Seminar Series:

Communications on a Shoestring Budget

October 27, 2008

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Best Practices

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Communicating on a Shoestring

PSAs aren’t always the answer

• Assess your organizational needs•Fundraising? Membership? Branding? Awareness?

• Some issues don’t work well as PSAs:•Partisan•Fundraising •Advocacy•Seasonal/”Fire Safety Week”•Not “PSA-able”•Messages that only affect a small percentage of the population•Messages that are time sensitive

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Communicating on a Shoestring

Mobile Phone

Venture Outside the PSA

Box

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Communicating on a Shoestring

Whatever you do, know your audience

Conduct thorough strategic planning first•What are your organization’s challenges?•Who’s your target audience?•Who are your stakeholders?•What’s your ultimate objective?

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Communicating on a Shoestring

Make sure whatever you’re doing is measurable

• Visits to your website

• Website analytics (what people are doing on your website, how are they getting there—Gooogle Analytics)

• Calls to a toll-free number

• Ask around/informal focus groups

• Inexpensive surveys

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If you do end up advertising or marketing…

Consider a pro-bono ad agency or PR firm

• Research your local market•Make a call, make the pitch, request a meeting•One-one-one relationship is critical• Most major cities have directories of agencies & firms

• www.PRfirms.org• Ad Clubs (www.AAF.org)• AAAA’s online directory: www.aaaa.org• Book of Lists

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If you do end up advertising or marketing…

Contact local university

•Grad students always looking for projects

•Visual Communications, Colleges of Visual Arts, Portfolio Schools (grad schools)

•Academy of Art (CA-based institution), BYU (Ad Lab)

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If you do end up advertising or marketing…

Understand Your Target Audience

• Who are the low-hanging fruit that you hope to change?•What do they currently know about the issue?•How open are they to change?•How far do you need to move them before they take action?

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If you do end up advertising or marketing…

Discover Consumer Insight Through Strategic Planning

• Utilize qualitative and quantitative research to probe:•What is stopping them from action?•What message will be relevant and motivational?•How do we deliver the message?•Why would the consumer believe the message?

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Inexpensive ways to do Research

• Do a desktop review of what’s already out there (great intern project)

• Piggyback on a study already being fielded•Various vendors run weekly omnibus surveys•Ask around (like-minded nonprofits, research vendor)

• Talk to your better-funded peers who also serve the same audience or message

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Inexpensive ways to do Research

• Ask a partner to field an informal email survey • constituents

• Low cost “focus groups”•Expenses mostly involve travel and recruiting respondents•Survey friends, family, neighbors, acquaintances•Consider high schools or churches

• Feedback provides directional guidance•Don’t treat results as quantitative

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Inexpensive ways to do Research

• Online survey much cheaper than phone

• Garner consumer feedback at two critical junctures:

•Strategy•Creative

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If you do end up advertising or marketing…

Your message should says Just OneOne Thing

• Create a single-minded creative brief•Background – Why are we advertising?•Target Audience – Who are we talking to?•Strategic Insight – What will get their attention?•Main Message – What should the advertising say?•Support – Why should they believe us?•Call to Action – What do we want them to do?•Evaluation – What metric will we use to evaluate impact?

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If you do end of advertising or marketing…

Strive For Creative Excellence

• Great creative strikes a cord and motivates people to change•Talk to the audience as you would a friend• If possible, entertain them• If needed, make them uncomfortable•Once you’ve got them, don’t ask for too much

Speak to their kids about their friends…Take the keys from a drunk driver…Call 911…

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If you do end of advertising or marketing…

Take TV off the table

•Consider broad platforms that have extensive reachRadio and web banners

•Live announcer copy

Or, Create Your Own • Student contest• Hand-made videos• Give students/target audience a camera for a day/week

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• Local Media Outreach

• Rely on local partnerships/regional offices to push your issues locally

• If you are strictly national, work with community groups (boots on the ground) to perpetuate the message and give it a local face

If you do end up advertising or maketing…

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Things to Avoid

• Don’t just create some PSAs and hope they’ll get aired

• Don’t skip strategic planning each year

• Manage expectations

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Things to Avoid

• Make your website do the heavy lifting•User-friendly•Landing page matches your campaign’s message •Consider a micro site

• Don’t try and do too much at once

If you have limited resources, stick to your core mission & do it well.

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What you Should be Doing

• Understand social media. Don’t relegate it to an afterthought.•My Space, Facebook (set up a fan page),You Tube•Blogging•Viral Marketing

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Feed the Pig Web Site• 2.4 million visits

since launch

• Articles and tools

• Sign ups for weekly tip and pay day reminders

• Links to podcasts and social networking profiles

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Weekly Tip

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Podcasts

• 140,000+ subscribers

• Release monthly• Topics include:•Managing Student Loans•411 on 401(k)s•Budgeting Basics•Managing Credit Cards

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MySpace

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Facebook

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What you Should be Doing

• Leverage your Board of Directors•Are they active and helpful? Anyone with marketing, interactive or advertising expertise?

•Do you need new blood? •Keep them informed so they can serve as ambassadors & leverage their contacts

• Don’t forget Public Relations

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Thank you!