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Getting Your Marketing
Message Right
ProEd 549
November 4, 2014
Sara Brueck Nichols
Introductions
• Who are you?
• Where are you from?
• What do you want out of class
today?
STATE OF THE INDUSTRY
“We are a species of ideas. And the ideas
that spread, win. And marketing is just the
art of getting ideas to spread. Sure, selling
bathroom deodorant via daytime TV
commercials is marketing. But so was Martin
Luther King’s “I Have A Dream” speech. So
was The Declaration Of Independence.”-Hugh MacLeod
2014 Content Marketing
Benchmarks
2014 Content Marketing
Benchmarks• Are you utilizing content marketing?
>90% of Non Profits say yes
2014 Content Marketing
Benchmarks• Are you effective at content marketing?
74% of Non Profits say “not very”
Getting Attention Survey 2012
• Do your organization’s messages connect
with your target audience?
Getting Attention Survey 2012
• Are your messages speaking to audience
wants & needs?
70% of Non Profits say their
message spur a “so what?”
instead of an “AHA”
• Is your message sufficiently clear?
26% of Non Profits describe their
messages as confusing
Getting Attention Survey 2012
• Does your message inspire action?
Only 16% of Non Profits describe their
message as powerful
• What part of your message is least
impactful?
71% of Marketers & Fundraisers say their
tagline is the least impactful message
Getting Attention Survey 2012
• Are your messages used consistently
across channels?
<50% of Non Profits say yes
• Are your messages developed cross-
organizationally?
Marketers, Fundraisers & Executive
Directors all have message-driven
positions
Messaging & Loyalty
• Sustained loyalty comes from providing
true value in marketing campaigns, rather
than simply promoting goods and services
• Customers are likely to act after receiving
a “timely message that was relevant,
helpful and consistent with their
expectations.”
Messaging & Loyalty
• Audience is more likely to take action on a
scale of 1 to 10 when they received a
marketing message that:
– Matched brand expectations – 8.7
– Matched past interactions – 8.6
– Relevant to audience needs – 8.6
– Received at the right time – 8.4
– Helpful or useful in aiding decision to act – 8.4
Messaging & Loyalty
• Loyal members are
– 4x more likely to spend significantly more
– Higher per interaction spend
– 3x more likely to have frequent interaction
• Half reported last engagement with a
brand was prompted by email
communication
WHAT GOES WRONG
What Goes Wrong?
• “Always about us, not about the people we’re
communicating with.”
• “Too long and filled with jargon.”
• “Superficially inspiring. People respond strongly the first
time they hear them, but not over time.”
• “Lack clarity, because we have too many cooks in the
message kitchen.”
• “Good for each program but weak or nonexistent for the
org as a whole.”
What Goes Wrong
What Goes Wrong
What Goes Wrong
“Help us assure the world always
has music – invest in a future
musician with a scholarship.”
“We have more free and low-
cost concerts than anyplace
else in the City.”
What Goes Wrong
What Goes Wrong
Inside-Out:
Organization Centered
VS.
Outside-In:
Target Centered
• Who
• What
• Where
• Goal
What Goes Wrong
• Clues you have an Inside-Out message:
– You see your organization’s key messages as
inherently desirable
– Lack of marketing success is blamed on
audience ignorance and/or lack of motivation
– Little effort put into target audience research
– Marketing is used only to promote
organization and its needs – one-way
conversations
What Goes Wrong
• Clues you have an Inside-Out message:
– You have a “silver bullet” marketing strategy,
using the same tactic over and over.
– Your message differs depending on who/what
delivers it
– Competition is ignored. Every other message
competes with yours!
CONSIDERATIONS
Considerations
• Some things to remember
– Have a strategic messaging team –
representatives from across the organization
– Clearly articulated positioning statement is a
vital precursor to message development
– Determine if your desired actions align with
your programs
– Discuss. Through the discussion your goal
should be reach consensus on the desired
action. Once you think you’ve obtained
consensus, write it down.
Considerations
• Mission vs. Position
– Mission
• Internally focused
• Goals of organization
• Only one mission
– Position
• Externally focused
• Based upon the mission, but tailored to the unique
goals and motivations of the audience
• Persuade people to take action
Mistake #1
• What we do
• What’s in it for me
ASSIGNMENT 1: AUDIENCE
What Goes Wrong
• Audience determines the rules
• If you don’t understand the audience, you
can’t create effective messages
• Without clear customer profiles, marketing
is about luck. The > you understand your
customer, the better your chances of
success
Audience
• No such thing as “general public”
– Who will evangelize?
– Who will be most receptive?
– Who is most likely to take action?
Audience
• What kind of people tend to support your
organization?
• What are their values?
• How do they communicate?
• How do they spend their time?
• What appeals to them?
• What do they dislike?
• What motivates them to act?
Audience
• Who are your three most important
audience groups?
