I’ll be sharing nonprofit marketing trends for 2012 next week when we release the 2012 Nonprofit Communications Trends report to those who have requested it, but what about those really big marketing trends that are going to influence our work for years to come?

I’ve identified three of them in this short (10 slide) presentation for you (I sent this to the subscribers of our Weekly Tips e-newsletter last week).  To help you understand these trends, and take advantage of them, I recommend three fast-read books. They’ll make great gifts for your nonprofit marketing and fundraising friends — or yourself!

• Register to Receive a Copy of the 2012 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report (releasing to the mailing list next week)
• Register for the Free Webinar on January 5: Ten Changes to Make in 2012 (about 150 people registered so far)
• Get We Are All Weird by Seth Godin (Amazon link)
• Get Little Bets by Peter Sims (Amazon link)
• Get Newsjacking by David Meerman Scott (Amazon link)

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When Nancy Schwartz asked me what one book had changed my professional life, I scanned my book shelf thinking I’d find something bought and read long ago. But I quickly realized that one of the most powerful books to shape my professional life was one I’m actually reading right now. It’s called Little Bets: How Breakthrough Ideas Emerge from Small Discoveries (Amazon).

I’m a big fan of 18-month marketing strategies and editorial calendars. So I’m not opposed to the idea of planning, at all.

But when I think back on how my career has grown, it’s had very little to do with planning. I hate that “Where do you want to be in five years?” question. My gut reaction is always, “How the hell am I supposed to know?” While I do find lots of value in the exercise of planning for setting my course in an overall direction, the reality is that my flight path is very much by the seat of my pants, and always has been.

But because everyone else I know seems perfectly happy to talk about five year plans, I’ve always felt like I was doing “it” wrong.

Until Little Bets came along. At last, vindication for my approach to my career and much of life! But more than that, the book is showing me how to really use this natural tendency of mine to be even more productive and ultimately much more strategic. It also just happens to be a perfect approach for nonprofit marketing today, especially online and with social media in particular.

So here’s the concept: Little bets are low-risk actions taken to discover, develop, and test an idea. Where traditional planning emphasizes avoiding problems and mistakes from the outset, the little bets approach emphasizes finding problems and solving them as you go. Turns out this approach is behind many of the creative innovations in our world today, from minds as diverse as comedian Chris Rock, architect Frank Gehry, and the movie makers at Pixar. It’s how Twitter was born.

How does this play out? I think this passage from page 49 sums it up best:

Practicing little bets frees us from the expectation that we should know everything we need to know before we begin. Redefining problems and failures as opportunities focuses our attention on insights to be gained rather than worrying about false starts or the risks we’re taking. By focusing on doing, rather than planning, learning about the risks and pitfalls of ideas rather than trying to predict them with precision up-front, an experimental approach develops growth mind-set muscles.

I’m still reading the book. I’ll explain more of the key concepts in a later post — including the value of inquisitiveness, humor, and immersion in creating innovation. But I’m willing to bet — a big bet — that many of you will find Little Bets liberating and empowering in your nonprofit marketing work.

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I’m in the middle of developing a marketing strategy, including a website revamp, for a local food bank. As part of any strategy process, I like to take a look at what other similar organizations are doing, so I’ve perused the websites of dozens of small food banks across the U.S.

What food banks do is really not that complicated from a communications perspective: one group of people works to get food to another group of people. The best food bank websites keep it that simple!

My Favorite Food Bank Websites Lead with Simple Stories and Ways to Help

On these websites, you’ll see lots of volunteers who are collecting, sorting, preparing and delivering food. Or you’ll see grateful clients receiving the food. The website navigation is very action-oriented (e.g. donate, volunteer, get food).

Food Gatherers in Michigan does a nice job with this approach to their website, focusing on volunteers with their imagery. You see “Need Food” and “Donate” in several places.

The Food Bank of Contra Costa and Solano in California does a nice job too, but with imagery of their clients. They do include some stats on the home page, but in a clear, simple way.

Beware of Too Many Stats, Generalities, and Events

Of course, not every food bank takes this approach.

I also saw several websites that were more focused on public education and programs. They try to make the case for support by reciting a bunch of statistics and describing the problem in that generic  nonprofit language like “The problem of hunger in our community is far greater than most people realize. Now, more than ever, your help is needed.”  Blah, blah, blah. If any nonprofit down the street could use the same language by replacing just one word, what you are saying is too generic.

