“Hockey Moms! You Need A Makeover” by Simon Doonan, Creative Director for Barney’s New York, is possibly the best post I’ve read all week.
Now, I know I must pick up his book Eccentric Glamour.
Image courtesy of out.com
Can flashy marketing hold a candle to candlelight marketing?
We're no cavemen, but still, "fire good!"
Yes; I made up the term “candlelight marketing.”
I needed something to represent marketing that, while enlightening and illuminating, avoids the newest bright and flashy gimmicks and trends. Jeff Brooks penned a post on the Donor Power Blog today highlighting some evidence that as individuals age, they’re less susceptible to trends and newfangled fancy-schmancies as the brain’s reward system is “dialed down.” The inspiration for Brook’s post comes from the Neuromarketing blog in the post “Marketing to the Senior Brain.” Brooks writes:
That’s why older people are less susceptible to fads and shiny new things — and instead tend to prefer trusted, well-known things. (Less gullible is another way to look at it.)
In the nonprofit industry, a significant portion – often the majority – of our donors are seniors. Understanding the psychology of this demographic is crucial to developing communication strategies that will have the most impact. We should focus on integrity, honesty, and familiarity more than trendy designs or flashy displays. Not that we should be boring or stuck in a rut. Far from it! We ALL crave new experiences that escape the status quo.
How does this translate to events? For starters, you should probably cancel that order of LED-lighted ice cubes if your core group of attendees are any older than 30 – scratch that, let’s say older than 13. Put more effort into the story-telling and the quality of the experience. By all means, make use of helpful technology, like projecting a short documentary that brings your organization’s mission to life. But you don’t need to expend valuable resources to party like it’s 2050 when your guests might be just as happy partying like it’s 2008, or 1968, or 1948…
This is not to say you shouldn’t embrace new ideas and techniques, like using online social media and Web 2.0. Nor should you ignore the next generation and what attracts them. Like I said, it’s all about understanding your audience and communicating in a relevant way.
Moral of the story: invest in quality and don’t shirk traditional techniques just because they’re traditional. There’s a reason candlelight stuck around long after the invention of the lightbulb. We all like it!
Image courtesy of http://www.sxc.hu
Event design tip: swap party themes
I found this great idea on today’s Hostess with the Mostess blog. It’s a wedding-themed Halloween party. I’m sure we’ve all heard of themed weddings (country western, anyone?) but in my opinion, it’s best to stick with a more traditional approach to such a memorable occasion. Nobody wants to look back on their wedding like that trendy tattoo you got one alcohol-fueled night in college – tacky, dated, and oh-so-irreversable. But that’s why this party theme is oh so fun! You can have a crazy wedding with none of the “this is the happiest, most important day of your ENTIRE LIFE” pressure.
In the nonprofit industry, I think there are plenty of opportunities to – taking this as inspiration – expand beyond the basic dinner & auction template. I wonder what other events you could swap around? For example, what about a “baby shower” to benefit a nonprofit working with young mothers? The key is finding something to make your event unique, memorable, and on-mission with the organization.
Does anyone have any experiences with theme-swaps like this? I’d be happy to hear about it!
Image courtesy of hostessblog.com
7 do’s and don’ts of trade show exhibiting: Tips for fundraisers
Make it obvious what you're offering, like these guys.
This week I attended my very first ISES (International Special Events Society) luncheon in Portland. The topic was “Killer ROI: Best Practices to Grow Your Business Through Trade Show Exhibiting.” The panel consisted of Michael O’Loughlin, Vice President of Blue Ocean Events; Tracy Martin, Trade Show Manager for Bravo Publications & Trade Shows; and Todd Sears, VP Sales & Marketing at Skyline Displays of Oregon. Collectively, this panel had a bevy of advice on and experience participating in, consulting on, and organizing trade shows.
Although there are significant differences between the for-profit business industry and the nonprofit industry, I listened in hopes of gleaning helpful information that can be applied to fundraising (vs. sales). I’ve seen nonprofit booths at street fairs, community festivals, and music concerts – not exactly trade shows, but close. After all, isn’t the goal (or maybe it should be) of the organization in both circumstances to reach new individuals in order to educate them, understand their needs, and give them an opportunity to fulfill both their needs and those of your organization? Whether it’s switching phone carriers or making a charitable donation, we have to think about how best to engage with people to accomplish our goals. Here’s a few tips I learned:
- DO advertise BEFORE the show (or festival, fair, etc.). The majority of attendees have decided ahead of time (before a trade show) what they are looking for and who they want to visit. So promote your attendance at the event before it begins – reach out to existing supporters and new ones you think might be interested. This could be as simple as an E-blast to let people know you’ll be making a physical appearance.
- DO have a clear goal before you set up shop. Be as specific as possible about what you hope to accomplish. For example, say “I want to sign up 10 people to volunteer with our organization each day of the event,” not “I want to tell people about our mission.” The more measurable, the better you can evaluate your results.
