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Getting
the Word
Out!
Tips for Successful Nonprofit Communications Strategies
Jennifer Hefti, Director of Communications & Community Outreach
Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy
Phone: 801-832-3272
E-mail: jhefti@utahdiplomacy.org
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Learning Objectives

Strategic Communications Plan

Branding and Planning

Communications Research

Audience and Segmentation

Communications Toolkit

Media Relations

Social Media

Measurable Outcomes

Your Personal Brand
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Strategic Communications Plan
Mission
 Your
organization’s mission is the starting
point for developing your strategic
communications plan.
“To promote global understanding
and respect between the people
of Utah and other nations.”
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Strategic Communications Plan
Assess your Communications Infrastructure

What is your communications budget? How much staff time
are you willing to devote to communications?

If you cannot afford a staff person, does anyone on your
board have communications, marketing or media relations
expertise?

Who will do the work—are they comfortable with and
knowledgeable about marketing/communications?

What has your organization been publishing in print and
online over the past two years?

How powerful and consistent is your brand?
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Strategic Communications Plan
1-Page “Street Smart” Communications Plan
Time Frame
1.

90-day plan
Tools
2.

List all the tools in your marketing toolkit
Priorities
3.

Identify 3 priorities in the next 90 days
Action Steps
4.



Goal
Key Message
Toolkit
5.
Review
6.
Future Priorities
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Branding and Planning
Definitions

Behavioral Branding


Alignment Communications


Branding is how your organization behaves.
Confronts your branding problems, not just on a strategic level,
but every day, with every email you send and every brochure or
newsletter you publish.
Alignment Gaps

Identify and state your problem

State your audience

State your message

Choose your communication tool

Get it done
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Branding and Planning
Establish your Communications Goals

To manage the organization, programs, and services
effectively

To raise awareness & inspire engagement

To sustain and increase support

To raise funds

To tell your story, to touch hearts and minds
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Branding and Planning
SMART Communication Goals

Specific

Measurable

Attainable & agreed-upon

Realistic

Time-specific
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Branding and Planning
Easy steps you can take today

Make a good e-connection

Interruption vs. interaction

Phone first… then e-mail

The wonder of spellchecking

Your tone

Your signature block (email)

Thank you

Your voicemail message

Speakerphone
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Communications Research
Communications Research is vital to
support your branding, fundraising,
and organization’s awareness.
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Communications Research
Primary Research

Primary Research is research you conduct and create
yourself.

Online Surveys

Quick and easy to assemble

Anonymous

Most often free

Provide immediate feedback

Offer a wealth of information that can be useful in reports

www.SurveyMonkey.com
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Communications Research
Primary Research

Focus Groups

Focus Groups are meetings, a means to gather verbal
information from your stakeholders.

Help you do a better job.

Help assess client satisfaction with your programs and services.

Help you launch a new program or service.

Help you understand people’s preferences for receiving
information online vs. in the mail (for example)
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Communications Research
Secondary Research

Secondary Research is research that others have already
published (free publically available research).

Internet Search Engines (e.g. Google)

Public or University Libraries

Blogs

Online Bookmarking Service (e.g. Delicious)

Professional Nonprofit Associations

Utah Nonprofits Association (www.utahnonprofits.org)

Society for Nonprofit Organizations (www.snpo.org)

National Council of Nonprofits (www.councilofnonprofits.org)
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Audience and Segmentation
Three Imaginary Friends

There is no “General Public”

Reach out to a specific subset of the “general public”

Start with three imaginary friends of your organization:


People who have had an international experience (e.g. travel,
business, trade, etc.)

People who speak a foreign language

People who have studied International Relations
Develop your communications strategy for these three
people (80-20 rule).
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Communications Toolkit
What’s your core toolkit?

