The apology that Susan G. Komen for the Cure issued on Friday was the first step. The obligatory resignations are next. But if Komen is going to repair the damage done by its behavior last week, they have quite a few more steps in the process.

“What should Komen do next?” That’s the question many of you have asked me, and it was certainly the top question asked of me in my role as nonprofit marketing pundit last week.

Here’s what I think they need to do next:

Diversify the staff and board

The decision to defund Planned Parenthood ended up being extremely political — the topic itself is highly politically charged, not to mention the actual individuals involved. Even though Komen has apologized, supporters have little reason to trust that the current leadership team won’t make another political decision down the road, whether it involves Planned Parenthood or not (stem cell research, anyone?).

One way to help rebuild that trust, and to keep the promise about keeping politics out of it, is to openly and publicly diversify the board and senior staff so that politically progressive voices are represented, and supporters see those right-leaning and left-leaning people working together to find a cure. Except for a few leaks here and there, the Komen board has been conspicuously silent. Adding a well-known progressive (or two, or three) with some name recognition to the board (the real board, not all those advisory boards), would be a smart move.

Same goes for senior staff. This has largely been the Nancy Brinker Show, and I don’t think people are particularly fond of it right now. Might be time to switch up some of the voices, and maybe people will tune back in.

Listen to the substance of the backlash and “change your evil ways”

This isn’t Komen’s first brouhaha. If you look at all those social media comments (and Komen should be paying someone to read and categorize it all), you will see that was simply the last straw for a lot of people. They are tired of Komen bullying smaller charities and making every consumer product available pink (the pink handgun deal wasn’t sanctioned, apparently, but the fact that everyone believed it could be tells you all you need to know).

This ended up being about much more than just Planned Parenthood. And going back to the “old” Komen isn’t an option. So why not really learn from the substance of the backlash, and use it to create the “new” Komen — one that demonstrates that it can really listen to and learn from its supporters? That’s what good marketers do — they listen to supporters and critics alike, and bringing that knowledge back into the organization to make the services it provides even more valuable.

Learn how to use social media, especially Twitter

Whoever is managing the official @komenforthecure Twitter account doesn’t really get it. They keep doing these run-on tweets where they take a longer statement and break into a bunch of tweets that they send out all at once. If you read some of them independently, they don’t really make sense. Tweets need to stand on their own.

The majority of Komen’s tweets over the last week have been versions of the above, or @replies with corrections of what others are saying (No, we didn’t endorse the handgun. No, she doesn’t make that much.)  It’s a very old-school PR approach to Twitter, and it doesn’t really work. Get conversational, Komen! And make a clear point in 140 characters without requiring surrounding tweets to be read.

One of my biggest criticisms of Komen at the height of the controversy was their complete silence on social media for almost 24 hours (longer on Twitter), followed by official statements only. Even if they had simply posted something like, “We are listening. We hear you. We are talking internally about our next steps, and will get back to you soon” it would have been infinitely better than the nothing, followed by official-speak, that we got.

Twitter and Facebook aren’t just fun and games anymore. I think that should be pretty obvious given what happened the past week. We all need to know how to use social media in various situations, including a crisis.

What else should Komen do?

What else should Komen be doing now, especially on the marketing/communications side, to rebuild trust with supporters?

Would love to hear your comments!

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(Updates to this post can be found at the bottom.)

Yesterday afternoon, and continuing into today, I believe we are witnessing the accidental rebranding of what is surely one of America’s biggest and most well-known, and even well-loved, nonprofit brands.

Komen for the Cure, it seems, is no longer a breast cancer charity, but a pro-life breast cancer charity.

Let me stop right here and say this post is not about abortion per se, one way or the other, other than the fact that it is the single most divisive issue in American politics today. My personal beliefs are very clear and public. But how you feel about abortion is really irrelevant to this communications debacle unfolding before us.

This post is about what happens when a leading nonprofit jumps into a highly controversial area of public debate without a communications strategy, stays silent, and therefore lets others take over the public dialogue, perhaps permanently redefining the organization and its brand. Watch and learn, so you don’t make the same mistake on whatever hot button issues your organization might be wading into.