- DON’T give away a bunch of stuff. When you give away promotional items, you don’t necessarily attract the RIGHT people to your booth. You may just be wasting money and time on people who don’t care about what you do but just want a freebie.
- DO take advantage of physicality. Engage the 5 senses. Do what direct mail and the Internet can’t. Get creative with it, but make it relevant to your organization.
- At the same time, DON’T dilute your message with too much going on, visually or otherwise. Keep your booth’s banner straightforward: say who you are, and what you do, in a nutshell. Keep it simple.
- DO have conversations. Avoid asking yes-or-no questions. Instead, ask what interests a visitor about your organization, what they like or don’t like about something, etc. Don’t ask “Do you have any questions? Would you like some information?” etc. You’re much more likely to get short, disengaged answers.
- DO follow up on your leads within 7 days, if not 2. After 2 days, a person will have forgotten 88% of what you said to them.
Does anyone have any experience working a booth at a fair or festival for your nonprofit organization? How did it go? Was it worth it? I’d love to hear about your experience!
I’m Getting Over It…I’m Getting Back!
Oh blogosphere, I’ve missed you.
After graduation, I knew I couldn’t keep a “student” blog, and the longer I waited to update, the more intimidated I was by the task of getting caught up, reporting on life/career changes, and retooling the layout. Here is my compromise: I force myself to start posting, and have faith that the rest will follow.
A lot has happened for me in the few brief months I’ve been away:
- I graduated, magna cum laude, from the University of Oregon School of Journalism & Communication and passed with honors on my thesis. Yippee!
- I landed a job as a Development & Events Associate for a local arts nonprofit. Yippee!
- I moved back to Portland. Yippee!
- My mom moved to San Francisco to pursue her Masters in Divinity at SF Theological Seminary. We’re so proud of her, but we miss her! So it’s a bittersweet “Yippee!”
- My honey of nearly 6 years asked me to marry him. I said “YES!” Yippee, of course!
So, naturally, you can understand why I’ve shyed away from the task of reporting all this. Nor could I simply omit it and ignore some of the most life/career impacting events of my young existence. So look for more thorough updates on those events.
I’ve already got a few ideas stashed away for upcoming posts on fundraising and development, and, naturally, wedding/event planning. I realize at this point my readership has probably diminished to almost nobody, but I determined to – even if I have to start all over from scratch – once again make this a spot for the exchange of ideas, advice, questions, and just plain fun stuff.
Image courtesy of www.sxc.hu
Pardon my dust
I’m playing around with titles and graphics, so things might be screwy for a bit. Just trying to figure out what fits me, the content, etc. And WordPress’ dimensions and file type restrictions.
Now would be a good time to be techno-savvy.
HUGE changes in store
Dear Blogosphere,
Sorry I have been away so long. Between finishing the thesis, graduation, landing a fabulous job, moving, and starting work, I’ve been on hiatus from blogging for awhile.
And now that much of my “About Me” is outdated, I’m going to be doing some remodeling of this blog. Think major overhaul. New title, maybe graphics. Same content, except I’ll no longer be writing from a student perspective. I’ll actually be DOING it! Look forward to new commentary on development, donor relations, event planning, fund raising, entertaining, and whatever else catches my fancy that I can tie in.
Just hang tight until I get my Internet connected in my new apartment!
PR and Development: Let’s be friends
Thesis update: I just found out last week that I can’t publish any results of my thesis research on my blog if I want to be eligible for future publication in an academic journal. I was looking forward to sharing some of my insights but I guess I’ll have to hold off on that for a bit. What I can do is share some of my secondary research from my literature review and also talk about my process. This Friday I defend my thesis and find out whether or not my work is up to the Honors College standards. My fingers are crossed.
One thing I’ve drawn from my experiences writing my thesis and exploring career opportunities is the absolute inter-relatedness of public relations and development. Although scholars cite development as a function of public relations, it appears not to work out this way in many nonprofit organizations. Instead, public relations and development operations occur in separate departments. In fact, Kathleen Kelly, a highly-regarded researcher in the field, found that subordination of the public relations function by the development department occurred frequently in nonprofit organizations. In other words, development staff were controlling or influencing public relations activities, which could result in an unbalanced focus on donor relations at the expense of building relationships with other valuable stakeholder groups (i.e. clients/customers, legislators, community members, volunteer groups, etc.). Any way you look at it, public relations and development can’t exist exclusively of the other; they are bound to interact because both departments share (or should share) similar goals: building beneficial relationships with stakeholder groups through communication and behavior.
In my personal experience, my public relations education in the School of Journalism and Communication has been questioned or at least misunderstood by a few people in its applicability to development work. To me, it seems a perfect background to prepare me for development work, but others are confused: “Journalism? Don’t you want to work for a newspaper?” some people ask. But if journalism is essentially about communication, and communication is essential to successful relationship building, and relationship building is essential to successful public relations, and good public relations includes the function of development THEN it follows that a PR major is a great tool for going into development work.
