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Category Archives: Small Business

📧Email Marketing with Subject Lines that work

Posted on May 28, 2024 - 2:15 pm by

What stands out to you in your inbox?

Email marketing with subject lines that work will help draw in readers to increase open rate and click rate. The first things the recipients see is the Subject Line and the Preview Text, it’s true.

You’ve probably hear it a million times when you run a business, the most valuable lead you have for your business is through email addresses. If you can get into their inbox you are in the door, so to speak. When you are in the inbox, you are occupying their mind. They may not even open up the email but that first impression of your brand is in the Subject Line and in the Preview text of the e-mail. Those impression mean so much and can potentially motivate an open. Once you have them open your e-mail that’s the next step into peaking their interest. What is it that you want to share?

  • Could you be promoting a sale you are running?
  • Hoping to inspire them?
  • Share an event coming up?
  • Maybe you are asking them questions (like I am right now) to evoke thought.
  • Perhaps you are giving them some tips or tricks they can use themselves.

Emojis draw eyes to the text 👀

It’s true, emojis help bring up the inbox feed. Use emojis that draw attention and stay relatable to what you are writing about. I use getemoji.com if I’m formulating my emails via desktop so it’s easier to access the library.

E-mail Marketing Formula that works 🧪

Use a template that matches your brand. Don’t obsess over the fonts here (trust me, I will in another blog) but for emails, it’s not necessary. Fonts vary based on email client by the way. What you don’t want to do is use images only. Images only means you message is not coming through at all for all audiences. If you strive to be accessible to all users, keep your text dynamic and utilize alternative tags for all images. You want your text to be dynamic and clickable. Your header font and button font should be a color that stands out and matches your brand colors.

The most helpful emails have a summary of what they are about to read. Then following that, topics with photos/graphics, a brief summary of that particular topic and a CTA (call-to-action) bringing them to a landing page to read more/sign-up/buy now, etc. Simple formula for success we think.

The best way to tell if your emails are truly effective is reviewing the metrics like: open rate (the average industry open rate is 37.72% in April 2024) and click rate (the average industry click rate is 2%).*

Testing

Utilize the A/B Testing setting to check out the click map to see what performs the best.
Mailchimp shares some common ways to use A/B tests to improve your marketing:**

  • What day of the week gets better open rates?
  • Does a subject line with an incentive or a teaser work best?
  • Does including your company name in your subject line increase engagement?
  • Is it better to use your name as the From name, or your company’s name?
  • Does the time of day an email is sent affect the click rate?
  • Are subscribed contacts more likely to click a linked image or linked text?
  • Do subscribed contacts prefer an email that contains a GIF or one with static images?

Don’t take unsubscribes personally. Watching unsubscriber activity might seem like a bad thing but it’s actually doing you the favor of narrowing down your audience. You want your audience to stick around to learn more about you and your offerings. If they aren’t engaging with your content they may not have the time or desire to read what you put so much time into. Focus on the audience who engages with you and experiment on what works.

Email marketing with subject lines that work:

Try different phrasing, or sales offers, or emoji to see what gets the most attention. A/B Testing is the best way to measure success here. Try different days of the week and times to increase open rates.

See samples of the subject lines that draw attention to your readers:

🍕Eat Pizza, Support the ARTS 🎨
Preview text: Join us tonight at Hand Fire Pizza 5-8 pm

👀READ 📧Email Marketing with Subject Lines that work
Preview text: Increase your open and click rate with a formula that works

🌿Grow your Garden ⚠️ without Invasive Plants
Preview text: Learn what native plants you can grow in your garden

💎Handcrafted GIFT Ideas: 💖Valentines Day
Preview text: Use Coupon code: VDAY24 for a 10% off discount

*Constant Contact: Average Open Rate – April 2024
**Mailchimp: A/B Testing

Was this helpful? Read another blog post we wrote about “Leverage the Power of Email Marketing”

Transcend Ideas Emails

😉A little plug of our own here: I like to provide our readers, clients and public information they can take and run with. Me and my team are collectors of information and if we think it’s helpful we will share it.

