Daniel Watson Today, I'm rocking one sock at work. And not just because of my long-running trials finding the matching one. It's because I support the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC), and they found a way to get me involved. In honor of today’s National Missing Children's Day, NCMEC is currently working on their #RockOneSock campaign, which found its way to me organically in my social network. After following the threads of content stitched across NCMEC's marketing channels, I ended up on their campaign hub, where I realized I had no other choice: #RockOneSock is too important (and too much fun). I have to be a part of their day. Working with some of the best causes and most-known foundations and organizations has helped me see there are core patterns that every successful PR and marketing campaign follows to connect with nonprofit supporters. #BrandYourInitiative – Even if your organization is well known Living in a fragmented, multichannel world can make it incredibly difficult for communicators and marketers to get a cohesive story in front of potential advocates and donors. For better or worse, the hashtag has become a thread across social and even traditional channels that can guide people through the maze of the internet – from Twitter, YouTube, press releases, and email to the ultimate goal – your own network. The #icebucketchallenge, for instance, has actually become more ubiquitous than the ALS Society that created it, and now it represents a huge brand asset to the nonprofit. In talking to a number of clients in the space, they offered a few simple tips for hashtagging your initiatives: keep it unbranded, keep it short, and make it more than a little mysterious. Visual Stories Are Even More Impactful for Causes than Brands While this may seem obvious and a club in the bag already for communicators and marketers in the nonprofit space, we know multimedia of any kind can help boost interactions with content distribution. Powerful multimedia, videos, personal stories, and other key assets are all more likely to resonate in search and social. According to research published by Google, online video tops the charts as the most influential source in driving a donation – and more than half of people who watch an online video make a donation afterwards. Make It About Them When St. Baldrick's Foundation, whose long-term mission has been to fund research to end all childhood cancers, went back to the drawing board with their communications strategy, they faced a challenge. "We really wanted to change the conversation around kids diagnosed with cancer, educate people on the special treatment protocols for kids, and let them know that – through the St. Baldrick's Foundation – we do have the power to give children long, healthy lives," says Traci Shirk, Media & PR Manager at the St. Baldrick's Foundation, in PR Newswire's new case study. The #KidsAreSpecial campaign was born when the foundation realized the answer to getting more people involved rested with the very people they were trying to reach. St. Baldrick's Foundation called on their audience to contribute and share photos of their own children. Doing so helped parents and potential donors recognize they can give other children the same happy moments through advocacy and support of St. Baldrick's. At the end of the day, it's important to remember that giving is contagious – and that there is a large increase in giving if potential donors see other donations being made. Narratives that reinforce your organization's success will inspire people to join and be a part of your community. Show your audience that it's sometimes a good idea to wear only one sock… or drop a bucket of ice water on themselves… or post a lot of extra pictures of their kids on social media… As long as it's for a good cause. Get more nonprofit marketing tactics by downloading St. Baldrick's Changes Narrative Surrounding Childhood Cancers. Our latest case study uncovers how the foundation used multichannel, multimedia content distribution to increase web traffic and drive nearly 13,000 image views and downloads. Author Daniel Watson is the Director of Channel, Advocacy and Partnership Marketing at PR Newswire. He leads a team in charge of developing and executing buyer-centric, demand generation and advocacy strategies to drive transformational business value and revenue for PR Newswire via technology. Daniel's focus has been bridging the gap between marketing and sales at enterprise-class organizations – leveraging customer insight, sales enablement, marketing automation and analytics to drive customer acquisition and champion customer advocacy. You can follow him at @danielchwatson. |
No comments:
Post a Comment