SHOW NOTES

Is Facebook advertising a problem child? Not if you’re working with someone who has the chops to help you navigate the weekly changes, algorithms, and strategies.

Welcome Facebook Ad Expert, Tameka Allen, as she breaks down how you can gain the edge and draw new donors and volunteers.

To learn more, you can reach [email protected] or grab her FREE Facebook Ads Checklist here!

Telling your nonprofit story is not about your value propositions or how you do what you do.

The perfect story is always the “why?” You know, the real people involved and the “why” behind it all. Grab these three easy steps so that prospective donors and partners understand who you really are and why they should care. 

STEP ONE

Who are you?

Melanie and I recently presented a workshop at the Nonprofit Learning Lab in Phoenix and an attendee asked me about their mission statement. It was old and no longer represented their brand and could not be changed.

Mission statements are internal documents to guide the board and staff. It doesn’t necessarily define who you are as an organization.

Understand who you are!

STEP TWO

What’s the plot?

• Beating the Odds
• Rags to Riches
• Rebirth
• The Quest
• The Mystery The Voyage & Return

Each plot needs to include a challenge, and conflicts, along with the call to action, growth or outcome

STEP THREE

Who’s the hero of the story? Are they willing or unwilling? Are they tragic, a loner, a catalyst, or cynic, or an unsung hero?

Extra Tips

Don’t forget to ask. “Who cares?” at the end of each sentence that you write. If you answer that question honestly and you don't think anyone will care... re-write it or omit the sentence.

People respond to threes, so write your story titles that way. Consider The Three Little Pigs; The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, or Three Blind Mice

Follow this link to check out a FREE Story Structure Diagram that will help you lock down your nonprofit’s perfect story. 

If you like what you’re hearing, don’t be shy. Share the love by subscribing to The Cause Café podcast on iTunes and tell all your  friends too, okey dokey?

Thank you for listening!

SHOW NOTES

You know you need to be list-building so that you can increase your nonprofit's reach and influence but... it's not easy. Learn how to get those email addresses by following this simple plan:

1) Control Your Ask

Don’t you find it so annoying to start reading an interesting story and a dumb subscription form pops up.

Always ask “after the feel good moment” and then ask again and again but not all on the same page.

In order to specify the perfect time when a pop-up should be triggered, first you need to take a look at your analytics to determine the average time spent on your website. Best practices show that setting the timing to 60% of the average time spent on site can be an effective timing.

If this is beyond your current capacity then do what Unbounce suggests. What 60 seconds before allowing your opt-in pop-up or slide-in to appear. If your visitors have spent 60 seconds browsing your website, they have already shown an adequate amount of engagement and presumably they understand the main message of your site – and 60 seconds isn’t so much time that you lose a lot of potential subscribers.

2) Relevant Requests Only Please

Don’t make the mistake of having subscription forms with messages that are unrelated to the content on the page.

Usually, this applies to websites on which content addresses multiple different topics. Many sites like this create a generic subscription CTA that appears on every page regardless of content. While these unrelated offerings or CTAs might convert get some readers to sign up, it’s not the best strategy for attracting new subscribers.

3) Color Matters

Different colors are associated with different emotions, and these emotions can have a direct effect on how people behave.

Colors can also form a strong association with your brand.

Using a color scheme that isn’t consistent with your brand or complementary with itself can have a negative impact on the perception of your business.

This will drive users away from subscribing to your newsletter or emails. To help you out, you’ll find a downloadable color | emotion chart that I use in brand discovery and alignment workshops in the show notes.

4) Exit Overlays

It’s a love-hate relationship. You may hate them but those pop-ups and slide-in opt-in forms really work. In fact the best place to give website visitors a last chance to sign up is when they are ready to exit your website. A friendly reminder, through exit offer technology, that they haven’t signed up yet increases opt-in by an additional 27%.

It’s called exit offer technology and it uses the science of behavioral targeting, personalization and content discovery to give your visitors the right offer at the right time, substantially increasing the odds that they’ll convert. Picreel, among others, provide this type of technology. https://www.picreel.com/#how-it-works-section

Another tactic for another episode is the art of the CTA and social signups.

5) Use Your Opt-in for Segmentation

Let your site visitors select whether they are interested in volunteering, donating, or hosting a fundraising event. Or you can also get the email address quickly and painlessly first, then direct your subscriber to a preferences page. Check out the Land’s End screen shot that we’ve included on the show notes page.