– Those who can do the most for your
organization
– Those who are most likely to do so
• Write down everything you can about your
three target audiences, so you can focus
messages on the right sweet spot
Audience: Families
Audience: Families
Families with young children
Families with older children
Immigrants
Audience: Families
Nibblers: Families with young
children. Tend to stay on the
periphery of the park and visit for
brief periods.
Explorers: Families with older
children. Explore the complete
park, spend more time there.
Celebrators: Extended families,
usually immigrants. Use the park
as a gathering spot.
Audience
• Profile:
• Action:
ASSIGNMENT 2:
GOALS & MOTIVATORS
Messages
• The wrong type of messaging is the type
that is easy to ignore
Messages
• You can’t explain people into caring about
you.
#ShareACoke
Goals & Motivators
Not what you want to say What your audience wants to hear
Goals & Motivators
• What are your organization’s goals?
Goals
Goals & Motivators
• What are the goals of your 3 audience
segments?
Goals
2
Goals
1Goals
3
Goals & Motivators
• Where is the overlap?
Organization
3
2
1
ASSIGNMENT 3:
PERSONAS
Personas
• Be more strategic in how you cater to your
audience
• Internalize your customer
• Relate to them as human beings
Personas
• Multi-dimensional sketches that typify your
audience segments
• Created using
– Organizational goals
– Donor/Volunteer/Client demographics
– What others say about you
Personas
Personas
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
Open Rate
General
Targeted
Personas
Personas
• Context:
– A nonprofit is launching a new community fitness program and needs to
promote it to community activists, politicians, and citizens, and to
motivate their involvement. The staff needs to know what’s important to
these audiences, so it can shape its messages, website and blog (a
centerpiece of the campaign), brochures and events accordingly.
• Challenge:
– This is the first time the organization is proactively communicating to
motivate the launch of fit community programs. The campaign will center
on a new blog and Web site, but the nonprofit doesn’t know how to
design message to most effectively educate its diverse audiences and
motivate them to act. The communications team just doesn’t know
where to start.
Personas
Frank Cummings, age 64, owns his
own home in a moderately-priced
area of an industrial-based
community in Ohio. He is married,
and has two children who now live
in neighboring states.
Frank took an early-retirement
option from the electrical
contracting firm where he worked
for 19 years. Now he spends a lot
of his free time working on his
home and yard, and walking in the
neighborhood.
Personas
• How person spends His day?
– Day at work/home
– Habits
– Likes/Dislikes
– Environment at work/home
• Who does this person trust?
• Personal and professional goals in relation
to your organization’s programs?
Personas
• Who else is encouraging them to “do the
right thing” (follow through on your calls to
action)?
• Where are they in the Stages of Change
about doing the right thing?
• One persona per audience group
Personas
Annoyed By…
One problem Frank has noticed as
he walks is that the traffic speeds
along his street (a connector
between two arterial streets) are
often well in excess of the 25MPH
posted speed limit.
.
Frank has made comments about the high speeds to his city council
representative, who is, with Frank, a member of the local Lions Club.
But the council-person, while sympathetic, hasn’t done anything other
than to suggest that Frank should lodge a complaint with someone at
the city, or the police. Meanwhile, the speeding cars continue, and
Frank feels unsafe as he walks.
Personas
Online Habits
Like some in his age group, Frank is
a late-comer to computers and the
Internet. He needed to learn to use a
computer-based service mounted in
his truck the last few years he was
working, and struggled to keep up
with the technology that seemed to
come much easier to younger
people in the firm.
Frank purchased a computer primarily to use e-mail with his children,
but he also has used several programs such as QuickBooks and tax-
prep software. His connection to the Internet is still through DSL so it’s
not the fastest and Frank doesn’t like to wait around to see family
videos on YouTube or other Web content.
Personas
• Wants
• Slowed-down traffic outside his
house to increase walker and
biker safety.
• His neighborhood to be a safer
and more enjoyable place to live.
Personas
Successful
community
fitness program
Slower traffic;
neighborhood
safety
Messaging focused on safe biking and walking, rather than the need to
follow traffic safety rules. Citizen campaign recruitment efforts focused
on neighbor-to-neighbor messengers, postering and door-to-door
flyers. The response was strong.
Safety
ASSIGNMENT 4: TAGLINES
Taglines
What is your tagline?
Taglines
• Most important message – 8 words or less
– Essence of your message
– Foundation for “elevator pitch”
• Presented from viewpoint of audience
• “Sweet spot” – overlap of your wants, your
audience’s wants and what makes you
different
Taglines
What makes people listen & care?
Taglines
37 Grams of Saturated Fat
VS.
+ +
Taglines
“Theater Popcorn
is a Double Feature
of Fat”
“Lights, Camera, Cholesterol!”
Taglines
• Consistency
– “You’re not in business to entertain yourself;
you’re in business to change the world. To
change the world, your message has to stick.
For your message to stick, it must remain
consistent.”
• Organizational & programmatic taglines
must relate
Taglines
• Is your tagline solid, reliable, well-
recognized & concise?
– How do you convey it to your personas?
