moflow Blog

New nonprofit marketing communications website launches today

2013-04-30T11:07:06+00:00

April 30, 2013– Today, moflow launches a new website for the nonprofit marketing communications community: www.nonprofitmarcommunity.com. The Nonprofit MarCommunity is a guide to delivering nonprofit marketing communications, also offering opportunities for members to share their own experiences and insights.

The Nonprofit MarCommunity is a place to learn from and share knowledge with peers and a place to feel part of a community of those delivering nonprofit marketing communications. The blog will cover a range of content including:

Practical how-to articles on everything from communications planning to graphic design to social media
Case studies of interesting nonprofit marketing communications initiatives
Book, research and product/service reviews
Expert interviews
Profiles of professionals working in the field

Members of the community are invited to contribute their own insights and expertise to the growing library of content.

“I’ve been working in the nonprofit sector since 1999 and have always felt that a space in which to connect with peers in nonprofit marketing communications was missing. In recent years, I have been struck by people’s willingness to share and desire to learn from one another, which has inspired me to launch this new site,” said Marlene Oliveira, Founder, Nonprofit MarCommunity. “I’m so excited about the Nonprofit MarCommunity and the potential it has to help people who are dedicated to marketing communications that makes a difference.”

About moflow

Moflow is a nonprofit copywriting and communications consultancy establishedby Marlene Oliveira in 2008. Moflow clients have included a range of nonprofit organizations including the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, Canadian Society of Association Executives and the Child Development Institute. Prior to establishing her consultancy, Marlene has worked in nonprofit roles since 1999, from the grassroots level to national communications management at the Canadian Diabetes Association.

For more information, contact:

Marlene Oliveira - moflow

Founder, NonProfit MarCommunity

marlene@moflow.ca

647-346-9112

Visit the NonProfit Marcommunity – www.nonprofitmarcommunity.com

Follow Marlene on Twitter – https://twitter.com/mo_flow

Get updates on LinkedIn - http://www.linkedin.com/company/nonprofit-marcommunity

Nonprofit Technology Conference: a communicator’s 1st time

2013-04-16T17:10:08+00:00

Having just returned from the Nonprofit Technology Conference in Minneapolis, I'm sharing my experience highlight through my first Storify. I'm already looking forward to next year!

