There’s a lot to learn from the marketing pros
My first six months in the nonprofit environment was a real eye-opening period. I felt confident that I knew my craft, but I had a lot to learn about the culture and work style of the nonprofit (NP) environment. Sometimes tough, the lessons I learned will help me going forward. But there were a few things that the NP organization can learn from the private sector, as well.
In particular, the best practices of marketing that are routinely applied in the FP (for-profit) world can provide useful structure for the NP marketer, in large or small organizations. MarCom is essential to nonprofits, for getting people to events, encouraging donors, and even selling products. So let’s look at a few of the MarCom best practices that definitely have a place in the NP world.
These are in no particular order, and I may have missed a couple. And this was running long, so I have broken it into two parts. Let me know what you think.
Who’s in charge here?
Responsibility and the collaborative decision-making process.
In a democracy, everyone has an opportunity to speak. Each citizen gets a vote. Each vote is of equal value. After a count of votes, decisions are made.
Most businesses are not democracies. Most businesses are run by dictators, hopefully benign, who have virtual life and death power. Decisions can be made quickly, and responsibility for bad decisions is usually required.
Many nonprofits are run a lot more like democracies than most FP organizations. Staff meetings are held regularly, departments and various groups meet frequently. Everyone has a say. And depending on the leadership style of the top person, decisions are made, as quickly as possible. Responsibility for bad decisions is shared, because everybody bought in, or at least, had a say.
However, in an efficient business, somebody has to be in charge. Somebody has to watch the budget and deadlines, and ensure that the work is being done, correctly, on time, and at the right price. Each project needs one (and one only) accountable manager.
Once a decision is made, make one person responsible.
Accountability
Its not just for accountants anymore.
Many organizations see their marketing budget as a witches cauldron. They throw money in, and magic happens. Many a manager has complained to me that he was spending his marketing budget, and sales were OK to good, but he had no idea what he was getting for his money. Hearing this always makes me cringe. This is the manager who, when times get tough, is going to cut the marketing budget to save money. This should never happen. Marketing is an investment, not an expense. And like any investment, it needs to be closely monitored and managed. Accountability in marketing is not just a slogan. It is a necessity. Each program should include goals, a budget, milestones and deadlines, and a post-action debrief.
If you are leading a team, do your best to get the right people. Get people, be they staff or vendors, who will do what they say, when they say they will. Be proactive to get the other resources you need to do the job properly. And set reasonable expectations, so that people have a realistic idea of what to expect.
Accountability in marketing is based on measurable goals like: “we expect between 1000 and 2000 leads from this mailing,” “this ad will produce 200 leads and 5 new customers,” “this mailing will bring us between $200,000 and $500,000 in new pledges,” “we expect this press release to result in 2 national stories and 10 regional articles,” or “this campaign will bring us 10 new major donors, 20 renewals, and 200 new, smaller donors.” You see what I mean? These are measurable results.
Every well-planned MarCom effort includes anticipated results. And every campaign should feature a full-team, post-campaign debrief in which you look how the execution went, the results of the effort, and how to do it better the next time. Marketing is a repetitive endeavor. Even an effort that provides better-than-expected results should be looked at to see how you exceeded your goals, and to determine if it was a fluke or replicable. Obviously, efforts that don’t meet expectations need to be looked at closely to see why you missed your estimated return. Remember, while there is still a lot of art to marketing, most of it is science.
Test, test, test
In which the author merely teases...
How do you know what’s best in marketing and communications? You test, test, test.
MarCom testing is the research that makes MarCom a science. You can test message, demographic selections, imagery, different media, and different options within a type of media. You do this testing by setting up small, controlled experiments, and evaluating the results.
Testing is really important, so I’m going to devote an entire chapter of this blog to it exclusively. Stay tuned for it next week.
You (often) get what you pay for
Volunteers, and the hazard of the lowest bidder.
Volunteers are great if they can do the job you need done. However, because MarCom is such a strategic function in the organization, the use of volunteers has to be carefully planned. For example, I think nearly anyone can stuff envelopes properly. But I want a skilled professional designing my website, or writing a press release.
Also, I generally advise against using a lowest-bidder budgeting plan. If your vendors are bidding too little, they may not be making enough money to provide support when you need it. It’s important to build a reliable team of vendors, so that when you get in a deadline bind, they are willing to help you. Low bidders have less loyalty. I typically prefer a low-middle bid, all else being equal.
There are plenty of other best practices in nonprofit MarCom. The next chapter will give you four more.
No comments:
Post a Comment