Erica Mills

Last week on the main Nonprofit Marketing Guide site (you are reading the blog now), I published an article called, “Blah, Blah, Blah: What to Do When You Write Too Much.” In today’s guest post, Erica Mills of Claxon Marketing takes it to the next step by showing how specific words can actually debilitate your messaging.  ~Kivi

Guest Post by Erica Mills of Claxon Marketing

We all crave an awesomely compelling way to talk and write about our organizations. But finding the right words is hard. It’s easy to convince yourself that your messaging is ‘good enough’ and move on. Alas, if your words miss the mark, you miss the opportunity to connect with people passionate about your cause. No people, no progress. So you’ve got to make your words work.

Every year, we get help in our efforts at messaging awesomeness from Words to Avoid Lists. These are pure gold. They include words that become so trendy and overused that they end up on Lake Superior State University’s List of Banished Words or Big Duck’s Words to Avoid list.

The following is a little different. It includes five words you must forever avoid you want to create compelling, action-inspiring (a.k.a. awesome) messaging. Not just this year, but every year.

Use this list as a filter: Look at what you have and if you see any of these words, get rid of them. Not saying it’ll be easy (and you might want to dust off your thesaurus), but it will definitely be worthwhile.

1. ‘Provide’: If you have the word ‘provide’ in your tagline, top-level message or elevator pitch, you’re being lazy. Sorry to be harsh, but it’s true. There’s always a better word. Wondering how to find those words? Ask the people you serve what you do for them. They will naturally use verbs that speak to the impact you are having, rather than the actions you are taking to have the impact.

2. ‘Just’: The word ‘just’ downplays your work and your impact. “We’re just eradicating extreme global poverty.” “Our organization just helped 5, 462 elementary school students learn to read last year.” Really? You just did that?! You did it and you’re doing it. Own it! People are energized by your passion for what you do. The word ‘just’ is a passion-killer. Just stop using the word ‘just’. Eradicate it. You won’t miss it.

3. ‘Trying’: This word lets you hedge. Stop it! Compare:

“We’re trying to get junk food out of schools.”
and
“We’re getting junk food out of schools.”

Sure, you might not have gotten 100% of the junk food out of the schools yet, but that’s the goal, right? That’s what will be different because of your work. People want to be involved in making a difference. Not in trying to perhaps, kinda sorta make a difference. (Note: Substituting ‘striving’, ‘endeavoring’ or any other synonym for trying isn’t going to help. The point is to avoid this whole category of words.)

4. ‘Self-sufficiency’: Gasp! How can there be something wrong with this word? Let me share a quick story: I was board chair for an organization that helped low-income women become self-sufficient through business training and loans. One day, a group of clients came and asked us the following: “Is your personal goal to be self-sufficient or to be successful?” You see their point. Self-sufficiency is a step on the success ladder. It’s not the top wrung. When re-working your messaging (which all of you using ‘self-sufficiency’ will now hustle out and do, right?), the question is: What’s the top wrung of your ladder? For inspiration, the organization mentioned above switched up their messaging to be: “We help low-income women become successful entrepreneurs”. See the difference?

5. ‘Thriving communities’: Okay, this is two words. They’re fine on their own, but not together. Why? Because every nonprofit is “building thriving communities”. (Do you know of any organizations who want to build withering communities? No.) It doesn’t distinguish you in any way from other organizations. You want your words to help you stand out, not blend in.

If you diligently avoid the words above, you’ll be well on your way to Messaging Awesomeness!

Erica Mills heads up Claxon, where they craft messaging that connects people who care with causes that matter. She has spoken about nonprofit marketing and communications across North America and is an Instructor at the University of Washington. Visit her blog for more on using the power of words to advance your mission.

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Julia Reich

For those of you interested in the ongoing Komen-Planned Parenthood story, I will continue to update yesterday’s post at the bottom of the original content. Today we are moving on with a new topic . . .

Our resident design expert, Julia Reich, is back with the latest trends in logos. And if you are embarrassed with your organization’s current logo or think it’s just time for a change, be sure to join us February 8th for Julia’s webinar called, “Help! My Logo Sucks!” Julia will take a look at why some logos work and some don’t, and teach you how to evaluate your own logo. The webinar is for All-Access Pass Holders to our webinar series.

~Kivi

Guest Post by Julia Reich, Julia Reich Design

Designers – and clients we serve – should be aware of design trends that may impact our marketing and communication efforts.

So when the annual report on Current Logo Trends goes up at Logolounge.com, I hurry over.

It’s important to learn about design trends so we don’t jump on any stylistic bandwagons and replicate what others are doing. Marks should be classic, but not in the boring, conventional sense. I mean they should look just as fresh and impactful in five or ten years (or more) as they do today. Not trendy.