SUBSCRIBE NOW

Building Awareness with Marketing

Posted on March 22, 2024 - 9:00 am by
building awareness with marketing

The most effective marketing campaign is one that builds awareness on issues. They can evoke a thought, a pause, a consideration, an emotion, an action, a changed behavior, and at times all of those things over time. Learn how you can start building awareness with marketing. There are many tactics to make an awareness campaigns stick, here are some great examples:

In summary that this blog post covers:

  1. Catch Phrase
  2. Evoke Emotion with Bold Imagery/Design
  3. Consistency
  4. Educate and Inform
  5. Influencers
  6. Normalize Issues

1. Catch Phrase

A successful catch phrase will stick with the audience. Something short and sweet and easier to remember is key.

  • “Only you can prevent forest fires” from Smokey the Bear to build the awareness around what you can do to prevent forest fires.

What makes a catch phrase work:

  • Short and easy to remember/recall
  • Direct
  • Actionable (clear call-to-action)
“Only You Can Prevent Forest Fires” – Smokie the Bear

2. Evoke Emotion with Bold Imagery/ Design

When your audience evokes an emotion it leaves a lasting mark on their heart. Shock and abrupt imagery does get your attention and discomfort comes up.

When imagery stands out and colors are bold, that’s a great ingredient to a memorable campaign.

  • The plastic straws (single-use plastic) campaign
  • Quit cigarette smoking
  • Gun reform in America
“Plastic Straw Problem” – Green Peace
“Every cigarette rots you from the inside out.” – Search ‘ Smokefree’ for free quitting support

3. Consistency

Consistent is key. When you see and hear this message consistently it stays with you. You can even recall the slogan years later – that’s good and effective marketing tactic.

“This is your brain. (egg)

This is drugs. (frying pan)

This is your brain on drugs.” (fried egg in the pan)

“This is your brain on drugs” – Partnership for a Drug-Free America

4. Educate & Inform

When you offer up education to the public you are empowering them with information so they can discover what they need to do or not to do based on this new information. When a campaign lays out the desired behavior and the reason why it’s important to change it – that’s an effect campaign.

  • PlayCleanGo – Clean off your gear, clothes, dog to help the spread of invasive species
  • No Poop Fairy – Clean up after your dog and directly impact our waterways
PlayCleanGo – What are invasive species?

5. Influencers

The very definition of “influencers” are those that influence others. Many public figures (singers, actors, television personalities) know their influence on others and want to use their persuasion to promote campaigns they care about.

This is no difference today with influencers you see promoting products on social media. You may also see them share their opinion on social issues like reproductive rights, the climate crisis, etc. Building awareness with marketing is what they think about full-time in how they present themselves, how they talk, and the products they promote.

“Don’t listen to rumors about AIDS. Get the facts!” – American Red Cross
Logic’s song “1-800-273-8255” the Suicide Prevention hotline with a story about suicide ideation and asking for the help they need

6. Normalize Issues

Over the years there are many issues that are being normalized to lift stigma. When discussions are brought to the surface that many face in our society they begin to breakdown and remove the shame and stigma surrounding them. More than ever before examples of this happening now more than ever before;

  • Mental health
  • Pronouns (she/her | him/his | they/them)
  • Gender Identity – education of what it is and is not
  • Suicide Prevention
  • Body positivity
  • Race
  • Abortion
  • Sexual assault
@waltermasterson

Pronouns

♬ original sound – Walter Masterson

Womxn Life Freedom campaign

This was a privilege to work on this campaign. The women in Iran are rising up and protesting all the country and the world. This campaign is meant to build awareness of the fight for freedom of women, including those that identify as women.

Ask yourself “What would I like to evoke in my next campaign?” Consider pulling in inspiration from past campaigns that have been effective, perhaps you have a personal experience with them yourself, look into campaigns that align with your brand or have some similar audiences. I personally like working with Pinterest to pull in inspiration.

