Posts Tagged ‘associations’

The Adult Version of Rock’em Sock’em

Monday, July 13th, 2009

Rock'em Sock'em

When it comes to meeting conference attendance goals or fundraising goals, we know that sometimes you feel like the champ, but there are also times when you’ve taken a hard hit.

The competition can be tough as you battle for your audience’s attention and commitment. Many associations are finding that marketing plans that have worked in the past are now producing poor results.

Remember the classic game Rock’em Sock’em? The hours of fun spent knocking off the block of your tough opponents? And, the strategy that went into moving your red or blue robot into position, throwing punches at the perfect time – and most importantly, to try again after defeat.

Association marketing can often feel like today’s adult version of Rock’em Sock’em. You take those hard-blowing punches when e-mail blasts give less-than-desired results, or few members are jumping on board for early-registration.

It’s times like these that you simply have to pick yourself up, and keep swinging. Think on your feet and keep an open mind to new possibilities. If the same old punches aren’t working anymore, learn some new ones. Strengthen the impact of your conference marketing with a finely tuned logo. Improve membership retention with better communication through social media. Re-think your event marketing plan.

Keep rockin’ and sockin’ to discover those block-buster punches, and celebrate with that beloved gotcha victory cry!

Rottman Creative Group

The Conference Brand Mark Podcast

Wednesday, July 8th, 2009

In this podcast we are going to attack this lesson by breaking brand marks down into five key elements. As I explain how to make your conference brand mark a successful tool in portraying the overall value of your event, you will notice a reoccurring theme of pushing the value of your event, instead of the location of the conference. So I may start to sound like a broken record, but that just reinforces the potential strength your conference logo can have.

The Conference Brand Mark Podcast

Listen Now!

Be sure you subscribe to this monthly podcast!

Rottman Creative Group

A Primer on Google Alerts

Thursday, June 25th, 2009

Previous Communication Methods

Here at RCG we love the world of social media and how it is transforming how people communicate with each other, how advertisers/marketers spread their message, and how it can connect us with each other in ways that makes the world seem smaller.

We could go on all day about the ins, outs and benefits of social media. But, today we want to touch on the first step into the world of social media: discovering what conversations are already happening (especially conversations about you – or your organization).

There are two ways to do this. First, you can spend hours each week searching the web for mentions of your organization. You may find a few news sources or blogs that make regular mention of your association, or a topic that is related to services you provide. But, it can be a very time consuming effort that gives you little information. So, we recommend the second option: using Google Alerts, a free tool that is praised by many.

The beauty of Google Alerts is that it searches the web for conversations about whatever topic you are interested in, and it brings those conversations to you – instead of you pulling your hair out while trying to rummage through inactive blogs and old forums.

It’s fairly simple to use and customize to how you prefer to receive information online. You can even set it up to “alert” you about your topic on specific websites, for example, if you are an association providing services related to victims of crime in the DC area, you can set a Google Alert for articles from the Washington Post’s website about “victim’s rights”. Whenever an article with that phrase appears, you will receive an email with a link to the article.

We hope you can see how this might be a useful tool for your organization. Here are some tips on how to get started:

  • Set up an account by visiting Google.com and going to the “Google Alerts” page.
  • Select your keywords or phrases that you want to be notified about.
  • Use quotations around phrases. For example, “North Carolina Association of Chicken Farmers”.
  • If you want to set up an alert for a specific site use this combination: “chicken farmers” site:washingtonpost.com.

This tool can help you easily target communities that are having conversations relevant to your organization. Without much effort, you have the opportunity to target your message to people who are interested and possibly in need of your services. So, go and hear what is being said about your organization. Then you can start to interact in these conversations and you might become as amazed with social media as we are.

Rottman Creative Group

Direct Mail + Social Media Marketing = Fundraising Success!

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

easy tips to help nonprofits

To compliment our recent Whitespace Newsletter about conference marketing success by integrating direct mail and social media, we put together a few tips for our nonprofit friends who are slightly more interested in fundraising.