Of course, not all trends are trendy. As “a general direction in which something tends to move”, trends are a fascinating indication – in the words of logolounge.com’s founder, Bill Gardner – of “courageous experimentation” for the design and marketing space. “Some trends will emerge strongly while others will submerge and not be seen again. As part of a historical record, though, each is significant.”

Recent Trends

The visual online world continues to change the parameters of logo design. Ink used to be king, with print processes to factor into each design. For example, thin line weights have historically been frowned upon, since they can be too hard to read in dots per inch, once that letterhead flies off the offset lithography press. Alternatively, solid blocks of color were encouraged. Now we’re seeing thinner line weights due to successful online legibility.

(Since computer monitors are backlit, colors appear bolder and brighter than when we look at the same image on a printed medium, like a brochure, where the light is absorbed or reflected off the inked page surface).

Client: Advanced Lifeline | Design Firm: Allegra-East

Computers as design tools are encouraging the typical flat logo to take on new dimensions and shapes, so they see appear to fly off the page. With more brands being born and nurtured online, and with less print collateral weighing them down, colors have become lighter, brighter, oftentimes created with translucent overlays and gradients.

Client: Mom to Madre | Design Firm: 3 Bees

Other logo trends seem to be inspired by the ubiquity of online entities. For example, fruit are enjoying their moment in the visual identity spotlight – quite possibly due to Apple’s world dominance, followed by Blackberry in the near distance.

Client: Radius Disability Services | Design Firm: SASI Marketing

Speech bubbles have been very popular recently, perhaps due to all those Facebook “Like” symbols we keep seeing (and using).

Client: In The Life Media, Inc. | Design Firm: Guard Dog Brand Development

Cute is also seeing its 15 minutes of fame. I would guess this is due to Twitter’s omnipresent blue bird mascot.

Client: Goodness Grows Gardening Network | Design Firm: Trampoline

For more on the 2011 logo trends (and to access the annual archive dating back to 2003), visit logolounge.com and learn why mortar & pestles, the letter “O”, and the color brown were also popular logo trends this past year.

Trend or no, the rules of good logo design always apply. Learn more in an earlier article of mine on this blog, Tips to Evaluate your Visual Identity.

Julia is Principal of Julia Reich Design, which helps nonprofit organizations bring their mission to life with award-winning brand strategy, graphic design, and web design services. Clients love her team’s top-notch creative work combined with an affordable, personalized approach.

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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?

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I spoke at the AFP Triangle Philanthropy Forecast 2012 yesterday in Raleigh, NC on a panel about communications and media trends for 2012 with Gail Perry, Lu Esposito, and Todd Cohen.

My first point was that integrated marketing is essential in 2012. You have to decide your messages and then coordinate how you will use all of your communications channels to share that message. Think about how you will use your website, email, Facebook, direct mail, media, events (the Big Six) and anything else you rely on to share that message. Don’t just write a direct mail fundraising letter and then figure out whether you can tack on email or Facebook posts after the fact. Try to think about how you can use multiple channels right from the start.

That led to a discussion about messaging — or what to communicate about in 2012.

We can get into all of the various elements of a good communications strategy, but if you are in a hurry, it really boils down to two questions. When someone gets communication from you, you want them to be able to answer:  So What? and Who Cares?

So What?

Why does what you have to say — your message — matter right now? What’s timely about it? What’s interesting or different? How is it relevant given everything else that’s happening now? Can you put it in a context that makes it easier to understand? What about it will make someone laugh or cry or otherwise connect on an emotional level? What are they supposed to do about it (e.g. is there a call to action?)

Who Cares?

Why is this message particularly relevant to the person on the receiving end? Even if it is interesting, timely, and emotionally powerful, is the message being delivered to the right people — the ones who would stand up and say “Yes, I care!”

Memorable and motivating messaging has to answer both the So What? and the Who Cares? questions, or it won’t work.

Let’s look at two examples . . .

Take the story on 60 Minutes Sunday night about the endangered species being raised on Texas ranch land: Can Hunting Endangered Animals Save the Species? What’s interesting or different is the paradox that these ranches are based on. They will raise these various endangered species and they will flourish, while they are perishing and close to extinction in their native African grasslands. But to pay for that, the ranchers let big game hunters pick off as much as 10 percent of the herd. It’s an interesting conflict, so we’ve answered the So What? question.

Now, let’s look at Who Cares? You have two different groups of people who are very interested in keeping these species alive. The wildlife preservationists want to protect the species without hunting them. The hunters want to protect the species so they can hunt them. You also have a third group of conservationists, who see this arrangement as a practical reality, even if less than ideal.

We have an interesting story. But if it’s your job to fundraise to help these animals, you really need to know which of these three groups you are talking to! That’s why understanding your supporters — the who cares — and why they care is so essential.  Your perfect fundraising letter to the hunters is going to be quite different from the perfect letter to the animal rights advocate.