6) Test Your Opt-in

What happens if someone puts in an incomplete email or if they abandon the form? What do they see and what is the message? And don’t forget to look at the form on a smart device to make certain that it is optimized for viewing.

Also, avoid the word “submit” where possible, it’s just as simple to use more descriptive and fun “Sign Me Up” or “Subscribe.”

7) Thank You

Thank or welcome subscribers immediately by reminding them what they will be receiving and why they are so amazing for joining your tribe. Big tip: Allow subscribers to social share your opt-in. Check out the Chairish.com Share the Love screenshot in the show notes.

BONUS MATERIAL: Using Psychology to Improve Funnel Conversion

https://darius.com/increase-funnel-conversion-with-psych-7378d51c4caf

Thank you for listening!

SHOW NOTES

There are so many businesses that want to give 1% of their profit back to nonprofits but you have to cultivate a relevant relationship and then ask them for it. Sounds simple right?

It is simple.

“A great way to approach a business would be, ‘We love what you do! Can you help us out?’”

Matt should know, his Bonjoro app can take you from “ZERO TO HERO” in donor cultivation with three simple steps.

1) Connect your Bonjoro to your CRM.

2) As soon as you are notified that an online donation has been made via your smart phone, immediately *record a Bonjoro customized, video from the same phone.

3) Push send and be prepared to be amazed! You’ve now created a super fan.

You no longer have to send that tired, old welcome (or thank you) email to your donors.

A Bonjoro video email is SO much more effective in cultivating donors. And, Bonjoro is set up so that it isn’t a big drain on your time.

Melanie has been using Bonjoro at The House of Refuge for 90 days. She reports her results as follows:

• Sent 211 thank you videos from the app
• Open rate – 72% (that’s insane)
• View rate – 53%
• Reaction rate (thumbs up) – 25%
• CTA Click Through (newsletter sign up) – 10%

Matt has graciously provided a link so that The Cause Café podcast listeners will get a discount off of the already ridiculously low monthly fee of (VALUE ALERT) $25.

The monthly fee includes:

• unlimited Bonjoro videos
• custom branding
• single call-to-action option
• CRM integration
• access to the stellar Bonjoro staff to assist you
• admin features

This is a no-brainer friends!

We don’t allow just anyone to come into The Cause Café to talk about their products unless we’ve used them and love them.

So, follow this link for a discount and a 14-day free trial!

CLICK HERE FOR FREE TRIAL

If you have any questions for Matt he can be reached at [email protected] For questions about how Melanie's been using Bonjoro or digital marketing for nonprofits, contact Melanie at [email protected]

Thanks for tuning in!

*Bonus Tip*

**Don’t get caught in the trap of thinking that your videos need to be staged Hollywood-style. Take your video anywhere, at anytime so that your donors see that you are real and authentic. Trust us, they are not interested in polished “you” instead they are interested in the fact that you took time to thank them right away. It works!

SHOW NOTES

1) SPEED

A fast loading website has 3 benefits:

User Experience –no one will take the time to sit and wait for a site to load when there are thousands of other sites offering similar content. A slow loading website always results in a higher bounce rate and more importantly, a bad user experience.

Google Search Ranking Improves –a website that loads slowly definitely ranks low in Google search ranking.

Facebook Advertising – who wants to pay more? A slow website means that you will pay more for your Facebook boosted posts ad campaigns.

HOW FAST IS FAST?

Ideally, Google likes it to be 2secs but anything within 5-6 secs is still fine.

You can check your site load time by using Pingdom, or Google speed check. Check desktop and mobile.

Pay attention to these other three tasks to improve your website speed.

1. Hosting Plan
2. Compress Your Images
3. Fix Broken Links (FB bots are checking this and you could be labeled as Spam or Phising

2) CONTENT

Ideally, you should be including a call to action on every single page of your website, but ESPECIALLY on the ABOUT PAGE.

If you aren't directly showing people where they need to be going on your website, they will bounce around and then just leave.

BUT if your About Page resonates with them, that is the one place with the lowest barrier to entry (meaning it is the place on your website where they are 50% more likely to click your call to action button) and reach out to you. 

SPEAK TO YOUR IDEAL DONOR, NOT AT THEM

If you're not wording things in a way that is speaking to them you will not resonate with them because you aren't speaking their love language.

What’s their love language? They NEED to be cast as the Hero or Rescuer.

Since we’re talking about love language. Here’s a question to ask yourself: Why are my top donors in love with our cause? That’s the language you use to talk to your ideal donor.