Direct mailing: letters, postcards

E-newsletters

Annual Report

Website

E-mails

Brochures

Displays at events

Posters, fliers, tablecloth, table tents

PowerPoint presentations to local groups

Partnerships with other agencies or businesses

Online social networks

[list your tool]
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Communications Toolkit
E-Newsletter


Benefits:

Third-party e-mail marketing services (e.g.
www.constantcontact.com) provides you with user-friendly
templates

Gives you immediate feedback on how many people open your enewsletter and how many people click through

Average opening rate: 15% - 27%
Trend:

According to the eNonprofit Benchmarks Study (2009), more
people are using alternative forms of communication (e.g.
Facebook, Twitter, etc.) to get their information
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Communications Toolkit
E-Newsletter

How to get people to open and read your e-newsletter


From:

General – Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy

Specific – Laura Dupuy, Executive Director
Subject line:

Descriptive – “Rebuilding Diplomatic Capacity” – A Lecture by
Ambassador Lyman, March 17, 3pm

Proactive – You are invited to… Support…

Include a link to click if the e-newsletter is not viewable

Use graphics, but in moderation

Use corporate colors to reinforce branding

Focus intensely on the top part of your e-newsletter

Timing (10:00 a.m./mid-week)
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Communications Toolkit
E-Newsletter
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Media Relations
What is the media?

Nonprofit organizations are newsmakers. You are your own
“media.” Build your own “media outlet.”

Traditional Media Outlets


Online Media Outlets


Newspapers, radio, and TV
Online newspapers, forums, blogs
Grassroots Media Outlets

Inserts, fliers, school papers
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Media Relations
Build media RELATIONS

Letters, e-mails, and phone calls

Visit the newsroom

Send editors, reports, and journalists a press kit

Hold a “brown-bag lunch” once a year

Keep regular contact
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Media Relations
Perspective


If you cannot influence the media DIRECTLY, who do you
need by your side to get the word out?

Your Board Members or Board of Directors/Trustees

Your Members

Your Volunteers

Your Donors and Sponsors

Organizations that have similar interests – PARTNER
It’s important to remember that the news media can only
cover your organization periodically.
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Media Relations
Create a Media Database

Read, listen, watch!

Make a list of your local media outlets


Print and online newspapers (e.g. Salt Lake Tribune)

Blogs (UtahPolicy.com)
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Radio (e.g. KCPW – Utah NPR Affiliate)

TV (e.g. KUED – Channel 7 – PBS Affiliate)
Create a media contacts database

Name

Title

Department/Beat
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Contact Information
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Media Relations
Frame your Story & Craft your Message

Describe the story in a way that resonates with your mission,
the values and needs of your audience(s), and is also
interesting to journalists, or “newsworthy.”

Contact information

Who?

What?

When?

Where?

WHY?

About your organization
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Media Relations
Distribute Your Message
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Call reporters and alert them to your news

Pitch via e-mail and then follow-up by phone

Include support materials (e.g. logo, relevant pictures with proper
credits, etc.)
Tip: Upload your images to an online service, like Flickr.com, and then
include the link in your press release.
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Submit stories/events to:





Online community calendars
Public Service Announcement (PSA)
Facebook
Twitter
Send in the mail or fax
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Media Relations
Plan & Pitch

“Spray and Pray”


Pitch calls


You blast out a press release and hope for the best (e.g. calendar listings)
You want to interest the reporter in a specific story. Get the right person for the
story you are pitching.
Exclusive or advanced pitches

You call a media outlet to offer them something no one else will get.
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Media Relations
Deliver Your Message
 Op-ed
Articles
The opinion page, opposite the editorial page in most newspapers, is
commonly overlooked as PR tool. This space has the potential to
provide your nonprofit organization with four to six publicity articles
each year (under 700 words).
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Media Relations
Deliver Your Message
 Online
News Rooms
To develop good relations with the media, you want to make
information easy for them to access. One way to do this is through
an online news room. On your website, include a link for “Media” or
“News Room.”