They also use a lot of jargon and programmatic language on their home pages and in their site navigation like The Growth of Food Insecurity, Raising Awareness about Hunger, Childhood Hunger Programs. This kind of language speaks more to those who work in nutrition or social services than to the people who are most likely to need assistance or to volunteer. I’d much rather see a menu item called “Food for Children” than “Childhood Hunger Programs.”

I also saw quite a few food bank website home pages that were dominated, if not overwhelmed, by event marketing. It’s wonderful that food banks have so many different national partners who want to help them, but when a local group’s website home page is essentially taken over by logos for the USPS Letter Carriers Food Drive, The Biggest Loser Pound for Pound Challenge, and their own local food drives, it’s easy for site visitors to lose the emotional connection with the cause. Promote these partnerships, but not to the exclusion of your core messages.

What I’m Recommending to My Client

I’ll recommend to my food bank client that their website keep it simple with a few stories, while centering on the actions we want people to take.

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It’s a big nonprofit world, and it can get a little overwhelming and intense, especially if you work in a small nonprofit.

That’s why I was really intrigued when Darian Rodriguez Heyman, former Executive Director of Craigslist Foundation, told me he was bringing together 50 of the sector’s leading experts to create the newly released guide book, Nonprofit Management 101: A Complete and Practical Guide for Leaders and Professionals (Amazon). I gladly agreed to write the chapter on nonprofit newsletters.

This book is a comprehensive, incredibly useful how-to manual and resource guide that features practical insights and tips, and provides easy to implement solutions for organizations seeking to meet mission and maximize impact. Darian says you can think of it as “your compass for the social sector.”

I think it’s a great companion to my book for those of you who want a bigger perspective on nonprofit management, beyond marketing. Everything you need to launch, lead, and effectively grow your nonprofit is in this book, with chapters on individual, corporate, and foundation fundraising; marketing and social media; board and volunteer engagement; lobbying and advocacy; and more.

Contributors include names you’ll recognize from our field including Beth Kanter and Katya Andresen. All of us were told to write in a no-nonsense, “by practitioners-for practitioners” style, so if you appreciate my writing, I think you’ll really appreciate this book. I know I can’t wait to read a bunch of the chapters myself!

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I’m a sucker for a good metaphor, and I love the one that Marc Pitman uses to describe fundraising:

“I like to think of the fundraiser as holding an electrical cord (the donor’s interests) and facing a wall of outlets (various aspects of the fundraiser’s organization). The fundraiser’s job is to get to know the donor well enough to know which outlet fits the electrical cord’s prongs. When the fundraiser plugs it in by asking for the gift, bang! The power starts to flow!”

It’s not just about randomly cramming the plug into a bunch of outlets and hoping one fits. By using Marc’s Get R.E.A.L. process, you’ll have a pretty good idea how to get the power flowing. It’s the heart of Marc’s book, Ask Without Fear! A Simple Guide to Connecting Donors With What Matters to Them Most (Amazon), which turns three this month.

I enjoy Marc’s blog, so when he asked me to help him celebrate the book’s birthday with a fresh review, I agreed. And I’m so glad that I did. It’s a fast read, written in clear language, with lots of examples and stories. It’s perfect for both professional and accidental fundraisers like board members — and they don’t even need to read the whole book. If you plug different people into different parts of the Get REAL process, they can read the chapter that relates to their specific assignment.

R is for Research

Marc describes how to do basic research on your donors, before you even talk to them, so you can narrow down the number of potential sockets. This is a great job for your computer-savvy or well-connected friends who aren’t necessarily outgoing.

E is for Engage

He then explains how to start the conversation with prospective donors to learn more about them, further narrowing down the number of sockets.

A is for Ask

With the knowledge of research and engagement, you know what to ask for — which socket to try first. Marc provides several concrete tips on how to actually ask, including which props to bring, what words to say, and what to do in response to anything other than a Yes.

L is for Love

Be kind to your donors and treat them like the caring individuals they are.

Marc also shares his favorite fundraising myths and tools for knowing your donors.

I highly recommend Ask Without Fear!