Do you need help building awareness with marketing? Contact Transcend Ideas to learn how we can help you build awareness around your messaging!

Canva AI Apps: Canva Bulk Create

Posted on March 11, 2024 - 9:00 am by

Our team is blown away at all the new apps that have come available in the past year on their site. Canva has unleashed the potential of artificial intelligence with content creation and it is a blast to work with! Enjoy this simple tutorial we’ve put together to show how you can increase your efficiency as a marketer and create content at a rapid pace by mass-creating bulk posts with the Canva AI Tool “Bulk Create” + ChatGPT.

Bulk Create Tutorial

1. Make your request to ChatGPT for how many posts / tips you’re needing.

I requested a list of 25 Nordic ski tips to enhance performance on the snow.

2. Ask ChatGPT to please arrange tips in a table.

Organize the table where [SAMPLE] as column 1, [SAMPLE 2] as column 2 as instructions for ChatGPT, etc. Copy and download the content as CSV or Copy/Paste it directly into Canva. (I used this query to return table for Nordic tips – Can you arrange the tips in a table where [TIP] is the tip number and first column, [Description] is the tip and second column, and [SUMMARY] is the longer description of the tip from above?)

3. Open Canva, navigate to Apps, Search “Bulk Create.”

It asks to upload a CSV or manual upload. I just copy and paste the columns I’m using right into the wizard. Scroll to bottom of table and hit OKAY. Hit Purple ‘Continue’ button on Bulk Create pane of Canva. (Bottom left screen once you’ve added your excel columns).

4. Now we are going to connect each of your columns to a different area of your Canva template/design.

The columns Canva recognized from my excel columns were “Tips” (Tip #), “Description”, and “Summary”. Now, right click on the element on your canva design you want a certain column to show up in. I wanted the tip number to be at the top – so I clicked/created the text box at the top, right click, and hit “Connect to Data”. This will show one of your recognized columns. Once you select your preferred column, it will show the textbox as a variable. Connect the other two columns to your data by right clicking on each of those text box elements.

5. Generate tips within the template.

Hit continue. You can choose which of the tips to create now from your excel or to create all pages. Once you click generate, all pages will generate in a different window. You can adjust sizing of text/other small adjustments for each before or after you generate the bulk pages.

6. You can schedule posts to connected apps

Schedule posts for FB or Instagram directly from Canva. Since we (Transcend Ideas) manages multiple client accounts we export the files either on our desktop or phone and schedule within our scheduling platform.

Bonus: An extra interesting use of Bulk Create is that can run this AI tool with multiple pages within one design file. That allows you to choose from your favorite formats. I recommend using different variations so your feed isn’t so redundant.

Bulk Create is made for everyone and any small business! Are you a fan of the new Bulk Create capability on Canva? Let us know! Contact Transcend Ideas today if you’d like to learn about Canva doing some heavy lifting for your business!

Why Your Brand Needs a ‘Brand Book’

Posted on February 20, 2024 - 9:00 am by
Transcend Ideas - Brand Book

In today’s competitive business landscape, establishing a strong and consistent brand identity is crucial for success. One effective tool that can help you achieve this is a ‘Brand Book.’ If you’re unfamiliar with this concept, don’t worry – you’re not alone. Many brands and businesses have yet to create one. However, investing time and effort into developing a Brand Book can save you valuable resources in the long run and significantly boost your organizational efficiency.

As we enter 2024, it’s the perfect time to prioritize organization and streamline your brand.

What is a Brand Book?

Brand book - photo stock

A Brand Book is a document or file that concisely captures and visually presents the key characteristics of your brand. It serves as a centralized resource containing essential elements such as logos, alternative logo versions, brand icons, fonts, color palettes, taglines, and other distinctive traits specific to your brand. These resources are valuable references when creating various materials for your business, acting as a personal recipe book for maintaining brand consistency.

Why Does Your Business Need to Define Brand Guidelines?

