Marketing Resources
In this section you can link through to a variety of resources on marketing. If you would like to add a link please email nfpn@nfpn.com.au
Trends, Statistics & Perspectives
The Online Marketing (eCRM) Nonprofit Benchmark Index™ Study. This benchmark report provides you with important insight and analysis involving key metrics for evaluating online marketing success. The study includes data compiled from nonprofit organizations across six vertical segments and of various sizes and levels of online maturity. It also discusses tactics for impacting key metrics and creating more effective online marketing programs that maximize results.
Intersector Transfer of Marketing Knowledge - By Alan R. Andreasen from the Social Marketing Institute Website - Concepts and tools from the commercial sector have the potential to profoundly affect research and practice in the nonprofit sector. This chapter traces the history of the broadening of marketing from its traditional economic domain. It proposes that the nature and rate of transfer of commercial concepts and tools to the nonprofit sector is affected by similarities in organizational mission and the basic exchanges involved. Transfer is slowest where transactions do not involve economic considerations in either side of the exchange. Recent growth in social marketing is, however, addressing this gap. The chapter also indicates that the transfer has not been unidirectional: there have been important concepts that have migrated from the nonprofit to the commercial sector. The chapter concludes with recommendations that can accelerate future transfers - in both directions…read more
Articles - General
The Story Cycle - The Idea - (Hootville Communications) Stories don't just happen - they develop. Between hunts in Kent over the northern summer (pictured above) I identified seven stages of the story cycle. And no, they aren't: shock, denial, bargaining, guilt, anger, depression, acceptance and hope. That's human grief. Mine start with an idea and end in a post-interview afterglow. #1.. The Idea … read more
How Will Millennials Manage? - By Jim Heskett. Nothing seems to set off managers I talk with more than the topic of managing Gen Yers, otherwise known as "millennials," those born beginning in the late 1970s. Here's what they tell me … read more
Marketing, Media & Post Centre - By Our Community & Australia Post
A Practical Approach to Collaboration - By Michael C. Gilbert - You don't have to agree on a set of aesthetic principles in order to have a good time going to the movies with someone. You just have to agree on a movie. You don't have to agree on fundamental issues of community in order to share an apartment with someone. You just have to agree about how some things will get done around the house…read more
Copy that cuts to the core - by Susan Walsh in Association Management (August 05)
Community As A Driver For Organisational Success - By Sara C. Wedeman in Journal of Association Leadership (Winter 2006) - Members’ sense of community is the essential driver in an association’s success, argues Sara C. Wedeman, and it is no longer enough to say we know community when we see it. Instead, association leaders need to know not only what it is but also how to measure it and how to foster it among members. Wedeman describes an assessment tool that is designed to help them do just that… read more
Crossing the Borders - Competition and Collaboration Among Nonprofits, Business and Government – By Susan K.E. Saxon-Harrold And Aaron J. Heffron, Independent Sector - Nonprofit organisations and companies are “crossing borders” to provide services in areas not traditionally within their scope by competing for contracts and entering into partnerships and commercial arrangements…read more
Customer service in the real world - by Renee Nugent in Association Management (December 04)
Customers at the Core - By Jay Tounger and Wes Trochlil - Do you have a company that you love to do business with? What about a favourite sales representative or account manager? Have you been frequenting the same barbershop for decades? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you likely know organisations and individuals that in one way or another have put you, the customer, at the center of their operations. Such customer-centric organisations succeed by making sure that each time you arrive on the scene, your needs are always met and your expectations exceeded…read more
Help - I have no marketing budget! (Katya Andresen) One of the most common questions I receive is, "Is marketing really possible with practically no marketing budget?" The answer is yes read more.
Determining Your Social Networking Needs. (Beth Kanter) More and more people are making decisions and getting information from conversations taking place on social networking sites, online tools that help people connect with others who share similar interests, or with those who are interested in exploring new interests and activities… read more.
Improve Marketing Efficiency and Increase Profit (Jeff LeSueur) Two numbers from a profit and loss statement would suggest that marketing budgets are too small. The first, gross profit, measures the profit on product revenue after related outlays. The second is marketing expense... read more.
Ten Steps to Successful Media Campaigns. Use these 10 easy steps to plan your media strategy. They will help you stay focused, select the right media, and even help you write your media release… read more.