Here’s what happened yesterday afternoon:

The AP reported that Komen for the Cure has decided to halt grants to Planned Parenthood that were used for breast cancer screening for low-income women. According to the reports, this decision was made in December and communicated to Planned Parenthood, which urged Komen to reconsider. Komen, citing a new policy that prevents grants to organizations under investigation, said because Rep. Cliff Stearns, R-FL, is investigating whether government money was improperly spent on abortions, the  decision to pull the funding was final.

The AP story broke yesterday, and within hours, Planned Parenthood sent a fundraising email out to its network, asking supporters to replace the money that Komen had pulled for breast cancer screenings for low-income women.

Within minutes, both Facebook and Twitter were swamped with pro-Planned Parenthood, anti-Komen comments.  At one point last night, I did a quick count and found the ratio of anti-Komen’s decision to pro-Komen’s decision to be about 80 to 1 on Twitter.

Some typical anti-Komen tweets:

Some typical pro-Komen tweets:

Adding another twist to the story, it seems that Karen Handel, Komen’s senior vice president for public policy, who was hired in April 2011, is a pro-life advocate who, when running for the Republican nomination for governor in Georgia, made her opposition to Planned Parenthood quite clear.

Now let’s look at Komen’s response . . .  which is no response (until about 90 minutes ago). As one person on Twitter put it, just crickets.

Komen didn’t post on its Twitter or Facebook feeds last night, or first thing this morning. The only Komen action on their Facebook page had been to delete anti-Komen comments, so the ratio of negative to positive looks more like 10 – 1 instead of the 80 – 1 (and even higher this morning) on Twitter.

Komen’s most recent tweet was about prostate cancer in a mummy.

On Facebook, the most recent update was about a new sponsor, Energizer.

Take a quick look at the wall posts on Energizer’s page, and I suspect Komen has one unhappy sponsor right now (how unfortunate for Energizer to be the last update on the Komen page — it would have happened to any company in that position when the news broke):

Then around 10 am Eastern today, Komen finally updated its Facebook page. As of this moment (11:30 am ET), still no update on Twitter:

So What the Heck is Going on Here?

Let’s give Komen the benefit of the doubt and assume that they made this decision to stop funding Planned Parenthood very thoughtfully and deliberately. In that case, they would surely have realized that the likelihood of the story going public was high. They may not have counted on Planned Parenthood being so aggressive in turning the Komen decision into a fundraising campaign, but even without that, it’s still a big news story because of how high-profile Planned Parenthood funding of any kind is right now. And that’s all about abortion, which is about as divisive an issue as you can get in American politics right now.

The “Try to Rise Above It and Pretend This Decision Isn’t about the Most Divisive Social Issue in America” Strategy

Yet it appears that Komen wants to desperately pretend that this decision is being made in some completely different context. By not responding at all to the overwhelming negativity being thrown their way, and continuing to pretend that this has nothing to do with a red-hot social issue, they are alienating a big part of their constituency.

It seems like they are hoping this will just blow over. It won’t. This isn’t Komen’s first branding debacle: See the Kentucky Fried Chicken incident and suing smaller charities for using “for the cure” but I’d say it’s the biggest one yet.

What Should Komen Do Next?

Earlier this month, I urged nonprofits to decide how they are different, to embrace that, and forget the rest. Previously Komen stood out as a tremendous organizer and mobilizer of women across the political spectrum who would raise money like crazy for them. They kept it nice and simple, and non-controversial. Wear that pink ribbon and raise money to fight breast cancer.   The abortion debate was nowhere in sight. It was all about the breasts, and not about the uterus. And I think that’s one thing that made them different — Komen was an organization that dealt with women’s health issues without getting caught up in the abortion debate, like most women’s organizations end up doing.

No more. They took a deep dive into the hot swirling waters head first (but apparently eyes shut). No matter what they do from here on out, they will be forced to pick sides, and that’s just awful for the Komen brand.

If they stick by their decision, they will endear themselves to pro-life women, and lose the pro-choice. If they give in to the pressure and petitions, they will win back the pro-choice women, but anger the pro-life. It’s a no-win situation that could have been avoided had they developed a communications strategy on this decision at the start. Sure, they would have still angered many of their supporters, but I believe they could have avoided this huge rift had they communicated upfront, and honestly, about the decision. They should have released it, instead of letting Planned Parenthood own the messaging.

