JournaMarketing

Marketing a charity auction

Seth Godin has advice on marketing your charity auction.

If you're only willing to bid $19 to buy a $20 bill at this auction,
you're not doing charity, you're bargain hunting. There's nothing wrong
with bargain hunting, it's fun, but it's not philanthropy. I think
bargain hunting for a good cause is just fine, but wouldn't it be great
if the event could raise far more money and change the way people view
the organization?

The Robin Hood Foundation raised more than 24 million dollars at
their last auction, because people competed to overpay. And that's the
secret. The story the charity must tell is: "don't pay $19 for this
twenty dollar bill, don't even pay $30, we need you to pay $40!" The satisfaction of overpaying (whether you overpay anonymously or in public) is what they sell, not a bargain.

Seth points out that this is not the easy way. It's easier to convince people to hunt for bargains than to donate their money. But the payoff is a lot bigger if you do the extra work, and make the act of donating the reward in itself.

Oops! How the Internet ruins secrets

Kevin Rose founded a site called Digg, which uses votes from readers to select featured stories. Digg was readying a new comment system -- but wasn't quite ready to go public -- when Rose acccidentally posted a link to his Twitter account. That message was immediately followed by this message:

crap, wrong window, disregard

Rose deleted the original message, but of course, nobody bothered to "disregard." Instead, they began voting almost immediately for the story on Digg, and it was soon one of the most popular stories on the site.

Within an hour, Kevin Rose had this to say on Twitter: "well, it's almost on the homepage, secret no more: http://tinyurl.com/6jg7dj." What could he do? The story was out, and there was no getting it back anymore. It wasn't an earth-shattering story, but the incident serves as a lesson to think twice about what you say before you post it online.

How to turn employees into story-tellers

Computer-maker Dell has launched a new blog, called Your Blog, and it has applications for all kinds of organizations, from other corporations to small nonprofits.

Dell employees are posting stories or tips about how they use technology in their personal lives. One contributor talks about his online gaming experience. Another writes about turning old camera lens rings into jewelry. The site also asks readers to submit their own tips for "doing more with technology."

The blog isn't about promoting Dell products. It's about promoting Dell people. And it's just the kind of thing your organization can do, too. Your organization trusts its employees enough to hire them. Enough to invite them into the building every day. Enough to pay them for their work. So why wouldn't the organization trust its employees enough to let them tell the stories of their work to the public?

Allowing employees to share the things they've learned is a great way to put a face on your organization. And doing that builds relationships that will make it easier for the organization to succeed.

This is a great idea -- and it's not something most organizations would be comfortable with.
Technorati Tags: storytelling, nptech, nonprofit, blogs, Dell

KidsCast video

KidsCast is an audio program we produce for the Missouri Division of Alcohol and Drug Abuse. The program's producer, Amy Winder, travels to schools throughout the state and speaks to kids about making healthy choices -- and records the kids narrating segments of the show. It's a really cool program because it helps the ADA reach directly into the classroom. We recorded some video of a couple of school visits, and produced this simple video. It's the kind of thing you can do for your organization without a big investment of time or money, and it's a really effective way to tell your organization's story.
Technorati Tags: KidsCast, Missouri, education, video

Copy editing and soul sucking

Seth Godin writes today about how "good" copy editing can suck the soul out of what you've written.

By sanding off every edge, removing every idiom, making each and every fact literally correct, she made it boring and dry and mechanical.

Next time you're writing copy for a brochure, remember this. Writing a brochure by committee is never a good idea. Just once, try correcting the typos and leaving everything else alone. You might be amazed at how much better the final product works.

Citizen journalism affects nonprofits

Elizabeth Toledo at PR Week writes about how changes in news gathering and the rise of citizen journalism are affecting nonprofits.

In the old model, advocacy organizations influenced the media by sending press releases, holding press events, submitting letters to the editor, and publishing newsworthy information. That model worked because an editor or columnist determined what was "newsworthy."

In theory, there was a professional lens that sifted through the massive number of claims and accusations. Organizations with a good reputation could generally count on professional journalists to dismiss accusations that did not have a solid foundation.

In the new world of media advocacy, the editor's role shrinks while the role of the "citizen journalist" grows. Leading news sites, such as cnn.com and nytimes.com, will invite the public to submit their own stories and, through a combination of popularity and relevance, the public will drive which stories make it through the firewall onto the evening news. It's not simply that more Op-Eds will make it onto the editorial pages - these citizen journalists will drive which stories grab the attention of the news reporters as well.

The reason I started this blog is to write about exactly this intersection. Journalism is something anyone can do -- and that includes you, as you engage others who are interested in the work your organization is doing. Instead of trying to get the attention of the people who write stories, you can write stories yourself. Instead of trying to get the attention of people who make videos, you can make your own videos. If your stuff is engaging and interesting and insightful, you'll get the attention of people you want to engage.
Technorati Tags: nptech, citizen journalism, blogging, news

New: iFoil Hat for iPhone

Eliminate unwanted speaker interference noise and government brain intrusion with the new iFoil Hat for iPhone.

Creating stuff isn't wasting time

Clay Shirky gives a long, impassioned defense of the online class of content creators. The popular view of those people (bloggers, podcasters, YouTube videographers, etc. -- me and maybe you) is that they're sitting around wasting time in their parents' basements, when they could be doing something productive. But Shirky points out that, for decades, our default use of free time has been watching television! There is nothing less productive than that.

The new content creators represent millions of hours of creative thought that did not exist a few years ago. This is a net good for society. And it's the reason you should not be embarrassed by the idea of blogging or podcasting or producing videos that tell stories. Whether lots of people want to experience your stories or not, when you engage in those activities, you're creating something. And that's a lot more productive than watching a sitcom.

Twitter packs

Here's an interesting way to find people to follow on Twitter. The Twitter Pack Project groups users by the kinds of things they post. You can even go add yourself to a Twitter pack, so others will know where to find you. The real value of Twitter is finding knowledgeable people who post interesting things about the stuff you need to know -- and being able to ask those people questions when you have them.

Animoto: more than a slideshow for promoting your organization

I'm playing with Animoto, which is a service that allows you to upload photos, pair them with music, and create a TV-quality graphic presentation. And it all happens magically, without knowing anything about graphic design. This is much more than a slideshow. The first 30-second video is free. For $30 a year, you can create all the shows you want.