View the story "Nonprofit Technology Conference: a communicator's 1st time" on StorifyNonprofit Technology Conference: a communicator's 1st timeFrom April 10-13, 2013, I attended the Nonprofit Technology Conference for the first time. While a tech-oriented conference, there is a full communications stream and I was looking forward to meeting some social media friends and 'celebs' in real life. Here's a little summary of my experience.Storified by Marlene Oliveira· Tue, Apr 16 2013 09:33:21At the gate in YYZ waiting for my flight to Minneapolis for #13ntc!Marlene OliveiraNpengageThings started off right at the opening reception. I was so pleased to finally meet Nancy Schwartz with whom I've only connected online. And at the table on my other side was the wonderful Jana Byington-Smith, who set the tone for how incredibly smart, friendly and welcoming the NTC crowd is.Met with @mo_flow at #13NTC -- looking forward to her nonprofitmarcommunity.com launch soon!Jana Byington-SmithAfter spending the morning in the first-timers orientation, my first true session was the Marketing and Fundraising meet and greet. The format was all about advice from the experts and sharing insights among peers, which was fantastic.Great session with my nonprofit marketing/communications idols! #13ntcmeet kivilm farra nancyschwartz… instagram.com/p/X-g7SIndq0/Katie BMarketing #strategy has to focus on the move to action not just increasing awareness. #13NTCmeetAFAM_NFP#13ntcmeet Your audience doesn't care what department (silo) sent them a message. Must be one voice and consistent message.Damon KirkpatrickA few proactive Canadian made sure we could find one another. The #ntcCanucks crew was so big we had to relocate (and split up) several times before finding a spot that could fit us! This evening of meeting and laughs with great people was enough to make the conference worthwhile, but of course there was much more to come.Cool. Thx! RT @Communic8nHowe: RT @SimrenDeogun: #ntcCanucks Meetup @ 7p tonite, Devil's Advocate, 89 S 10th St, Spread the word #13ntcMarlene OliveiraFriday morning's plenary featured keynote speaker Dan Pallotta. I'm familiar with his message and wanted to start my day later because I knew it was going to be a long one. Though I did follow along on Twitter to catch his key points as well as other perspectives on his talk.True @danpallotta is thought-provoking, but is he right? Read this response to his TED talk @SSIReview bit.ly/ZqOhXB #13ntcFarra TrompeterGetting a seat at NTC session proved quite difficult, but I managed to grab one at the Digital Storytelling Tools Meetup. Great overview of tools at the beginning, and speed-dating style sharing of experiences and more resources. Again, loved hearing from fellow participants.#13ntcstory slide - which network for what form of storytelling. #13ntc pic.twitter.com/72EFYD5uSmLyndal Cairns#13ntcStory Digital Storytelling Tools meetup with @zanarama at #13ntc vine.co/v/bt9IavzVPzbDebra AskanaseAfter lunch, on to Air Traffic Controlling, How to Guide Your Content from Ideation, to Creation, to Publication. This was a super-informative session. I was interested in hearing the nuts and bolts of building a community of bloggers within an organization, as well drawing in outside expertise/perspective. They delivered.Awesome content from #13ntcair about content creation from strategy to editorial calendars to the realities of managing guest bloggers!Marlene OliveiraLightbox Collaborative has a great Free Editorial Calendar @LBCollab #13ntcair - wonderful tool!mcdirkOverlap of what you want to say + what your audience wants to hear = what content you should publish. #13ntcairMelissa MillerSmart women talking about content creation: TY! @GirardinL @edutopiabetty #13ntcair Preview/highlights here: ow.ly/k17eRMarlene OliveiraMy #13NTCair prez is online bit.ly/13NTCairPPT Air Traffic Control: Guide Content From Ideation>Creation>Publication #13NTCLauren GirardinThe last session of Friday was another gem - Connect the Dots: Crafting the Arc of Powerhouse Campaigns. This session was presented by a panel of experts, along with a case study from ForestEthics.Looking forward to learning about The Arc of Powerhouse Campaigns at #13NTCdots w/ J Russel, N Schwartz, S Stanley, & M Wallbeoff. #13ntcAnn K. EmeryEvery campaign needs a goal that is winnable @NancySchwartz #13ntcdots #13ntcSue Anne ReedYour campaign needs to inspire people to act *and* get them to share it with their friends. @NancySchwartz #13ntcdots #13ntcSue Anne ReedHaving a protagonist in your story arc allows your supporter to picture themselves as part of the story. #13ntcdots #13ntcSue Anne ReedIs your campaign "story" too broad to present a coherent narrative? Focus on the story of a single person. #13ntc #13ntcdotsAbe GreenhouseRT @rootwork: Brilliant: Story of your org is a clothesline. Each campaign is pinned to it. @samarie82 #13ntcdots #13ntc #nptechDebra AskanaseThough I was really feeling like taking it easy in my hotel room, my awesome NTC tour guide James Howe not only got me out for dinner, but out to the 'hottest' party of the night. :)My badge of honor for making it out tonight. Thanks to @Communic8nHowe: awesome #13ntc tour guide & bad influence. pic.twitter.com/EYqwuBdSczMarlene OliveiraSaturday: the last day! I had the honour of being filmed for Movie Mondays by Chris Davenport so that's where I started my day.Thrilled that @mo_flow is filming a Movie Mondays! pic.twitter.com/Vnp4XbR9QKMarc A. PitmanWrapping up filming a little late meant I was hard-pressed to find a seat in any of my chosen sessions. This led to me wandering, which led to me finding Kivi Leroux Miller and interviewing her for my new site, the nonprofitmarcommunity. Score! Yet another case of meeting someone not only super-smart, but super-warm and friendly.How awesome that I managed to get a video interview of @kivilm AND she helped me with advice about my own work. #13ntc #soworthitMarlene OliveiraNext up, lunch and NTEN awards, so many of which were presented to Canadians nonprofits!Wow! Canadian Cancer Society, Ontario and BC SPCAs... Canadians cleaning up at awards ceremony #13ntcMarlene OliveiraAnd my last session was the Social Media Birds of a Feather. Loved this facilitated session that focussed on sharing stories and challenges about implementing social media. Big takeaway: start with some form of strategy. Even a sentence or two articulating why you're on social media will help you to be efficient with limited time.The @TechSoup Social Media 101 wiki may be helpful to you guys : npsocialmedia101.wikispaces.com #13ntcsmbof #13ntc #SM #strategySusan TenbyEveryone is just as confused as you are. Working through the confusion will help you grow. #13ntcsmbofSue Anne ReedLast stop before leaving, ice cream break with fellow consultants to nonprofits (#NPCons)...A mini #npcons meetup over ice cream with @mo_flow @Communic8nHowe & me at #13ntc #MarcD ow.ly/i/1TcZ8Marc A. Pitman...time for some reflection before heading back to Toronto...The #13ntc bonus material: hugs and hilarity. So much of both, and I have not met a single attendee in person before getting here!Marlene Oliveira...and final thoughts!Don't spend time measuring things that won't inform your program or future communication choices. #13NTCTakeaway @farraAvi KaplanBe curious as new digital tools emerge. Adopt only if they align with strategy + resources #13NTCtakeaway @farraMarcy RyeTechnology adds functionality but also complexity. Be smart about the tech you use and PLAN #13NTCTakeawayMarlene Oliveira#13ntctakeaway: Be inspired by the amazing work of others and learn from them. Don't just assume I/my org can't do that.Dominique HernandezThank you for a great experience, NTEN. I'll be back!