Brand consistency is key to building a strong and recognizable brand. A Brand Book plays a vital role in achieving this.

By having one, you can ensure that all branded materials created throughout your business’s lifespan adhere to a consistent visual and tonal identity. It also facilitates collaboration with external partners, such as graphic designers and writers, by providing them with a clear framework to work from. This not only saves time but can also reduce costs. Additionally, having all the components of your brand compiled in one place fosters a shared understanding of your brand’s essence among everyone involved.

How to Make a Brand Book

If you have a professional designer working on your logo and branding, you can request a Brand Book as part of their deliverables. However, if you haven’t done so, don’t worry. Creating your own is entirely feasible, regardless of your brand’s stage of development.

The preferred format for a Brand Book is a portfolio-style packaged PDF. The length will depend on the unique characteristics of your brand. It could be as concise as a single page or extend to dozens of pages. Consider including the following brand information:

  • Cover
  • Table of Contents (for larger organizations)
  • Brand History
  • Who we are
  • What we do
  • Mission
  • Values
  • Logo and its different variations (refer to this helpful resource for guidance on what to include in your logo package)
  • Icon
  • Color palette (include swatches of each brand color along with their RGB and Hex codes)
  • Typography (primary and secondary fonts, including style variations like bold and italic)
  • Photos that encapsulate your brand (could be presented in a mood board)
  • Voice (tone of voice for written deliverables concerning your brand)
  • Taglines
  • Website (including address)
  • Social media handles, platforms used, and potentially some information on your brand’s social media strategy

By investing time and effort into creating a comprehensive Brand Book, you’ll be equipping your business with a powerful tool for maintaining brand consistency and ensuring a strong and recognizable brand presence in the market.

Looking for support as you pull in items for brand identity? Reach out to our team for support today in creating a brand book!

Canva AI Apps: All You Need for Rapid Content Creation

Posted on February 16, 2024 - 9:00 am by
Canva AI - Rapid Content Creation graphic

Are you looking to have a more efficient workflow? Well, so are we! Having a one-stop shop like Canva is a lifesaver. We have all been there; there are many photos, videos, logos, and colors to work from. Canva allows you to craft the kind of professionalism that you want to see throughout your marketing. Canva saves the day again! Here is another geek-out over how great Canva is. Yeah, we are sold.

Canva has AI technology to help you get things done efficiently. Follow along and see what it has in store, and consider utilizing it or at least giving it a spin and seeing if it suits your business.

Navigate to Canva AI apps mentioned in this article by visiting Canva.com (duh), choose a Template or a Project, click into Apps (grid icon), and search for the following Apps below that may help your business. 

Top 8 Canva AI Apps

1. Bulk Create 

 Bulk Create has its own blog post here we’ve written on previously because of how much we love it. Generate dozens of social media posts within minutes with the power of ChatGPT and Canva AI and Canva templates.

2. Text to image 

Allows users to generate photos/components with just text to use on canva templates. The different filter styles create a drastically different image, cartoon styles/emo/minimalistic, and more.)

3. Magic Eraser

Operates just like the Magic Lasso tool to erase in Photoshop – This is within the image editor to help remove a distracting element. Select this tool within a template, edit the photo, and select Magic Eraser from the options.

Canva AI - Magic Eraser

4. Magic Edit 

Replace a specific element on an image with something new. This only works on actual images, not branded material. Select your image. Right-click, set an image as the background. Click edit photo. Click Magic Edit (Beta). Select your brush size, and brush over what item you’d like to replace in the image, type what to replace the item with. Choose the AI-generated options it comes up with.

Canva AI - Magic Edit A
Canva AI - Magic Edit B
Canva AI - Magic Edit C

5. Magic Design 

Magic Design is currently in the Beta version, but still available for use. Users can access it from the main templates search on Canva. Upload a photo and tell it a prompt for the template style you need. It will generate a list of potential templates you can use with your content. (The placement will be slightly off, you can click into the template and make adjustments on the one you choose. Like uploading a palm tree picture and saying I need a set of minimalistic templates with ocean color palettes, etc.)

