NOH8 Campaign
I really love this campaign. They done an amazing job of mobilizing their base and getting people involved, getting people excited about this.
5 Beautifully Designed Websites of Nonprofit Organizations
I spend my days devising ways to increase traffic, revenue, leads, conversion rates, engagement, etc. on my clients’ websites. They are all private, for-profit organizations. Metrics and key performance indicators of nonprofit websites will be discussed in another post. In this post, I would like to post my top 5 favorite websites of nonprofit organizations. Why? Because a beautifully designed website can substantially help increase your conversion rates, if you don’t do anything else to your website.
Here are a list of 5 beautifully designed nonprofit websites (of organizations that I support):
“charity: water is a non-profit organization bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. 100% of public donations directly fund water projects.”
The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
“Carbonica is a global brand and our carbon offsets fund reforestation and forest restoration programmes in Central America.”
“Beyond Current Horizons explores the future for education, beyond 2025. The aim is to help our education system prepare for and develop an ongoing and sustainable response to the challenges it faces as society and technology rapidly evolve.”
(RED) – They work with global brands, donating 50% of profits to the Global Fund to invest in HIV & AIDS programs in Africa.
Helpful Resources:
Smashing Magazine – Nonprofit Website Design: Examples & Best Practices
DesignM.ag – 40+ Inspirational Non-profit Website Designs
Vandelay Design – 40 of the Best Websites of Non-profit Organizations
Why More Companies Should Operate like Nonprofits
I took a break from work today to flip through the June 7th edition of Forbes. The cover story caught my eye: “What Schools Can Learn From Money Managers,” but I’m not going to talk about that story here. Instead, I’m going to talk about one of the secrets in Rich Karlgaard’s article, “Recovery’s Seven Secrets.”
Purpose
Several years ago, Mr. Karlgaard had the privilege of interviewing Peter Drucker shortly before Mr. Drucker’s death. Peter Drucker spent the later part of his life studying nonprofit organizations. In fact, he “felt they are as critical to a society’s success as good government, entrepreneurs and thriving corporations,” because these organizations operate with a purpose. While most companies exist to make a profit, nonprofit organizations exist for many reasons, whether it is to raise awareness for a cause or to provide resources where private enterprise cannot (or will not). Regardless of the reason, these organizations know why they do what they do, because they operate with a purpose, “a reason for existence that transcends profits.”
While working towards a purpose might seem counter-productive at a for-profit company, working towards a common goal or a business objective will help motivate employees. There have been instances in my career where I felt like I was just completing task after task because my team needed to meet deadlines and things needed to get done. But all too often, I had no idea what I was working towards or what I was working for. I needed direction.
Luckily, I get to manage my own team now. Every month, I communicate clients’ business objectives with my team members. It can be something straight forward, like increasing sales leads from a website, or something more difficult like increasing revenue by 30% from organic search or cutting costs from paid search while maintaining the same level of revenue, and so on. Whatever the goal is, I let my team members know, so they know what they’re working towards and why they come to work everyday. I think they appreciate the open communication. We’re not working to cure malaria or anything, but at least we can help our clients’ build more successful businesses.
It’s really difficult to operate without a purpose. Let me rephrase that. It’s really difficult to operate efficiently without a purpose. It happens to large companies. It happens, especially, within the government. If you don’t know your organization’s purpose, I encourage you to walk into work tomorrow and ask your boss.
So, why should more companies operate like nonprofits? Because in the road to recovery, the companies that win are the companies that understand why they do what they do. Look at Apple. I don’t think anyone at Apple knows that we’re in a recession right now. They’re now more valuable than Microsoft. And they only own 10% of the market share for computers. Their purpose? – “Apple is committed to bringing the best personal computing experience…” A pretty lofty goal for a company that was on the brink of bankruptcy just a decade ago. But they don’t settle for anything less than “the best.” That’s why companies like Apple are going to win during the recovery, and they’re going to keep winning, as long as they don’t forget why they exist.
Inspirational Marketing Campaigns: Equinox – My Body. My Biography.
I stumbled upon this campaign today, Equinox’s $3 million dollar “My Body. My Biography.” marketing campaign, launched in January 2010. The My Body My Biography campaign was created by Yard, a NYC-based creative agency.