P.S. We are talking about asking in our weekly webinar series this week too . . . join us for Making the Ask: Getting People to Give, Volunteer, and More on Thursday. As of right now, 65 people are registered.

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I’m a content creator. In any given week, I’m creating content for my own blog, e-newsletter, webinars and e-clinics, and upcoming in-person workshops. I’m also frequenting writing guest posts for others, drafting new e-books, and creating materials for clients. Last year, I wrote a paperback version of The Nonprofit Marketing Guide.

It’s no wonder that people often ask how I keep everything organized. My answer is that it’s always a work in progress. What I’m doing today if different from what I did six months ago and will probably be different from what I do six months from now.

But for today, here’s my list of favorite tools that I use daily to keep everything I need organized. You are a content creator too, so I hope you’ll share your favorite content and project  management tools in the comments.

Google Apps

I use Google Apps email, calendar and docs daily (more like hourly).

I use several labels within Google Apps Gmail to get emails out of my inbox while saving them to a specific place so I can find them later. To keep my most important labels at the top of the list (instead of the default alpha order), I use symbols like @ or | before the label name.

I have different Google Apps Calendars that I use as editorial calendars for my blog, email newsletter, and book marketing. Those are layered on top of additional calendars for my schedule, my family’s schedule, and recurring tasks (mostly personal, like giving the dog her monthly heartworm pill). At first having all of these calendars felt like overkill, but I love it now. It’s so nice to be able to hide all but one calendar when I need to focus on a specific slice of my workload and to turn them all on to see the full picture.

I also store lots of information, such as instructions on how to do lots of different things behind the scenes (e.g. like setting up webinars) in Google Docs. This is especially helpful for jobs that I only do once every month or two and usually can’t remember the most efficient way to do them off the top of my head. It’s also handy for boilerplate that I often need to cut and paste for others to use (e.g. like different versions of my bio).

Google Apps syncs perfectly with my Droid X, including all the labels and calendars, and I can control which I see on the Droid independently of which ones I see on the desktop.

Email, calendar, and tasks are the holy project management triumvirate for me, and Google is great for two of the three. It’s just plain awful with tasks, however. I’m currently using two different tools to fill in the gap: Basecamp and Remember The Milk.

Basecamp

I use Basecamp to manage tasks that I’m working on with others, primarily my assistant. We mostly use the Project and To-Do features, which allow us to assign tasks to each other and to make notes on those tasks as we go along. We are still working out the kinks, but my hope is that this will minimize the amount of daily email we send back and forth, which is how we were previously (and badly) managing all of the to-dos.  I also use the Droid app, Beacon, to manage Basecamp on the go.

Remember The Milk

While I should probably be doing this via Basecamp too, I am experimenting with using Remember the Milk as my personal daily to-do list. Whereas I put anything and everything that needs to get done into Basecamp, no matter how far away the deadline might be, I am trying to use Remember the Milk for items that need to happen in the next few days. Everything in Basecamp is professional to-dos; RTM includes work and personal tasks that need to happen within the next 72 hours.

Delicious and Diigo

4/12/11 update: I’ve transitioned from Delicious to Diigo for bookmarking, because it has a few more nice features and has better support than Delicious.

Delicious is my bookmarking tool of choice. I use it to tag web pages I want to save by topic but also by how I will use them later. Then if I want to share my bookmarks on a specific topic with webinar participants for example, I can give them one URL for a specific tag instead of giving them links to all of the individual articles. For example, you can see all of the articles and examples I’ve saved on nonprofit storytelling at http://www.delicious.com/ecoscribe/nonprofit-storytelling

I know there are lots of Evernote fans out there and I have tried it a few different times. While it looks amazing in theory, for whatever reason, I just haven’t been able to make it a habit. But definitely check it out if Delicious is too simple for you.

Hootsuite

This is my favorite Twitter management tool, after trying just about all of them. It lets me not only manage my own tweets, but also group all the incoming tweets in various ways. I highly recommend that you use not only the List feature within Twitter but Tabs in Hootsuite to group everything in ways that make sense to you.

