Our Next Several Webinars and Where to Meet in Person

I just realized I hadn’t shared our webinar line-up with you recently, so here’s what’s coming up in the next few weeks:

March 18: On-the-Spot E-Newsletter Makeovers: Get Your E-Newsletter into Better Shape

March 23: Getting Your Nonprofit Started with Social Media

March 30: Q &A Conference Call: Personality and Positioning with “Brandraising” Author Sarah Durham. This is for our Pass *Plus* Members Only.

April 14: Forget the General Public! How to Define, Research and Reach Your Target Audience

April 20: Switching from a Print Newsletter to an Email Newsletter

I will also be doing a free webinar (charitable donation requested, but not demanded) in early April on beating nonprofit writer’s block. More on that in the next few days.

Will You Be Attending NTC?

I’ll be attending the Nonprofit Technology Conference in Atlanta, April 8-10. Along with Nancy Schwartz and Big Ducks Sarah Durham and Farra Trompeter, I’ll be hosting a meet-and-greet there for nonprofit marketing and fundraising people on Thursday, April 8 at 1:30 p.m. If you read this blog and will be there, please introduce yourself!

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Communications Directors: Want Your Own Coaching Program?

This week I started an intensive month-long coaching program for freelance writers who want to serve nonprofit clients. I limited the program to just 10 freelance writers, because I wanted the whole group to be able to interact and for me to be able to answer questions directly and fully.

Several communications directors at small nonprofits, when learning of this program, said

“Hey, Kivi, what about us? Where’s our intensive coaching program on how to be better writers for our organizations?”

That’s a great question!

I’d be happy to create a program like that for you, but I need to know exactly what YOU want out of it. Help me get the mix right.

Here is what Susan, one of those communications directors, said she’d like to see in a program like this:

Communication Strategy: how best to prioritize all elements of our communications strategy, including marketing presence, media relations, and social media.

Writing: how to most effectively communicate our messages to our target audience in a compelling, concise and consistent manner.

Social Media: determine the most effective strategy to leverage social media to increase visibility and reach (Facebook Fan, Twitter, LinkedIn, others?)

Media Relations: how to develop relationships with key media contacts and provide relevant information on a timely basis; how to balance outreach to traditional print/broadcast media with outreach to the online influencer community.

So Susan is looking for a good mix of the strategic and the tactical. How about you?

Creating a tight peer network for the participants would be one of my goals for the program, which I think means that I should define some of the characteristics of the people who will be allowed to participate in any given “class.”  Who would you want to be in a class like this with? Is 10 people the right size? What do think about these limits (or strong suggestions)?

• Nonprofits of a certain size (determined by overall budget or communications budget or by number of staff dedicated to communications)
• Years of experience as a communications director
• Current state of marketing program (e.g. just getting into email marketing or social media, versus more mature online programs)

Some people have also talked about preferring to network with people who do the same general types of work they do, e.g. groups that provide direct social or health services to people, versus groups that are more education or research oriented. Does that matter to you?

Finally, how many weeks would you want to commit to something like this? The freelancer program I’m doing is four weeks, with a live webinar once a week, and new content posted every business day for consumption and discussion. Participants must complete at least one challenge assignment per week (they can pick from three a week). We also have a private email discussion list.

Please let me know what you think on any or all of these questions by leaving a comment or emailing me directly at kivi@ecoscribe.com. If you are getting this blog post via email, you can reply to that email as well. Same goes if you are reading on Facebook.

More Goodies: Get Kivi's Nonprofit Marketing Tips E-Newsletter (2-3 times per month)

New Way to Get My Take on Your Work in 2010

I’ve been searching for a new way to give those of you who are interested in my take on your work — in other words, you want some advice, a quick review of something you are working on, or a brainstorming partner — a quick and affordable way to get it. I’ve also heard from many of you who regularly attend my webinars that you’d like to be able to take the next step and talk with me about how to use what you’ve learned in your specific situations.

Here’s what I’ve come up with: The Pass *Plus*

This is like our regular All-Access Pass to the weekly webinar series, but with two important extras. In addition to getting access to all of the live and recorded training, you also get personal coaching in two ways:

1) Access to a monthly coaching call with me and a guest expert. In January, it’s our media relations expert Claire Meyerhoff. Branding and messaging expert Nancy Schwartz will be joining us in 2010 as well. These calls will be much smaller and more informal than our usual trainings, so everyone who wants to will have a chance to talk and get questions answered.

2) Access to my office hours schedule. Each week, I’ll open up a few hours on my schedule for Pass *Plus* Office Hours. The times will vary week to week. You’ll be able to sign up online for 15- or 30-minute appointments, which can be either conference calls or GoToMeetings. I’m not limiting the number of appointments you can make at this time . . . we’ll see how it goes and adjust as needed.