Clearly, I’m starting to rant a bit but bear with.
In the end, what I mean to convey is that it’s all about relationships. Not just relationships between different operational tasks (like fund raising, donor relations, media outreach, etc.) but, perhaps more importantly, the relationships we cultivate between various communities. Successful development strategies MUST include relationship building in order to create long-term connections with people. Growing relationships between individuals – who have their own unique needs, desires, motivations, and interests – and organizations is incredibly valuable, nay, essential, to encouraging the sustainability and fruition of nonprofit (and for-profit, for that matter) organizations.
Image courtesy of stock.xchng
It’s almost here…
My thesis deadline and defense.
Getting a job!
Summer!
Graduation!
Moving back to Portland (granted I can find an apartment).
Yeah, I know what you’re thinking: Probably nothing, because the traffic on this blog has dwindled to next to nothing so chances are nobody’s reading this. Sad. But I PROMISE I will be back (but not with a vengeance) come June. Think of all the exciting things I’ll have to share! Yes, shamelessly plugging my future posts…
(my mind is whirling with thoughts)
Anyway, what’s happening now is I’m editing the first draft of my thesis to submit to my committee on Tuesday. I’m sitting at about 70 or 80 pages – much to my own surprise. I’ve uncovered some really remarkable stuff and I wish I could sit down with each one of you event planner/pr pros/students/anyone who will listen because that’s easier than trying to write it all. Wait, I am writing it all. But, like I said, it’s 70-80 pages and nobody wants to read that. But when I have a second I will post on young professional donors, donor motivations, benefits of special events for nonprofits, relationship management and special events, and so on. Basically, it’s about kick-ass strategies to make friends with your publics/audiences/guests/donors/communities and develop mutually beneficial relationships rather than just asking for money or telling people what they should think, feel, and do. It’s better in the long-term and much more fun.
So I hope the little teaser piqued your interest. Stand by for more.
P.S. The job search is going well; I’ve got my first big interview in 2 days. Thrilling!
Image courtesy of http://static.yuppiechef.com
Philanthroparty 
I’m incredibly embarrassed to realize I have yet to publicly express my gratitude to Lara over at ready.2.spark for her thoughtful and inspiring response to my question of how to break into the event planning biz. Hats off to her for taking the time to share her advice and experience for those of us still looking for opportunities to realize our career aspirations. For anyone who may have missed her comment, here it is in entirety:
Thank you so much for leaving a comment on my blog and directing me to yours! The answer to your question is an easy one for me. Although I wasn’t a student, I did join the special events industry 2 short years ago (from a totally unrelated industry). I knew no one. I knew nothing about events (other than the ones I had attended as a guest). My goal was simple – learn as much as I can and meet as many people in the shortest time possible. I set out to find an industry affiliation that could help me achieve my goals. After considering a few, my choice was ISES (International Special Events Society). ISES is a world-wide organization dedicated to 1) providing networking opportunities, 2) improving education of its members, 3) furthering the industry as a whole. It’s very easy to find a local chapter by visiting http://www.ises.com. I recommend that you attend an event or two before joining. Make sure the people, the content, the opportunities are relevant to you. I’ve heard a complaint from a few students that the cost to attend an event is too high. I believe in looking at your ROI (return on investment). To me, sacrificing a week’s worth of Starbucks coffee is a small price to pay for the opportunity to make great business connections.
The goal of a recent graduate should be TO MEET PEOPLE. In order to do that, you have to get out and talk to professionals. Contact the President of your local chapter (you can usually look them up on the chapter’s website) and tell them that you’re a student looking to meet professionals. Ask them if they can arrange to introduce you to members at the event. Be prepared. Write down a few questions that are important to you and use them as opportunities to engage in communication.
Next, I’d recommend that you get involved in a committee. ISES chapters are always looking for help – help to plan events, increase membership, etc. Offer your services. This will be real-life experience that you can add to a resume. This rule should apply for any organization. NFPs (not for profits) are always looking for help with their events. You won’t get paid, but you will be rewarded with an enriching experience.
Another idea is to find a company you’d love to work with and offer your services at no cost for 2 weeks. Tell them how much you’d love to work with them and communication why they’d love to work with you. Get your foot in the door and show them why you’re great. (one tip, to ensure your services are not taken advantage of, is to ensure they’re hiring or open to hiring – this way your expectations are set. It’s up to you if you want to donate your time to someone who’s not hiring, but make sure you know this before investing your time).
Lastly, image is very important…especially in this industry. Dress for the job you want. Hold your head up. Be assertive. Be nice. Be inquisitive. Be helpful. Be honest. Act as if every encounter is an informal interview. Determine what message you want to convey and ensure it’s communicated. And, most of all, enjoy yourself!