My Alltop

I oversubscribed to too many blogs in my Google Reader and now I can’t go near the thing without fear of my head exploding (sound familiar)? So, what I do instead is scan my personal Alltop page where the headlines of the last five posts from my 40-or-so most favorite bloggers appear. This tool has been a total lifesaver in helping me feel like I’m keeping up with what the people I respect most are saying. It’s about time to go through and take some off and add some new voices, but I highly recommend that you create your own Alltop page as a way to manage your high priority blog reading. Or feel free to visit mine if you can’t get around to creating your own.

WordPress

Every website I manage is now in WordPress, including this blog. I use the .org version for all of my content, but also help some small nonprofits manage their websites via the hosted .com version as well. It’s my favorite content management system.

Dropbox

When I’m creating and sharing lots of files with others, I’ve found Dropbox to be the easiest way to go. While you can file share through both Google Docs and Basecamp, Dropbox leaves everything in its native format and automatically gives people access to the most current version of a file both online and on their own computers.

I’ll share my favorite tools for actually creating the content another time (e.g. PowerPoint, Flickr, SnagIt, Vimeo, etc.). Also check out the October Nonprofit Blog Carnival that also focused on tools.

What content organization tools do you like best?

P.S. Join me for How to Create and Reuse Your Online Content on Thursday, November 4, 2010 to learn more.

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I made a mistake when I started reading The Networked Nonprofit (Amazon link) by Allison Fine and Beth Kanter. I thought it was going to be a book about social media, and it is, of course, but it’s much bigger than that. I recently interviewed Allison about the book, which I highly recommend not only to communications directors, but to executive directors and board members too.

Kivi: I suspect a lot of people assume this is a book about social media (as I did), but it struck me as being much more about nonprofit management — and how what we think of as these shiny new tools, like Facebook fan pages, are actually creating some pretty profound ways in which nonprofits function.

Allison: In our research we found that all Networked Nonprofits had a way of being that led to a way of doing. The way of being includes being transparent, simple, networked, social and very good using social media. So, before jumping into setting up Facebook accounts and blogs, it’s very important that organizations think hard about how they operate, what their orientation is to the world, what they fear about opening themselves up before jumping into “doing” social media.

Kivi: I really appreciated the message of Chapter 7 – that to be a networked nonprofit, and to fully take advantage of social media and your network, you really have to simplify your organization. Yet, I suspect most nonprofits see social media as adding yet another layer of complexity or things-to-do to their lists. Explain how social media can actually help nonprofits make things more simple and streamlined.

Allison: Networks thrive on simplicity. Complex ideas and actions slow everything down and make it difficult for people on the outside to participate and contribute to nonprofit efforts. Beth is such an expert on how to streamline the use of social media to make it manageable, how to filter your Inbox and set up your viewing systems and manage your Twitter stream to cut down on the distractions and help you get to the real stuff.

And you’re just right, it’s not about adding social media to the stuff you do but rethinking everything that your organization does and incorporating social media habits, tools and processes into it. Every organization has a bunch of things it does out of fear or habit that they don’t need to do.

For instance, I was talking to an organization that other day that continues to spend a lot of time putting together an e-newsletter that no one reads. Get rid of it, think about what conversation you really want to have with whom and try a blog instead or have a conversation on Twitter. One of our favorite lines in the book is, “Do what you do best and network the rest.”

Kivi: The second part of the book focuses on crowdsourcing, learning loops, friend-to-friend fundraising, and governance issues. I sit on two very different boards right now, so I found the ideas on using social tools to improve the ways that boards work to be really interesting. What kind of reaction are you getting to that chapter?

Allison: We really struggled with the governance chapter. Beth wrote a great blog post about it a couple of weeks ago. Boards are such a “hands off” topic for nonprofits, there is such a level of deference to them and assumption that they way they have always worked, using Roberts Rules of Orders, stuffed with lawyers and financial guys, focused on profit/loss statements, is the only way they can and should work.

We are hoping that chapter starts a conversation about what is possible if boards got themselves away from the boardroom and opened up the processes of governance to their networks. I think it’s the next wave of change that will happen to the sector – at least I hope it is!

Kivi: You talk repeatedly throughout the book about the dangers of silos and yet I think most nonprofits still want to shove social media into a silo, whether it be communications, development, or IT. As you’ve been talking about the book with people over the last several months, do you see any evidence that the silos are coming down?

