An EPIC Solution for Economic Hardships in NPOs Part 7 (Conclusion)
April 8, 2010
So… get out there and get people to know, like, and trust you. Ensure that this is done EPIC-ally.
If you already have a reserve – great! Implement this strategy and nurture the relationships you have at this time of hardship.
Just starting, or can’t figure out how the next bill will be paid? Then stop! Take the next few days to figure out what you can do to immediately have people experience, participate, be filled with images of your organization and its cause, and ultimately connect with you, your cause, and with like-minded people that support you. This will build a resource engine that is unstoppable due to vitality. This strategy will accomplish the non-profit’s mission because it is viable; and (rightfully so) will build a foundation of success through sustainability in order to accomplish the future vision…and to make it through those hardships that come our way.
Read: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Get the Full Article
References
Jantsch, John (2008). Duct tape marketing: The world’s most practical small business marketing guide. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.
An EPIC Solution for Economic Hardships in NPOs Part 6 (Connective)
April 1, 2010
The key to surviving is to focus on time and brand. Get people to know, like, and trust you. But how? EPIC-ally!
People become supporters of non-profits when the organization approaches them EPIC-ally.
Experiential
Participatory
Image-Rich
Connective
People need connectivity. If this is doubted, then look at Facebook, MySpace, Google’s introduction of Buzz, the explosion of dating sites, Plaxo, LinkedIn, and Twitter. Every major brand has communities surrounding its products and storefronts. Project management systems now integrate social components. Blogs themselves connect speakers and their audiences. Most modern churches use numerous aspects of technology and the web to connect the members of their congregations locally and as they travel on missions trips. There is Kiva.org which allows micro lenders to travel into the field to meet with other like-minded lenders whom have helped fund the same project. Even education’s transition to the online environment for courses as well as simply collaborating and sharing with other students that are on the other side of the globe; proves that people need connectivity.
People want to feel as though they are a part of what the organization is doing, and they want to see the results thereof. Connectivity transitions a person from merely liking the organization and its cause, to actually trusting it. With this new found trust through connectivity comes the inherent results of effective marketing, which have not yet been mentioned. After someone gets to know, like, and trust you; they will contact, repeat buy/support, and refer others. By providing avenues by which people may connect, on all levels and in all possible ways, with the organization; knowledge is gained, favor is given, loyalty is birthed out of trust, and the resource engine will begin to sustain itself as well as gather new fuel. It will even replace broken or missing parts through people who contact, repeat support, and now refer their friends and contacts to support your organization’s cause.
Read: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Get the Full Article
References
Jantsch, John (2008). Duct tape marketing: The world’s most practical small business marketing guide. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.
Sweet, L. (2007). The Gospel according to Starbucks: Living with a grande passion. Colorado Springs, CO: WaterBook Press.
The EPIC acrostic is adapted from Leonard Sweet’s “The Gospel According to Starbucks: Living with a Grande Passion”, 2007.
An EPIC Solution for Economic Hardships in NPOs Part 5 (Image-Rich)
March 18, 2010
The key to surviving is to focus on time and brand. Get people to know, like, and trust you. But how? EPIC-ally!
People become supporters of non-profits when the organization approaches them EPIC-ally.
Experiential
Participatory
Image-Rich
Connective
People need image-rich experiences and participation. They want to cultivate their like into trust, and ultimately into loyalty. One obvious aspect of imagery is visual. However, sight is merely one sensory receptor. Constituents need to feel, hear, smell, taste, and emotionally connect to the organization and its cause, and discover the culture surrounding it.
Consider a cup of Starbucks Coffee. With a cup of * bux, one is immersed in a rich image that involves the aroma, the flavor, the color, the warmth, the “buzz” of audible decadence that surrounds actually getting the liquid in the cup (just the way you ordered it), the connection that is made with the people that are enjoying the cup together or memories of such a time, and of course the culture that is Starbucks when actually placing the order (Sweet, 2007).
A person patronizing Starbucks does not simply “ask” for a small cup of coffee. They have to speak the language. The customer has to culturally understand that “their” cup of coffee is an “iced venti sugar-free vanilla soy decaf latte” (or for something more common, a “double short skinny extra-dry with legs”. Too complicated still? Ok…just a “grande breve”). Addressing the senses, including their emotional ties, solidifies a stakeholder’s notion to like the organization, and further perpetuates the trust factor.