Just remember - This isn’t about YOU, the nonprofit.

It’s about the donor, the partner, and the volunteer.

Donors want to be part of your brand, and your growth, and your story.

 The goal of any website is to convert a tire kicker into a donor, volunteer, or business partner. Your contact page is the perfect place to remind them why they want to be part of your tribe.

1. First, make sure that your contact page form is easy to use. You want to get their important information, so you can reach back out to them, but also have a place for them to request specific information or ask questions.
2. It’s also a good idea to set the expectation for your audience. Let them know when they can expect an answer from you.
3. Include an image of the person who will be responding to the contact request with a short personal note.

The Cause Café Podcast 2018. All rights reserved.

SHOW NOTES

Why is Email Such A Big Deal?

The answer is actually pretty obvious.

You own this database and these people have given you permission to connect with them!

Additionally, you want to be where your prospects are… and (for most) they are still checking their email all day, everyday.

• Email is one of the highest ROI activities in your business…(NONPROFITS enjoy a whopping 34.44% open rate)
• Email engages & nurtures both prospects and customers to generate new leads and sales
• Email can be automated so that you can literally prospect and sell around the clock (even while you sleep)

Isn't Email Marketing Dead?

I get asked this question all the time. Email is not dead but it is abused. That’s because email is not a sales tool but IT IS the perfect nurturing tool.

Email is Definitely Here to Stay

People will send and receive more than 269 billion emails per day in 2018. There will be an expected 3.7 billion email users worldwide by the end of the year and in 5 years’ time, there’ll be even more email… with an expected 319.6 billion emails sent.

90% OF US USE EMAIL EVERYDAY – 74% YOUNG PEOPLE STILL USE IT DAILY. Presidential candidates typically raise more than $500 million dollars in email alone!

How’s that for some serious statistics? 

Best Practices:

• Give readers value: educate and entertain | announcements | the backstory | giveaways
• Include links to information… 5-7 links are optimum
• 20 lines of text and 3-4 images results in the best click through rates
• Best day of the week to send an email is Tuesday
• Best time of the day: 10-11am or 2-4pm and 6pm have the highest click through rates
• Consistency pays off
• Required footer information (don’t forget the legal stuff guys!)
• Automate your email

In Episode 008 we cover the 13 Deadliest Email Marketing Sins so head over there and have a listen. In case you don’t have time for that episode, here are the Top 3 Email Marketing Sins.

#1 You don’t treat your email like it’s your social feed. Post like you do on Facebook and be certain to follow the analytics to see what’s working and then keep refining your messages and subject lines. Plan to measure the open rate (21%) and the click through rate (3.5%). The more relevant and personalized the email, the higher the rates.

#2 Your subject Line is boring

Take more time with your subject line than you do with your email content. The subject line should be high-impact and leave the reader wanting to know more.

• Personalize your email 75% higher open rate
• 170 – 179 characters have the highest open rate

“What is your biggest question for me?” “2 things today” “This saved a life” “You coming?” “hey ª””Why not you?”

#3 You write like a stiff corporate robot

Yes, you! You write like a stiff, corporate robot. Readers like writing that’s relaxed and conversational. So don’t be so formal and for the love… don’t send an email with grammatical mistakes. Grammatical errors imply that, at best, you’re careless — and they’ll put off your potential partners.

“But wait. I’m a terrible writer.”

• Write like you talk.
• Record yourself.
• Read once out loud. Listen to see if that’s how you talk to people. If not rewrite it. After those changes, read it out loud again and ask yourself – “who cares?” This will improve your relevancy.

Don’t forget! If you are interested in the brand, spankin’ new, online 0 to 60 Email Marketing Start Up Course, send an email to [email protected] and we'll get you the details.

Friends! The numbers don’t lie. Email marketing has the highest conversion ROI with an average open rate of 21% and a 3.5% click through rate. Translation: More donations and leads.

Is the 0 to 60 Email Marketing Start Up Course Right For You

1. You don’t have a lot of time to invest
2. You need more sales and leads
3. You are a 1 - 5 man or woman show
4. You’re not a writer
5. You want to automate this baby so it works while you do other important stuff

Special Offer ONLY for The Cause Café Regulars

Help us beta test this course and you’ll get 70% off the listed, published price.

*Cost: $148.50

This offer is limited to six people. Crazy town. Right?

*Offer good through 6/15/2018

SHOW NOTES... But first...

