Skip to main content

Tag: marketing

Unique Ways to Engage with Non-Profit Donors

Posted on by

I love helping nonprofit organizations with their marketing strategy and implementation. I have 15 years experience working with nonprofits and here is a peek into why I am so keen on helping them. Find unique ways to engage with non-profit donors.

Why my Heart is into Helping Non-Profits

People Spread Love

Nonprofit organizations are unique manifestations of good ideas that serve communities. Here in the Teton County, WY/Teton County, ID area we have over 400 nonprofits serving this region. Organizations do so much to serve the community’s needs in ways that government agencies and for-profit companies can not. The important work that nonprofits provide sparks a lot of motivation in me to serve them.

Founder of People Spread Love

I founded a nonprofit, People Spread Love nearly 7 years now. The mission of People Spread Love (PSL) is to empower communities to write notes of love to those facing adversity.  This act of kindness expresses empathy and revives human connection across community lines. PSL had very humbling beginnings, very grassroot style with compassionate volunteers at the helm. This 501c3 nonprofit organization is now stepping into a new phase with funding our very first People Spread Love Starter Kit program. This is an exciting time for me and my Board of Directors and for the community that has loved and supported us for many years now. As part of the Starter Kit program, I put together these clever and fun hand drawn postcards to be included in the kits and as a way to entice our donors to donate to PSL’s operational costs.

Hand Drawn Postcards for LOVE

Like many nonprofit organizations there is a need to engage with donors in unique ways. This angle is a creative one. As Galentine’s Day, Valentine’s Day and Random Acts of Kindness Week is right around the February corner, I thought it wise to release these designs in late January to get a jump start on getting these into the hands of our donors. I put the postcards up as an incentive when donating a certain amount to PSL. I’ve priced the postcards as a way that was less expensive than a greeting card you would already buy from a shop/grocery store (those suckers are nearly $5-8 a pop these days – yikes!). This example of an incentive is a practical one, away to reconnect or express love to someone you care about.

"You'll Ramen in my Heart" postcard
"You have a Pizza my heart" postcard
"You Make my Heart Hop a Beat" postcard
"Be Human Kind" postcard
"I love you!" postcard
Printed Products are NOT Dead & Gone

The dilemma these days is our world revolves around being online, Zooming in, and always being tethered somehow through social media. This separation from that world into the physical written word is a relief for many. This is one of many reasons that PSL is so effective and easily adopted into our volunteer’s routines. When you are marketing your nonprofit do not give up on printed products, they are still very much appreciated and effective ways to reach your audience.

Capture their attention through a unique approach like humor. Since PSL’s premise is inclusion, love, kindness and generosity, a few good puns is a complimentary vibe. The example below is a postcard mailer I helped GAP! send to donors. The postcard presented the problem and the solution, this captures the attention of the donor and gives them the call-to-action (CTA) clearly in the middle of the postcard, the QR code they can “Scan to Give.” QR codes are back and more are utilizing it in the USA.

Ways to Engage with Nonprofit Donors
Direct Mailer postcard from GAP (Girls Actively participating)
Direct mailer postcard from GAP!

Here are some other ways to engage with nonprofit donors;

  1. Monthly emails with Carefully Crafted Content with very direct call-to-actions (CTA) ie. Campaign and goal communicated directly tied to a project or program.
  2. Give them incentive to donate ie. Pun-ny postcards, stickers, etc.
  3. QR codes are “in” now and work effectively to expedite the donation process.
  4. Write and mail a “Thank You Note” – seriously that goes a very long way! Tell them what their gift went to better the community.
  5. Share your impact story – collect testimonials of people have been directly impacted by your organization. This measurable helps your donors see the impact you make on the community.

Interested in learning more about different ways to engage with non-profit donors? Let’s get coffee to chat about other ideas.

Brands Need to Make Women Feel Seen

Posted on by

“Brands need to make women feel seen as they are, not as men want them to be. That’s the big shift that needs to happen. Brands need to stop telling women how to be, and start being in service to them.”

We just couldn’t stop saying “yes, yes, yes” to this New York Times article from Mara Altman on “Yes, Marketing Is Still Sexist.” We are fascinated by how brands have marketed to women for generations with out ever truly getting them. Being a mother it is even more apparent how brands are missing the mark on reaching us. A way that we say out loud, “you get me!” Cunningham and Roberts beautifully illustrate how brands haven’t truly considered the audience they so strongly want to reach.

Trends with Women in Marketing

Women in 2021 want to feel seen and heard. The economic impact the pandemic struck on women has been devastating. Opportunities have halted for women, especially mothers. The epidemic gave female workers the realization that work can look different for them. Opportunities with remote working being normalized are constant.

Women are working. They work from home, they go to school, they are raising their kids, they are without kids, they are coupled-up. Some women are single. Many female workers delegate the cleaning or the laundry. Whether they order in, cook, build community, have family nearby, or have a chosen family to lean into. Mothers are paying for daycare, nannies, and fur babies. They try to balance their self-care, they are constantly questioning themselves, they are confident, they are all different shapes, sizes, and shades, they “Google” when they don’t know something. The key point shows women are a fluid group that makes up 51.1% of the world’s population.

NYTimes: Yes, Marketing is Still Sexist

Between 1980 and 2010, women in commercials were shown in workplace settings only 4 percent of the time; frequently they were shown in kitchens, waxing poetic about the products they were selling. They were shown in kitchens so often that creatives referred to the trope in whispers as 2Cs in a K. “The K represented kitchen and you can guess what the Cs stood for,” they wrote.

Women Centered Marketing Solutions

It’s imperative that women get a seat at the table in creative decision making when it comes to marketing to women. After all, we are women and that’s the most relatable as it gets. Relating directly with the consumer you want to reach is most ideal in messaging and creative direction. From our perspective, we believe that with empathy marketing there can be lasting “business to consumer” relationships formed with great care and consideration. Here’s to more profound relatable brands that reach real women.