Coming soon: new website for nonprofit communicators

2013-04-08T18:27:43+00:00

This spring has been a season of intensive learning, planning and development here at moflow. Things have been quiet here on the blog because big plans are under way for a new moflow site: theNonprofit MarCommunity.

Later this month, I’ll be launching the Nonprofit MarCommunity; a new website for nonprofit marketers and communicators. The new site will be a place to learn from and share knowledge with peers, and a place to feel part of a community of nonprofit marketers and communicators. While I’ll still blog here at moflow occasionally, the bulk of my blogging will now happen over at the Nonprofit MarCommunity. Here is a little information and background on the site.

The audience

The Nonprofit MarCommunity will serve those delivering nonprofit marketing communications. This might include:

Marketing and communications professionals (e.g. coordinators, managers, directors of marketing communications)
Executive directors and other leaders with marcom in their portfolio
Other nonprofit staff (e.g. fund development, program delivery, volunteer development) pros also responsible for marcom
Marketing and communications volunteers, interns, students

The content

Nonprofit MarCommunity content will include:

Practical how-to articles on all aspects of marketing communications
Case studies of interesting nonprofit marketing communications initiatives
Relevant book, research and product/service reviews
Profiles of nonprofit marketers and communicators
And more!

The contributors

We welcome the insights of all community members including those with:

Interesting experiences to share through case studies
A willingness to step into the spotlight and be profiled
Great writing skills and story ideas to share as guest bloggers
A wish list of topics you’d like us to cover

Stay in the loop

We will launch the site in late April. To keep up to date about the launch and to subscribe to Nonprofit MarCommunity email updates, head over to our sign up page. I’ll also share more details about the launch here on the moflow blog.