The Branding Challenge, Part II

Now that they are full on into the abortion debate, Komen (I think) must now come out and say whether they think abortion causes breast cancer. If you look through the comment stream now, that particular question is what pro-life and pro-choice commenters are arguing with each other about. And as an organization with a mission to prevent breast cancer, I think it’s reasonable for supporters to expect Komen to make a statement about various theories on what causes it, including this one.

Let’s see how they handle that question, and whether they use it as a second chance to mend their brand, or if they fall deeper into the non-communicative abyss.

Can Komen Heal the Rift?

Regardless of how you feel about abortion, what do you think Komen could do to bring pro-choice and pro-life women back together to fight breast cancer hand in hand?

Or do you think this will all blow over with little long-term affect on Komen?

Share your ideas, and your thoughts on these communications questions in the comments.

UPDATE at 5:30 pm Eastern, 2/1/2012:

I’m quoted in this Politico story on the Komen mess.  As the day went on, and Komen continued to say nothing, I got even more annoyed with how awful they are handling all this. They still haven’t tweeted anything (and that stupid mummy prostate tweet is what people see when they check their profile). So my criticism got a bit harsher . . .   ~Kivi

UPDATE at 6:30 pm Eastern, 2/1/2012

Check out this analysis of the social media commentary by PoliPulse:

UPDATE at 9:00 am Eastern, 2/2/2012

Last night around 10 pm, after declining interviews with network news and major newspapers, Komen finally started tweeting and released this video response:

Contrast this response to what Planned Parenthood’s Cecile Richards did: interviews with all the major networks and this MSNBC interview:

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

This morning, Beth Kanter published a post including a description of my process for creating this post (if you are interested in how content gets developed and the concept of newsjacking).

UPDATE at 5:30 pm Eastern, 2/2/2012

Nancy Brinker, founder of Komen, is interviewed by Andrea Mitchell.  Do you think it helped or hurt?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

UPDATE at 8:00 am Eastern, 2/3/12

Komen board member speaks to the New York Times in Outcry Grows Fiercer After Funding Cut by Cancer Group. He says this really was specifically about Planned Parenthood and not overall “grant excellence” as Brinker has claimed. The article states, “John D. Raffaelli said Komen had become increasingly worried that an investigation of Planned Parenthood by Representative Cliff Stearns, Republican of Florida, would damage Komen’s credibility with donors.”

UPDATE at 1:23 pm Eastern, 2/3/12

Komen releases an apology and states they have amended their policy that the investigation must be “criminal and conclusive in nature and not political.”

Planned Parenthood’s response to the policy reversal.

Do you think this changes anything or is the damage done to the Komen brand irreversible?

UPDATE at 9:15 pm Eastern, 2/6/2012

THANK YOU everyone for such a lively conversation in the comments! But since the majority of new comments on this post are about religious arguments instead of nonprofit communications and management, I am closing comments. I will blog more about the Komen communications issues later this week and invite you to comment on that post.

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Hating statistics and other cold hard facts, and loving stories instead, is very popular in our field right now. I’m mostly on that bandwagon too.

But what if you could use a good statistic to help tell your story?

I saw this Austim Speaks PSA with Toni Braxton on TV recently, and it caught my attention, even before I realized it was for a nonprofit.

The Toni Braxton ad is from 2009. Some newer versions feature NASCAR driver Jamie McMurray and fashion designer Tommy Hilfiger and they follow the same basic “the odds of . . .” script. While there is some criticism of the ads in the autism community, I think they do a good job of conveying how common autism is.

The basic stat in all of the ads is that the odds of having a child diagnosed with autism are 1 in 110.  In other words, this is really pretty common. But just saying, “Hey, autism is common, so you better learn about it” isn’t very compelling.

To drive home how common it is, the ads juxtapose the “1 in 110″  against much rarer events (the chance of being discovered, or winning a NASCAR race) as they tell a person’s life story. The life story and the odds of other events within that story are what put the autism statistic in a context that is now much more interesting and memorable. Of course, the star power of those featured in ads helps too, because that’s what really sucks us into the commercial — seeing how the life story of these people we already know is unfolding, and then landing on that much more common event of having a child with autism.

