communications

By this time each year I’m usually on the verge of blowing one minor resolution (this year’s was to do with avoiding Curly Wurlies, but that’s a different blog).  This minor failure on my part has made me determined to achieve the more important professional resolutions that I believe will help charities, civil sector organisations and social enterprises get more value from their activities in 2012.

Here’s my top six. Let me know what you think and what’s made it into your marketing and fundraising resolutions:

1. Engage more organisations with the approach that their brand should be an asset which needs to be leveraged wherever possible to meet objectives and UNDERPIN activities.  Does your brand support what you do day to day?  If not, it’s not working as an asset should and is likely occupying too much time and effort for little return.

With Third Sector’s announcement last week that it is to start charging for acc

Rachel Beer has posted recently that she hopes to see more case studies of digital campaigns and pra

Our memories can be powerful drivers of immediate and future actions. What we learn as children often shapes the decisions we take and our behaviours as adults. All pretty obvious.

In an attempt to persuade us to part with our cash, many organisations have used the concept of 'retro' marketing to try and tap into the positive associations we might have with a certain brand or time in our lives. The theory goes that we see or hear a marketing message and think "I remember that thing fondly, therefore I'm more inclined to buy the new version".

Are you a schmoozer?  Do you use schmoozing to work a room full of potential donors or partners or just when attending an even or conference?  According to an article I saw recently, schmoozing is a vital networking skill and is not in fact a load of old cobblers!  The art of schmoozing is defined as:

“To converse informally, to chat, or to chat in a friendly and persuasive manner especially so as to gain favour, business, or connections.”

We've just completed a significant research project and it served as a timely reminder of the pitfalls of reading too much into research findings. I write a guest blog for Ask Charity, the specialist PR and communications service for charities, and in doing some background research was surprised to see just how much research is shoe-horned into communications or used to create eye-catching 'headlines'.

I earn my living helping charities and small businesses get better returns from their marketing and communications ideas.  That means I spend a lot of time encouraging people to try and think and feel what their target audiences think and feel.  Put themselves in their audiences' shoes, if you will.  Sometimes we can do this intuitively or based on experience and sometimes we have to use research or some other means of gathering feedback.

In last week's blog I suggested that a good way to get your fundraising and campaigning messages across with greater impact was to let others tell your stories for you.  But when there are 24 hours of video uploaded to YouTube every 60 seconds how on earth can you ensure your video stories stand out?