Movement vs. Marketing?

“They say that marketing and PR is built on relationships. Unfortunately there are plenty of BAD relationships out there. The ones that are beneficial for both sides (and last through thick and thin) are the relationships that you invest yourself in.” –Spike Jones of Brains on Fire, Greenville, SC

I read this post by Spike Jones yesterday and haven’t been able to get it out of my head ever since. To sum it up here, Spike argues that the “answer” for you and your company is not the-most-amazingest-ever-made Super Bowl ad or the-longest-ever-made-infomercial (give the man points for picking on two things that have never made logical sense to me) but instead to inspire a movement, a long-term and mutually enriching experience for the people (and don’t forget that it IS people you want to be dealing with) you’re trying to reach.

Marketing is only as good long-term as the cause behind it. I think this concept is SO vital for nonproft/activist groups to grasp. Yes, you can come up with the most of-the-moment branding, and yes, you can jump on the band-wagon of whatever is the latest and greatest medium of reaching your audience. But…ultimately…you’d better have something to say. You’d better inspire someone that your cause is one worth sticking by for the long-haul. You’d better think beyond the marketing/PR campaign you have in the works right now. Because–you can never predict when the economy is going to freak out everyone living in your country. And you can never predict which new technology will be the coolest next month. The only thing you’ve got a handle on is your message. Your mission. Your vision.

So, craft it wisely.

Anyone have any good examples of an organization, for-profit or not, that has this kind of on-going, good relationship with its people?

Web Stratgey Time-Budget

Beth Kanter wrote a great post about how organizations should budget their time for online strategizing and reaching out to publics. See my thoughts about the balance between email, blogging and other social media activities in this comment.

A Little PR Practice for this Newbie

Saturday night I was able to represent Mocha Club at CMT’s Jason Aldean and Lady Antebellum concert at Littlejohn Colliseum here in Clemson, SC. I’ve mentioned it a lot lately, but Mocha Club is a program that is redefining “the coffee break,” asking members to give up the cost of 2 mochas a month to support different projects in Africa. Lady Antebellum is one of the celebrity sponsors of the organization.

I was officially the PR rep for the evening–I was responsible for pitching the program, answering questions and running the product table. Hundreds of people stopped by the table or at least slowed down to glance at the pictures and displays. At the end of the night, we had 5 new members sign up (which the MC director told me was actually pretty good since their usual circuit is more acoustic/coffee shop music rather than country). But I found myself wishing I could measure the amount of exposure the table had generated.

My thought was that the large display could have featured a website with a specific URL to let the MC staff know if it had led people to later check out the organization on their own. I would have also had informational stickers or hand-outs to give to everyone who was interested. A lot of people considered joining or said they’d think about it later. It would have been nice to put something in their hands to help them recall later, something that also had a specific URL to designate it was the source of their search for information. Also, the online sign ups should ask the question, “When did you first hear about Mocha Club?”

The concerts are a great tool because they get the name out there and (hopefully) get people thinking. The band spends a few minutes letting people know why they support MC and where the table. The number of people who stopped by after the band talked was a lot higher than before. So, I also learned to never underestimate the power of celebrity endorsement!

The Who, What, and Why of Blogging for Nonprofits

See my comment on Beth Kanter’s blog post about the in’s and out’s of utilizing blogs for nonprofit organizations.