Read: Part 1 Part 2 Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Get the Full Article
References
Jantsch, John (2008). Duct tape marketing: The world’s most practical small business marketing guide. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.
Sweet, L. (2007). The Gospel according to Starbucks: Living with a grande passion. Colorado Springs, CO: WaterBook Press.
The EPIC acrostic is adapted from Leonard Sweet’s “The Gospel According to Starbucks: Living with a Grande Passion”, 2007.
Facebook Now Drives More Traffic to Websites
February 16, 2010
Reposted from http://www.steverubel.com/facebook-now-drives-more-traffic-to-web-sites
UPDATE: A couple of notes to clarify this post. First, the chart above, which I pulled from compete.com, shows the top sites that Facebook drives traffic to. Also the headline has been updated to reflect that Facebook is driving more traffic to portals than Google. The San Francisco Chronicle story, linked below, notes that Facebook is only starting to encroach on Google for other sites. The trend, however, still holds.
We’re at the beginning of a major shift in how we find, consume and interact with information. If the 2000s was the Google decade, then the 2010s will be the Facebook decade. Already, you can see the writing on the wall – pun intended. Case in point: a search for “google decade danny sullivan” pulls up his Facebook note higher than a blog post (an item I wanted to include here for context). But that’s nothing. Look at the data.
“According to Web measurement firm Compete Inc., Facebook has passed search-engine giant Google to become the top source for traffic to major portals like Yahoo and MSN, and is among the leaders for other types of sites.
This trend is shifting the way Web site operators approach online marketing, even as Google takes steps to move into the social-media world.
Some experts say social media could become the Internet’s next search engine.”
- Titan/Facebook Chat will challenge Gmail in communications
- Facebook pages will disrupt Google – especially if they were to integrate Bing Maps and location technology a la Foursquare. This can quickly position Facebook as the Web’s Yellow Pages, an area that Google and Yelp currently dominate
- Facebook will make search more social, allowing it to become annotated and curated. This up-ends Google’s core business. It also makes the Facebook self-serve advertising model smarter and more effective as it collects more data about where it sends traffic. This threatens Adwords
An EPIC Solution for Economic Hardship in NPOs Part 2 (Brand)
February 6, 2010
When focusing on brand, a company is trying to build its image within the community (area of influence) it serves, and from whence its supporters reside (figuratively, not necessarily literally/physically). In a for-profit business this is commonly recognized as the target market and its corresponding segment. Realizing then that branding has a lot to do with how the organization is perceived, or its image, one might conclude that an NPO must focus on marketing. However, a requirement of traditional marketing is to spend large sums of money on numerous vehicles such as expensive advertising campaigns. To view image building as marketing then would be counterintuitive for a not-for-profit company as it is struggling to acquire money for operational expenses, let alone an extensive marketing campaign.
What is required, then, is to view marketing in an entirely different light. Effective marketing is not sales. When a business tries to promote a product directly, it often fails to get the individual (or a collection of individuals, and therefore other organizations) to know, like, and trust the company. The business fails to educate the customer as to why the customer has a need for their product or service, what the benefits are, and why they can be trusted.
Therefore, and especially in the non-profit arena, marketing must be viewed through lenses that do not consider marketing sales, but rather as the educating of stakeholders (constituents, clients, customers, supporters, anyone who has a relationship with the organization) as to why the entity should be supported and why its services, products, or outreach is needed. Effective marketing is getting people to know, like, and trust you (Jantsch, 2008).
The most effective way for an NPO to survive economic turmoil is to have been proactive in these areas, thereby having a reserve to tap into. It’s also a tremendous boon to have a die-hard fan base that will support the company, even to the supporter’s detriment. This of course is the best-case scenario, and provides a goal for non-profits to work towards. Most often, though, small, young, or newly-started non-profits don’t have these sustainability reserves as a resource, and are back to facing the plight of how to survive this time of hardship.
The key to surviving is to focus on time and brand. Get people to know, like, and trust you. But how? EPIC-ally!
Read: Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6, Part 7, Get the Full Article
References
Jantsch, John (2008). Duct tape marketing: The world’s most practical small business marketing guide. Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson.