Are You Real? Authenticity Trumps in the Sales and Marketing Game

 We all get involved in our jobs, our careers and play out the roles that enable us to fit in the workplace culture.   And those “masks” we wear, that we put on each day to woo customers with promises and personas, entice and attract.  It’s hard to deny that it works. 

We give the customer what they want to hear.  We echo back their words, even mirroring their tone and pace of speaking.  It’s a technique I learned and practiced when I directed an Account Management Team.  It helped create a connection.

But does it pass the “sniff test” today? 

Not anymore.

The test of authenticity has become the bar for engaged consumers that increasingly make purchases based on word-of-mouth experience.  Access to information on the internet including customer reviews, quickly reveal any inconsistencies between what you promote and say and the reality for the customer that they readily share on YELP or on social media.

This also applies to mission-driven organizations and nonprofits, who promise they are “changing the world” and “making a difference” .  The sniff test works here too.  According to research, Millennials are the most “cause driven generation” (their words) in a long time.  They dig deep and look behind the words.  They want simplicity. http://www.hcollaborative.com/blog/2016/6/2/the-power-of-simplicity-in-communication-in-life.   They demand honesty, humility, justice, equity, and sincerity before purchasing, donating or volunteering. 

This all equates to one thing: AUTHENTICITY!

It must be demonstrated in your brand and in all your social media and marketing strategy.  It’s the new litmus test.  A recent study by the New York Times found that authenticity is even more important to consumers than brand recognition on the  impact of your bottom line.

Here are top “anchor behaviors” for companies to display to show authenticity:

Behavior                               Percent that believe this is important

Communicates honestly about its products and services              91%  

Communicates honestly about its environmental impact              87%  

Acts with integrity at all times                                                                87% 

Is clear about and is true to its beliefs                                                 83%  

Is open and honest about the partners and suppliers                     82%  

Stands for more than just making money                                           74%

Has a relevant and engaging story                                                        43%

Source:  http://www.cohnwolfe.com/en/authenticbrands

Authenticity is one of the core pillars of Conscientious Marketing.  HCollaborative is happy to help your organization craft messaging that shows your true authenticity, through relevant content management, impactful videos and creation of a unique brand manifesto. All of which will pass the “sniff test”.

~HCollaborative.com~

Does Your Organization Attract Tourists, or People Who Want To Stay and Visit?

For Mother’s Day, I flew down to visit my son in San  Francisco.  He shares an apartment with his buddy in North Beach and given my Italian heritage, it’s a place that feels like coming home.  It’s an authentic neighborhood, with café shops and Italian bakeries, where I heard Italian spoken among the local residents. At every corner, the Italian flag, tri-colors of green, white and red, are  prominently striped on the utility poles, letting me know in a simple way that I was in a special place.

In  the  piazza next to St. Peter and Paul’s Cathedral , I watched elderly Italian men gesturing with their hands as they watched the community wake up, this Sunday morning.   A small group of elderly Chinese residents practiced Tai Chi.  It was real and I felt a part of the community.  I stopped with my cappuccino in hand and lingered, wanting to participate in the vitality of the neighborhood.

A little later, I continued my walk down to Fisherman’s wharf, only about 8 blocks away.  I was overwhelmed with tourists—and I felt no connection.  People with cameras, accompanied by bored children, browsed the shops and waited in line for the ferry to take them to Sausalito or Alcatraz.  Unlike my early morning adventure in North Beach, these people were tourists… sampling the sights but not stopping long enough to experience the sense of place- an historic fishing market. In fact, there was nothingto truly make them pause, dig deeper and enjoy and relish the waterfront legacy and story.

And I thought about how often as organizations we attract “tourists” to our website , who may engage briefly with us, drawn to our “brightness”, but then they move on, without connecting   to our core story.    We lose an opportunity to engage with them because we do not present ourselves in a simple and authentic way that resonates with a pure purpose .  Rather like Fisherman’s Wharf, we draw them with a multitude of sensations, sights, smells, bright lights and noises, that give us a brief look, but then we are on to the next shiny thing.    Simply stated, we inundate our stakeholders with too much information, overwhelming them with words, program descriptions, dull imagery that are not clean and simple, but rather complex and confusing.