Now that we understand how common it is, Austim Speaks hopes we will want to learn about the early signs of autism, which is the call to action of each video.

Where have you seen statistics and other cold hard facts work in nonprofit marketing?

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Sometimes the work you do is newsworthy on its own and it’s worth the time to pitch your story to reporters.

But there’s also another way to get your name in the news: Newsjacking.

David Meerman Scott has published a fast read all about the process in Newsjacking: How to Inject your Ideas into a Breaking News Story and Generate Tons of Media Coverage (Amazon link).

It’s all about what he calls owning the second paragraph. It works like this: a news story breaks. Journalists are under pressure to update that story for the next edition or broadcast. So while the core of the story (the first paragraph) doesn’t change all that much, the second paragraph does, with additional details or insights or related quotes. That’s your chance to swoop in with something a reporter can use that’s related — but not necessarily essential — to the main story to freshen it up. Then your part of the story gets repeated as other media outlets pick up the story.

In the book, Scott shares an example of newsjacking by the London Fire Brigade that’s a perfect illustration for nonprofits.

Remember when Richard Branson’s private Necker Island retreat went up in flames, and actress Kate Winslet rescued Branson’s 90-year-old mother from the fire?

Here’s how Scott describes the newsjacking:

Within hours of the initial reports on the fire and Winslet’s role in the rescue, the London Fire Brigade offered Winslet the chance to train with firefighters at its training center. The offer was made in a story written by the LFB and posted on its website:

“The Brigade, which has over 300 women firefighters, is inviting Kate to learn how crews deal with fires and also how people can prevent fires from happening in the first place. On the proposed visit, Kate would visit the Brigade’s training centre, meet trainees and experience the role of a modern day firefighter. This would include operational duties such as trying out firefighter breathing apparatus and climbing a ladder pitched against a tower block. She will also be made aware of the community safety activities that firefighting staff regularly carry out.”

The London Fire Brigade newsjacked an incendiary event fueled by A-list celebrity heroism.

Your nonprofit can do the same thing! Think about it . . . celebrities do both amazing and ridiculous things all the time. We also know that at some point in the coming months, there will be a natural disaster of some sort and a presidential candidate will say something really stupid. It’s also likely that a business or another nonprofit (either a sister organization, someone you consider competition, a national counterpart to your local group, etc. ) will go through some sort of crisis or other kind of newsmaking change. These occasions happen over and over; we just don’t know precisely when.

But when something like that does happen, could you follow the London Fire Brigade’s example and offer a training, or a tour, or volunteer hours, or an honorary seat on your board of directors in response? Could that newsworthy event have been prevented if they had downloaded your handbook, or taken your course, or heeded the advice you offer, or lived their lives like your clients do? Remember, these offers don’t necessarily have to be sincere . . . in many cases, humorous or satirical responses can work well too.

To make this work for you, you have to be fast. To practice being nimble, I suggest you make “newsjacking practice” a regular part of your staff meetings. Look at the recent headlines and brainstorm how you could have newsjacked. Then when you get good at that, go for it for real! Here’s the process as outlined by Scott.

Do you have examples of how you’ve newsjacked? I would love to hear them!

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Nancy Schwartz asked, “What are your dreams for nonprofits?”

My dream for your nonprofit is that you decide what you are really all about — what makes you different — and that you be that organization, and forget the rest.

Consider this excerpt from Peter Bregman’s  book, 18 Minutes: Find Your Focus, Master Distraction, and Get the Right Things Done, which I blogged about earlier this week. The inline editing is mine:

“In any highly competitive field—and these days every field is highly competitive—being different is the only way to win. Nobody wants to sell a commodity, and nobody wants to be a commodity. Yet even though we all know that, most of us spend a tremendous amount of effort trying not to be different.

We model ourselves and our businesses nonprofits after other successful people and businesses nonprofits spending considerable money and energy discovering and replicating best practices, looking for that one recipe for success. Here’s the thing: If you look like other people, and if your business nonprofit looks like other businesses nonprofits, then all you’ve done is increase your pool of competition.

Face it: You’re different. And the sooner you appreciate it, the sooner you embrace and assert it, the more successful you’ll be. The same goes for your business nonprofit.”

Yes, I share a lot of “better” practices with you at Nonprofit Marketing Guide. But I don’t do that so you can try to make your nonprofit look like someone else’s. I do that to get you going in the right direction when you are totally directionless, and when you do know where you are going, to inspire you to think more creatively about what you do along that path.

But everything you learn here is ultimately useless if your organization isn’t any different from those around you.

Let me give you two examples of nonprofits with fairly plain Jane missions that could have done things the same old way. But they choose to be different, to own those differences, and to be wildly successful as a result of being different.

What’s Different about Charity: Water

Wanting poor people to have access to clean water isn’t new or different. Organizations have been working on it forever. But what’s different about Charity: Water is how they have focused on connecting donations to a specific well, showing that well under construction, and showing the actual human beings who benefit from that well.

Here’s what founder Scott Harrison advises other nonprofits to do:

“Simplicity is key. Be able to tell your story simply. I can’t tell you how many nonprofits I meet and after three minutes talking to them, I still have no idea what they do. Show. Don’t tell. And do it visually. Use the Web to tell people where their money has gone and let them see what it has done.”

Charity: Water uses the technology available today to broadcast real images and stories, often in real-time, creating a direct connection between supporters and the people around the world drilling the wells and drinking from them. It’s the showing that is so different. Like Scott said, it’s so simple, and yet so brilliant, because no one else did it this way before.  It’s different, and that’s why they are raising a ton of new money for what’s really an old cause.

What’s Different about PETA

Lots of organizations want to protect animals, and are passionate about it. Nothing particularly new or different about that. But everyone knows PETA, right? You may love them, you may hate them, but when you say “animal rights activists,”  most people think PETA.

How did they do that? By being different, and specifically by using sex and celebrity like no other nonprofit I can think of in order to make headlines, gaining millions of dollars worth of publicity.

Sure, they get complaints about nudity. But they explain clearly and convincingly why it works for them, and why controversial tactics are part of who they are. They know what makes them different, they own it like no one else, and they put it to work. They do mainstream “family friendly” stuff too, but they don’t shy away from what makes them different, even if it bothers some people.

Tactical Decisions Can Help You Find Your Voice

Not ready to deal with your overall “brand” or “personality” as an organization? Sometimes it’s easier to let your tactical decisions get you there. Charity: Water wanted to use online tools to show people the impact they have, and the personality of the organization grew from there. Same thing with PETA. It didn’t start with naked celebrities; it started with the need to make headlines in major newspapers.

Be willing to experiment and play with your own communications tactics and you might find yourself stumbling upon what really makes you special.

How Are You Different?

What’s different about your nonprofit? How do you stand out? Share your thoughts here, and make my dream come true!

P.S. Here’s what’s coming up next in the Webinar Series . . .

Jan 26: Nonprofit Writing Stinks! How to Bring Your Writing Back to Life

Feb 8: Help! My Logo Sucks! (featuring Julia Reich)

Feb 16: Helping Your Staff and Board Become Great Nonprofit Marketers

Feb 23: Building Your Credibility as an Expert

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Allison Monnell

This guest post by Allison Monnell demonstrates not only the power of storytelling in nonprofit communications, but just how beneficial it can be to your nonprofit when you integrate a culture of story sharing into your everyday work, as the Chemung ARC has done with its Stringer Success Stories. Allison shared her story with me when I presented my storytelling workshop for the AFP Finger Lakes Chapter, and she graciously agreed to share it with you.

~Kivi

Guest Post by Allison Monnell, Community Relations Director, Chemung ARC

Working in the human service industry avails itself naturally of great stories of milestones gained, accomplishments achieved and goals met. But how does one capture those numerous success stories to share with one’s constituents, whether they are fellow employees or the larger community?

I work for an agency that supports people with developmental disabilities in the Finger Lakes region of New York. Our challenge was capturing good stories of the people we support and figuring out how to best share them. With over 700 people supported by the agency and a staff of over 400 across 30 different locations, we had to be methodical in our approach. Because the agency distributes an internal e-newsletter to our staff each week, and since this newsletter is the primary source of news and communiqués throughout our agency, we thought this the best vehicle to share our stories.