Here’s another (sillier) example. I am slightly obsessed with the Republican primary in Florida (Thank God it’s Election Day down there, so I can get on with my life). For the last two weeks, I have been glued to the news reports, waiting to see what Newt and the rest of them have been saying about each other. I find all this stuff about self-deportation and moon colonies fascinating. They’ve answered the So What question for me.  But despite all the attention I’m giving it, I would never give any of those candidates a dime (I’m a progressive Democrat.) So I’m a terrible answer to the Who Cares question for Republican fundraisers.

Messaging only works when you get both questions answered!

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Welcome to another round of Mixed Links! We’ve got some great social media and communications posts today.

This post by Kari Saratovsky not only sheds some light on the recent rise in Pinterest, but also shares some great infographics on Millennials. Check out The Millennial Story, Told By Infographic(s).

Think Facebook was confusing before? Beth Kanter shares What Do Facebook’s New Timeline Apps Mean for Nonprofits? Make sure you are fully awake (having a big mug of coffee, not a mixed drink!) when you get into this one. It’s powerful stuff, but not necessarily easy to understand.

When I released my 2012 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report, I found that creating and sharing videos gained more in importance for nonprofits from 2011 to 2012 than other social media channels. Nonprofits are definitely beginning to see the benefits of being able to tell their story visually (more on that in my e-newsletter next week). If you are looking to jump on board, YouTube has just released even more features and tutorials in their YouTube Nonprofits Program.

For more ideas on using videos, Lori Jacobwith gives us an Awesome Example of Using Technology to Keep Supporters Engaged.

The folks at Throwing Light ask the question, Email Tsunami: How Much Is Too Much? Leah has some great ideas on how to find what’s right for you and your organization. I know this is a big question for many of you, so if you are curious what other nonprofits are doing, see what our Trends Report showed.

And for email’s staying power, Allyson Kapin proclaims Email: Still Not Dead! I love the point she makes about Mark Zuckerberg proclaiming that email will die, while requiring that people have an email address to sign up for Facebook. Be sure to check out the great infographic she uses to make her point.

Katya Andresen shares some new and interesting statistics in Why You Need Someone Else to Be Your Messenger. She explains why only letting your executive director or CEO speak for your organization may not be the best idea. People’s trust in these positions has gone down recently as folks rely more on recommendations by “regular” people.

Last but not least, Jeff Brooks writes How to Handle “Great Fundraising Ideas” From Your Board. And by “great fundraising ideas” he means “horrible fundraising ideas.”

I’m off to hang out with 35 Girl Scouts for a Camp-In (so I’ll be saving my Happy Hour for later in the weekend). Anyone want to guess how much sleep the adult chaperones will get tonight?

See you next week!

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Elexa Liu

We love to hear success stories about the nonprofits we work with. Elexa Liu works with Hope Worldwide in Hong Kong and has participated in many of our training events both online and in person (Yes, she flew all the way to Seattle to take part in the Total Focus Marketing Plan Workshop I teach with Nancy Schwartz). She recently sent me this email on what happened after she started focusing on telling a good story instead of inundating her supporters with boring statistics.   ~Kivi

Dear Kivi,

Hope you are doing well. Again, thank you for sharing/teaching/passing on your knowledge and experience and resources about nonprofit marketing and communication.

I have been trying to implement all that I am absorbing from you and others (notably Tom Ahern) in my communications pieces – tell stories, “report” back what good has been done with the donations, lay forth visions, and thank, thank, and thank. In essence, going for the heart and the head. For the past 2 years, unsolicited donations from existing supporters has been increasing.

A private individual recently asked us to submit a proposal to apply for a donation of approximately HK$400,000 (about US$51,600). She came to our centre for a visit and told us that our newsletter was what caught her attention as she researched about different NGOs to support. She said most of what she read were boring facts and program details. Instead, we had a story that touched her heart but we also laid out the vision of what we do to help the kids.

So thank you! I still have much to learn (sometimes I feel like my head would explode!) but this was indeed very encouraging to me.

Best regards,
Elexa

Have you made a shift in your communications that’s working? We’d love to hear your story too, so please feel free to share in the comments.

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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Tonia Zampieri

More and more of your supporters and program participants are using their smartphones to look at your website and to read the emails you send them. It’s time to make sure your content is mobile friendly. In her first guest post for us, Tonia Zampieri of The M Gen shares what you need to be doing now. Watch for details soon on more training and resources from Tonia.   ~Kivi

Guest Post by Tonia Zampieri of The M Gen

If you aren’t thinking through how your online efforts are being seen on the mobile web, you are missing out and eventually hurting the very mission you set out to support with your web content and email.  With nearly 50% of all mobile sales now being Smartphone sales, developing a mobile strategy is critical today to remain sustainable. Americans from every walk of life, location and demographic are jumping on the Smartphone band-wagon.  Compelling stats can be seen in a post I published last week.