Allison: Absolutely. For organizations born as Networked Nonprofits, like MomsRising and charity:water, they are less silo’d from the get go because of the social cultures – everyone in their organizations is facile with social media and comfortable engaging online with their networks. More traditional organizations, like Planned Parenthood, the National Wildlife Federation, and Environmental Defense are opening themselves up online, slowly, it takes some time, and by doing so the lines get blurred between departments internally and between inside and outside. It is inevitable as social media doesn’t recognize the boxes in organizational charts.

Ready to learn more about how social media can make your organization as a whole more effective? Get your copy of The Networked Nonprofit (Amazon).

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I can’t tell you how many times in the last year I’ve heard someone explaining to a newbie how to use an RSS reader for online/social media listening, only to quickly follow it with, “But I don’t really use mine anymore, because I subscribed to too many feeds and am overwhelmed.” Not exactly the greatest endorsement for RSS readers.

I confess I’m guilty of the exact same thing. I can’t remember the last time I opened Google Reader. I use a custom Alltop page to track the top 40 or so blogs I want to follow instead.

The big problem with that approach, however, is that I can’t follow the newer blogs  or those with smaller readerships that haven’t received blessed Alltop inclusion status yet. (Here’s their submission form – it does seem to help.)

If you are in the same boat, save this post so you can use it to keep up with these newer blogs (and if any of them are on Alltop, let me know which page so I can find them!). Here are a few I’m going to try to keep an eye on, and I’d love for you to add your new/smaller favorites to the list in the comments.

Throwing Light is by the dynamic duo of Andrew & Leah Hood. They do incredible visual storytelling for nonprofits. Definitely one to watch.

Bad Words Blog by Doug Gould is a “compilation of good intentions gone bad when good people use bad words to promote good causes.” Very interesting perspectives on the language we use in the nonprofit world.

moflow blog by Marlene Oliveira, an experienced freelance copywriter and certified yoga teacher in Toronto, Ontario. When she decided to put these two skills together in one business, the connection was clear: it’s all about more flow. She’s a writer who gets nonprofits and marketing, which makes her a great asset to our community.

Gracie’s Empty Brain by Grace Cheung, who is a Gen Y’er who’s sharing her experiences starting a career in marketing, with a special interest in nonprofits.

Write for the Cause by Courtney McSwain is brand-spanking new, but I hope she keeps it up, because I have a soft spot for writers who are trying to use their talents for good, given that’s how I got started in all of this.

Nonprofit Chas is by Chas Grundy, who is sharing his experiences as he helps take a small non-profit organization to the next level. He’s been at it a bit longer than most of the people on this list, but I just discovered the blog and Chas shares some great insights for small nonprofits.

Socialize Your Cause is a blog by the company of the same name, where founder David Wells shares tons of tips on using social media more effectively (and he also just posted an hour-long video of my talk at NCTech4Good. Sheesh, that was a long presentation . . . I’m sure David’s arm was cramping holding that camera!)

Marketing Analytics for Nonprofits by Vault Analytics shares ideas and tips on (you guessed it) measurement and analytics.

Low Hanging Fruit Communications by Maureen Carruthers covers lots of bigger-picture management topics like getting organized and working together, as well as more tactical social media advice.

Change 4 Your Dollar is a new fundraising blog by Laura Kaufman, who has lots of experience with foundations and Jewish philanthropy.

Social Change Diva by Ericka Hines covers leadership, adult learning, and presentation skills.

Finally, also check out KristinaLeroux.com, where my virtual assistant (and little sister) is now blogging about all kinds of cool tools to help you manage your online life and Internet marketing.

What other new nonprofit communications, marketing, or fundraising blogs are you following?

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Here’s a video review of Sarah Durham’s new book, Brandraising: How Nonprofits Raise Visibility and Money Through Smart Communications.  Watch to learn how to get me to buy a copy for you!

Kivi Reviews “Brandraising” by Sarah Durham from Kivi Leroux Miller on Vimeo.

Kivi Leroux Miller of Nonprofit Marketing Guide.com reviews “Brandraising: How Nonprofits Raise Visibility and Money Through Smart Communications” by Sarah Durham. Highly recommend. Buy it!

(Contains Affiliate Links to Amazon.com)

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I read “Trust Agents” by Chris Brogan and Julien Smith this weekend. It’s about, as the subtitle says, “Using the Web to Build Influence, Improve Reputation, and Earn Trust.”