Podcasts for nonprofit communicators

2013-03-19T13:47:07+00:00

Podcasts have made a real comeback in my ear buds. I realize the format is not new, and I’ll admit that I’ve even been a resister because I’m not really an auditory learner. However, it seems that the quality and variety of available podcasts is both improving and increasing, so I’m making more room for them in my listening habits.

In February, I attended the Content Success Summit, presented by Social Media Examiner, which included a number of sessions about podcasts and how to offer them to your own audience. To round out my knowledge, I subscribed to a number of the presenters’ podcasts, which in turn, led me to further explore the podcast shows available from the iTunes store.

Free, quality professional development

What I’m realizing is that podcasts are an invaluable learning resource for busy people. There is no shortage of books, blogs and other publications that I could read to stay current and learn more about marketing communications. What is limited, however, is my time to consume them; which is where podcasts come in. I can listen while working out, walking (I do a fair bit in my daily routine) and taking transit. If you have a daily car ride/commute, this is another obvious listening opportunity.

The best part: a wide range of quality podcasts are FREE. They are full of excellent content, yet free of charge! How perfect for a nonprofit communicator!

Interesting podcasts to check out

Here is a round up of podcasts that I’ve already found helpful and which might also be helpful for those in nonprofit communications:

Social Media Marketing Podcast from Mike Stelzner at Social Media Examiner

As the name suggests, this podcast covers all things social media – and content marketing - by featuring expert interviews of social media pros. Topics range from Twitter, Facebook and Google plus, to blogging and writing ebooks as well as bigger picture thinking and marketing concepts. If you are focused on building a loyal following for your nonprofit using an integrated approach, this podcast offers many nuggets and plenty of inspiration.

Marketing Smarts from Marketing Profs

Smart is definitely the key word here. This podcast gets you out of ‘how to’ mode and into the principles and strategic aspects of marketing. If you are one of the many educated-on-the-job nonprofit marketers, or your marketing degree is fading into distant memory, this podcast is a great primer and refresher. Topics include marketing operations, measurement, content, audience analysis, strategy and more.

Mad Marketing from Marcus Sheridan, The Sales Lion

I latched on to Marcus because of his experience and success with content marketing. He talks a great deal about the opportunities content marketing naturally provides to bridge the divide between marketing and sales – and the benefits of using internal experts to produce content that your customers want. I can’t help but notice the nonprofit parallels with marketing and fund development and the potential application of his ideas to also bring insights and information from volunteer development and program delivery to power the content of your nonprofit blog.

Ms. Ileane Speaks Podcast from Ileane Smith of basicblogtips.com

The primary focus of this podcast is blogging. If you are thinking about starting a blog for your nonprofit but don’t have experience with the basics, you will appreciate the very helpful, how-to information on planning, tech and content, among other topics. Ms. Ileane’s primary audience is independent bloggers, but if you are in a small nonprofit in which you have to learn and do everything yourself, Ms. Ileane’s suggestions and tips will come in handy.

I am working my way through current episodes as well as the back catalogue of each of these podcasts, so I’m likely just hitting the tip of the iceberg in my summaries. And I’m looking forward to checking out many of the other shows that are available.

What about nonprofit-specific podcasts?

Missing from the list above is nonprofit-specific content. I’ve only listened to (i.e. found!) one nonprofit communications-specific podcast, which seems to have been relatively short-lived, but the episodes are excellent:

The Nonprofit Jungle: Guide to Smart Communications from Big Duck

The episodes start in 2008 and finish in 2009, but most of the content is still very applicable, featuring insights into issues facing nonprofits, resources, and advice you can apply to your communications efforts. I particularly loved the episodes on:

Names and Acronyms
Taglines
Who are You – personify your organization

…among other gems!

There are a number of podcast shows for the nonprofit sector in general, but the Nonprofit Jungle is the only one I’ve found that is nonprofit specific (please chime in if you’ve found something I’ve missed).

