Nonprofit Expressions

As I look back at the past year of my companies growing pains, and lessons learned I am starting to measure how effective our efforts and methods have been.

When it comes to promoting our blog one single resource stands out to me. It was very easy to setup, and I have never touched it since. The resource I am talking about is Blog Rush. When I first saw Blog Rush I thought it was some sort of blog pyramid scheme and was very skeptical. I decided to sign up anyways, and it was really not a bad idea. Every time Blog Rush. loads up in a page, I earn possible traffic. In the last ten months I have earned over 3,000 free ads on other blogs. Most of the time this has no effect at all, but when I write interesting blog headlines, I get free traffic from people who want to read my blog. This is as close to viral marketing as text adds are going to get.

There are many ways to market your blog. This one is a setup and forget system to creating blog traffic. Give it a try, it can’t hurt.

PS: They only accept high quality blogs, if your blog is new or low quality they will reject it.

We needed a place for all of our sister companies to live! Check out our newest endeavors at www.expressions-lab.com!

One of the most common challenges that nonprofit organizations face is being able to clearly define what they DO.

Can I get an Amen?

Please don’t misunderstand, I do not mean that what they do is not important, but simply that they do so many important things that it is difficult to distinguish a purpose.

I used to coordinate grant writing trainings for SAMHSA, and the trainer (now director of Compassion by Design) used to ask “the million dollar” question: “If you had to compete for 1 million dollars in one sentence, what would that one sentence be?”

How does this have anything to do with branding?

It has EVERYTHING to do with branding! A brand is much more than a logo (although images is a huge part of it). A brand is the overall impression that an organization’s audiences have about that organization.

Just stop a second… what do you think about when you hear your organizations name?

It should be clearly defined, distinguished and one-sentence worth!

We can relate

Nonprofit Expressions is currently undergoing a lot of change. A LOT of change. We moved into a new office (Amen!), are starting a PC repair business, digging into the local web design market, and are having to re-define our purpose!

Our passion is still churches and nonprofits, but we have branched out to small businesses and individuals. So now what? “Nonprofit Expressions” isn’t going to cut it anymore. And when asked… “what do you do?”… it is hard to even know how to respond without spouting out a thousand verbs at once.

But with launching our new sister businesses this May, this is the perfect time to begin defining our brand.

Check out our new all-encompassing website: www.expressions-lab.com

So how can we begin clarifying our brand?

Start with a communications audit. Have a professional look at all of your communications materials: print, online, broadcast, etc. This will help evaluate your organization’s current capacity or performance of essential communications practices. It will tell you what is working well, what’s not and give you some important recommendations for next steps.

Next, define your publics: who has influence on your organization, and who does your organization influence (staff, members, customers, stakeholders, etc).

Then, do a survey (something simple). You can use surveymonkey.com for free, for example. Send the survey to a variety of key publics and ask them to define your organization. You will get to see your organization through the eyes of the people who matter. They might even have some great suggestions on improvement!

Other steps in this process can be a full situation analysis and SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) and even some strategies you can implement to improve your brand.

For more information on a communications audit or survey, contact Jennifer!

Do your email newsletters get read? Do they go straight to the SPAM filter? Do you get a lot of people unsubscribing?

There are plenty of factors contributing to the effectiveness of email campaigns. We are going to examine four main criteria and formulate a report card for you to use on your email campaign: first impressions, value of content, SPAM prevention and convergence effectiveness.

The purpose of an email campaign is to create convergence with the end user: build top of mind awareness, increase sales, drive people to a website or create warm leads. There are many different aspects of an email newsletter campaign which play into the effectiveness of that campaign. Of course, the ultimate test is the converge rates after an email has been mailed, but there are many methods of increasing click through rates, as discussed below.

1. First Impressions

The look & feel of the e-newsletter should match that of your organization’s branding. It should draw the reader in and create a feeling that matches it’s purpose: for example, if you are The American Red Cross, it should be professional and serious. If you are a children’s athletic organization, however, it may need to be fun and friendly. Brand repetition and top of mind awareness are very important!

The newsletter should be conventional with other types of online news sources. It should include a newsletter title, date and maybe an edition number.

The SIZE of the email should fit inside the average email inbox. An average email is 500 pixels wide, and your newsletter should not exceed the length of two page scrolls. The size of the email alone can drastically change a user’s experience. A newsletter which is so large that it is overwhelming may prevent the user from reading it at all.

Pleasing to the eye:
Dimensions in Pixels:
Reflection of branding and purpose:
GRADE:
———————————————————————————–

2. Value of Content

This is where you want to make sure you give readers a reason to stick around: a place to  donate, volunteer, visit your website, etc. News Flashes create a sense of urgency while a Tip of the Day suggests valuable solutions.

The newsletter may also includes a letter from an individual in the organization that helps the newsletter to be more personal.

FREE RESOURCES are an excellent method to pick up warm leads (people who are interested in your products). If someone will pick up a free resources by clicking through to go to your website, they may also want to donate or contribute in another way.

Sense of Urgency:
Timeliness:
Relevancy:
Engaging:
Develops Trust/ Credibility:
Offers valuable resources:
GRADE:
———————————————————————————–

3. SPAM Prevention

It is extremely important that your emails, especially if they are sent regularly, get past SPAM filters. SPAM filters rank incoming emails on a scale of 1-10. If the newsletter has too many “red flags,” for example, using words like “free,” “$$$,” “Save,” “Discount,” etc, then the email will be sent straight to a user’s junk mail.