Canva AI - Magic Design templates
Canva AI - Try Magic Design

6. Magic Write 

This AI tool to come up with content quickly for social posts, etc. with a simple prompt.

Canva AI - Magic Write

7. Translate 

 Canva app, Translate your content to another language. This is a great option for quick short form writing when you need to generate items both in Spanish and English for a classroom, government agency, and more.

Chrome Extensions using Canva AI Apps

Canva Automate Maker 

Similar to Bulk Create, Canva Automate Maker is great for print-on-demand products found on e-commerce sites like Amazon, Shopify, Redbubble, etc.

We hope this article helps you to get inspired and explore some of the AI capabilities that are available on Canva. Do you have a marketing project that you’d like to utilize Canva AI Apps on? Transcend Ideas would love to help you work through the strategy to figure out what would best suit the needs of your business size and audience to reach the goals of your small business. Contact our team today!

Create Responsibly

Posted on January 29, 2024 - 10:30 am by

The Tetons beckon all to come. 

In this healing place, how do you #createresponsibly when promoting and generating content about the outdoor spaces we love while protecting them from overuse?

Responsible stewardship is the goal of all who live in the surrounding areas of Grand Teton and Yellowstone National Parks and sharing that deep commitment with others is an idea we want to resonate.

The top 6 tips for Creating Responsible Content from recreateresponsibly.org include:

Know before you go

Connect with land managers about permit requirements, weather, and local guidelines well in advance. Permits may be required and take time to process. Check for weather and hazards prior to arrival. Consider “under-visited” locations to limit your impact.

Plan and Prepare

The outdoors can be a high risk environment with conditions that quickly change. Consider terrain & arrange adequate transporation. Know and understand drone “no fly zones.” Try to film near your vehicle(s). Bring plenty of water and safety equipment.

Build a Safe and Inclusive Outdoors

Inspire others to see themselves in that space. Historically, access to the outdoors has been inequitable – we can change that. Consider the historic inhabitants of the land. Showcase all backgrounds and abilities, embrace different meanings of “outdoors”, celebrate the many ways people connect with nature.

Respect Others

Minimize impacts to others’ outdoor experiences. Avoid blocking trails, vistas or byways. Give space to people recreating or working. Think about how your presence impacts the space, try to blend in with the landscape if possible.

Leave No Trace

Respect the land, water, wildlife, and native and local communities. Follow the seven Leave No Trace principles. Always avoid sensitive habitats, Consider the impact of disclosing specific locations, use your art to educate; showcase responsible use.

Make it Better

Inspire others to respect, care for, and desire to nurture our outdoor spaces. Depict reasonable recreation in action – and behind the scenes. Provide characters with attributes that tie work, play, or culture to the outdoors. Create behind the scenes content to celebrate your backdrop and sustainable practices.

A Few More Tips to Create Responsibly for the Greater Yellowstone Area

“Tag Responsibly Jackson Hole” geotag

The Jackson Hole geotag, created for use on Instagram, was created to prevent overpopulation on trails. Grand Teton is stunning and a treasure. It’s important to not over share trails or wildlife locations to protect the places we all love.

Accurate information

Always be sure to research information on local hikes, water and recreation areas prior to sharing information. Well-informed visitors make better decisions than those not aware of all risks with recreating in any local or national park area.

Responsible sharing

Be sure to be aware of and not violate National Park laws. In Yellowstone, be sure not to step off or past the boardwalks or into thermal pools. In both Grand Teton and Yellowstone, be sure to not fly drones inside of park boundaries.

We’ve taken the pledge to #createresponsibly and we hope you will, too! Creating content that inspires and captures the spirit of the Tetons is important and so is protecting our wild spaces. Thank you for the work you do to respect the national park spaces we call home. Contact Transcend Ideas for help on your next creative project that takes place in Jackson Hole and Grand Teton National Park.

