Webinar Archives - Claxon Communication

Philanthropy & Toothpaste: a Free Webinar

March 17, 2017 by Erica Barnhart

Did you know that 71% of non-profit client needs go unmet? 71%. Ugh.

Meanwhile, individual giving has been stuck at ~2% of GDP since we put a man on the moon. And it looks like government funding might be withering.

To review: we’ve got huge unmet demand and not enough funding. #NotGood

What gives? There you are, doing your amazingly awesome work and yet people aren’t flocking to support it. You can’t meet demand because of lack of supply. Seems weird, doesn’t it?

Actually, it’s not that weird. Unlike toothpaste which when you run out of it, you quick-like buy some more because, ewwwwww, if you don’t.

No, philanthropy isn’t like toothpaste at all. People may notice that we have some Massive Social Problems That Seriously Need Addressing. But they don’t have to do anything about them. We’re a nice-to-think-about/do-something-about, not a must-buy-right-now-or-I’ll-creep-out-my-coworkers. That means we have to work even harder to get someone’s attention. It’s a very high bar indeed.

How can you–amazing, awesome person doing amazing, awesome work–hit that high attention-grabbing, engagement-inspiring bar?

This is exactly the question we’re going to tackle in this month’s free webinar. Because let’s get real: non-profits are being asked to do more and more with less and less. It’s not sustainable and we have to do something about it.

Will clear, concise, compelling communications solve all of the world’s problems? No. Not by a long shot. But bloated, convoluted communications aren’t helping our cause and we CAN fix that. So let’s do. Let’s get your words on a mission. Stat.

Words on a Mission: Mini-Course
March 30, 1Pm Pacific

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Raising Awareness isn’t a goal

September 27, 2016 by Erica Barnhart

Gearing up for Claxon’s webinar on October 12, I was reminded of the somewhat troubling poll results from the last webinar. I had asked what everyone’s top goal was for the year. Not surprisingly, fundraising topped the list with 60%. Nothing troubling or surprising about that.

The troubling part comes in with the Raising Awareness results. 22% said this was their top goal. (See pie chart for details.)

You might be saying, “What’s wrong with that, Erica? You have to raise awareness in order to raise money, recruit volunteers, attract amazing staff. That’s a legit goal.”

Raising awareness for the sake of it is a waste of time. Don’t get me wrong: I am all for raising awareness…so long as you are very clear on what, specifically, raising awareness is going to do for you. Think of raising awareness as a pre-cursor to other goals, i.e. you raise awareness so that you can achieve other goals.

You raise awareness so that:

You can increase year-end donations by 175%.
You can recruit 3 new absolutely awesome board members.
You can land a 5 year, $500,000 grant.

As you set out to set your goals, remember the Claxon Method:

WHAT does success look like?
WHO do you need to reach in order to be successful?
HOW are you going to reach your ideal supporters?

If you don’t set a SMART goal in response to #1, you can’t identify your target audience (#2), and then it’s a crap shoot on what messaging and mechanisms will work for #3. Crap shoots may be fun, but they aren’t strategic.

Goal-setting may not be glamorous, but it’s suuuuuuuuper important. And that’s why we’re going to talk about how to apply SMART goal-setting to your year-end fundraising on the October 12 webinar. (We’ll also talk about fun stuff like calls-to-action and which stories will be the most powerful and whatnot. Didn’t want you thinking it was going to dull. Never!)

Be sure to sign up for your spot!

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Reading Ease: 67.8, Grade Level: 6.7

Webinars, Sumall, and bobby socks

September 14, 2016 by Erica Barnhart

It’s Sumall. That magical, fleeting time when Summer transitions to Fall. Personally, I have a total crush on Sumall–it’s still light out when I wake up, but the vibe is decidedly calmer. BBQs and shorts give way to soups and sweaters.

Leaves change. Light shifts. Love it.

That shifting of light and leaves doesn’t just mean swapping out your wardrobe, however. It means it’s time to put away your hula hoop and head back to school.

Confession: I have resisted doing webinars. I like seeing people learn. Watching someone’s face light up when they “get it”. But one of the things that is extremely, very, exceptionally important to me is that everyone who is on a mission to make the world a better place has access to info to help them do their job as efficiently and effectively as possible. And that means eeking out everything the internet has to offer when it comes to on-line learning and doing. That’s why we created the Wordifier. That’s why we launched Claxon University. And that’s why I had to get over my aversion to doing webinars.

And I’m really glad I did. Because in August, we offered our very first webinar. And, well, wow. 500+ people signed up. We covered a ton of tips and tricks about putting your words on a mission. And we had a good time, despite a few vexing tech glitches. (If you missed it, you can listen here.)

We had so much fun and got so much great feedback that guess what? We’re going to offer another webinar. This one will be about…drum roll please…

The Secret(s) to Successful Year-end Appeals

October 12 from 1-2 Pacific

Like the Wordifier, and Claxon U, you’ll be able to access this webinar wherever you are. And whenever you want. Will it be more fun to join the webinar live? Well, of course, silly. You get to make comments, and ask questions, and get answers. On the spot. But we all know you’re busy, so sometimes joining live won’t be possible. No problem whatsoever. The webinar will all be recorded. Ready and waiting for you to watch whenever it works for you. (See a theme here…?)

If this one goes well, we might just add webinars to our regular docket of offerings. We have lots of ideas for webinar topics: How to Write Killer Calls-to-Action, Gratitude as an Engagement Strategy, How to Test Your Messaging with a Shoestring Budget.

I’m curious: what webinar topics would you like me to see Claxon offer? Let me know in the comments.

You’ll be seeing more from me and the team about this webinar, but if I were you (because, yeah I admit it, I’m a planner), I’d sign up and get it on your calendar right this very minute. It’ll up the odds you can join me live. #Funsies

Happy Fall!

P.S. Curious about the bobby sock reference? Sign up for the webinar and I’ll tell you what that’s all about. It has to do with one of my favorite back-to-school outfits and a secret snatched from neuroscience that you’ll be able to use to great effect in your year-end appeal. Oh the suspense!

Post Readability Stats: Reading Ease: 77.3, Grade Level: 5.2

FREE WEBINAR: Put your Words on a Mission

August 18, 2016 by Erica Barnhart

Claxon University is hosting our first-ever FREE webinar on August 24 at 1pm PST. Will you join me? I’d love that.

If you’ll be on vacation that day, don’t sweat it. Enjoy it! Sign up today, and you can listen to the recording when you’re back…refreshed, reinvigorated, and ready to get your communications in tip-top shape.

Now, what will you learn in this webinar that you might not already know?

The biggest messaging mistakes I see nonprofits make again and again. And then I’m going to tell you how to avoid and/or fix them.
How to make simple tweaks to your writing that’ll make people go, “Woah, wait. What are you doing? I want in on that!”
How to get into the minds, and hearts, of your most important audiences. Think donors and staff and board members and volunteers. (And then think about donors again because, well, they’re important.)
Etc, etc, etc.

This won’t be an “oh let me just turn this on and listen in the background” webinar. This is going to be a “oh let me have both hands free so I can take copious notes” type of thing. There will be time for Q&A, so you will also be able to get your burning questions answered on the spot.

Whether you join me live on August 24 at 1pm PST, or via recording post-vacay, I really encourage you to sign up for this webinar. It’s free. So pretty much a no-risk proposition. And you’ll learn a ton. The Claxon Team has continued to do research, and find out new things, and by August 24, we’ll be ready to share all our newfound knowledge with YOU.