Archived Press Releases

Photos

Organizational background information

Organizational facts

Story Starters

Published Stories
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Media Relations
Deliver Your Message
 Public
Service Announcements (PSAs)
A nonprofit TV or radio Public Service Announcement is free to your
organization and can be customized with your logo.
 Online Community
 NowPlayingUtah.com
 KUER.org
 KCPW.org
 KSL.com
Calendars
 Community Boards
 Libraries
 Coffee Shops
 Retail shops and businesses
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Media Relations
Press Release
 Photo
first, then headline, then story
 A picture is worth a thousand words.
“What picture would tell this story?”
 Your headline positions the story in the reporters
mind as either important or not.
 Focus on content.
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Media Relations
Press Release
 Put
the RIGHT face on your story
 Show you are at the center of a solution

Consumers respond much more favorably to stories that
portray a solution-oriented “difference maker” than stories
about someone’s suffering.
Tip: Choose stories of individual people changing for the better as a
result of your organization’s efforts.
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Media Relations
Press Release
 Frequency
 How
often should you contact reporters?
As often as you have a legitimate reason to do so.
 Proximity
 “The Trend
is Your Friend.”
Watch your local, regional, and national news, and let reporters
know how your organization is addressing the issue in your
community.
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Social Media
Social Media Marketing Plan
 Social

Media Marketing Plan
Choose your social media priorities

Google

Blog

YouTube
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Facebook

Twitter

Wikipedia

Determine your policies

Prioritize the tools you choose and master them
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Social Media
Your Website



Your website should focus more on visitors than on your
organization.

“What three questions would visitors want answered when
visiting your site?”

“What three actions do people want to take by visiting your site?”
Your website is only useful if people can find it.

Use the right key words

How many other sites link to you?
Track your web traffic
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Measurable Outcomes
Track and Evaluate

Website

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E-mail: Open Rate

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
Request a read receipt
E-mail marketing reports (e.g. Constant Contact)
Google Alerts
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Virtual host statistics – Usage statistics
Insert real-time stats on your website (e.g. Google Analytics,
http://whos.amung.us, etc.)
“Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy”
“UCCD”
“Citizen Diplomacy”
Online News Room

Archive media exposure
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Your Personal Brand
Grow Your Credibility
“Be the model every day of what your nonprofit
stands for, both on paper and in person.”
- Steve Cebalt, Nonprofit Consultant

YOU can affect the way your organization is perceived.

YOU can affect the message.

Think about your personality and voice – your personal brand.

Always say “Thank You”
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Your Personal Brand
Keep Learning

Constant Contact Learning Center
www.constantcontact.com

Marketing Profs
www.marketingprofs.com

Jacob Nielsen
www.useit.com
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Public Relations Society of America
www.prsa.org
 Greater Salt Lake Chapter - www.slcprsa.org
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Nonprofit Marketing Guide
www.nonprofitmarketingguide.com (Kivi’s Blog)
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Nonprofit PR Forum
www.nonprofitprforum.blogspot.com
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Get the Word Out!
Effective Communication Starts With You
“Effective communication is 20%
what you know and 80% how you
feel about what you know.”
-
Jim Rohn,
American author & motivational speaker
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Get the Word Out!
Bibliography
Steve Cebalt. The Communications Handbook for Nonprofits and
Foundations, 2010. www.CommunicationsHandbook.com.
Kivi Leroux Miller. The First 100 Days in Your New Nonprofit
Marketing Job, 2010. www.nonprofitmarketingguide.com
2009 eNonprofit Benchmarks Study, 2009. M+R Strategic
Services and the Nonprofit Technology Network. www.ebenchmarksstudy.com
2010 Nonprofit Social Media Benchmarks Study, 2010. M+R
Strategic Services and the Nonprofit Technology Network.
www.e-benchmarksstudy.com/socialmedia
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Getting
the Word
Out!
Tips for Successful Nonprofit Communications Strategies
Jennifer Hefti, Director of Communications & Community Outreach
Utah Council for Citizen Diplomacy
Phone: 801-832-3272
E-mail: jhefti@utahdiplomacy.org