Get Social Media On Track With Loomly

Posted on January 4, 2024 - 11:15 am by
Loomly logo image

Does the idea of creating, organizing, and scheduling content for your social media calendar leave you overwhelmed and stressed? Let us introduce you to Loomly. Loomly is a social media management platform that saves the day in organizing all the moving parts that go into creating a successful message for your clients or company.

This scheduling tool for social media connects your social platforms: Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Instagram, and more in one place. You can have 2 editors and up to 10 social media accounts on their base plan.

Here are our top tips for using Loomly effectively:

Know Your Audience:

Loomly is a powerhouse tool that allows you to not only schedule content on multiple days, it also allows you to filter content. You can filter content by age group, gender, and more while building a post. The more knowledge and data you gather on your intended audience and the content they want to receive – the more power you have to drill down and market content directly to them through social media with Loomly.

Have a Defined Marketing Plan:

Loomly is not a brainstorming or content-generating platform. Define and organize the goals of your social media strategy. Gather the messaging, photo stock, and call-to-action items for your social media posts before scheduling them on Loomly. This will allow for a clear and consistent message to break through. A consistent message and call-to-action prompts are what social media users want to engage with.

Follow the Recommended Tips on Loomly:

Throughout building a social media post, Loomly offers specific and helpful recommendations on the time of day, length of post, and more that are all incredibly helpful to make sure your content receives the maximum engagement possible. Be sure to check out the hashtag generator, to learn which hashtags are trending related to your topic.

Create a Schedule:

Loomly allows for multiple editors to be working on posts and drafts you can submit for approval. There are clear color indicators from a calendar view that show your post and when content has been approved and scheduled, but it can be easy to get lost in the shuffle of multiple posts. Designate a day for quality assurance to review all messaging and posts before the following week to ensure that you can fine-tune each post by platform, as needed, and all posts are ready to go live.

Being thoughtful about the messaging you deliver, timelines, and frequency are all key pieces in developing a trusted brand. Loomly is a social media management tool that we highly recommend. It is guaranteed to help your company deliver the content you want at the right time.

Learn how Transcend Ideas can help you reach your intended audience and how we can make Loomly work for you. Having a social media management tool can help to generate the most consistent messaging and posts for your business. Reach out today!

Building a Content Strategy for Social Media

Posted on December 21, 2023 - 3:30 pm by

Developing a content strategy for your business’s social media can be intimidating. With a packed schedule, setting aside time for social media strategy might seem challenging. However, an intentional social media strategy is essential. It not only saves you time but also enhances the quality and value of your brand.

Let’s break down our recommended approach and keep it simple for you.

Step 1: Define Goals

Begin by aligning your social media marketing goals with your business objectives. Review your business objectives and consider how social media can help achieve these long-term goals.

Step 2: Identify Your Audience

Ask crucial questions about your target audience. Is the content tailored to their preferences? Which social media platforms are most effective in reaching them? It’s not necessary to post across all channels; find the ones that work best for your brand.

Step 3: Content Audit + Determine Content Pillars

Once you’ve defined your goals and identified your target audience, proceed with a content audit. Analyze the analytics of your past posts to find common qualities. This analysis forms the basis for determining your content pillars — the primary topics your business consistently addresses. Maintaining a focus on these pillars ensures your content remains organized, relevant, and authoritative.

Step 4: Organize & Plan Content

With these defined content pillars, you’re primed to initiate the content creation process. Kick things off by brainstorming a comprehensive list of content ideas, utilizing your content pillars as a guiding framework. This list will serve as an archive for your ideas, proving valuable when you find yourself in need of inspiration.

Simultaneously, establish a content calendar to strategically plan when your content will be published. This ensures your social media plan remains organized and consistently engages your audience. For an added layer of efficiency, contemplate integrating a social media scheduling platform into your workflow. While several options are available, at Transcend Ideas, we like Loomy!

Step 5: Analyze and Measure Performance

Dive into analytics to gauge content performance. Business profiles on social channels often have accessible analytics. Enhance insights using tools like Hootsuite or Semrush for a deeper analysis. 