Mediums used to communicate the marketing message:
- Print: outdoor (billboards and posters on the sides of large buildings in high traffic metro areas) & print
- Broadcast: series of videos by Equinox members
- Online: microsite where people “can share stories about the role fitness plays in their lives” (NY Times)
When you visit the website, you’ll see pictures of Equinox members and snippets of their stories:
“Of my whole family, I’m the only one still alive.”
“You go to marathons, and you see people with no legs. If they can do it, you can, too.”
“It’s easy to take your health for granted when you have it.”
Among those that have shared their stories are cancer survivors, those living with diseases like HIV and multiple sclerosis, a CEO/mother of 5 kids and a plane crash survivor. These are real people that have triumphed over insurmountable adversity.
What’s beautiful about this campaign is that it doesn’t focus on “the results.” You’re not going to hear, “I lost 20 pounds in 2 weeks without any effort, ate whatever I want, and now I can shop at all the trendy stores.” Some of these people have lost almost everything, including their lives, faced terminal illness, or survived fatal accidents. And they share their stories of how the resources and support at Equinox have helped them overcome these seemingly impossible obstacles.
My Body My Biography focuses on the journey, not the destination. It’s about developing a better relationship with yourself. It’s about the commitment to living a healthier life.
It’s emotional, it’s compelling, and most of all—it’s real.
Campaign Gratitude: A Tribute to Our Nation’s Educators
Dear family, friends, colleagues, former classmates, former colleagues, and other people that read my blog:
Today, I am starting a letter writing campaign. Every week for the next 10 weeks, I am going to spend 20 minutes writing a letter to a teacher or professor that has made a difference in my life. I want them to know that somewhere along the way, they DID make a difference. Especially at a time when we spend more money on our prison system than our education system, and at a time where we spend more time and money fixing mistakes of older generations than investing in educating and developing our younger generations.
I would like to thank all the educators in our country for the sacrifices they have made for their students over the years.
Thank you:
- For sometimes teaching kids that couldn’t care less about going to school
- For spending your own money buying supplies for your classroom because of the budget cuts
- For staying late at school for parent-teacher conferences
- For grading the endless papers and tests
- For preparing lesson plans
- For expecting more from us
- For challenging us
- For failing us when we deserved it
- For lending your classroom at lunch so that we could have our meetings or a quite space to study
- For setting the curve at a B-
- For being our friends
- For teaching us to be open minded
- For teaching us how to be critical thinkers
- For inspiring us
- And in spite of everything, to still care about us
Thank you for your time 
Please comment on this post if you plan on joining me in writing to your teachers, professors, and past educators. And please help spread this idea!
-Grace
DoubleTree Hotels Sweet Tweets
People in my generation are connected through technology in a way that is almost overwhelming on a daily basis. I don’t watch TV, but I’m online for most of my waking hours, so I’m bombarded with countless e-mails, newsletters, articles, Facebook updates, tweets, etc. almost every waking moment.
For the past year or so, Twitter has become the “it” tool for “social media marketers.” Most people don’t know how to use Twitter for their business. (See my article, “How to Use Twitter for Your Business” for a few ways to actually do it the right way). I am not a self-proclaimed “social media expert” like many people claim to be, but I did develop a very successful social media campaign for Beats By Dre. Links: Beats By Dre Facebook, @BeatsByDre, and Beats By Dre Myspace.
Anyway, I was a very happy girl tonight when I came home from work to find a box of truffles from DoubleTree Hotels (@doubletreehtls) I had participated in some sort of informal market research via Twitter a couple of weeks ago, and this box of truffles was a thank you. As a marketing professional, I know this means they have the right to bombard me with marketing spam for the rest of my life, but hey, they earned it.
What DoubleTree Did Right:
- Market Research: used Twitter as a source for gathering information about their customers
- Engagement: they communicated with the participants of their survey and thanked them
- Tangible Freebies: we all know by now that people love free stuff, especially no-obligation free stuff. Except this time, it was tangible. I received a box of truffles IN THE MAIL!
- Purpose Driven & ROI: many companies give away a lot of free stuff, without any real objective except getting people to participate, or follow them, or something of that sort. DoubleTree got information about me that will be much more valuable to them in the future.
P.S. I just ate both of the dark chocolate truffles. I will work extra hard in Bar Method class tomorrow morning :0)
Welcome!
Welcome to Grace’s Nonprofit & Social Marketing Blog. This website will be my permanent home on the web after years of blogging on everything from Blogger to Xanga. This website will be dedicated to discussing nonprofit marketing, social marketing, and occasionally, inspired marketing campaigns.