We’ve put together 4 easy tips to help nonprofits:

  • Engage previous supporters
  • Find new prospects
  • Convert prospects to donors
  • Raise more money without greatly increasing your budget

Tip #1

Let supporters know about your presence on social networking sites. In addition to finding supporters on Facebook and LinkedIn with your current email list, you can also inform them about connecting with the nonprofit through these channels with short blurbs on direct mail pieces, emails and the organization’s website.

Tip #2

Respond to feedback from social networking sites, and share it with supporters who are likely keeping up with the organization through direct mail or email. The nature of social networking is that it allows users to provide instant feedback – the good, the bad, and sometimes the ugly. We’re not going to touch on how to handle the bad or the ugly, but we think you should sing the good feedback from the rooftops! Well, not exactly, but we do recommend you share it on direct mail pieces and emails, just like any other testimonial.

Tip #3

Integrate the campaign logo and theme across all mediums. Some organizations feel that their online marketing has to have a different “brand” than the rest of their marketing. This has potential to confuse the audience. We recommend using the same logo and theme for your fundraising campaign, despite how you are communicating with potential supporters. However, this does not mean you can use the exact same message, word-for-word on your direct mail piece as used on the nonprofit’s Facebook Fan page.

Tip #4

A popular trend (and useful tool) on Twitter is to tag posts with a hash tag (#), plus a keyword. This helps identify what the post is about, but also makes it easy to find when conducting searches. One of the most popular tags is #charitytuesday. This tag is used, you guessed it, on Tuesdays. Twitter users will post something about their favorite nonprofit and include this tag, hoping that the post will help raise awareness.

Alerting Twitter followers about upcoming direct mail pieces will peak their interest and let them know you need their help in raising awareness about the campaign. This is a great opportunity for nonprofits during a fundraising campaign with the potential to encourage matching gifts and referrals.

Rottman Creative Group

What is social media marketing?

Tuesday, June 16th, 2009

What is social media marketing?

Fairly soon your lives will be enriched with another edition of our newsletter, White Space. This month’s topic is on integrating social media marketing and direct mail – safely and effectively! But, we thought it might be best to have a quick and dirty lesson on social media marketing.

Let’s start with seeing what Wikipedia has to say:

“Social media marketing is an engagement with online communities to generate exposure, opportunity and sales. The number-one advantage is generating exposure for the business, followed by increasing traffic and building new business partnerships. Common social media marketing tools include Twitter, Blogs, LinkedIn, Facebook and YouTube.”

Social media marketing is…

  • A conversation. Brands/companies/organizations talk to consumers, consumers talk about, – most importantly consumers talk to each other.
  • Word of mouth advertising.
  • A chance to hear what people are saying about you, because whether or not you join the conversation – they are still going to talk about you.


Social media marketing is not…

  • A trend. It’s a shift in how we communicate.
  • Simply joining Facebook. You have to participate.
  • Going to ruin your reputation (if you are wise about it).
  • Controlling online conversations. It is about listening and engaging.

Rottman Creative Group

Relief Effort for Pakistani Refugees

Tuesday, June 9th, 2009

Text "SWAT" to 20222 - Donate $5

Recently we were asked to create an ad for a unique national campaign to raise funds to support Pakistani Refugees fleeing war-torn Swat Valley. As the number of men, women and children recently uprooted by the conflict in north-west Pakistan neared 2.4 million, the UN Refugee Agency stated that it is “absolutely essential” that the international community mount an immediate and massive humanitarian response. This campaign was kicked off by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton when she asked the American people to join in the world-wide humanitarian effort in Pakistan:

“Now, Americans can use technology to help, as well. Using your cell phones, Americans can text the word “Swat” — to the number 20222 and make a $5 contribution that will help the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees provide tents, clothing, food, and medicine to hundreds of thousands of affected people. And before I came over here, we did that in the State Department. So we are making some of the first donations to this fund.”

It’s an honor for us to participate in a campaign that can easily positively impact the lives of people in dire need of basics for survival. After learning about the magnitude of this refugee crisis, we set forth to design web and print ads. Here’s a little tip for nonprofits – we were able to obtain amazing pictures of refugees from the Associated Press. The photos they shared with us tell the story of desperation, need and hope better than we could explain with words. The AP is often willing to share their photos with nonprofits, and will typically offer them at a reasonable price.