Step 6: Keep Churning out Content

Once a strategy is established, maintain consistency. On a monthly basis, allocate dedicated time to strategize and plan your upcoming content. Being intentional with your social media will save you time in the long run.

Feeling overwhelmed? Transcend Ideas has helped numerous brands and organizations develop social media content strategies. Let us assist you, too.

Social Media Building a Content Strategy for Social Media. "Feeling overwhelmed with social media? Let's get coffee" graphic.

Non-Profit Storytelling as a Catalyst For Change

Posted on December 12, 2023 - 5:46 pm by
Transcend Ideas - Nonprofit storytelling as a catalyst for change graphic

Non-profits ignite transformation in our communities. From championing and overcoming food insecurity and poverty to resolving inequality, protecting women’s and minority rights, to creating endless innovative solutions to help curtail these and other social problems that isolate our communities and us from each other. How does storytelling play a pivotal piece in the puzzle of social issues?

Complex problems require a lot of resources and a lot of brainpower to overcome. How is it possible to create enough of a wave of excitement to generate action from viewers or your community? How do you pierce someone emotionally to the point where they feel they have to support your brand by volunteering or donating to your cause?

Storytelling. The power of the underdog and the tale-as-old-as-time triumph of the Cinderella story is what motivates viewers to send money your way. If they connect with your brand emotionally – you could have a recurring donor long-term. If you can replicate this type of reaction on a large scale, you could have the funding to make a difference with your organization.

Here are a Few Tips for Effective Storytelling with your Non-profit

Build a community

Building a community that everyone relates to requires empathy, curiosity, research, and patience. Take the time to lean into what the true goals of your nonprofit are and find a consistent way to share this message in a way that will rally others to join your cause.

Start a Conversation

Why should people be passionate about your organization? What is the problem? Can you back up your position with statistics and numbers? These are all questions you have to approach as you look at your non-profit marketing plan. Take to social media and introduce people to the social problem your non-profit is approaching and ask them their thoughts. Conversations get people curious. Starting a conversation in an interesting and creative way is a great way to get peak engagement.

Transcend Ideas - nonprofit image of food and medicine labelled boxes

Stay Curious and Strengthen Your Non-profit Messaging

Gather the Stories and Impact of Your Organization on a Blog

Gathering resources, funding, and volunteers is no small task. A great way to maintain a consistent stream of content that reaches the public and aligns with your brand values is to create blog content. Your blog can empower viewers to stand up and take action with you. How do you write in a way that moves people? Blogging is a powerful way to bring new eyes to your website and introduce your mission consistently. Google website crawlers are constantly looking over your site for new content that can be indexed. Do you have the chops to cut through with a message that resonates? 

Hit their Pain Points

Make me feel something. That’s what every internet and social media user is looking for in less than 10 seconds. How do you relate to and make someone feel involved with your mission so quickly?

Polish your Writing Tone

Find ways to use messaging in a succinct way that hits on the base instincts of self-preservation and security, creating connections, generating social change, and harnessing creativity. Utilizing these types of call-to-action messages will be most effective in getting the engagement and attention you need.

Tell the Truth

Nothing makes an impact quite like a true story. Whether it be a testimonial from someone who benefitted from your organization or a harrowing story that encourages viewers to stand up and take action. Always protect the privacy of those you receive stories from and be mindful of how to use their stories to enlist help and create an impact with your non-profits.

According to Non-profit Source, non-profits that effectively use storytelling in their fundraising efforts have a donor retention rate of 45% compared to 27% for organizations that do not focus on storytelling. Storytelling fosters a stronger emotional connection with donors and encourages them to stay committed to the cause.

Effective and powerful storytelling, additionally, brings increased donor retention, higher fundraising success, greater engagement on social media, enhanced volunteer participation, improved email response rates, building trust and transparency, humanizing the organization, and more.