Give podcasts a try

With both time and budget often being scarce for nonprofit communicators, podcasts represent a learning opportunity that you should definitely not overlook. Podcasts offer free, high quality professional development, learning and inspiration that you can fit into your schedule at your convenience. Pure awesomeness!

Are you using podcasts? What are you listening to? Have you found any other nonprofit marketing communications podcasts? Please share in the comments!

Non-profit communicator profile: Helen Reilly, Communication Specialist, Region of Peel

2013-02-25T15:00:53+00:00

Starting in 1994, Helen Reilly spent eighteen years as a communicator for The Credit Valley Hospital - including five particularly fulfilling years as Hospital Publicist. According to Helen, she developed unique expertise from her work in an environment that was very lean, but dynamic and open to innovation.

“I was able to do things differently than counterparts in other community hospitals in Ontario,” she explains. “Our team embraced the use of media such as video to achieve unique reach into the community.” For example, Helen worked with her colleagues in the hospital’s Media Services department on a quarterly news magazine show, where she was the host, to support the organization’s strategic goals.

In 2012, Helen joined Region of Peel Public Health as the Communication Specialist responsible for supporting the Communicable Disease and Environmental Health Divisions. “At Region of Peel Public Health, programs and initiatives are based on the best available evidence. In turn, communication activities to support programs and initiatives are based on evidence, supported by literature reviews by librarians and analysis by epidemiologists,” explains Helen.

“As a communicator, it’s often difficult to measure success; having access to the evidence is reassuring since I can be confident I’m working within a proven framework to successfully reach our audience,” she says. “There are no shots in the dark. We know how and why we are delivering a message and we know how we are going to measure its effectiveness.”

Helen’s role involves providing content experts such as nurses, health promoters and other internal clients with communications support. Helen provides key message development, media relations, web strategies, social media support and other unique approaches leveraging vehicles such as web-radio and initiating partnerships to reach Peel’s diverse audiences with public health messages.

Helen has also volunteered for The Healing Cycle Foundation - a volunteer-driven organization committed to increasing awareness and improving access to palliative care services in Canada - for the last six years. As part of her work with the Foundation, Helen is focused on the Kids4Kids initiative specifically for Emily’s House: the first hospice for children with life-limiting illness in Toronto and only the sixth in Canada.

Helen describes her greatest strength as her ability to ‘connect the dots’. “At Region of Peel Public Health, I’m able to connect new ideas, new media and new vendors back to the proven communication strategies we are implementing. My ability to bring something new to the table is readily embraced.”

“The most valuable lesson that I’ve learned over time is that authenticity is essential in all communications – professional and personal. Authenticity is what permits me to embrace passion in my work and to share that passion in a way that engages others.”

Connect with Helen and other non-profit marketers and communicators in our LinkedIn group or find Helen on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Willing to share your story as a non-profit marketer or communicator? Contact Marlene at contact@moflow.ca.

Do you really need another brochure?

2013-02-14T15:09:13+00:00

Does your non-profit have a ‘go-to’ tactic – and you need to get out of the rut? Is your organization’s default set to ‘brochure’, ‘buckslip’ or ‘poster’? Or has new media caused a shift to ‘e-blast’, ‘microsite’ or [shudder] ‘viral video’?

There isn’t anything inherently wrong with any of these tactics (except for thinking that you can plan for a video to go viral). But when non-profits fall into the trap of jumping straight to tactics, they fail to consider what might be the best way to reach a specific audience. Jumping to a tactic is an indication of not having thought about the audience for the communication at all.

For non-profit communicators working with limited budgets, it’s worth slowing down to think about the right tactics to meet your communications objectives. Seemingly inexpensive, cheap, or even so-called free tactics still cost your organization in terms of valuable human resources. And if you’re not using the right tools for the job, that’s money and time wasted anyway!