So today, let’s try to be simple and clean with our branding and messaging.  Let’s try to be authenitic and real and create a sense of place and story like that of North Beach.  Let’s create engagement and connection following these two principles:

1.       Shareahistory that creates curiosity, interest and the desire to learn more

2.     Ensure every touchpoint with the organization, from an interaction with a staff member, to a press release about the company, creates a singular and differentiating message and sense of place about WHO you are and WHERE you came from.

And of course as we mention frequently in our blogs:

1.       Eliminate unnecessary words from  your  website and collateral

2.       Create a manifesto that states the truth about your purpose

3.       Clean up collateral, with consistency of brand that makes it simple to connect

Instant Emotion for Your Nonprofit Brand: Music

I’m all about getting emotional. I want messaging that makes me feel something.  And quite honestly some of the communications coming out of nonprofits just doesn’t cut it.  It’s pretty bland with its pretty photos and less than memorable  words, that look like everyone else’s advertising and branding.   There is no differentiation. I think we need to use venues that include compelling music to set the tone for brand story telling .   

Sure, we all have our favorite genres of music, but I maintain all music connects with the brain in a different way. And use of this branding  element makes the brand story much more memorable.  Today with the ease of YouTube, nonprofits can convey their the story with compelling music that will draw the customer in. Combine it with some imaginative animated illustration, and you have set the hook to  reel me in.

Experts say it is because “music distinctly transcends other sensory experiences.”  (Music and How It Impacts your Brain, Malini Mohana) .  Transcending is a pretty "out there" word but the latest brain discoveries around music reveal that the brain processes and translates music into emotion.  And this phenomenon crosses all cultures.

Music stimulates the brain to remember images, smells, and feelings that aren’t stored in memory.  I guess that is the transcendence part of it—and it’s somewhat of a mystery how this happens.  But I’m sure we all have an experience when we heard a melody or tune, andwere transported somewhere else, that we couldn’t just recall with memory alone. 

Music  triggers an emotional response.     Professor Daniel Levitin, a neuroscientist and composer, explains the mystery by stating that music impacts the brains emotional, language and memory centers, creating a new experience.  And guess what? You really feel something that  touches you.  It may even bring a chill or take your breath away, or take you do a different place.  Levitin goes on to say this process can only be described as standing halfway between thought and phenomenon.

Well enough science.  We all get it. Music does the job of creating its own story world, outside of the ordinary.  And so the message of the nonprofit, be it a video or ad, are even more differentiating. Given this reality, it is surprising that marketing agencies aren’t more insistent about using music to accompany their brand story.  And if you do decide to use music, consider local musicians to write some music for you.  The right music can evolve to be your own distinctive tune.   

Let’s all raise the bar with better, more emotionally provoking music when we promote our message.  It’s a powerful tool in any nonprofit marketer’s tool box.   

HCollaborative  is a branding and marketing agency that specializes in creating powerful branding and communications for nonprofits often using music, video  and illustration. www.hcollaborative.com  

How the Curse of Cats Improves Nonprofit Communications

You have undoubtedly heard the expression before.

"Curiosity killed the cat."

Now curiosity might be a bad omen for felines.

However, it is anything but that if you're a nonprofit seeking to create high engagement in your communications.  After all, you want to create curiosity about your organization with your prospective funders, partners and clients and then spark an interest to learn more.

It starts with a powerful headline or hook that makes the reader curious.  This applies to both your online and offline marketing communications.  

In fact, good copywriters revere that word curiosity  thanks to the classic teachings of legendary ad man John Caples. His four decades of work in the copywriting trenches, with clients from Fortune 500 to small mission driven organizations,  proved through tested advertising methods that there were only three approaches to writing attention-getting, engaging headlines:

1.     Self-Interest - piquing the interest  about how you as an individual can do something easier or better, e.g. How To Develop Work-Life Balance that Really Works

2.     News - provoking interest in something discovered, e.g.  - New study on Stress Reduction with Practical Tips

3.     Curiosity - generating an insatiable interest to know something, e.g. - How the Curse of Cats Creates Excitement

For us, we prefer the "curiosity" angle. The reason is simple: curiosity lurks deep inside every human being.

