What one Non Profits best practice teaches us all!

A CASE STUDY: How did one non-profit reach out to new clients in this economy and what can it teach for-profit businesses?

Now more than ever, I believe growth takes an entrepreneurial spirit, starting at the top that permeates throughout the entire organization. And I’ve had the opportunity to see first hand the successful outcome of this formula.

Our firm donates our time and talents to a local non profit of which I sit on its board. Amazingly, its Executive Director is always ahead of the curve coming up with new ways to raise the marketing bar, never accepting the status quo. If there’s a way to reach out, build consensus and stretch the marketing dollars she’ll figure it out. The most recent example; Reaching out to other like organizations in non-competing locations and pitch the idea of combining their funds for media. Some radio stations and newspapers overlapped so why not create an 800 number where potential clients could call into and pass the leads to the organization in the callers location. A real win-win to all who might consider participating.

This was not the first great idea this Executive Director formulated. By shear stick-to-it-ness she brought to life a revenue-generating initiative* by filling a real need she saw in her community and beyond. After bringing it successfully to market she now sells the program to other organizations for a small fee. It's a rare person who has that kind of energy and drive, she doesn’t have a marketing degree but she approaches things from a different angle with no pre-conceived notions. I have to say she has even taught me and my staff a thing or two!

So what best practices can you take away from one case study for your business or non-profit organization?

• Create an entrepreneurial spirit in your organization where new ideas are welcomed, and receive thoughtful consideration.

• Brainstorm other commercial or revenue-generating initiatives. And not only with your leadership team, sometimes the best ideas come from outside the inner circle. Tap into all the brainpower of your organization including the person who makes the coffee.

• Think about your competition differently. Are there ways you might pool marketing funds and come up with some new initiatives that would be win-win.

• Inspire people to think in new ways and be creative when times are tough, rather than get discouraged and do nothing. Remember if its your organization or firm your most important job is to be a cheerleader for your team.

• If you believe you have a great idea be willing to fight for it. Stick-to-it-ness really does pay off.

• Don’t assume you know what does or doesn’t work because what has happened in the past. Be aware that the climate has changed and a bold vision is imperative.

- Ann Byne, Principal/Creative Director

*AssuringYourWishes.org

Defending Your Marketing Budget!

When the economy is tough management's first response is to reduce marketing budgets. What management sometimes forgets to remember...... that during any period of economic downturn your best customers become someone else's best prospects. When you stop inviting them to do business with you, a more aggressive competitor may become much more attractive.

According to Nancy Schwartz author of Effective Marketing "It may seem right (politically) to accept the managements decision to slash your marketing budget, but it's the wrong move to make. In the long run, accepting a significant budget cut will harm your organization"

"No program succeeds without participants; no service lasts without users; few organizations stay healthy without a strong donor and volunteer base -- and marketing is the way that these groups are reached, engaged, retained and motivated to act. Challenge your organization's leaders NOW if they're shying away from investing in marketing. If they do, your organization will really suffer long term. That's what you have to point out -- as diplomatically as possible. And far better than just talking about it, you have to prove it. Rather than taking a defensive position when faced with budget cuts, proactively respond to your leadership's challenges."

So how can you defend your marketing budget, and make your customers experience exceptional.

1. Never take your focus off your customers. Cherish them, and make sure they know it. Make their Personal Experience Factor exceptional.

2. Media pricing is driven by market demand. Take advantage of the weak demand and the resultant drop in price to buy even more market presence without increasing your advertising budget.

3. Craft a plan tying marketing work directly your goals, and track the impact of every effort before, during and after the work to enable ongoing course correction.

4. Arm yourself with as many hard stats and success stories as you can. Talk about what colleague and competitive organizations are doing, and what you'll lose if your organization retreats now.

Does Your Website Need a Face-Lift?

The New Year is fast approaching and maybe
it's time you rethought your website’s purpose.
The Internet is constantly changing and so is
your clients/prospective clients expectations.
Visitors expect your site to be “cutting edge”
or at least “up-to-date.”

Things to keep in mind while
revamping your site:

1. Design with optimization in mind. Search engine optimization (SEO) means having text friendly elements on
your website which will make your site easily search able.

2. Visitors want what they are looking for quickly and easily. Spotlight or call to action important services on your homepage (ex: “click here to…” or “free download”).

3. Be proactive and engaging. Start a blog. Invite people to be a part of your online presence. Ask visitors to post their comments. The point of
a blog is to share and get involved in a community that is active and listening.

4. Ask your marketing team or web designer for their suggestions.
They may have ideas that you hadn’t thought of.

Check out our newest "green" web design: mydejavusalon.com

~Melissa Behrens
Senior Graphic Designer, The Byne Group
(source: Must-Have Website Features for 2009, by Shaheen,
The New York Enterprise Report, October 2008.)

What the Heck is Ambient Awareness?

The NY Times Sunday Magazine on 8/21 had a fascinating article on the effects of online contact. - I'm so Totally, Digitally Close to You by Clive Thompson

“Social scientists have a name for this sort of incessant online contact. They call it “ambient awareness.” It is, they say, very much like being physically near someone and picking up on his mood through the little things he does... Facebook is no longer alone in offering this sort of interaction online. In the last year, there has been a boom in tools for “microblogging”: posting frequent tiny updates on what you’re doing. The phenomenon is quite different from what we normally think of as blogging, because a blog post is usually a written piece, sometimes quite long: a statement of opinion, a story, an analysis. But these new updates are something different. They’re far shorter, far more frequent and less carefully considered. One of the most popular new tools is Twitter, a Web site and messaging service that allows its two-million-plus users to broadcast to their friends haiku-length updates — limited to 140 characters, as brief as a mobile-phone text message — on what they’re doing.