We set about assigning satellite reporters at each of our locations that we call “stringers” from the old newspaper term for a freelance reporter who was paid by the column inch, which was measured by string and turned into the publisher at the end of each month. We chose front line staff that is privy to the personal triumphs of the people they support each day. We set upon a rotation schedule and asked each stringer to commit to a year by submitting at least two stories per year. We stressed that creative writing skills were not necessary; we just wanted the nuts and bolts: Who, What, Where, When, How & Why. Editing was left to me, and of course, pictures were encouraged.

The idea was that if a story was compelling enough, we would share it with the media. As an agency that is fully enmeshed in providing opportunities for successes and being an excellent community partner, this process fell in line with our mission.

The great payoff is when those stories go beyond the halls of our agency and the greater public is able to share in the benefits we have the privilege of witnessing daily. That happened one Christmas season when we shared the story of Jerry, a man who we support that volunteers at the main library in Elmira, with our local media.

Reporter Jim Pfeiffer (formerly with the Star-Gazette, Elmira, NY), an avid library-goer himself, showed up at Steele Memorial Library to interview Jerry.  Jerry dutifully answered Jim’s questions about his background, his work and his love of volunteering at the library. Unbeknownst to Jerry and Jim, another patron who was in the library during the interview, Dr. Ralph Moore, watched the interaction and was touched by what he saw. How surprised we were to learn that Dr. Moore would be so moved to submit an Op-Ed piece to the Star-Gazette about his observation of Jim and Jerry that was featured a week later on Christmas Day.

So our little story about Jerry’s love of volunteering led to a feature article in the Star-Gazette AND an Op-Ed piece. It was reaffirming to see that our method of sharing “success stories” worked! It was like the rolling stone gathering moss. We were thrilled at our agency, thrilled for Jerry, thrilled for those that support Jerry, and thrilled that our idea of sharing human interest stories could be impactful. This was recognition enough, but almost a year later the recognition went even further.

Our state association, NYSARC, Inc., holds an annual competition, the Media Awards, that recognizes significant contributions and an ongoing commitment through documented journalism toward furthering the public’s awareness of developmental disabilities. I nominated Jim’s article for best human interest story and Dr. Moore’s column for best editorial. Lo and behold, Jim’s story won third place, and Dr. Moore’s piece took first place! Icing on the cake.

For those of you struggling with ways to capture stories, our Stringer Success Story program has been successfully reporting out stories each week for over five years. We count it as one of our agency success strategies! Please feel free to contact me to learn more about how to start your own “Stringer” program.

Allison Monnell lives in the beautiful Finger Lakes region of New York state where she works as a community relations director for Chemung ARC, a not-for-profit agency that supports people with developmental disabilities. Additionally, Allison owns and operates Alli’s Studio, a full-service digital design firm specializing in inspired and creative custom design. When time permits, she enjoys interior design, decorative painting and visiting the gorgeous gorges that grace the Finger Lakes.

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I’m a regular watcher of the NBC Nightly News with Brian Williams (usually recorded – it’s part of my nightly wind-down routine), and one of my favorite segments is Making a Difference. For the last few years, the Nightly News has regularly run segments on do-gooders. Because these clips are so popular, NBC recently created a special section on its website to feature these stories at makingadifference.msnbc.com.

With very few exceptions, nonprofits are involved in these stories, but barely mentioned in them. Instead, the stories are primarily about individuals working for or with nonprofits, most of them very small. I strongly suggest that you watch several of the video clips. You’ll notice that the nonprofit is typically mentioned only once, if at all, by name. The stories are told from the individual’s perspective. After each segment airs, however, Williams usually refers people to makingadifference.msnbc.com for more information on how to help and that’s where you’ll usually see a link to a nonprofit’s website.

And guess what? It works! It’s not unusual for the charities that are featured to be swamped with inquiries and donations, and for their websites to crash, right after a broadcast, even though the nonprofit organization barely appeared in the story. While sometimes it really is about one individual helping another, there’s almost always a nonprofit behind the scenes. But what’s most important to telling a good story is people helping people, and making things that often seem unlikely, if not downright impossible, happen. That’s compelling, dramatic storytelling about nonprofit causes, and NBC gives you examples of how to do it at least once or twice a week.