Keep an eye out for our ad to appear in some national publications, but more importantly we hope you participate in the campaign. To learn more, visit www.unrefugees.org.

Rottman Creative Group

How Associations and Nonprofits Can Benefit from Using Ning

Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

In our most recent White Space newsletter we discussed conference marketing tailored to Millennials, and briefly mentioned the slight addiction to social networking among this generation. Turns out, the addiction is contagious and now the Millennials are teaching their parents how to use Facebook and Twitter.

But, did you know that those are not your only options for creating social networks? Using commercial social networks is becoming more and more popular for nonprofits and associations. But, they may not always be the best fit. This is especially true if your members are really active within your social network.

The next step up for organizations is to create a house social network, which is not as difficult and technical as you might think thanks to the help of Ning.

What is Ning?

What is Ning?Ning is an online platform for people to create their own social networks. With little time investment organizations can set up their own house social network that can add an alternative way to engage with their members and fulfill their goals or mission.

In a recent survey, nonprofits answered questions about social networking, over three-quarters of the survey respondents indicated that the network is valuable asset to their communication efforts.

Popular Features of Ning

Ning has several features that allow members to easily share information with each other.

  • Communicate with members through blogs, forums and videos.
  • Members can also interact with each other through chat and sharing pictures.
  • Communication is encouraged through the ability to form groups based on interests or geography.
  • Nonprofits can increase fundraising efforts by installing widgets to collect donations.
  • Increase event participation by posting information to your members.
  • Export your social network member data to increase your list of contacts.

Enough Talk

We’ve done some research and found some quality house social networks from organizations to help give you a picture of how this tool can increase communication and engagement in your members. Check them out, then come back and leave us a comment on what you think.

ASPCA
American Library Association
Geographical Association Network (A network for geography teachers)
Bridge Builders

Rottman Creative Group

The Best of White Space, First Edition

Friday, May 15th, 2009

Best of RCG White Space Newsletter

This week we are introducing The Best of White Space. This print version captures the highlights of our monthly e-newsletters over the past few months. Conference marketing, Twittering your annual conference and improving membership retention are just a few of the topics included in this premiere edition of The Best of White Space.

Keep an eye out for your copy to arrive on Tuesday or Wednesday of next week.

If you would like to receive a copy, simply email us at rcg@rottmancreative.com.

Rottman Creative Group

Nonprofits Benefiting from Social Media and Online Contests

Tuesday, May 12th, 2009

Friendly Competition

Bringing awareness to social issues and supporting charities is the fastest growing trend we see in social media. And lately the most successful campaigns have been ones that involve a friendly competition.

You are probably all aware of the recent Twitter challenge between popular TV star Ashton Kutcher and CNN. The heavily-publicized contest started with Kutcher and CNN battling to be the first to obtain 1 million Twitter followers, and ended with Kutcher, CNN and Oprah Winfrey purchasing mosquito bed nets to combat malaria. Kutcher also donated $100,000 to the Malaria No More Fund. The contest was talked about on everything from morning news shows to late night TV. It aided in boosting Twitter’s popularity, but also brought awareness to an important social issue.

A Facebook Contest worth $3 Million

A more popular way of using social media for online competitions is to have various charities compete for funds. Yesterday Target launched an online contest through Facebook called Bullseye Gives. The premise is that Facebook users can go to Target’s profile and vote once a day between May 10-25 to determine how Target distributes $3 million among 10 charities. The participating charities are:

American Red Cross
Breast Cancer Research Foundation
Feeding America
The HandsOn Network/Points of Light Institute
Kids In Need
National Parks Foundation
Operation Gratitude
Parent Teacher Association
St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
The Salvation Army

Although it was just launched yesterday, nearly 6,000 votes have been cast, and St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in the lead. At the end of the contest Target will tally the votes and allocate the $3 million based on the percentage of votes each charity received. The contest will result in each of the nonprofits earning some percentage of the funds, raising awareness about their organization and learning a new use for social media. As for Target, the contest is an opportunity to demonstrate their commitment to supporting nonprofits, which will enhance their brand.