How to break the ‘go-to’ habit

The first step is to identify why this default approach might be happening:

Culture: this is how communications have always been done in your organization. Something needs to be communicated, you get asked for a brochure.
Time: you are a maxed-out communications pro, struggling to deliver on a million projects. If they need a poster, you can deliver it and cross that item off your to-do list.
Resources: you have zero budget, but internal web support. Of course an e-blast is the right tactic – it’s ‘free’!
Lack of information: the request/directive for the poster comes from internal customers without training or understanding of marketing communications.
Other reason?

Overcome this auto-pilot mode and make the most of your efforts

Many additional posts could be dedicated just to the topic of understanding your audience, communications objectives and blending this information to establish the right tactics. But as a starting point, ensure that you (or your internal customers) are answering at least these five questions before deciding on any particular tactic.

What is the objective for this communication?
Who is your audience?
What do you want them to know?
Where can you reach them (place and time where/when they will be receptive to your message)?
How will you measure the success of this communication?

Use the insights gleaned to guide you through an informed decision-making process for every communication. Give yourself the opportunity to be creative, imaginative and bold.

What is your communications rut?

Does your non-profit have a ‘go-to’ communications tactic? Why is this happening? How can you break free from bad communications habits and improve the effectiveness of your efforts?

Non-profit communicator profile: Anthony Lucic, Digital Communications, St. Michael’s Hospital

2013-01-29T14:07:34+00:00

One of the challenges of working in hospital communications is the decentralized nature of organizations comprised of very distinct units with distinct objectives, according to Anthony Lucic. Anthony is the Team Lead, Digital Communications at St. Michael’s Hospital in Toronto, Ontario; a large, inner-city teaching hospital with a level-one trauma centre. Anthony is responsible for communications via the Hospital’s various digital properties including web, social media and onsite digital screens.

“My viewpoint is that we would like to work toward a common understanding of our brand, our expertise and a unified perspective that would support better communications,” said Anthony. “More hospitals are moving in that direction with more prominence around a communications department, with marketing and communications leadership at the senior management level.”

At St. Michael’s, Anthony has been a part of communications initiatives that have been breaking down silos. The hospital recently launched an internal blog, taking the approach of putting the conversation, versus technology, first. The team started by finding internal contributors who are ready to put their views forward on a specific subject, in this case, how to improve quality at the hospital. This has led to a groundswell of engagement, in terms of people reading, reacting to and discussing the views shared on the blog.

“Starting from a social angle generates buy-in and interest. This is something I have come to understand about communicating change in an organization like St. Michael’s,” explained Anthony. “Communications today are about starting at the grassroots level and working upward versus implementing a mandate from above. As communicators, we want to give our audience the megaphone. This has been a hard lesson for me; thinking less about process and more about people and what they have to say. However, once I figured out this approach, I was able to advance our communications much more quickly and effectively – and acting as a coach and enabler for people has become the best part of my role.”

Anthony is also benefitting from the ‘socialization’ of communications from a professional development perspective. To continue his ongoing learning and to spark innovation, he connects with sector colleagues in different ways including through social media, traditional networking and conferences and sometimes, just picking up the phone to discuss something new or interesting he has seen them implement.

“Social media is breaking down barriers and creating a culture that is more conducive to collaboration. The ease of access created by social media is pulling us out of our silos and creating new opportunities to connect,” said Anthony. “It allows us to see the opportunity to share knowledge and how connecting drives innovation and collaboration. I see this with my industry colleagues and it’s certainly working internally at St. Michael's.”

Connect with Anthony and other non-profit marketers and communicators in our LinkedIn group or find Anthony on Twitter or LinkedIn.

Follow St. Michael’s Hospital on Twitter or Facebook.

Willing to share your story as a non-profit marketer or communicator? Contact Marlene at contact@moflow.ca.

Content marketing for non-profits (and for moflow)

2013-01-17T15:41:04+00:00

Next month, I’ll be attending the Content Success Summit, presented by Mike Stelzner/Social Media Examiner. When this opportunity came up, I seized it right away because I benefitted so much from attending Mike’s Copywriting Success Summit in 2008 and the Social Media Success Summit in 2009.