Nonprofit PR. Raising funds for a charitable cause is truly a selfless effort, but one that needs a public relations strategy to be successful. There are thousands of charities registered nationally. With numbers like that, how can a non-profit stand out from the rest and communicate information in an effective and meaningful way?... read more.
Communications Audit. In preparation for communications planning, think through and write down answers to as many of the following questions as possible... read more.
Permission Marketing. (Seth Godin) Permission marketing is the privilege (not the right) of delivering anticipated, personal and relevant messages to people who actually want to get them. It recognizes the new power of the best consumers to ignore marketing…read more.
Make Your Communications Planning a Team Effort, From The Very Beginning. (Nancy E. Schwartz) This afternoon, in my meeting with a prospective client for a re-brand, I was struck with how vital this maxim really is. The COO of this well-known, long-lived, positively-perceived nonprofit reviewed for me why the org is pursuing a new brand just a few years after its last rebrand…read more.
PR and Media Writing Skills: How to Write a Press Release. (Mary Morel) A press release is an effective, low cost way to promote your business. You don’t have to be a journalist to write a press release but it needs to be newsworthy… read more.
Bloggers Let Amateurs Steal Your Business Expertise. (Chris Baggott) Newsweek ran a story recently about the backlash to user generated content and citizen journalism. The problem is that people are busy. They don't have the time to vet sources, they want the information they need now and they need it to be right… read more.
Gloom and Doom are Downers (Katya Andresen) A few months ago, I saw a full-spread, anti-slave labor ad that featured shackled hands, one on each side of the two pages. Attaching them was a strip of paper that formed a chain holding the pages together. It was an arresting image that seized my attention. Then it got even better. It got interactive. When you laid the pages flat, the chain broke... read more.
The Secret to Getting People to Give: 15 Reasons Why People Donate (Rebecca Ruby) You can email your donor base until you’re blue in the face. You can make your donate button larger than the vat of coffee sitting between you and your computer monitor. You can share the latest statistics about your cause, and even make your brochure look flashy while you’re at it…read more.
10-Point Basic Website Checklist for Nonprofits. (Kivi Leroux Miller) I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard nonprofits say, “Well, we do have a website, but it sucks.” You can do better than that, no matter how small your nonprofit may be, if you focus on the most important elements first. Here’s the 10-point checklist I use to give the home page of a nonprofit website a quick evaluation… read more.
What can we do to make sure our organization's email gets delivered to our supporter's inbox? (Bill Pease) At NTEN's Nonprofit Technology Conference last month, I talked about the things that affect email delivery and the best practices required to avoid common delivery problems… read more.
Email and Website Marketing Tips
Generational Marketing - By John Gunn in Association Executive Online – Recruit more members, strengthen their loyalty, and increase non-dues revenue by delivering services that reflect the personalities of their different generations…read more
Generation Y: Our Next Sports Market
Highway or Swamp: A Look at Association Affinity Programs - Don Butcher, CAE; Association - More money to invest in what’s important. Happier members. Less financial risk. These are a few of the potential benefits of a well-planned, well-executed affinity program in a not-for-profit: a highway to happiness. But, like in any venture, there is risk: time taken away from the core mission. Unhappy members. Financial risk. In essence, getting sidetracked into a swamp…read more
How to Get Senior Management Buy-in - By Estelle Metayer - When clients and executives ask me how to gain top management attention, I usually make a simple comparison: CEOs or top managers are like little boys: to attract their attention, you have to wave a fire truck in front of them, and if you ask them if they prefer A or B, they'll say "both."…read more
How to write an effective media release - by Nerida Kelton in Association Management (August 04)