Non-Profit Tech for Good Resources

Non-Profit Tech for Good is one of our favorite resources for learning about the best tools for non-profits. These help make a big difference with their webinar series. These tools and organization tips allow your non-profit message to penetrate through the distracting messages of other organizations. These same organizations are vying for the time, attention, and money of other potential donors.

Non-profit messaging appeals to the compassionate nature of our communities. Taking the time to dig deep and harness the message you want to send out to the community will come back to your nonprofit in leaps and bounds. We hope we’ve shared some ideas on how you can make some small adjustments to your nonprofit to make a big impact in attracting others to your cause.

Transcend Ideas is passionate about supporting our local non-profits. Let’s get coffee and discuss how we can promote your mission in an effective and engaging way!

The Power of QR Codes in Small Business

Posted on November 7, 2023 - 2:06 pm by
Let's Get Coffee graphic with cup of coffee in QR code for Transcend Ideas

As polarizing as they were, the pandemic-era menus at restaurants deserve credit for the revival of the QR code. Before 2020, this technology was declining, but the need for contact-free options ushered in a new era of creative QR code use within marketing. As the global QR code labels market is projected to grow by an additional 5.6 percent by 2026, exceeding $1 billion, it’s clear that they’re here to stay.

Rightfully so, as it turns out QR codes are an effective marketing tool for business owners. As nearly half of the global population owns a smartphone, most of these devices now come with built-in QR code scanning capabilities, eliminating the need for external apps that used to hinder their functionality. This is a positive development for QR code implementation since they are specifically made for mobile users.

Transcend Ideas - scan QR code for menu image

Why should you use QR codes in your small business?

  1. Connecting Print and Digital Marketing: QR codes provide a seamless link between your print materials and digital content.
    • Information-Rich Design: You can pack more information into your materials without clutter, maintaining an appealing design while delivering valuable content.
    • Enhanced Design Flexibility: QR codes allow for various design options while ensuring brand consistency. Allowing you to choose custom colors, and designs, and incorporate your own logo. 
  2. Targeted Calls to Action: Drive specific customer actions and direct them to relevant web links with ease, breaking through the digital noise.
  3. Efficient Customer Navigation: QR codes facilitate streamlined processes, connecting customers to services like Wi-Fi or customer intake forms effortlessly.
  4. User-Friendly and Cost-Effective: They are easy to implement and budget-friendly, making them accessible for businesses of all sizes.
  5. Data Tracking: QR codes are a valuable tool for tracking customer behavior and collecting analytics data, providing insights for informed marketing strategies.

Did you say Data?

As it turns out, QR codes gather rather useful analytics for businesses through their data-tracking abilities. With services like Qr-code-generator.com by .bitly, you are privy to a CSV report that offers insight; into total QR scans, the geographic location of those scans, the device, and the time the scan was made. These data specs can help business owners pinpoint the effectiveness of marketing efforts.

QR Code Ideas?

One of the many benefits of using QR codes in your marketing strategy is the flexibility they provide, allowing you to customize a highly effective strategy for your business. Given the numerous possibilities, this may seem overwhelming. Here is a list to start as you look to implement QR Codes for your business:

  1. Business Card: Create a QR code that links to a digital business card. This is especially useful in networking scenarios when you don’t have a physical business card on hand.
  2. Social Media: Restaurants, for instance, can place a QR code on their menus, allowing customers to access their social media channels instantly.
  3. Feedback: Implement a QR code on your printed materials to provide clients with a direct way to share their feedback or reviews.
  4. Website: Guide clients directly to your website, where they can find a comprehensive overview of your business concept.
  5. Location: Simplify the process of locating your business by linking a QR code to Google Maps or Waze for easy directions.

We hope our insights have inspired you to explore QR code marketing in your business endeavors. To begin creating your own customized QR codes, you can turn to various software providers. At Transcend Ideas, we favor Qr-code-generator.com! 😃

Does your team need help expanding the reach of your marketing campaigns and business? Let Transcend Ideas take some of the load off and help put QR codes to work for you! Schedule a time to get coffee with us at this link and let’s chat business!