I’m attending the Summit for two reasons:

I plan on going ‘beyond the blog’ in terms of using content marketing to promote my own business this year.
I feel that many non-profits are well positioned to take advantage of content marketing – and many are already doing some form of content marketing whether they realize this or not – and I’d like to better support my clients in this area.

While I have content marketing on the brain, I’d like to share a small content marketing for non-profits round-up of good reads:

Content Marketing: 5 Non-Profit Success Stories to Learn From by Frank Barry on Mashable
How Nonprofits Can Sidestep Content Marketing Pitfalls an interview of Michael Buller of the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute by Clare McDermott, Content Marketing Institute
Can NPOs (nonprofit organizations) benefit from inbound marketing? by John Murphy
How to Create Enough Good Content  (Case Study) by Holly Ross, guest post on the Getting Attention blog
What’s a Reasonable Amount of Content to Produce? by Kivi Leroux Miller

…and last but not least..

The Nonprofit Content Marketing Cookbook – an excellent, straightforward, free eBook from Kivi Leroux Miller

I’m really getting more excited every day about the lineup of topics and presenters at the Summit. Based my past experience with these summits I know the sessions will be informative and practical. And from what I’ve seen so far, the participants are extremely varied and impressive. Maybe I’ll see you there (if so, let me know)!

Mission statements as marketing: a mistake for non-profits? Part 2

2012-12-12T14:38:45+00:00

Yesterday, Sam Frank, Principal, Synthesis Partnership shared some of his expertise on mission statements; an excellent primer and case for the importance and value of articulating mission statements. I invited Sam to guest post because I wanted him to help me convince readers not to use mission statements as marketing messages. It turns out that we don’t entirely agree, and we decided to share the rest of our conversation with you.

Marlene: Sam, in planning yesterday’s post, you shared with me your thoughts on what mission statements can offer to internal and external audiences. Can you please share those thoughts with my readers as well?

Sam: Internally, a mission statement is generative tool for clarity and focus. First, through the much-maligned process of wordsmithing, the discussion itself will raise important questions of intention and priority. If the discussion is difficult, that may mean you need to resolve some differences of direction. If well orchestrated, the discussion will be neither interminable nor tedious, but contained, validating and invigorating.

Externally, a mission statement is branding and positioning. It differentiates your organization from others that may do similar work. It captures most compellingly your case for support. It creates awareness for your cause, and it focuses that awareness on you. It unifies your communications so that when people hear about the organization from any source, the message is the same and reinforces what they heard before.

Marlene: This is where I disagree. The process that goes into developing a mission statement is related to, but not one and the same as branding and positioning. And the process of articulating a mission statement is altogether different from the process and skills that are applied to writing effective marketing content.

Given all of the work and value we expect our mission statements to deliver, from articulating strategy and goals, giving organizations focus, defining mandates – everything you described yesterday – I feel it's too much to also expect them to serve as powerful marketing messages.

Sam: My feeling is that as a distillation of strategy and identity, a mission statement must be both internal and external in its focus. If it captures the essence of the organization’s purpose for internal stakeholders, it should do the same for prospective stakeholders. There is more to a mission statement than marketing, and there is more to marketing than a mission statement, but to me there is a fundamental connection between them.

There are a number of other tools related to mission statements:

A mission statement articulates of the essence of why you exist. It can encompass what you are, but should avoid getting into what you do and how. You can put those things into an associated statement of values or principles.

A vision statement is an aspirational view of the future, capturing either the organizational ideal (arts, culture, education), or a world in which the organization is no longer needed (poverty, specific diseases).

An elevator pitch is an expansion of the mission statement, giving a concrete, vivid, memorable, compelling overview of the organization in the one or two minutes you have someone’s attention.