PERSONAL RANT ALERT: I think that meetings to EXCHANGE information (unless it’s a really big announcement) are a huge waste of time. Meetings that are meant for brainstorming or collaboration are energizing and amazing. The others are a snooze-fest. What’s even worse is that you are taking people away from the “real” work so in order to meet deadlines and expectations they work late into the night or over the weekend.

The Mamas at The Cause Cafe are here to rescue you from bad, stinky cheese meetings. Let's do this!

• If you think your meetings go on and on consider implementing
  “Stand Up” meetings. It’s a military thing and it works.
• Unless it’s a question to clarify something, you can request that
  people reserve questions for another time or better yet, have
  questions sent to you by email.
• I love shoes! REALLY love them. But I had to impose a limit on myself. If I purchase a new pair of shoes, I have to move an older pair out. Meetings are the same. If you have two weekly meetings scheduled – let’s say one for staff and one for your executive team, and someone wants to add another meeting first ask them if you can add it to the agenda of the two standing, scheduled meetings. If that can’t or shouldn’t be done, then ask see about canceling one of your scheduled meetings (send an email instead – everyone will thank you).
• If you’re not 10 minutes early to a meeting, you’re late.
• Don’t be a Monopolizing Monger. This means that you don’t always have to share every thought, idea, or solution that pops into your head. If you are worried that you are That Person, the next time a question is asked count to 10 slowly before you provide an answer. I’ve learned that some people process information quickly and some take more time to process and come up with a solution or comment. Give other people the opportunity to participate. If you’re worried that you won’t get that really great idea out there, write it down and share it by email later. This will not only make you a better listener
  but your credibility will improve because you took time with your
  answer.
• For the LOVE… use AGENDA. 3M did a study of 900 meetings held in different US companies and found that 69% did not use an agenda.
• And uhhh… make sure that someone is in charge. We need a leader in the meeting to moderate, encourage, provide clarity, and summarize.
• Smartphones in presentations are acceptable… not so in meeting. Put your darn device away.
• Do not criticize or discipline an employee in a meeting. There are no bad ideas… they are just ideas at this point. Write EVERY idea down on a whiteboard – ideas are the springboard to MORE! M = Mind-Blowing, C = Creative, O = Openness, R = Respect, and E = Energy.
• Asana, a work and productivity application, suggests that every organization establish one day a week as a “no meeting” day so that employees can have an uninterrupted day or work.
• Once around the room! Give everyone the opportunity to speak at the end of the meeting by saying, “Okay once around the room. Does anyone have anything to add? We’ll start with you _____.” Most will have nothing to add but sometimes you end up with a insightful, really helpful comment.
• Someone has to take notes (AKA minutes) especially if tasks are to be assigned. It keeps everyone awake and honest about their assignments and deadlines. 

BONUS: Favorite Apps - Digital Marketing Meeting Tools

Slack could significantly reduce meetings and your
nonprofit and may even replace email. It’s basically a cloud-based program and app that let’s your employees create groups or workspaces to talk to each other, share files, send notifications and more. The other great benefits of Slack are that you can create channels or basically conversations around different topics. This means that you’re only inviting certain people to specific channels based on who really needs to be there. Also you can send direct messages to people while you are engaged in chatting with
everyone in your channel.

Example: you ask for an update on an upcoming event in your Slack
channel. The other employees who have been invited to the event channel are immediately notified that you have asked a question. They jump in and respond, collaborate, clarify. While this is happening, you realize that the website has not been changed to reflect a change to the event. So you send a direct message to Mr. IT to fix it ASAP while the channel conversation is ongoing.

Rally lets you create a simple, straightforward poll where
attendees can vote on a day for an event that works best for them. It also includes an open comment section on the meeting page, so attendees can plan the meeting agenda or discuss details before the event.

Assistant.to lets you work directly from Gmail
and Google Calendar to select available meeting times and share those open slots with the person you're trying to schedule a meeting with.

Pick automatically scans everyone's Gmail calendars to find open slots, and then delivers a list of mutually available times. You can then send a calendar invite to all attendees directly from the app.

Calendly integrates directly with your Google or
Office 365 calendar,and gives you a personalized URL where people can view your availability and schedule times to meet you. They offer a basic free plan,and a paid premium plan that allows for group scheduling and other additional features.

If you’re looking for a change of scenery to pump up your staff consider hosting an off-site meeting. EventUp.com is like the AirBNB for meeting spaces. 

