How to Help Your Board Help You

© 2013 Ben Delaney, CyberEdge Information Services

In a well run organization, the Board of Directors, Executive Director (ED), and staff are all on the same path, pulling in the same direction, working for the same goals, and speaking the same language. Here's some tips on how to achieve that in your organization.

As we've seen, organizations that embrace Systems Marketing™, enjoy coherent communications throughout the organization. Everyone on the Board and staff realizes that their speech and actions impact the perceptions of, performance, effectiveness, and sustainability of the organization. 

The Board and Executive Director have to work in a close partnership to create and sustain a high-functioning organization. This partnership impacts the entire staff, including the folks responsible for marketing and communications.

Strategic Planning

That close partnership starts with the strategic planning process. Strategic planning takes a lot of work, but it is essential to provide direction and to empower everyone in the organization to be working toward the same goals. I'm not going to provide a strategic planning primer here, but will mention a few key items that your strategic plan needs to include.

Obviously, any strategic plan needs to include goals and timelines, personnel assignments, and budget considerations. However it's also important that your strategic plan include communications goals and methods that will support all the other efforts. Your strategic plan should include messaging concepts, so that everyone in the organization is saying the same things about your work, mission, and impact. That's where your Board gets involved with the marketing communications (MarCom) efforts. Some Board members may have experience in marketing or communications and will be able to add useful insights and ideas to the strategic plan. The Board can be valuable thought partners in the MarCom messaging and methods conversation.

When I'm working on strategic planning I like every goal and activity to include a communications and/or marketing component, so that the Board and the staff appreciate the importance of communications in the success of the organization. Regardless of the Board's expertise, you want them to be aware of the importance of communications in the success of the organization, and of the fact that communications is being built in to all the plans. And of course, this bakes MarCom accountability into the strategic plan.

As an example, you might plan to issue a press release every quarter, add Twitter and FaceBook to your marketing mix, and post pictures of all your events on Pinterest. Your plan will include these specifics, as well as goals for impact and frequency of reporting on that impact. In addition, you may assign these duties as part of the plan. With some luck, you may get one or more Board members to agree to regular contributions, perhaps once or twice a year.

Board/Staff Interaction

Some organizations frown on having staff interact directly with the Board, but I think it's a good idea. It's especially good for the marketing people to be in touch with members of the Board who have experience in marketing. It's also important to leverage the Board's connections and contacts for marketing communications purposes, especially when it comes to fundraising, but ultimately, in many activities. It may very well be that certain Board members know people with areas of expertise that are going to help the marketing and communications of the organization. They may also have connections that can directly impact the success of a campaign or program. Having all this communication filtered through the Executive Director can be a waste of her time – but don't ever try to cut your ED out of the conversation. In addition, be aware of the value of your Directors' time. You don't want to overstay your welcome by bothering the Board members very often. And of course some are going to be more open to conversations than others.

When I've interacted with our Board members it's been with very particular questions. I always start by making sure the person I'm calling or e-mailing has time and is interested in the project that I'm asking their assistance with. If it's a phone call, I always start by asking, “do you have a minute?” In email, I am brief and to the point, and always include a subject line that is descriptive of what I'm going to be asking about.

Questions I have asked Board members are typically in these categories:

• I have an idea for a new product/program. What you think?
• We'd like to reach someone at this organization. Do you know someone there?
• I'm planning a campaign and I've written up a description. Would you mind looking at it and commenting?

I found that when I'm respectful of the Board members time and expertise, they're happy to help.

Here are the best ways to make ensure that you and your Board have a good working relationship:

1. Be brief and to the point.
2. Be clear in your communications.
3. Be respectful of the Board members' time.
4. Be aware of the Board members' areas of expertise.
5. Don't go to the Board very often.

When you do go to the Board make sure that you have your presentation or question together, that you're well-organized, and that you're actually ready to act on the advice you get.

I find that by following these simple rules, I've been able to establish and maintain great relations with Board members, even though I haven't been directly reporting to them. I found their advice incredibly valuable. I’m sure you will, too.

Blowing my own horn

The 2006 Springboard Schools Annual Report, which I conceived and wrote, won two gold awards from the Association of Marketing and Communications Professionals:

• Writing, Annual Report
• Nonprofit Annual Report

Thanks to everyone who helped make this such a strong document, especially Jon Rendell’s winning design, and Kathy Cole’s critical input.

Find more information, and a PDF copy of the report, here: http://www.bendelaney.com/advisor_awards07.html

Making Search Engines Work For You

The ABC's of SEM

By Ben Delaney © 2007

We all use search engines to find stuff on the world wide web. Search for restaurants, search for clothes, search for old boyfriends, search for a place to get parts for that 1957 Lionel steam locomotive. You can search for recipes, songs, even nonprofits that deserve your support.

According to Search Engine Watch, (http://searchenginewatch.com/showPage.html?page=2156461)

In March of 2006, there were more than 200 million searches done every day. Undoubtedly, these numbers have been greatly exceeded by now.

Searches	Per Day (Millions)	Per Month (Millions)
Google	91	2,733
Yahoo	60	1,792
MSN	28	845
AOL	16	486
Ask	13	378
Others	6	166
Total	213	6,400

As nonprofit marketers, questions we need to ask include: how do we get good ranking in search engines, and how do we ensure that our site shows up when someone searches for a related topic?