The opportunity for nonprofits to win money through online contests is growing exponentially, adding another viable option for fundraising. Most of these contests will require nonprofits to sharpen their social media skills. Starting a blog, learning how to “tweet” and starting a profile page on Facebook are just the beginning. But, besides winning money through these contests, nonprofits are raising awareness and support through social media just by participating. To us it seems like a win-win situation.

Rottman Creative Group

Engaging Younger Association Members Using Social Media

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

Engaging Your Younger Members

There were countless great discoveries and advancements in 2008, but one that peaks our interest is about changes seen in usage of social media. Social media sites experienced exponential growth in 2008. In addition to seeing a continual growth in usage, many social media sites are also having a shift in their user demographics.

Let’s take a quick look at some stats from 2008 for the increasingly-popular Facebook. We’re choosing to examine Facebook because it is one of the largest social networking sites with over 200 million users around the world; therefore, we feel confident that whatever assumptions we make from Facebook’s stats, will be true other social media sites.

  • By mid-2008 the fastest growing age demographic was 35-54 year olds
  • The 24-35 age population doubles every 6 months
  • Over 66% of all Facebook users are over the age of 21


What can we take away from these numbers?

First, social media is obviously not just something for teenagers. Second, more young professionals and Gen-Xers found their way in the jungle of social media. They figured out the tools, downloaded apps, learned new lingo and joined the online conversation…or in many cases, started new conversations online. These are people who are full of energy and want to get involved in worthy organizations, say, like your association or nonprofit!

Identify networks of users and online conversations that make sense for your organization. Ask yourself what is it about these social media/networking sites that are attracting millions and millions of people? Take it a step further and brainstorm how you can join the party in effective and strategic ways to help engage younger members.

We’ve come up with a few tips to help you engage younger members of your association through the wonderful world of social media.

Social Networking

If you hang out with a group of young adults between the ages of 21- 34, you’ll notice an interesting trend. They are more likely to say, “I’ll Facebook you”, instead of asking for a phone number or email address. Social networking sites, like Facebook, give users the ability to communicate with others, share pictures, videos, blog posts, articles of interest and more. Users can also create events and invite others. A major benefit is that it allows users to keep lots of information in one place, combined with a simple way to communicate with others. Create a Facebook page for your association, and use it to inform younger members about upcoming events, share your newsletters and any other organization news, add videos and pictures and show a little bit of personality and passion – two of the most attractive qualities young professionals enjoy in any group they associate with.

Through trial and error, young professionals are setting the etiquette for balancing their personal life and professional life using social media tools. LinkedIn is considered the professional version of Facebook. It allows users to interact with each other and share information, but it has the reputation of being more serious about networking and being a place for people to build community around their career.

Multimedia

There are several sites that allow you to share multimedia with others. Nearly everyone has at least heard of YouTube and Flickr, which allow you to post and share videos and pictures. Creating an account for your organization with each of these sites is free, and allows you the opportunity to allow younger members to watch videos from previous events – which may help them RSVP to your annual conference; or, allow them to see all the great photos from the last event they attended.

Blog

Whether it is a new product, a restaurant, an event or your organization – young professionals are going to Google it before giving it a try. In addition to wanting more facts about their new item of interest they also what to get a “feel” for it before they make a decision. We recently read a statistic that said nearly 40% of consumers place more trust, and have a more positive view of brands that have a blog. There are several guides with tips on how to start a blog, if you don’t already have one. Besides posting news information about your organization, make it social as well by sharing pictures, videos and information your younger members may find interesting. Not all blog posts have to be serious and directly related to your organization’s mission – they can be fun, with the sole purpose of trying to engage readers.

At first glance it might seem like some of these suggestions don’t directly relate to your organization’s mission, and might even seem like a waste of time. But, this is how your younger members are using social media to interact with everyone (and every organization/business) that is important to them. Understanding how your younger members consume, manipulate, produce and communicate information through social media will bring you much closer to understanding them, and how to get them more involved in your organization.

For more tips on using social media, check out these blog posts:
Social Media Goes Corporate
Fitting Social Media into Your Schedule
Managing Your Professional Relationships
Using Twitter at Your Annual Conference
Twitter to the Rescue

Rottman Creative Group