. Don’t get me wrong. But since board members don’t talk about the organization as often as staff, they don’t have as many opportunities to shake the habit.

If your board members are struggling to de-jargonify their personal pitches, teach them this trick: as soon as they hear themselves use jargon or an acronym, have them pause and say, “Here’s what I mean by that…”

This allows them to keep some words and terms that are comfy to them (which is often important in order for them to let their passion shine through!) while making it understandable to those not as familiar with your mission and work.

Any other tips and tricks to help board members get over messaging hiccups?

Heads & Hearts

September 20, 2012 by Erica Barnhart

Mission-motivated organizations (nonprofits and social enterprises, I’m talking to you!) talk a lot to people’s heads. If you want more engagement, speak to their hearts. Find out how in this video!

[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/34042526[/vimeo]

Paralanguage: The power of non-verbal communication

September 18, 2012 by Erica Barnhart

How you say something is as important as what you say. Paralanguage is the non-verbal communications we send out as we use verbal communication. Is it affecting what you’re saying?

Paralanguage: The power of non-verbal communication from Claxon Marketing on Vimeo.

Back to School with the 1,2,3 Marketing Tree

September 5, 2012 by Erica Barnhart

It’s the first day of school in our neck of the woods. Time to get back to the basics. Claxon’s 1,2,3, Marketing Tree gives you the basic steps for your organization to inspire action and engagement (i.e. market itself) in a way that’s simple, effective and fun. Yep, yep! Find out how in this quick video.

1, 2, 3 Marketing Tree from Claxon Marketing on Vimeo.

Connect through Humor

August 30, 2012 by Erica Barnhart

Free and abundant, humor can be a great way to connect people with your cause. Hear two funny examples of using humor to advance your mission.

[vimeo]https://vimeo.com/33286518[/vimeo]

Connect through Humor from Claxon Marketing on Vimeo.

Get off message & on belief

August 24, 2012 by Erica Barnhart

Don’t be a messaging robot.

Earlier this week, I was invited to give a workshop for 501 Commons volunteers. My advice to get off message raised a few eyebrows. Don’t we want everyone ‘on message’?! Nope, you want them ‘on belief’. Here’s what I mean.

You aren’t successful if every single person in your organization answers the question: “What does your organization do?” in the exact same way.

You’re successful if everyone answers that question using your 3 key words in a way that reinforces what you want to be known for with passion, energy and conviction.

Supporters want to engage with an organization that has a compelling way of addressing a cause they care about.

Word-for-word ends up being robotic. Robotic isn’t compelling.

Worry less about being “on message” and more about attracting staff and board who are “on belief”–you’ll go further, faster and with less effort.

(Here’s guidance on how to help your organization find its 3 key words.)

photo credit: Ѕolo via photo pin cc

Mission-Motivated Messaging Checklist

June 19, 2012 by Erica Barnhart

Got your why? Check!

This morning, I got to spend time at the PNAIS Advancement Conference. I did a session on Marketing Your Mission in 3 Easy Steps. No matter how many times I present on this topic, I’m always 1) humbled by the AMAZING work being done to make the world a better place and 2) reminded how little time we spend on the Why of it all.

Directly after my presentation, I got to hear Susan Howlett speak. Susan is responsible for transforming thousands of organizations through her work with boards. Her book Boards on Fire is setting the world of fundraising on fire!

In her session, Susan encouraged us to heed Simon Sinek’s advice to start with the why–and to keep going back to the why. Not just start with why, but to lead with why from start to finish. Sprinkle in some what and how, sure, but elevate the why.

For some reason, the mission-motivated of the world shy away from sharing their why. Why be shy about your why?

In an effort to stop this “Shy About Why” epidemic, I created a Mission-Motivated Messaging Checklist. The next time you are going to communicate about your organization, run down the following list:

Why? Why does your organization exist? Why should someone care about what you’re doing?
Why you? Of all the organizations out there, why should someone engage with you? What makes you special? Compelling?
Why now? What makes now the time for someone to take action?
What now? What, specifically, do you want the person to do? Make it clear and make it easy. (Note: If you’re writing a Thank You note, for instance, the “action” might be to feel really, really good about the impact they’ve had. This isn’t a plug to always make an ask. It’s a plug for always being clear on what you hope the person on the receiving will feel and, when appropriate, do.)

If you address all of these, you’ll be in good shape.

Are you shy about your why? If so, why?

Marketing education & the environment

June 18, 2012 by Erica Barnhart

education, environment, marketing, mission — Education & environment may be different. How to market them is the same.

This week, I’ll give two presentations on how to market your mission–one at the Pacific NW Association of Independent Schools (PNAIS) Institutional Advancement Conference and one for the annual meeting of EarthShare Washington.

You’d think that your approach to marketing these two vastly different offerings–education and environment–would be vastly different.

It isn’t.

This is an important reminder–no matter what mission you’re marketing, you ask the same three questions to get you to a solid Marketing Action Plan (MAP).

WHAT does success look like for our marketing?
WHO do we need to reach to be successful?
HOW can we most effectively reach the people who matter most to our success?

Can this get complicated? Well, sure. That’s why I created the 1, 2, 3 Marketing Tree. And why I created this short video to explain the approach. You too can become a lean, mean, mission-motivated marketing machine!

Nonprofit Marketing Makeovers

May 14, 2012 by Erica Barnhart

Makeovers. They’re all the rage. And nonprofits deserve them just as much as Norma Jean (who became Marilyn after she was made over).

Instead of thinking of extreme, think ‘mini’. Check out my presentation from the 2012 Washington State Nonprofit Conference for examples of how to make over attitudes, actions, visuals and words to achieve greater impact.

Nonprofit Marketing Makeovers

View more PowerPoint from Erica Mills

Posted in Marketing 101, See Erica SpeakTagged a childs right, GiveBIG, group health foundation, Likeapella, marketing makeover, seattle goodwill, Shutesbury Library, Team Read, Washington State Nonrofit ConferenceLeave a Comment on Nonprofit Marketing Makeovers

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