Or check out Kapow. This website provides direct “corporate events in non-traditional venues” booking tool in 21 U.S. cities. Group activities include team building, in-store retail events, entertainment tickets, cocktail receptions and dining experiences.

SHOW NOTES

Since there is a lot of confusion about, "What are the best nonprofit marketing strategies?" we decided that it is high-time we share our 4 favorites. Let’s go!

Event Marketing

Simply defined. Event Marketing is any fundraising or educational activity that bring people together in a social interaction. Examples include tours, galas, concerts, golf tournaments, and auctions.

These types of events can bring in a ton of revenue but they require a lot of resources: like time and money.

TIP: Events can be risky and often don’t produce the revenue you’re counting on.

To help you determine which activities are worth the effort, we’re adding a link to a fantastic Classy.org blog post that shows which events have the highest ROI. https://www.classy.org/blog/which-type-of-fundraising-event-is-best-for-your-nonprofit/

TIP: Even though Event Marketing typically has a low audience reach and can be costly to produce, events tend to score high for retention and generating new leads because of the solid face-to-face time you get with people.

Content Marketing

Content Marketing is the creation and promotion of content assets to generate brand awareness, traffic growth, lead generation, or donations.

In order for it to work, you will need to give prospects valuable, relevant, shareable “snuggets” (snackable nuggets of information awesomeness).

Content Marketing includes video/audio, image with content, blog posts, social media posts, and digital newsletters or emails.

The first place to look to see if your content is filled with snuggets is your website.

As you are reviewing the copy, images, and video ask yourself this question, “Who cares?” If the awesomeness is not there, then rewrite your content again and again until you get it right.

Next, begin posting more articles like blogs and make sure that you have a spot-on newsletter. And please don’t forget the power of video… especially on social media platforms.

TIP: You’ll get 94% more views on your post or website with video.

Content Marketing is the perfect strategy to employ for improved retention or if you have a smaller budget.

Influencer Marketing

Influencer Marketing refers to finding the right people who happen to have a strong online presence. If your values line up and you pitch them correctly they will influence their followers or subscribers to donate, volunteer, etc. to your nonprofit.

Think of it as word-of-mouth marketing to the power of 10!

Influencers can be bloggers, journalists, authors, consultants, analysts, etc.

The most valuable influencers typically have:

• A strong online presence with influence over potential donors and partners
• The ability and reputation to align with your brand and mission
• Built a ton of credibility and trust with their audience

 TIP: This is almost always a pay to play strategy.

 Digital Marketing

The short definition for Digital Marketing is using digital technology to reach potential donors, volunteers, and partners.

We cannot get enough of it! Here’s why: Something as simple as putting videos up on your website can increase your Google first page ranking up to 50%.

Tip: Digital Marketing costs less too… up to 62% less than traditional marketing plus it has the highest potential reach.

Some common examples of Digital Marketing are:

• SEM (Search Engine Marketing
• Paid Search also known as PPC
• SEO (Search Engine Marketing /no cost strategies include: how fast your page loads, if your content is relevant, if your content is fresh, using header tags, and ensuring that your images are the right size and format
• CRO (Conversion Rate Optimization)
• Facebook, Instagram and other social platform (organic and paid)
• Funnels & Email Nurturing Campaigns
• Landing Pages
• Video
• Infographics
• Earned online publicity (reviews – social proof, links to your website, digital articles and blog posts written about your organization)

BONUS MATERIAL

Affinity and Affiliate Marketing

People often get confused about the difference between Affinity Marketing and Affiliate Marketing.

Basically Affinity Marketing is just another name for a referral program. You go about it by forming relationships and partnering with different businesses and organizations to reach a wider audience.

Another option is that you offer a discounted service or product to your donor base. Every sale nets a percentage back to your nonprofit. This type of program works best if:

1) The product or service aligns with your mission

2) The company you partner with has the same values and standards

3) The company doesn’t expect you to do all the heavy lifting (they should help you market the partnership to their database, put your logo and link to your website on their own, and provide you with ideas, strategies, and materials)

4) There’s a set fundraising goal and people know they are funding something specific

Affinity Marketing is the most challenging strategies to pull together but the rate of return can also the highest.

Affiliate Marketing is a pure performance-based relationship. Example. You sell someone else’s products or services and get rewarded for doing it.

Tip: Amazon Smile is the perfect example of an affinity program.

Thanks for stopping in at The Cause Café. If you’d like a free checklist to see if your nonprofit website is donor friendly, send us an email request to [email protected] - subject line: Website Friendly