So what does that mean to agencies like us that create branding and advertising in print and on line? We have to understand that the marketplace demands transparency. Gone are the days when anyone can make empty promises! Within a blink of the eye consumers will sniff it out and share it. It’s really a trust issue, and all companies need to take it very seriously. The article also relates it to when Americans lived in small towns and everyone knew their business. You know that one nosey neighbor who was on the phone in a heartbeat if hanky panky was going on, well now its on cyberspace for all! Welcome to a brave new world

The Non Profit Boot Camp, Passion Lives!

Recently I attended and volunteered at the Non Profit Boot Camp in Manhattan (an event sponsored by The Craig’s List Foundation). It was truly amazing with over 1,200 emerging and established community leaders in the non-profit world in attendance. Everyone seemed filled with boundless and contagious enthusiasm; it was remarkable how organized the chaos was.

Most of the attendees were young and idealistic, many just starting out in the non-profit arena, there to soak up as much knowledge as possible during a very long day. Others came with only a dream, hoping to learn from others how set up their own non-profit, each convinced their cause was unique. The event included a day of interesting workshops, keynotes and some great networking. The volunteer staff was terrific, smoothing over any issues that occurred throughout the day and the killer coffee and natural snacks supplied from vendors for free were an added plus especially for those sitting in the trade show section!

So what was my part besides taking a booth at the trade show and drinking some great coffee? For two hours I sat in a small room working one-on-one in twenty minute intervals with 5 different people who signed up to speak to me for help with branding and marketing (the sessions were organized and run by a great organization called Non-Profit Central NY/NJ with its CEO Sue Caruso Green at the helm). I began each session w/, "How can I help you?" and often just being a sounding board seemed to help. Sometimes my "EXPERTISE" was just coming up with a simple solution for them to consider. (after all how much can you learn in twenty minutes?) Nonetheless, I felt very valued, with many of them trying to grab an extra minute with me before the next person came in to take a seat, and each leaving with a heartfelt thank you. Something that doesn’t always happen with paying clients.

It was a long day, but a real breath of fresh air. As one client (a boomer-aged director of an arts organization) once told me "After years of having to raise funds for the pens we use it’s great to see the next generation still idealistic, willing to take the challenge head on!” As I read in a commentary in The Chronicle of Philanthropy, “Millennial (young 20’s) are passionate about causes and, according to the Corporation for National and Community Service, are volunteering in record numbers.” I like to think that as a baby boomer our idealistic generation started the conversation. GO millenials – now you can keep the conversation going and teach us all a thing or two!

Want to learn more go to: www.craigslistfoundation.org

Look through fresh eyes- "Vuja de"

No I didn't misspell Deja Vu...... Vuja de happens when you enter a situation you've been in a thousand times before, but with the sense of being there for the first time.” George Carlin coined the phrase "Vuja De" first and used it in an early comedy routine. “It's all about the obvious right in front of our eyes. When someone invents a simple little something for the benefit of mankind, almost everyone either simultaneously thinks, "why didn't I think of that?" or "I was just thinking of that."

Bill Taylor in a post at Harvard Business Online writes about it from a business point of view. "Most companies in most industries have a kind of tunnel vision. They chase the same opportunities that everyone else is chasing, they miss the same opportunities that everyone else is missing." It's an atmosphere that stifles innovation, and can create an unsettling sense of corporate déjà vu as companies continue to use the same old thinking with each new initiative.

As the creative director of my firm, I still get a jolt when I first realize I'm looking at a brand new, fresh creative idea. It's about breaking away from the pack mentality and approaching each new challenge with fresh eyes.

When too many assumptions get in the way of asking open-ended questions

The art of marketing often involves asking lots of questions with no expectations of the answers. This can be the most difficult thing to do. How often do we assume we know the answers and forget to ask the right questions? I think what children do best is have an open mind. In Japan they use the phrase “Shoshin” which means beginners mind. In the beginners mind says Shunryu Suzuki, a Japanese Buddhist scholar, there are many possibilities; in the experts mind there are few.

I want to share a story about a friend of mine, which illustrates “the beginners mind”. We were in a meeting together and she looked as if she had been crying earlier. When I asked her if everything was ok she reassured me that it was just allergies and her allergist had prescribed drops.

The next time we spoke I asked her if she was still suffering with allergies. “Funny you should ask, she said, I went home that day, got into bed and hoped for some relief, my daughter came into the room and said, mommy, you have “esema”. (her daughter had eczema on her arms in the past) This conversation went on for a while and to get her daughter off her case my friend put some of her daughters cream under her eyes. As you might have guessed it worked instantly.

Now, I certainly don’t recommend self-medicating ourselves but I do believe there is a business lesson here. How often do we ask our clients a question with an answer already in our heads? Or in my client’s case did she start her conversation with the allergist asking for eye drops, for her allergies rather than asking an open-ended question of what is this. Next time you meet with a client try not to come up with a solution too quickly and try using “Shoshin, a beginners mind”. Ask more open-ended questions. What was wasted? What caused complaints today? You will be surprised what you might learn.