• Is your tagline weak, not well-known,
inconsistent?
– How do you improve impact?
• Do you have a tagline?
ASSIGNMENT 4: MESSAGES
Messages
"Comprehensive community
building naturally lends itself to a
return-on-investment rationale
that can be modeled, drawing on
existing practice," it begins, going
on to argue that "[a] factor
constraining the flow of
resources to CCIs is that funders
must often resort to targeting or
categorical requirements in grant
making to ensure accountability."
Messages
Which one do you remember?
Which one is more compelling?
Which one is most likely to drive
action or awareness?
About Us
The Long Beach Nonprofit Partnership was formed in 1993 by a small
group of professionals who believed in the importance of a strong, well-
supported nonprofit community in Long Beach. They put into place a series
of high-quality, low-cost programs to provide training, promote
collaborative opportunities, enhance resource development and aid in
capacity-building for the full range of nonprofit organizations. Today, the
Partnership is a vital and growing resource for over 3,000 community-
based organizations in the greater Long Beach area. We offer information,
referral and consulting services, networking opportunities, a prized
Philanthropy and Research Library, and a full schedule of year-round,
educational seminars and workshops.
It is through your generous support that we are able to provide service to
the nonprofit community.
Who We Are.
And What We Do.
Join Over 3 Million Young People
DoSomething.org makes the world suck less. One of the
largest orgs for young people and social change, our 3 million
members tackle campaigns that impact every cause, from
poverty to violence to the environment to literally everything
else. Any cause, anytime, anywhere.
Messages
• How do you design a message that is
sticky and drives action, awareness or
change?
• Made to Stick – 6 rules of message
development
Messages
Do unto others as you would
have done to you..
Messages
Messages
Messages
Credible
Messages
Messages
Messages
• Tell us why we should care, and how we
can address the problem
• Relevant – always write from the audience
view point, not the organization’s
perspective
• Avoid jargon
• Keep it short
• Be consistent
Messages
• Evaluate effectiveness – sometimes
audiences change, along with messaging
• Give everyone in organization simple,
compelling and memorable words they
can use to connect with a variety of
audiences – get them excited about the
organization is doing
Messages
• Do not just make lists
• Do not overwhelm with information
• Bad communication talks about HOW an
organization does the work. Good
communication shows WHY an
organization is needed and WHAT
happens in the world as a result of its
work.
“We help the
homeless”
vs
“You can change
a life”
Two Ways to Say It
Our service makes
your life easier.
Here’s how it works.
You can join here.
• Spend more of your time doing
creative work, and less on client
management and overheads.
• Pick and choose the jobs that suit you
and your timeframes from our
database of thousands of projects.
• Our service makes freelancing fun and
easy.
• Swap paperwork for creative
work.
• Choose the projects you want
to work on.
• Put the fun back into
freelancing.
Messages
• Using your mission, audience groups,
goals & motivators, personas & tagline
construct an audience-focused message
framework for a program
ASSIGNMENT 5: DELIVERY
Delivery & Tools
Tappers vs. Listeners
Delivery & Tools
• Tappers hear the song in their head
• Listeners hear only a disconnected series
of taps
• Curse of Knowledge.
– Once we know something, we find it hard to
imagine what it was like not to know it. It
becomes difficult for us to share our
knowledge with others, because we can't
readily re-create our listeners' state of mind.
Delivery & Tools
• “Maximize Shareholder Value”
– Simple?
– Unexpected?
– Concrete?
– Credible?
– Emotional?
– Story?
Delivery & Tools• “Our mission is to become the international
leader in the space industry through maximum
team-centered innovation and strategically
targeted aerospace initiatives.”
– Simple?
– Unexpected?
– Concrete?
– Credible?
– Emotional?
– Story?
Delivery & Tools
• “The challenge for companies (of any size) is to find a
way to build sustainable, relationship-minded
business processes that account for the new buying
methods of an educated, mobile, personalization-
minded buying market. Some of what online tools do
well is address all of this. But that’s like saying a great
pen will help you write better. It’s not about the tools. It’s
about a choice to understand how to stand out as a
provider of value above-and-beyond-the-sale to one’s
customer base...The fact that technology makes our
voice easier to hear, does not mean people will
listen.” –Chris Brogan
Delivery & Tools
• Lead with what you do, and the benefits
this offers, not who you are.
• Listen to what you’re hearing online.
• Focus on improving credibility
• Evolve your voice to one who is warmer &
more conversational
Delivery & Tools
• Where are your personas online?
Delivery & Tools
• Message type
– Informal
• Blog
• Tumblr
• Cocktail/Elevator Pitch
– Medium
• Direct Mail
• Website and/or blog
Delivery & Tools
• Message type
– Formal
• News release
• Board communication
• Website
• Direct mail
Delivery & Tools
• Look at your personas
– Select potential tools/technologies
• Modify your message for
– Informal platform
– Medium platform
– Formal platform
REVIEW
Review
• Next steps?
• Roadblocks?
• Concerns?
• Questions?
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