A tagline grabs attention, but may or may not fully convey the mission. If it does, it may also serve as the mission statement. I don't think that a mission statement always works as a tagline but I think it's one option. It seems a waste not to use a mission statement in promoting an organization.

Marlene: This is where I particularly disagree; I think mission statements and taglines are necessarily two very distinct properties. In my view, mission statements are often too long, language is too formal, focus too internal and they don't have the personality or tone that you'd want from a tagline. I feel it's a mistake to use a mission statement as a tagline, or given what I’ve just described, to even use one on marketing materials at all.

Taglines are meant to communicate the essence and personality of an organization, not articulate its entire mandate. They need to be accessible and memorable. Taglines are often positioned with or integrated into logos and repeated across a wide range of an organization’s marketing materials. All of this leading to the need for taglines to be concise. I have rarely seen a mission statement that meets all of these criteria sufficiently to appropriately do double-duty as a tagline.

Sam: Thanks for inviting me to this conversation; I’ve enjoyed the exchange of views. Our disagreement on the role of a mission statement brings some important issues to light. I don’t know that we need to—or even could—fully reconcile our positions, but I propose another post in which we each comment on some examples. I’d be delighted to have you challenge my assumptions.

Readers: What do you think? Has your organization been successfully using a mission statement as a tagline? Is there merit to this practice? Do you have any examples of great taglines that also serve as mission statements, or vice versa? Or do you feel mission statements should not be used as taglines because you’ve seen examples of this done poorly?

Would you like to see a Part 3 of this topic? Please share your examples with us!

Thank you again to Sam for sharing his expertise and views!

About Sam

Sam Frank, Principal, Synthesis Partnership, advising nonprofits in strategy, planning and organizational development, and Director, Nonprofit Webinars, offering free professional development for nonprofit trustees and staff.

Mission statements as marketing: a mistake for non-profits? Part 1

2012-12-11T14:37:56+00:00

I feel that mission statements are frequently abused by non-profits. Given all of the heavy lifting we expect of mission statements, I think it’s a mistake to also expect them to serve as effective marketing messages – taglines in particular. To help make my point, I invited mission statement expert, Sam Frank, Principal at Synthesis Partnership,to weigh in on the matter. I ended up getting more of a debate than I expected. In part one of this post, Sam describes what mission statements are and why they are important. In part two – coming tomorrow – we will agree to disagree.

Mission Statement Primer - by Sam Frank

Often when the question of the mission statement comes up with a nonprofit board there are groans.

We don’t want to get bogged down in wordsmithing; we have more important issues to deal with.
We all know why we’re here, let’s figure out how to do our work better.
We worked on that two years ago and gave up because it was a pointless waste of time. Why should we get into that again?

So what is the point of a mission statement? Is it just something you’re supposed to have somewhere for appearance sake and move on to more important things? Or is it worth time and effort to re-examine and craft it to serve a clear purpose?

Here’s my claim: a mission statement is a fundamental tool of strategy, focus, marketing, and identity. It provides the shortest route to your goal… for the simple reason that without it you don’t really know (collectively) what your goal is.

Your mission is the reason you exist. If your organization is to be as effective as possible, its reason/mission needs to be shared by those who govern, manage, work within, volunteer for, and otherwise have a stake in your organization. Unless you express the mission clearly there is no way that everyone involved will have the same understanding of it and be able to work most effectively toward it. Thus the mission statement. The job of the mission statement is to articulate the essence of why the organization exists. If you don’t articulate it, then it’s very likely that there isn’t an essence at all, just a cloud of assumedly similar individual understandings.

So when people advocate working on the mission statement, what they mean is: let’s sharpen what we say about our purpose so that we can work more effectively together to achieve it, and draw more people into our fold to support it.

Once you have the statement it will remind you what is most important and distinctive about your organization. It will help all stakeholders to be clear about the organization they’re involved in, and stay focused. It will help them avoid disappointment that the organization is not doing things they value individually, but are outside the purview of this organization.

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