Audience Acceptance:
Subject Line:
‘From’ and ‘To’ Lines:
Non-use of SPAM alert words:
Non-use of SPAM alert colors:
Use of bold, blue, plain text links:
One-click Unsubscribe:
GRADE:
———————————————————————————–

4. Convergence Effectiveness

As discussed in the beginning, the most important item at the end of the day is whether or not your purpose was met. I would suggest sitting down with a few staff members, defining a purpose for the campaign, and brainstorming about how you could increase your click through rates.

We have chosen criteria based on proven methods of effectiveness. It is also important to note that although you may have a number of click through links, the likely hood of readers actually clicking through is based on the value of the content combined with giving readers a reason to converge.

Inclusion of a Navigation Bar:
Forward to a Friend Link:
Placement of Images vs. Copy:
Personalization:
Placement of Most Important Information:
Click-through Links:
Subject Line:
GRADE:
———————————————————————————–

BRAIN STORM ON WAYS TO IMPROVE!

Notes: Although it is good to have the newsletter match the branding of your website, it should be different enough to identify it as an email newsletter. Another rule of thumb is that newsletters should be conventional to web standards. For example, many websites and newsletters offer click through links in their headers!

Chat rooms seem designed for teenagers and stay-at-home moms. For today’s website owner live chat technology can make a huge difference, but not through a chat room…

When someone even says the word “chat” images of AOL and Yahoo go through many people’s minds. But these free-for-all chat venues are a disappearing thing. Internet predators, virtual worlds and spammers have made sure of that. Today’s chatters go online to places like second life or onto the xbox live for live voice chat. Historically, adding a chat room to most websites is simply a loosing proposition because a chat room requires people to constantly be in the online “room.”

Chat can still be a vital component for your website. First, we must re-consider what we should expect from chat, and what it can offer us.

We must think of chat as another mechanism for communication with website visitors, and as a method of creating personalized interaction with the website. We are currently running live chat on three websites. Two of our own, and one of our clients.

The first consideration is commitment. Yes - you must be committed to being available online for chat on a regular basis. This doesn’t have to be as tough as one might think. You should erase images of being barraged with chat requests every 3 seconds, it’s just not going to happen. On occasion however you will have the opportunity to chat with one of your website visitors in real time, one-on-one.

This personal interaction is priceless. To date, I have only chatted with a few of our website visitors. After only the first time I knew this was a feature I should keep on my website forever.

In the process of having live chat (good live chat anyways) you will also have the opportunity to see who is coming onto your website, when, and from where. This is not just analytics mind you. This is real time data you receive every time a page with a “live chat” button is viewed.

When a visitor enters my website - if I am online - I can see their city of origin, what page they are looking at, and even send them a live invitation to join me for a conversation.

Another crucial element to live chat is the trust factor. When people visit a website and they see an active “chat with the website owner” button they are gaining yet another piece of trust for the website and its contents. It is the same principle as posting an 800 number and an email address all over a website to gain the visitor’s trust.

I have become such a live chat junkie that I added a link to my email signature. Now anyone with an email from me has an opportunity to chat with me!

If you do not have live chat on your website yet, you should consider it.

Click on this link and you can chat live with me right now, and if I am not online you can leave me a message. I will call you back ASAP!

The long-term effects of consistent communications
————

What’s the point of sending out email newsletters? It seems like a waste… having to write all the articles, paying someone to do the graphics design… making sure to follow all those laws… and for what?

We’ve come up with a few good reasons to conduct an email newsletter campaign, and a couple invaluable ones. First, let’s go over the logic:

1. Conducting Online Campaigns
The whole world is on the wide web. Why wouldn’t you do an online campaign? It is true that nothing replaces direct mail, personalized letters and Christmas cards… but when you get a 10 to 50 percent open rate on an email newsletter, versus an average 1 to 10 percent on a direct mail campaign, its kind of a no brainer.

2. Using Email Newsletters
If you are still reading, that means you have a brain. Of COURSE you do. You want to conduct and online campaign! You can ask your supporters to make donations online, volunteer, take action, forward information to friends, establish credibility, acknowledge partners, make announcements, and so on.

Email newsletters are the backbone of such a campaign. Why? Because consistency is critical. Potential supporters require contact with your organization at least 5 or 6 times before they recognize it. Give your organization top of mind awareness, keep current donors happy and grow your email list all at the same time!

3. Give Value to Your Supporters
Why should they donate to your organization? Your donors, volunteers and potential supporters need to know WHY. Tell your audiences about your endeavors, services, special needs, and provide advice and information that is valuable to them.

Now for the practical reasons:

1. Save Money
2. Save Time
3. Save Resources

Snail mail costs are rising. Printing costs are rising. Sure, you need someone who is computer literate to help you send out your email newsletter, but tell me that you won’t save money by not buying stamps? You can also reach your audience with almost no delay! You don’t have to wait for the printing turnaround or mailing cycle. PLUS your secretary will love you for not making her lick all those envelopes.

4. Greater flexibility
5. Better feedback
6. Detailed reporting and statistics

Today’s technology can tell you exactly WHO opened your emails and what links they clicked on. This data will help you understand their reader behavior so you know where to invest your time writing, creating tips and so on.

Email Newsletters and Churches
According to ChurchMarketingSucks.com, email newsletters may become a primary delivery vehicle for church announcements. This is a great way to cut down the clutter, save time and money, and engage church communities in online interaction (chats, forums, blog comments, etc).

Start Your Own Email Newsletter:
Nonprofit Expressions can create, write, send and analyze the consumer behavior around email newsletters. We can also do complete online campaigns! Contact us for details: info@nonprofit-expressions.com.