Welcome to 2018! 'Tis the season for setting goals and preparing to rock the year with your content. Okay, maybe I added that last bit. However, this is a great time to set things straight for a successful 2018 for your business with amazing content that meets your business goals!
Let's take a look at a few essential pillars that will set you on the path toward superb storytelling this year.
Giving Tuesday is now in it's fourth year in Canada. After four years, I have to ask the question: is there something to this?
Let's look at the foundations of fundraising: a good campaign is about people helping people. Every fundraiser worth their weight will tell you that giving is all about the aggregate of the same donation equation. Giving Tuesday goes against all of that.
Last week in Canada, we experienced a great loss of an epic Canadian who shaped our fabric with his music and stories. Gord Downie is a legend in this country. He wrote songs about untold stories and helped us to better understand ourselves as a nation. Music of The Tragically Hip has a prominent place in the soundtrack of Canada.
As we mourned this loss as a nation, there were several businesses who made the brave choice to wade into the conversation - posting tributes to Gord on social media.
I read something the other day that prompted me to write this: if your communications isn’t directly serving your business goals then you’re doing it wrong.
At busy nonprofits, I know how easy it can be to lose sight of this. There’s so much going on -- requests from the leadership team, events, media requests -- I could go on and on. And with all of those daily tasks we can get bogged down and lose perspective.
Let’s take a look at some accessible and simple ways you can start measuring the impact of your work as a nonprofit communications professional.
You know the expression "different strokes for different folks". But, let's look at it from a targeted communication perspective - each segment of your audience (different folks) deserves a communication strategy that caters to their different strokes - whether that be values, tone, or content.
Let's look at a really good example of this with Knixwear's microsite for the Knixteen product line.
Transparency is more than simply showing your stakeholders the end results. Your stakeholders want to see right into your organization. With so many communication channels at your fingertips it's time to make a move on building trust with your community through greater transparency. Here are three easy and accessible ways to start building your practice and some great examples you can learn from.
Smart social: Pluck Teas takes advantage of place and circumstance to connect with their community and build relationship.
I recently had an exchange with them via social media that demonstrates how social media can help you build a tribe of ambassadors for your brand. In this case the brand was social, clever, and showed personality.
It seems the not-for-profit sector needs a good PR campaign. I work with interns and none of them want to pursue a career in the sector. I’m here to tell you: you’re missing out! NFPs are rich and exciting places to work. You get to come to work every day and create real change. That is extremely rewarding. As part of my work, I get to write the success stories of new Canadians. I hear about the very real ways that my organization has helped them find meaningful work commensurate with their experience. Pretty powerful stuff.
I’m thankful to work in the NFP sector. Perhaps you might consider it too...
