Digital Arts Service Corps - communications

It's not enough to be good...

cheryl jerozal — Tue, 29 May 2007 18:50:20 +0000

The Washington Post got a world-famous violinist to play (unannounced) in a DC metro station to see what would happen.

What happened was this: of the 1097 people who passed by during the almost-hour of his performance, only a few stopped to listen for a moment. The violinist did receive $32.17 in tips, which isn't too bad, but still much less than one would expect for a Grammy- and Oscar-winning musician.

So, nonprofit organizations aren't the only ones that have trouble getting people to pay attention even if they are doing amazing work. Our work needs associated communication and the proper context, too.

Nonprofit Communications 2.0

Ben Sheldon — Fri, 13 Apr 2007 16:18:35 +0000

Last week I attended NTEN's 2007 Nonprofit Technology Conference and sat in on a wonderful session entitled Nonprofit Communications 2.0: Seven Steps to Transform Your Organization. Led by Lauren-Glenn Davitian of the CCTV Center for Media and Democracy, the session provided a strong framework for nonprofits to better communicate in an increasingly networked society.

(crossposted from my personal blog)

I am also very lucky to serve with Lauren-Glenn on the editorial board of the Community Media Review.

The video itself is approximately 1 hour, 24 minutes long and worth every second, but I included my notes from the session below.

Community building talent is the single most important resource in the modern world.

Peter Drucker

How to engage and mobilize members

A Communications framework for thinking about how organizational objectives are met through interaction. The correlating Development framework is in parenthesis.

Welcome (Prospect)
Educate (Cultivation)
Ask (Involvement)
Thank (Stewardship)

The Seven Steps

Assessment: Defining your goal (What behavior are you trying to change in undertaking a communications strategy?), audience (an explicit, targeted "who" and their values), evaluating your infrastructure (orthodoxies, structure, time, leadership)
Awareness: Start by searching NTEN, TechSoup, Idealware, etc. (Link Research)
Training: A discipline of doing things. How are stories told, infrastructure built and actions communicated to regular people?
Content Production: "The currency of the new world"
Technical Support: An example: how to know when to build and when to buy
Partnerships: Who is going to stand up for you?
Planning: What are the components that revolve around your goal?

Marketing Strategies For Your Website

Kevin Bulger — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 16:17:36 +0000

I have been given the task to increase the viewership and participation in www.sflregionalequity.org (a website dedicated to achieving greater equity in the Southeast Florida region through promoting and enabling affordable housing, transit-oriented development, stronger neighborhoods, and equal access to education and health).

I believe in the cause and I think demand for the website is out there. However, I did not know how to best get the word out. At first I spent approximately 60 hours identifying 1800 possible organizations and local activists who would possibly be interested in the purpose of the site. I then went ahead and emailed and snail mailed invitations to the website with very little response. I believe that of the 1800 pieces of mailings I received 2 phone calls and 7 emails. So that tactic did not get the results I was hoping for.

Next, I decided to create an e-newsletter through Constant Contact. The Collins Center already has an account with them so there is no additional cost to the website. Otherwise, It would cost over $300 a year to run the newsletter. However, I can not use my current email list to send out newsletters because if a certain percentage unsubscribe from the newsletter the account will be cancelled, thereby ruining the service for the whole organization (Constant Contact has a strict NO-SPAM policy). So that tactic could possibly produce the desired results, but it could also get me in some hot water with the Collins Center if the service gets cancelled.

After I spent some time reviewing my ineffective attempts, it became clear that the website needs an informed and focused marketing plan. I scheduled a "Marketing for Nonprofits" seminar this week that the Collins Center was gracious enough to pay for, but one seminar can only do so much. The website is in serious need of tried-and-true marketing strategies that work, and I plain have no expertise in marketing.

Therefore my plan is to a) gain knowledge of basic marketing principles; b) identify best practices for marketing websites; and c) choose one or a combination of best practices to implement.