We talked about search engine optimization (SEO) in the last chapter. SEO techniques ensure that our site is properly seen and indexed by the search engine programs that wander around the web and look for changes. (These programs are called crawlers or spiders.) SEO helps us ensure that our site shows up in searches where our stakeholders are likely to find it. The next step is to find ways that we can use the search engines as marketing tools, to improve event attendance, increase donations, add new members, get more attention, or sell products.

In addition to SEO, there are two legitimate ways to be included in search engine results: Paid Inclusion and Paid Advertising, also known as Pay Per Click (PPC).

Paid Inclusion

Paid inclusion is simple. It means you pay the search engine to accelerate its indexing of your website. Currently, Yahoo is the major engine offering this service, charging $299 a year for a business listing. But get this: Yahoo doesn't guarantee anything and keeps the deposit regardless. Here's the verbiage from their FAQ on the subject (http://help.yahoo.com/l/us/yahoo/ysm/ds/general/submit-13.html):
"Payment is for expedited review only and does not guarantee inclusion in the directory, site placement, or site commentary. It only guarantees that Yahoo! will respond to your suggestion within seven business days, by either adding or denying the site."

In addition to Yahoo's paid inclusion system, there are many internet entrepreneurs offering a variety of submission services, with varying promises and prices ranging from nothing to several hundred, or even thousands, of dollars. As I mentioned in the SEO chapter, I use these services sparingly, and refuse to pay large amounts for their sometimes dubious services.

Another way to get on to search engine result pages is banner advertising. I'm going to talk about advertising in general later, but keep in mind that paying for an ad on a results page can give you very high page rank, at a price. Only a few general engines accept banner ads, but many special interest sites are happy to have them.

Paid Advertising (PPC)

Paid, or Pay Per Click, advertising is chosen to appear on a page because it is relevant to the search being conducted. For example, If I search for "hunting boots" I may see ads for a hunting lodge, a shoe store, an outdoor supply company, a boot manufacturer, and a rifle. You get the picture. The ads are often sold in a type of auction. I'm most familiar with Google's AdSense program, so that's what I'll use for examples.

A major concern in search engine advertising is where on the page your message appears. Page ranking refers to how high on the page your message or website appears. Obviously, being listed first on a search result is best. Being the first ad on the page is also good. Keep in mind that you want your message to appear on the screen of the searcher, no matter what screen resolution (which controls how much information is displayed at once). I call this "above the fold," a phrase which was stolen from the newspaper industry. What's above the fold on your newspaper's front page is what you see first - that's where the lead stories are. You always want your message above the fold. You can't buy placement in the search results on the major engines, so instead, you buy advertising.

When you buy ads to run on Google, after establishing an account and a budget, you create an ad or a series of ads. These are text ads of three short lines. It doesn't cost any more to run many ads, so this is an excellent place to test messages and offers (remembering the ideas from the testing chapter). Ads can be grouped into campaigns, and turned on and off. There are too many options to cover here, but the system is very flexible. For each ad you offer a bid, the most money you will pay each time someone clicks on this ad, and thereby visits your website. Bids start as low as a nickel per click.

If your competitor bids more than you did, his ad will run higher on the page. The key is bidding enough to stay above the fold.

Attached to each ad is a string of keywords. These are the triggers that are used to associate your ad with search results. These will come to match the keywords used on your website. I find that by using Google's keyword optimization tools, and testing many different ads and keyword combinations, I can develop a set of keywords that I use on both the website and in PPC advertising.

What I really like about PPC advertising is that it is almost as testable as direct response. All of the major players provide extensive reporting capabilities, so that you can tell who responded to each ad variation, when, and at what cost, as well as many other variables. Because you pay only for ads that elicit a response, and because the report systems provide so much useful information, testing PPC ads is extremely effective. And, as a bonus, seeing which ads evoked the best response provides feedback to your entire organization, because it tells you what people were looking for when they found you. That is valuable information.

A few other ways to get into search engine results

The discussion above is about getting your name on the first page of a general search. And, really, that's the very best place to be. But search engines are multi-splendored beasts, and offer many other opportunities for you to get your name and your message in front of people.

I frequently use search engines to find out what people look like, to get directions and see a neighborhood, to find merchants and services, and to get the news. Many of your constituents do too. And each of those specialized searches offer you another opportunity to get your message out.

I don't want to take too much space here to talk about secondary SEM opportunities, because I think their appropriateness to your message will be obvious . Here are a few additional paths to search engine pages:

• Blogs & Social Sites: Comments from or about you on these sites is often indexed.
  
• Business description map placements: Many engines will put a description of your business on a map.
  
• News: Press releases are almost always indexed when submitted through press ires services.
  
• Pictures: The pictures on your site can be indexed, as can photo sharing sites.
  
• Product catalogs: Many search engine companies also provide shopping information, including catalogs.
  
• Secondary engines: Many professional organizations and common interest groups run specialized search engines. As a bonus, these are often free.
  
• Video and Podcasts: Video and podcasts on your site can be indexed.

When your site is SEO'ed and SEM'ed, and you have people visiting it in droves, the next challenge demands your attention. The next chapter will talk about stickiness, the art and science of getting visitors to stay a while at your site.