Informed Marketing for Schools - by Brendan Watkins
Insurance, Credit Cards: The Litmus Test - By Jodie Slaughter - Two of the most well established, successful, and widely offered association affinity programs are insurance products and credit cards. By providing tangible benefits to all three participating parties -- the providers, the members, and the sponsoring associations these programs fulfill the necessary "value triangle" of any successful program…read more
Marketing for nonprofits - By Enid Ablowitz - Pink ribbons. Yellow bracelets. Thin mints. Brown grocery bags printed with "Let's Bag Hunger." All these symbols represent a cause, and a nonprofit organization whose mission it is to serve that cause. In the past, the "m" word (marketing) wasn't acknowledged by the purist fund-raisers, who wanted to believe that all giving was self-motivated. However, even the most staunch donor advocates generally concede that marketing has its place…read more
No More Basket Cases - By Arlene Farber - Targeted marketing means less cost and more response. Arlene Farber Sirkin shows you how. How many of you have too little to read? Too little to do? Too much time? People are getting more selective in how they spend their most valuable resource – their time…read more
Nonprofit Marketing Should Focus On Message And Client Needs - In working with nonprofits, I often find they operate under fallacies about marketing that seriously hamper their ability to grow their organizations. The most prevalent and limiting fallacy is that “marketing is just communications.”…read more
Public Relations: Creating Awareness is Key to Gaining Support - By Angela Hasserjian - The most advantageous aspect of public relations is that it can be of little or no cost to an organization, which is particularly why it is so important in the ever-growing not-for-profit sector. Managing public relations in not-for-profit organizations is of great importance because it allows for two main…read more
Ring-fence the jargon-seeking impulse - Let’s start communicating instead – By Ken Burnett, Contributions Magazine US - I found some new words the other day and I’ve been itching to use them. They were in an article referring to phrases and sayings of the moment that are on the point of entering our language through common usage. Not yet in our dictionaries, they’re hovering expectantly as de rigueur fashionable phraseology in the halls and corridors of today’s management élites…read more
The Baby Boomer Generation - Impact on Public Libraries Theoretical and Practical Evidence - By Maureen V Kahlert
The Conscious Evolution of Organisations: Raising Your Organisation's Profile - By Steven Bowman, Managing Director, LifeMastery - Part of the survival equation for organisations is not only to do a good job, but to be seen to be doing a good job. The issue of raising your organisations's profile therefore needs to take into account industry recognition, communication and public relations, sponsorships and strategic alliances…read more
The Extreme Communications Makeover – By Bob Sprague in Executive Update Online US - Swamped by an underdeveloped communications strategy and other challenges, the American Canoe Association pairs up with PCI Communications Inc. to paddle themselves out of the wilderness. The result sets up a makeover reveal sure to leave everyone smiling…read more
The Panel, Marketing - in Association Management (October 05)
Using the Right "Currency" - By Mark Levin - One of the great things about my job is the opportunity to work with staff and volunteer leaders all over the world. Anyone who has traveled outside the U.S. knows the excitement of new countries, new languages, and new customs. Among all of the aspects of international travel the most interesting and challenging -- just might be dealing with the different currencies. Whether its rubles, francs, pounds, marks or rands, it's always difficult to try to quickly calculate the local currency into dollars. You often find yourself walking away from a transaction muttering about being "taken" by the local newsstand or ticket counter…read more
Related Links…
McKinley Marketing - marketing articles
Power Sponsorship
Articles - Branding
Harry Potter and the Magic Brand - By Robert Passikoff. The film “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” conjured up a domestic gross of $140 million over a four-day period of time. Add the additional $191 million from 44 other countries and you are talking real box office magic… read more.