I’m talking about these concepts in the book I’m writing on nonprofit marketing, so I wanted to see how what Chris and Julien advocate for the business community might translate to the nonprofit world. While they use Beth Kanter as an example of the “Archimedes Principle” — leveraging your network — that’s really the only mention of our sector.

I would sum up the basic thesis of the book as “Be there, be helpful, don’t ask for anything, and eventually it will pay off.”  It’s essentially a guide for how to be human through your computer or nice guys finish first in social media. There is actually a section titled “The Importance of Being Human” and an “Action” list for how to be human that includes things like “Remember to ask about other people-first” and “If you mess up, remember the three A’s: acknowledge, apologize, act.”  In another section they give advice on making eye contact and smiling at in-person events. Though they claim that “the nerd is mostly extinct,” a lot of the book feels like “Chris and Julien’s Advice for the Socially Inept.”

But, of course, the reality is that a lot of people and businesses are trying to use social media as their own personal hype machines, and therefore they aren’t acting like good human beings and end up turning off a lot of people. So, I understand the emphasis on netiquette in the book, especially in regards to social media, even though those weren’t my favorite sections.

Here’s what I think nonprofits will find most useful in “Trust Agents” . . .

Make Your Own Game. They suggest that you look at your situation as a game, and find ways to hack it. Don’t be afraid to try new approaches. I like this concept a lot, even though I’m not a gamer and many of their computer gaming examples went right by me.  But this is the same idea I’m getting at when I tell nonprofits that they need to become their own media moguls and stop wasting tons of time trying to get press coverage. You can be the publisher and broadcaster now. Making your own game is how you stand out, which is really the core message behind Nonprofit Marketing Guide: helping your nonprofit stand out in the crowd. That’s one of our slogans. I think the game metaphor is another great way to get this concept across. This is really a must-do in today’s nonprofit marketing and fundraising environment.

Online Friends are Not “Move Your Couch” Friends. I know many nonprofits are struggling with understanding who and what their new online friends are to them. I’m still working on my book chapters on this, so I’m not sure how I will end up framing this exactly, but the way that Chris and Julien put it is that a friend online is not a sales (or fundraising) prospect. Just because you are now friends on Facebook doesn’t mean that a fundraising appeal will be welcome. Becoming a friend online means that person is now open to a conversation with you, but because you are being human (see above), asking for money is not what you want those early conversations to be about. Instead, you want them to be about learning about each other’s interests, being helpful, etc. If people in your organization are really having a hard time knowing what to do with your online friends, this book can definitely help.

Be “One of Us.” Along with the game metaphor, I also like this concept a lot. Chris and Julien are saying that you really have to see yourself as and behave as a member of the community you are trying to reach. You do that primarily by being helpful to others and not expecting anything in return. They also talk about being “Agent Zero,” where you build this network of networks around you and about “Building an Army” around you of people who you empower to help you.

When nonprofits try new approaches like social media, it’s often easier to convince skeptics of the value if you can relate those new approaches to your current job description or an element already in your strategic plan. If that’s the case with you, then the Agent Zero and Build an Army chapters will be particularly helpful to you, because they most closely align with what nonprofits do all the time — building networks of supporters around the cause and rallying volunteers and advocates to make it happen. But at the same time, caution Chris and Julien, never forget to remain “one of us.” No matter how much influence and trust you eventually weild online, you want to remain one of the guys.

Adopt a “Yes, and . . .” Mentality. It’s very easy for nonprofits to adopt a defensive posture and to fear competitive voices. After all, if that other group down the street gets more attention, then they might raise more money, perhaps money that you think is rightfully yours. I find that nonprofits also tend to dwell on the negative possibilities too much, especially related to using social media. You hear “Yes, but . . .” a whole lot. Chris and Julien advocate that you instead adopt a “Yes, and . . .” approach. Instead of getting stuck on the negatives, move the conversation forward with a new contribution.

“Trust Agents” is a very quick read, and while you’ll need to do some translating to the nonprofit world, if you are interested in how your nonprofit can use social media over the long-term to stand out and to build support for your cause by becoming a trusted voice in your community, it’s worth checking out.

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