The Pass *Plus* is on sale now through December 31 for just $155 for 90 days or $499 for the whole year. Those prices will go up on January 1 to $220 and $705 respectively. Get your Pass *Plus* today and you’ll save a bunch.

If you are just interested in the training, it’s still a good idea to get your All-Access Pass now. The current 2009 prices of $97 for 90 days and $330 for one year will also be going up to $145 and $465 on January 1.

P.S. Here’s what’s coming up next on the training schedule . . .

January 7 Teleconference: Trends for 2010 and Your Marketing Plan for the New Year

January 12 Teleconference: Nonprofit Marketing: Doing It Yourself Without Doing Yourself In

January 21 Webinar: How to Write a 4-Page Nonprofit Annual Report – A Crash Course Webinar

January 27 Webinar: Integrating Your Website, Email Newsletter, and Social Media Sites

More Goodies: Get Kivi's Nonprofit Marketing Tips E-Newsletter (2-3 times per month)

Webinar Topics for 2010? Tell Me and Win a Pass

I’m planning out the schedule for our webinar series in early 2010 and need your brilliant perspective  - really. You know what you need better than I do!  What belongs on the schedule, and what doesn’t?

Take this quick survey to rate the topics we are already considering, and to tell us what’s missing. The top voter getters will definitely get on the schedule before March.

When you complete the survey, you can enter a drawing for three All-Access Passes. These passes let you attend every webinar we host for 12 weeks, and also get you access to our archive of recordings and more.

You decide what training you need and want most; I’ll do my best to deliver. Let me know what you think now.

P.S. Don’t miss our next two webinars:

Thursday, November 12: Getting Media Attention for Your Good Cause

Wednesday, November 18: Quickie Annual Reports: Simple Ways to Share Results with Supporters

More Goodies: Get Kivi's Nonprofit Marketing Tips E-Newsletter (2-3 times per month)

5 Spots Left in Online Fundraising Bootcamp E-Clinic Weds.

There are five spots left in this Wednesday’s Online Fundraising Bootcamp – a special e-clinic limited to just 20 nonprofits. Want to join us?

End-of-year fundraising season is upon us. Are you ready to raise as much as you can online? If not, don’t worry. That’s what the Online Fundraising Bootcamp E-Clinic is for.

During this three-hour e-clinic (we’ll take two short breaks), you’ll learn about the must-knows and must-dos of the three elements of successful online fundraising today:

(1) A website with a great home page and a great “Donate Now” page.We’ll look at what you need on both your home page and your Donate page to inspire donors to give — and what you need to leave off. We’ll also discuss fundraising campaign landing pages. For those of you who don’t currently accept online donations or who are unhappy with a current provider, we’ll quickly review your options.

(2) A targeted email marketing program. A robust and healthy email list is directly tied to online fundraising success. We’ll review what goes in a good fundraising email message — and what goes in all of the other email messages you should be sending in between the times you ask for money. We’ll also review appropriate ways to say Thank You for an online gift.

(3) A social media presence to help spread the message. While email is essential to online fundraising, social media can also significantly boost your results, while adding new people to your circle of friendly supporters. We’ll look at how you can use social media such as blogging, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, to support your fundraising campaigns.

Registration is $75 — a great investment in your online fundraising program. Learn more and register here.

More Goodies: Get Kivi's Nonprofit Marketing Tips E-Newsletter (2-3 times per month)

Which is More Powerful in Messaging: Emotions or Facts?

If you ask veterans of hard-fought political campaigns which matters most, what a person feels or what a person thinks about your candidate, without exception, they will tell you that heart overrules head in the voting booth. The same goes for the way we make purchasing decisions, the way people vote on juries, and  whether we support charitable causes.

Several advertising studies show the same thing. As described in Brand Immortality: How Brands Can Live Long and Prosper by Hamish Pringle and Peter Field, the UK-based Institute of Practitioners in Advertising analyzed 1,400 case studies of successful advertising. They compared the profitability boost of ads that appealed primarily to emotions versus those that relied on rational information, like statistics.  Ad campaigns with purely emotional content outperformed the rational only content by two-to-one. Ads that were purely emotional also performed better than ads with mixed emotional and rational content, though by a much smaller margin.

These results affirm what Dr. Robert Heath of the University of Bath’s School of Management found in 2006.  He found that U.S. and U.K. television advertisements with high levels of emotional content made the advertising successful, not the message itself. The emotional ads enhanced how people felt about brands being advertised. Ads with low levels of emotion had no effect, even when they were factual and informative.

So why do so many nonprofits still insist on a “just the fact, ma’am” approach to nonprofit marketing?

On Tuesday, September 29th, I’m teaching a writing workshop via webinar where we’ll look at ways to add more emotion into everyday nonprofit marketing and fundraising text to make it more effective with your supporters. We’ll also look at using both negative and positive emotions and discuss the differences in those approaches, while also exploring the different emotional buttons that successful fundraisers and volunteer recruiters most often push.

