Rethinking the Concept of E-mail Marketing...

This might be the time for nonprofits and for-profits to completely rethink the concept of e-mail marketing?

Think about email as a marketing medium for a moment. On average an e-mail program inspires one out of every seven hundred recipients to make a donation or purchase something.

That’s right, the average email marketing letter achieves a 0.15% “purchase” response. In fact, only one in five individuals bother to even open an email pitch.

Maybe we should start redefining a successful e-mail marketing program on its ability to get a supporter or customer to visit a website, to "engage". Maybe the goal of e-mail marketing should be to train customers to regularly visit our website.

If the purpose of e-mail marketing is to train a supporter to interact with us, we would create different e-mails, wouldn't we?

E-mail marketers might market the organization Blog, encouraging the loyal supporters to interact with the organization by sharing a story or photos, taking a poll or posting a video .

E-mail marketers might educate a supporter or customer about how to use the products and services the organization offers. Offering cooking tips for the olive oil marketer as an example. The goal isn't to sell olive oil ... the goal is to tell somebody how to be creative with the olive oil they purchase.

E-mail marketers might share stories and photos about the loyal employees who serve loyal customers and donors.

E-mail marketers might share stories about loyal supporters and customers, helping loyal supporters feel special.

The goal of e-mail marketing could be about making people feel special. This could generate word of mouth, generating donations or sales with minimal incremental cost. This could also generate reasons for supporters and customers to visit your website.

Since only one in seven hundred customers are buying what we have to sell today. What do we have to lose?

More on this later.
Cheers!
Dave

Text Message Marketing is Hot

President-Elect Obama's "Vice President Pick" text message remains the most notable example of effective text message marketing in the U.S. to date.

According to a new report released by Nielsen Mobile, Americans should expect to see more text-message (short-code) marketing in the future. Given the immense popularity of texting, it's not surprising that organizations have started to ramp up their use of the medium to reach/ engage their customers and prospects.

The Nielsen study reports, marketers are using short-code marketing in a variety of creative ways: from simple information messaging, to polls, to rewards programming, to promotional couponing, and even direct purchasing.

Macy’s, Coke, Subway, McDonald’s, Jiffy Lube, Best Buy, Papa John's, Village Inn and many other major brands have also special offers through text and multimedia messaging. Some nonprofits and government agencies are also beginning to use Text Messaging, a great example is SexInfoSF and their STTD/Pregnancy prevention program.

Texting is also changing the way Americans engage with traditional media. American Idol is the most prominent example of viewers engaging with a TV program over text messaging. Radio listeners are also increasingly being called to action via text message. Companies such as HipCricket (Seattle) are leading the way using short-codes which allow radio listeners to send text messages directly to the stations to make requests, win prizes, download music and enter polls.

Share your thoughts.
Cheers!
Dave
Sharp Consulting Group, LLC

Why you need a Blog....

Your organization needs a blog. What I really mean is, your raving fan stakeholders need you to have a blog. Recognize from the start that not everybody reads it, just those nutty people who love what you and your organization does. Your blog keeps them informed and lets them interact (amplify, disagree, share, comment) with you.

Blogs are free, but they do require time and commitment. So before you start, you should sit down and outline an editorial schedule and commit to posting on a regular basis.

Make your blogs more interesting by adding photos and videos of events and members. Sign up for a photo/ video sharing site like flickr or youtube. And Make sure to add sharing functionality to your blog so that readers can email their family and friends as well as bookmark your blog to the major sharing sites (digg, stumble,technorati, etc. Go to sharethis.com and register your blog and get a "Share This" button.

Once you start blogging you will see that people will find your website easier (make sure to link your blog to your website and site to your blog). Additionally you will also find that your organization will move up in search engine ranks.

Share your thoughts.

Cheers!
Dave

What’s all the buzz about?

The big buzz in marketing for nonprofit organizations and government agencies these days is all about social networking, viral campaigns and Web 2.0 tools. Organizations of all sizes are starting to ask…Do we start a Facebook page, set up a new blog, start using Twitter, Flickr and YouTube?

Before you start using the latest and greatest social networking tools, take a moment to review your strategic business plan.

Keep it simple. Who are you trying to contact, what is your message and what benefits do you have to offer?

After all, if you just start using web 2.0 tools just because you don’t want to miss out on the latest technology or popular website, you can end up wasting a lot of time, effort and money…

So with this in mind, you may want to ask yourself three simple questions prior to starting a big, new marketing effort using the latest and greatest social networking tools:
1. Is this tool going to help us reach our target audience(s) with the appropriate message?
2. Do we have valuable information to provide via these networking venues?
3. Are the resources available to regularly update and enhance our new, social network marketing campaigns so we experience the best results?

If you answered “Yes” to these questions, then please move forward and plan how you are going to incorporate these social networking tools into your marketing and development plans.

But if you answered “No,” it may be best to do some more research about the tools and trends. This way, you’ll be able to focus your efforts on the marketing activities that will give you the best results while still being aware of new tools and technologies that are available.
Cheers!
Dave

How Wired is your Nonprofit?

Following are questions that nonprofit organizations should use to figure out how well they are doing in meeting the demands of their supporters. These questions are excerpted from Allison Fine’s new book, Momentum: Igniting Social Change in the Connected Age
(Jossey-Bass).

· Reputation Management: Do other people and organizations trust you and your organization? How do you know? How can you increase and strengthen that trust?
· Outreach: Are you reaching out to new people and organizations to learn with and from them? Do you approach networking as an opportunity to push your "brand," and/or to strengthen a connection with others?
· Recognition/ support: Do you support and celebrate your alumni and other ambassadors to other groups and communities?
· Community Building: What information are you sharing with the world? Are there other kinds of information that you could share?
· Outreach: Are your Web site and other communication vehicles inviting to strangers? Can anyone looking at your information figure out who you are? Which individuals are critical?
· Search Engine Friendly: Do your communication vehicles (e.g. Web site, brochures, plans, proposals, reports) use words that people understand, or language that says that your organization is made up of really smart people?
· Community Building: Do you think of questions from outsiders as time-suckers that need to be answered, or as the beginning of a conversation?
· Community Building/ Outreach: Do you ever introduce people for no other reason than the fact that they should know one another? Does that include introducing collegial organizations to potential partners/ alliances/ funders? What do you expect in return for these introductions?
· Sharing: Do your supporters (board members, donors, volunteers, members, friends, etc.) ever talk to one another about your organization (cause, charity, mission) without your prompting?
· Sharing: Can you help your volunteers start their own conversations, have their own meetings, and develop strategies to support your efforts?
· Recognition: Do you celebrate achievements by other organizations in your network?
· Collaboration: Do your participants (board members, volunteers, clients, collegial organizations) watch you make plans or help you to make them?

Share your ideas and comments.



Cheers!
Dave

Sharp Difference

A Blog for Those Interested in Making a Difference Through Social Marketing....

The Sharp Difference blog is for people who are interested in learning, sharing and discussing new trends in Social Marketing, Cause Marketing, Strategic Partnerships, Social Networking, Community Engagement and Development. It's aimed at building community with other professionals involved with nonprofit organizations, government agencies. socially responsible corporations and media groups.

I'm planning on sharing some observations, ideas, trends and questions that I find interesting in the hope that you will comment and share your thoughts and questions about making a difference though Social Marketing.

Cheers!
Dave Sharp
Sharp Consulting Group, LLC