The following are important questions every nonprofit marketing professional must ask themselves as they analyze their efforts, along with easy steps that can be taken to ensure your marketing efforts are making the biggest impact:

Website:

• How many of your visitors are accessing your website via a mobile device? Most of us use Google analytics to determine web traffic.  They make it easy to view what percent of your web traffic is coming from a web-enabled phone.  Set it up, it’s easy!
• How does your existing website look on several mobile devices? Test on several different devices, such as iPhone, Android (there are several different makers) and Blackberry.
• Is it easy to read, navigate and click through to calls to action? Can you see your donate button? (hint, if you are pinching and zooming, do you honestly think your overwhelmed and busy supporters are going to do this or simply disengage and make an empty promise to themselves that they’ll go back when they get to a desktop?) Not sure how your website fairs on mobile devices?  Try out Google’s Free Assessment tool to simulate a mobile view and learn more about easy steps to go mobile.

Email Newsletter:

• Open your email newsletter on several mobile devices – iPhone, Android, Blackberry. Is it easy to read, navigate, click through to calls to action?
• Are your email calls-to-action mobile-optimized? If you are asking your audience to register for an event, an advocacy campaign or make a donation – would they be able to easily do so from their mobile device?  The same rule above applies.  Again, put yourself in your supporters shoes.  If you don’t have a Smartphone, find a staff person or other trusted peer who does and ask them to be honest.
• Does your email provider have specific templates that are mobile friendly? Start playing around with single column newsletters vs. the fancy multi-column ones.  Reading this from a mobile device will be much easier than having to scroll one’s finger back and forth.  Avoid using lots of different images in your templates – less is more on mobile.

Demographics:

• Who are your primary audiences and how are they using their mobile devices?
• Do you serve a community who might not even have access to a desktop computer, but is now only accessing the internet via their Smartphone? If your donors, volunteers and/or clients are accessing the bulk of their information on mobile, and your communications and technology doesn’t account for mobile, you may lose your audience sooner than later, negatively impacting your results and your sustainability.

Expectations are rising, and quickly, for a mobile-optimized experience.  If you found that after going through the exercises above that your website is indeed not mobile optimized, or easy to take action from via a mobile device, it may be time to look into making small investments to change this.  Mobile landing pages and simple mobile websites such as that of Soles4Souls are great examples.  These types of solutions are not difficult to implement, nor are they expensive.

The mobile web and Smartphones are not a passing fad.  Embrace this convenient and timely channel that the masses of us are adopting.  If you can capture and connect with them on this highly personal of devices, you will likely have them for life.

Tonia Zampieri is the Principal and Founder of The M Gen, LLC, a firm that offers mobile products and services to the nonprofit sector , effectively delivering the mobile generation.  She has nearly 10 years of digital fundraising and marketing and launched one of the very first nonprofit iPhone apps, Tap-n-Give on iTunes in 2009.  She tweets regularly via @iheartcharity and can be reached directly at tonia@themgen.com

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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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Happy Friday! Join me for some Mixed Links . . .

Let’s start with some free webinars. Nancy Schwartz is hosting  The 4 Keys to Pitch-Perfect Messaging on February 7 at 1:00 p.m. EST. During this webinar, you’ll learn how to create relationships with your supporters through strong messages.

Atlas of Giving released a report indicating that total giving to U.S. nonprofits in 2011 rose 7.5% over 2010. They are hosting a free webinar to highlight more findings from their report as well as the forecast for 2012. To register, go to http://www.infiniteconferencing.com/join and type in the participant code 79508108.

In other  fundraising news, Network for Good has some good insights based of a new study by Pew on mobile giving. According to the study, mobile donors are impulsive, social, and tech-saavy.

Lori Halley also provides some insight into a different Pew report — and specific community that may be critical to you — with her post Report Finds Church Membership Active Technology Users.

Jeff Brooks gives us Hints Galore on How to Raise Money with Newsletters.

My regular readers know I am always on the look out for alternatives to the boring lengthy nonprofit annual reports. Debra Askanase has some great examples of video annual reports in her post.

Have you been hearing a lot about Pinterest lately, but not sure why you would need it? 17 Things You Can Pin on Pinterest that Are Not Pillows and Dresses is a great post on how you might be able to take advantage of this new social media channel.

The 2012 Millennial Donor Survey needs your help! Achieve and Johnson, Grossnickle and Associates are conducting a nationwide study to assess the current perceptions, attitudes and preferences of Millennial donors age 20-35. The survey will run until January 31, 2012. If you are interested in working better with Millennials, take a few minutes to complete the survey.

Finally, here’s what’s coming up next in our Nonprofit Marketing Guide 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

See you next week!

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.