This is brand new webinar, so I hope you’ll join us on Tuesday! As always, registration is $35 a la carte, or it’s included in your All-Access Pass.

P.S. Check out the Neuromarketing Blog for more on “where brain science and marketing meet.”

More Goodies: Get Kivi's Nonprofit Marketing Tips E-Newsletter (2-3 times per month)

September Webinars: Registration Now Open

Registration is now open for all of our September webinars at Nonprofit Marketing Guide.

As always, a la carte registration is $35, which includes everyone in your office who can fit around one computer and two weeks of access to the recording, in case you can’t make the live event. Or you can attend all of these webinars and any others we do in the next 12 weeks when you purchase an All-Access Pass for $97.

	September 10: Positioning Your Nonprofit as an Expert Source: Getting the Media and VIPs to Call You! Be the one that the media, decisionmakers, and other VIPs call for interviews, answers and leadership.
	September 16: Convincing Social Media Skeptics: “Selling” the Value of Social Media Do people in your organization think social media is a waste of time? Learn how to make the case for including social media in your marketing strategy.
	September 21: Ten Ways to Engage Your Facebook Fans You set up a Facebook page and people are becoming Fans. Now what? Learn easy ways for your nonprofit to engage its Facebook Fans.
	September 29: Fear v. Hope: Using Emotions in Your Nonprofit Communications Learn how to use the power of emotions, both positive and negative, in your nonprofit communications.
	October 8: Who’s Talking About You and What Are They Saying? Listening to Online Conversations Learn how to listen to online conversations about your organization and the issues you care about using free and affordable tools. Great for market research, finding new supporters, developing your expertise and more. (Rescheduled from September 8th)

More Goodies: Get Kivi's Nonprofit Marketing Tips E-Newsletter (2-3 times per month)

August Webinars: Email Prospect List, Personality, Low Budget, Donate Pages

Here is our August webinar lineup. As always, webinars are $35 each or you can attend as many as you want in a 12-week period with the All-Access Pass for $97. The recordings are included both ways, in case you want the training, but can’t make our schedule. All of these webinars are 1:00 – 2:00 p.m. Eastern (10:00 a.m. Pacific). Click on the titles for details and registration links.

	Tuesday, August 4: Beyond Viral: Building Your Email List through Paid Marketing Those of you asking for advanced tips on building your email list and online fundraising — this one’s for you! Learn how to build your nonprofit’s fundraising prospect email list through proven paid marketing options. This webinar will go far beyond the basic tactics of slowing building your list and look at tools that can grow your email list by hundreds and thousands at a time. The only catch is that they do cost money. But if you use them well, as guest speakers Alia McKee of Sea Change Strategies and Kevin Gottesman of Gott Advertising will show you how to do, your return on investment can be outstanding.
	Thursday, August 6: Your Nonprofit’s Face: Adding Personality to Your Marketing Mix Got personality? You better, if you really want supporters to love your organization and your good cause. During this webinar featuring guest speaker Jocelyn Harmon of the Marketing for Nonprofits blog, we’ll look at what it means for your nonprofit to have a personality and how to make that personality shine through in your marketing materials. What role do fonts, colors, words, images and other branding elements play in giving your organization a personality? What are the pros and cons of personal vs. organizational brands in the nonprofit world? When you register, you’ll learn how to volunteer your website for a personality evaluation live during the webinar.
	Wednesday, August 12: Nonprofit Marketing on Next to No Budget Running your nonprofit marketing program on empty? Learn to do much more with much less. This is an encore presentation of one of our more popular topics. We’ll look at the five frugal marketing strategies that are must-dos in this recession, where to spend what money you do have and what you can probably do without, how to cut your print marketing budget in half, my favorite free services for nonprofit communicators, and more. I’m teaching this one and it’s perfect for those of you new to nonprofit marketing and communications or struggling with how to get anything done on a your measly budget.
	Wednesday, August 19: The 10-Second Rule: Optimizing Your Website for Donations You know you need more than a Donate Now button for your website if you want to raise money online. But what else exactly are donors looking for? What will convert them from site visitors into financial supporters of your work? Find out donors want to see and read on your site, how to avoid donation killers, and how to optimize your site for fundraising, with guest speaker Glennette Clark of Community IT Innovators. When you register, you’ll learn how to volunteer for a live evaluation of your website during the webinar.
	Wednesday, August 26: Switching from a Print Newsletter to an Email Newsletter No, you can’t just email a PDF and call it an email newsletter! Learn the right way to go from print to pixels. This is another encore of a popular webinar. During this webinar, we’ll cover several important decisions you need to make, a good process to follow to transition your readers from print to email, and some essential best practices that all nonprofits with email newsletters should follow. I’m teaching this one.

More Goodies: Get Kivi's Nonprofit Marketing Tips E-Newsletter (2-3 times per month)