Wired Causes

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As I posted yesterday, this week I attended the Conexion Colombia nonprofit conference in Bogota.  A highlight was a panel of marketing experts from Oglivy (Coca-Cola’s agency here), Microsoft and Renault, who shared their marketing strategies - and their advice to nonprofits seeking partnerships with companies like theirs.  It was a goldmine of information.  Their advice spans borders - so I want to share it here.  Here are the key points, nonprofit marketing friends:

1. Great companies inspire - often more effectively than we do.

In listening to each presentation on these companies’ marketing strategies, I was struck by how skillful they were at spinning a marketing strategy that turns their products into intangibles like a better world, a life aspiration or a route to self-actualization.  Renault said, “We’re not here to sell cars, we’re here to build better lives and a greener planet.”  Their tagline: “Drive the change.”  Microsoft talked not about software but about “helping people develop to their maximum potential.”  Their Windows 7 strategy - which has been well-advertised—turned customers into evangelists by having many claim they helped create the product that makes them more productive.  Coke talked about instilling hope and optimism in people - a glass half-full ideal that is part of every single marketing message.

So, to summarize: A car company is about the environment we want for ourselves, a software company is about human potential and a soft drink company is about hope. 

Surely, folks, we can do better on the same fronts!  But we so often don’t.  We talk about our work in ways that are far less eloquent.  These companies make ads that bring tears to our eyes - and the average nonprofit appeal does not.  Let’s do better - and we do it through the next point…

2. Great marketing focuses on the person more than the product.

Each marketing strategy discussed dwelt almost exclusively on what it meant to the consumer - with little to no emphasis on the product itself.  Here’s where we go wrong - we too often talk about statistics and approaches and our organization rather than about human stories that convey our impact.  That’s like Renault talking about powertrains or Coke focusing on bubbles.  We must show what do we do for PEOPLE (or animals or trees), and for the donor.  Which brings me to the next point…

3. To break through, build a relationship with an audience around emotion.

That’s what all of these companies do well.  They don’t think of the transaction of buying their product.  They highlight the emotional benefits of the experience.  Nonprofit marketing folks: the lesson here is don’t think of the transaction of a donor giving you money.  Highlight the emotional impact and the lives changed. 

4.  To work with corporations, show you understand their needs and meet them.

The companies then discussed how and why and when they do cause-related marketing.  They gave VERY good advice to the nonprofits.  Just as they focus on understanding their marketplace and meeting its needs, nonprofits approaching them need to understand their marketplace - and the needs of the company.  Companies exist why?  To make a profit.  Nonprofits need to recognize this will never change - but it doesn’t mean that a company and nonprofit can’t work together.  If a company has a goal that is complementary to the nonprofit’s aims - and achieving that goal enhances their brand while making the world a better place—partnerships can be successful.  But you have to make that case to a company to get support. 

As Oglivy put it: “Link with our business agenda.  Don’t just ask for funds; Offer a program that provides mutual benefits.”

Here is their advice:

1. Make sure your mission is compatible with the company’s brand and aims.  This is essential.

2. Make sure you have a program that is sustainable.  A company may not be able to support it forever - but they want the social impact and good stories to last.

3. Frame what you do in a way that would be interesting to the company’s customers.

4. Show how your work matches the company’s brand, audience and business aims.

5. Propose a program that has real goals and steps - it shows you know your stuff and can have real impact.

6. As you work together, keep reinforcing the good results to maintain momentum in the partnership.

The last point is critical, because we’re in lean times.  The people in a company who support you must keep making an internal case as to why precious resources should go your way.  Help them keep the support going by continually reinforcing the mutual benefits.  If you have them, you have a better chance of keeping your funding. 

Left: Director of Marketing Catalina Mejía and Right: Executive Director Ángela Escallón Emiliani of Conexion Colombia.

I’m at the Conexion Colombia nonprofit conference in Bogota, where I spoke on Robin Hood Marketing and online outreach - and where I got to hear from a Colombian marketing guru as well as a panel of corporate marketing executives.  I want to share some of what I learned in one post today, another tomorrow.  What was most clear was this: Good marketing principles are the same, anywhere in the world.

Gabriel Perez, professor of marketing at the University of Los Andes, and someone who has marketed everything from Chiclets to cars, had these universal insights to offer:

1. Old school.  Perez said marketing used to work like this:  A company would think it had an offering that was so important, people would come looking for it - and buy it.  Unfortunately, this is how I think much of nonprofit marketing still operates - we have a great cause, so we expect people to know about it - and give.

2. Modern marketing.  For-profit marketers have realized this isn’t enough.  The point of marketing isn’t to offer what we think is best - it’s to listen to consumers, understand their needs, and innovate to meet those needs.  Marketing in this way permeates an entire organization, because it fuels product development, not just promotion.  This is what great companies do - and what nonprofits need to do.  What do your donors want?  What do your beneficiaries feel?  How can you structure all you do to meet their needs better?

Note from Beth: It’s vacation week for me, not publishing much this week or next accept for guest posts and a few book reviews or if I find inspiration.  This guest post was written by Rob Reed. He is the founder of MomentFeed, a location-based marketing, strategy, and technology firm.
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Inspired by the great work that nonprofits do every day, I called on some of the smartest people I know in the nonprofit fundraising world to help me write this eBook and give you 50 creative ideas that you can start using today to raise more money for your cause. 

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