And the brand plays on - by Larry Checco in Association Management (October 05)
Brand Stand - By Cheryl-Anne Sturken, Meetings & Conventions Magazine - The notion of branding a meeting has gone way beyond hanging a banner with a logo on it. Today, it’s a critical science, and for planners it’s a way to get attendees to connect with an organisation’s identity on a subliminal level. Here’s how planners are sending a message through meetings… read more
Branding – What’s the Big Deal? - By Kendra Myers - Branding has been a corporate buzzword for many years. There’s a lot of information available on this topic. But what does it mean for a nonprofit organization? Why is it important for your organization? What should you do about it?...read more
Branding for All Budgets - By Christine A. Mohr in Executive Update - Research consistently proves that consumers make purchasing decisions based on perception of a product or service's value, which they define as a combination of price and quality. Image, reputation, and the "feel-good" nature of a relationship between buyer and seller are important elements that contribute to that perception of value...read more
Branding to Multiple Target Markets - by Vanessa Yates in Association Management (October 05)
Lessons from Barney on Meeting Brand Basics - By Caroline H. Fuchs - My son loves Barney. He sees Barney everywhere we go--on a lunch box, in the toy aisle, and on videotape. What's made Barney a household name is more than visibility; it's successful branding. No matter where Barney is seen, his image is consistent and he stays on-message…read more
Personalise Your Product - Your brand was identified by how completely you embraced the flush confidence of the times. In the aftermath of Sept. 11, and the current economic slowdown, there has been a shift in consumer priorities from materialism to things close to the heart — family, home and personal health. Today's market dictates that your club be relevant in members' lives and play a significant role in their lifestyle…read more
Rebranding MIAA to MEA - by Vanessa Yates in Association Management (October 05)
"Senseable" Branding – By Martin Lindstrom in Executive Update - Advertising ain't what it used to be. Although we are using more and more marketing resources communicating with consumers, the returns are ever diminishing. Just on the television front, by the time Americans reach age 65, they have been exposed to two million TV commercials. And don't get me started on the number of e-pitches overflowing everyone's inboxes each day…read more
The Tricky Business of Nonprofit Brands
Turning your team into passionate brand ambassadors - by Susan Walsh in Association Management (October 05)
Wireless Rebranding - By Steve Largent in Executive Update - When football star-congressman-association CEO Steve Largent stepped onto the organisational playing field with his latest charismatic endeavour — a major rebranding initiative — he held onto a game plan that aims to win over more than just his 90 employees and growing trade membership at CTIA-The Wireless Association. No, the crowd Largent aims to set cheering is already 175 million strong. Just pass the peanuts and hear his story…read more
How a Small Nonprofit Shaped a Clear, Memorable Brand (Nancy E. Schwartz) Five Steps to Low-Budget Branding for Big Results (Case Study) - Back in 1999, as the millennium loomed, the Coalition for Women's Economic Development and Global Equality (CWEDGE), faced a serious communications challenge...read more.
What is Branding? A Tutorial For Nonprofit Organizations (Nancy E. Schwartz) Branding is the art of creating a consistent, recognizable, and clear unified voice or personality that conveys your organization’s uniqueness, focus, and values. The public sees your message every day – through communicating with your employees, looking at your Web site, reviewing your print material, and even reviewing a fundraising appeal... read more.
Are you Really Working to get out the Right Messages About Your Nonprofit? When it comes to communicating through storytelling, nonprofit organizations have a huge advantage over corporations and businesses. They WISH they had the stories you have. But, what they do have at their disposal in most cases in a bigger budget and more resources... read more.
Articles - Direct Mail
Tools and Information to Assist with Direct Mail Campaigns
Case Study: Open this! What works on outer envelopes. When Planned Parenthood Federation of America (PPFA) launched its direct mail campaign against anti-birth control leader Eric Keroack, the charity trusted that the bright yellow envelope, the built-in urgency of the Air Gram insignia, and the aggressive call to action, "Fire Keroack. Support Birth Control," on some of its mail pieces would result in greater open and response rates. They didn't anticipate the real win: that Keroack would actually resign.
ADMA SMS-Marketing Code of Practice - Members of Australia’s peak body for direct marketing have agreed to a new Code of Practice for SMS (short message service) and other mobile wireless marketing technologies (MWT). The new code requires express consent from individuals before sending marketing messages, along with new guidelines for marketing to children…read more
Direct Mail: Outer Envelopes – By Robert Ford in The Nonprofit Times - What’s working, what’s new? One prevailing theory of the direct response envelope is that if you hand write it, or at least make it appear that you did, donor prospects will open it. And whether the envelope is hand-written, in color, with graphics or without, many theories of what works crowd the landscape…read more
The Evolving Direct Mail Campaign - Five years ago, when I was a full-time consultant with a marketing company that produced advertising campaigns for clubs, I stumbled onto a unique marketing idea — send out birthday cards to non-members of the community and “gift” them a trial membership to the club in honor of their special day. The idea was born out of statistical information a client shared with me after spending a considerable amount of money having a specialist analyze their club membership data…read more