Here’s a clip from New Year’s Eve that details just some of the responses from NBC viewers to these reports.

You can nominate someone to be featured in one of the segments. Before you do, watch at least 10 of the videos and storyboard the segment you have in mind, complete with the reporter’s script, before you fill out the form. That will get you away from the too-much background/boring mission statement text you might be tempted to put there. Go through the exercise of visualizing the segment about one person associated with your nonprofit, and then use that to help you describe it in the form.

If NBC does call you, your next call should be to your IT and web development people! Make sure your website can withstand all the views and clicks that will come your way.

Want More Storytelling Help?

We’ll be doing several storytelling webinars in March, including a special e-clinic for 12 nonprofits. Get on the Early Bird list for the Storytelling E-Clinic to be notified first when registration opens.

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Our September E-Clinic is all about getting your nonprofit and good cause more media exposure, and registration is now open!

During this month-long e-clinic, you’ll get the training and coaching you need to learn how to get the media interested in your organization and your cause today. You’ll get the basic media training that all nonprofit communicators should have, but just as importantly, you’ll get up-to-the-minute takes on what nonprofits need to be doing right now to get their stories published and produced by the media at both the local and national levels.

The “Get More Media Attention for Your Cause” E-Clinic includes three training sessions, two coaching Q & A calls, and two e-guide downloads:

Webinars on

• How to Be an Effective Spokesperson for Your Nonprofit
• Getting the Media to Love You and Your Good Cause
• How to Be Seen as the Go-to Expert in Your Field

Coaching Q & A Calls on

• Understanding What the National Press Corps Needs
• Pitching Your Ideas

E-Guide Downloads on

• The Pizza Party Quick-Start Media Plan
• 50 Ideas to Get Media Attention for Your Nonprofit

We are limiting this e-clinic to 40 participants, so get the details and register today!

P.S. The first live session is on Wednesday, September 8, but we are recording all of the sessions, so don’t worry if you can’t attend some of them live. You’ll get access to the recordings within 48 hours of the live event.

Get all of our webinars and e-books for one price with the All-Access Pass! Get a full year for $465, or 90 days for $145.

This afternoon, I’m presenting the first webinar in a three-part series for NTEN on Turning Your Nonprofit into a Self-Made Media Mogul.

Everyone, including your nonprofit, can be a self-made media mogul, thanks to affordable email, web hosting, and social media. But to become a media mogul, your nonprofit needs to look at marketing and communications in entirely new ways, where everyone on staff is a messenger (not just the communications director), everyone knows how to use the tools (not just the techies), and everyone works together to create a community of supporters around your good cause.

Here’s what we are covering . . .

August 10: Work for a Nonprofit? Then You Are a Nonprofit Marketer!

If you work at a nonprofit and you talk about your work with your friends and family, you are marketing that nonprofit. We’ll help accidental, reluctant, and marketing-phobic nonprofit staff understand their power and influence as informal marketers. We’ll also help staff tasked with marketing and communications understand how to better help their co-workers be happy and productive members of the marketing team.

August 17: Taming Your Communications Calendar

Media moguls produce lots of content in lots of places and talk about it back and forth with their supporters. It’s a lot to create and to manage, and you can sometime feel like you are being buried alive in email replies, Google Alerts, and tweets. Get a grip on it with Kivi’s “Cakes to Cupcakes” approach where you save time by reusing the content you create in multiple places and incorporating the conversations you have with your fans into new content.

August 24: Integrating Your Online and Offline Marketing into One Plan That Works

When you integrate your online and offline communications — and take the multi-channel marketing approach — you get better results from your supporters. We’ll look at ways to use email to increase direct mail giving, and to use direct mail to increase online giving. We’ll also look at how social media can be used to reinforce messaging through other online and offline channels. We’ll also identify ways to make your communications more consistent in print and online, while also selecting the best types of messages for each channel.