The Gender Factor In Direct Mail Marketing - Women are the largest consumers by far, so why is it that direct mail is so male-biased? This month's Think Tank finds out if marketers are missing a trick…read more
Articles - Market Research
Do Your Survey Questions Spoil Your Survey Results? - By John Burnham - The good news: Online survey tools have made it easier than ever to conduct member-needs surveys quickly and inexpensively. The bad news: These technologies also make it easier than ever to conduct badly designed surveys…read more
Look Out! Environmental Scanning for Associations - By Carol Humphries - If you saw all kinds of trains moving around at a rail switch, some of them racing right toward you as you stood on the track what would you do? Yes, the right answer is to jump away – and quickly! What is amazing is that many associations act as if there are no trains coming toward them, ignoring them so they have to jump away at last minute, or sometimes not at all. Do you look around to take in all the trends, events and conditions that might affect your association, analyze them, and then use them? If so, you are using an effective strategic planning process called Environmental Scanning. If you are not, better look out before it’s too late…read more
Research, Then Revamp - By Arlene Farber Sirkin and Miriam T. Meister, CAE - Member defection has rise to unnerving levels at some associations, creating the need for more sophisticated analyses of what people want from associations…read more
Research Resources – Staying Ahead of the Curve - By John Grifferty - Whether you run a professional, trade or hybrid association, retaining members is a top priority. Lofty retention rates are usually a result of close attention to member needs and dedication to development and delivery of programs and services that address these needs. In order to stay ahead of the game, associations must go further than simply serving members' day-to-day needs but also must anticipate what they WILL need. How does an association anticipate member needs?...read more
Stakeholder Consultations - By Jane Logan - Two years ago, I was involved in a three-day multi-stakeholder consultation that gathered veterinarians, slaughterhouse operators, meat processors, farm representatives, regulators, research scientists, and animal welfare activists…read more
Articles - Sponsorship & Other Income Generation
Alternative Sources of Revenue Streams for Not for Profits - By Steven Bowman, Managing Director, LifeMastery - Many Not for Profit organisations place themselves at an unacceptably high level of risk by having only one primary source of income…read more
Attracting Corporate Sponsorship in a Depressed Economy - Is attracting corporate sponsorship in a depressed economy proving too tough a challenge? Here are several points to consider when going after corporate sponsorship opportunities…read more
Creating Sustainable Revenue And Resources Through Prosperity Consciousness In Not For Profit Organisations - “What would it take for our Not for Profit organisation to attract an abundance of resources, including money?”; “What would it look like if we had resources and money sources that were sustainable and more than we could currently imagine?”; “Why do we spend an inordinate amount of time and resources trying to attract even more resources and money that are never enough?”. These are questions that constantly arise in the strategic thinking of leaders of Not for Profit organisations…read more
Google grants - Free advertising for nonprofits - The Google Grants harnesses the power of our flagship advertising product, Google AdWords, to non-profits seeking to inform and engage their constituents online…read more
Getting the Most from Your Sponsorship Program – By Jim Andrews, NY Association Executive - Associations are drawing increasing attention from corporate sponsors. This is in part due to the fact that many associations, in their quest to increase non-dues revenue, have expanded the audience access and other benefits they offer to potential partners…read more
Finding pockets of revenue - by Stuart Ayling in Association Management (October 05)
How to Heat Up Sponsorship Sales – In Association Meetings Magazine - Sponsorship sales have never been more important to the bottom line as exhibition organizers look for new ways to boost revenue streams. Here are a dozen proven tips to help your sales efforts and build exhibitor satisfaction. The first four apply to sales management, the last eight to salespeople…read more
How to increase sponsorship revenues - by Anne-Maree Huxley in Association Management (August 05)
Last Generation Sponsorship – By Kim Skildum-Reid, PowerSponsorship - Sponsorship has grown up. Through three generations, several awkward phases, and many lessons learned, it is now finally living up to its potential. It’s multi-faceted. It’s quantifiable. And it’s widely acknowledged to be at the forefront of modern marketing. It is not just mature, it is wise. This is the Last Generation of Sponsorship. Learn how to harness the most powerful of all marketing media, and the perils of ignoring our industry's most groundbreaking trend…read more
More Eggs, More Baskets - A process for generating, screening and selecting new non-dues revenue-generating ideas - By Jim Thalhuber - “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket” may be a cliché, but it’s also a smart business strategy for nonprofit associations. Most associations live and die by the membership dollar. Developing diverse and reliable non-dues revenue streams can help your association weather difficult economic times, fuel growth and position you to better fulfill your organization’s mission—in other words, getting more eggs into more baskets…read more