Registration is a bargain . . . only $75 for NTEN members and $150 for everyone else. But NTEN is extending the member rate to fans of Nonprofit Marketing Guide. Here’s how to get the three webinars for just $75:

• If you’re new to NTEN, you’ll have to set up a free and easy account! (Or login to your NTEN account.)
• Go to Turning Your Nonprofit into a Self-Made Media Mogul
• Select ‘Kivi’ in the “How did you hear?” field when registering to receive the NTEN member rate of $75.

Don’t worry if you can’t make all of the sessions live — the recordings are included in the package too, as is a copy of my book.

Get all of our webinars and e-books for one price with the All-Access Pass! Get a full year for $465, or 90 days for $145.

Jeff Brooks at Future Fundraising Now is hosting the next Nonprofit Blog Carnival with an April Fool’s theme, so I decided to share with you those times during my week when I am most likely to think, “This is a joke, right?”

This happens several times a week, as I review the email that comes from my blog’s contact form. Here are the three most frequent requests that make me think, “Seriously? You’ve got to be kidding,” along with some tips on getting a more positive response from the bloggers you may be approaching.

1. Can we do a link exchange?

Most of the requests I get are from businesses whose products and services have very little to do with the content of this blog. As if I would actually include a link to your online bingo parlor or travel agency on my nonprofit communications blog.

Sometimes the connection is clearer, but the request comes from someone I don’t know on behalf of a site I don’t recognize. It’s very unlikely that I would link to a site like that. After all, what’s in it for my readers and for me? How would my readers benefit from knowing about this website? How would having a link on their site to mine help me (I already have pretty good Google juice, so random links from unrelated sites don’t interest me).

Lesson: Don’t just ask for the link. Instead, explain all the goodness that my readers would find on your site. Tell me about your existing traffic. Invite me to explore so that I naturally want to link to you, and would even think about asking you for the link.

2. Will you write about me, print this press release, or pass this on to your readers?

I never reprint press releases verbatim. I rarely use them at all. With very few exceptions, I only write about products or services that I have personal experience with or that have been recommended by other people I trust.

This is not a “news” blog. It’s what I call a “tips and toolkit” blog. Therefore, if you want me to talk about your product or service, you are much more likely to get my attention if you offer yourself as an expert for a Q &A interview on a topic I’m likely to cover.  Otherwise, don’t bother pitching your product to me unless (1) you have testimonials from lots of nonprofits along with it or (2) you can name-drop people I already trust as fans of your stuff.

Many people use a blanket pitch and then customize it by adding in my first name and the name of my blog. Unfortunately, people often work too quickly and forget to switch out the names in one place or another. As a result, I often get emails addressed to someone else, or addressed to me, but referencing a blog I don’t write.

Lesson: Understand what kind of blog you are pitching. Do you see the blogger frequently doing what you are asking them to do? If not, you need to customize your pitch if you really want to get that person’s attention so that it makes sense for the kind of blog they write. Double-check all customizations of names and blog titles.

3. Will you do my job for me?

OK, it’s not usually worded that bluntly. And I do encourage readers to send in questions, so I may be asking for some of this. I’m very happy to get questions that can be answered in a quick email or in a few paragraphs in a blog post. But don’t ask me to do more than that for free.

All too often, I get email from people who are asking for hours and hours of free consulting advice. Don’t ask me to develop a marketing plan for your fundraising event. Don’t ask me what foundations you should send your grant applications to. Don’t ask me to review your new product sales pages and tell you if they speak to nonprofits.  If I offer to do the work for you for a fee, don’t give me a sob story about how you are a poor nonprofit (nearly everyone reading this blog is associated with a nonprofit so claiming poverty doesn’t make you stand out for special attention).

Lesson: Be realistic in what you are asking for. Make the connection both easy and worthwhile for both of us. Introduce yourself and develop a rapport before you start asking for favors.

If you write a blog, what tips do you have for people who pitch you? If you pitch bloggers, what works for you? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

P.S. Here are our next three webinars:

April 28: Creating a Social Media Policy for Your Nonprofit

May 6: In Search of Your Little Black Dresses: Find the Stories That Will Raise the Most Money for Your Nonprofit

May 11: Turn Your Fundraising Event into the Best Party in Town

Get all of our webinars and e-books for one price with the All-Access Pass! Get a full year for $465, or 90 days for $145.