George Lowenstein, a professor of economics and psychology at Carnegie Melon University in Pittsburgh,  wrote about the “gap theory of curiosity”.     It is the innate human behavior triggered when people feel a gap exists between what they know and what they want to know.  In other words, they are curious and will be influenced  to take action (for example, read your post, share it with friends or subscribe to your blog).

Upworthy, a well-known content marketing company, takes the theory a step further and actually calls it the "curiosity gap." They use this strategy day-in and day-out as a foundation for the volume of content they craft and post.

It is summed up in one sentence: Simply write a headline that is tantalizing enough to get read to click through but does not give away the whole story.

The same thing applies to your nonprofit communications. In other words, arouse curiosity.

Here's a headline example:

“The 1 secret of delegation to create more time in your workday”

This headline points out the gap in our knowledge (we don’t know the secret that the headline references do we?). And it creates additional intrigue because who wouldn't want to know the secret to delegating effectively while saving time. 

So if your organization wants to break through the 362 ad messages and over 5,000 brand messages respected research giant Yankelovich says the average consumer gets exposed to daily, you need to do one thing.

Get your curiosity on.

It's definitely not in the best interest of cats. But it certainly works wonders if you want to engage your target audience.

~HCollaborative.com~

La Paz Pelicans: A Lesson for Nonprofits about Patience

It was a beautiful morning in La Paz. I walked along the beach as the fishermen arrived with their daily catch.  Standing sentinel were a group of pelicans still and patient. Quietly they waited for the fishermen to toss the fish remains  from a successful day in the Sea of Cortez.  Waiting, waiting, waiting they were poised to dive in for the rewards of their diligence.  Then a splash and suddenly an orchestra of wings, beaks, squawks--a flurry of activity that  prompted the fishermen to laugh.

 Yes, patience pays off.  The pelicans know this. Nature knows this.  Yet here we are, the world’s supreme species, and we struggle with such a simple concept.  And I’ll be the first to admit, that I am one of the worst when it comes to being patient at home and at work. Seems many of us are hardwired from youth to be productive, to set goals and move towards action. In the process, we have forgotten that patience and thoughtful waiting sometimes reaps the biggest rewards.

 Nonprofits create compelling mission statements eager to make things better. Dedicated, passionate, and yet perhaps impatient.  Changing health and social outcomes takes time.  I know I have been conditioned for immediate gratification and like many type “A” folks, I find myself getting frustrated when change doesn’t happen quick enough. I demand immediacy, rather than celebrating patience and an attitude of nurturing.

 A wise boss and colleague from many years back once pulled me aside, and shared some valuable wisdom. He said that we plant seeds, that need time to grow. Our job, he added, is simply to nurture them.

 So here’s an idea. Today, let's celebrate the virtue of patience. Let's slow down and feel comfortable with waiting--- just like the pelicans. Let’s be happy with the baby steps our nonprofit takes every day.   Here are 5 things I am going to try to exercise my patience.  See if they work for you.

 1. Walk and talk slower.  My high energy persona propels me to do everything fast. So I'm going to try to just physically slow my pace.

2. Set my larger goals not within a tightly defined time-frame, but consider them as a process over time---as a direction I am steadily moving toward.

3. Appreciate downtime. This is thinking, creative and regeneration time.

4. Understand the ebbs and flows that go along with the business of running a nonprofit. Working constantly in high energy "steroid-mode"   will create burnout.

5. Be kind to myself.  Yes, do the work to the best of your ability and complete assignments, but don't be so driven to achieve that your health suffers and you forget to treat yourself occasionally.

 Don't let patience become a lost virtue. Just think about the lesson that pelicans teach us. 

Why Your Donor Appeal Must Apply Fly Fishing Logic

I watched the fishermen casting for steelhead along the banks of the Sandy River.  The hooks on their rods featured a colorful array of eggs, lures and flies.

Some of the rods bobbed up and down on occasion. Others stayed quiet and unbending as the winter waters rushed by.

To me, the whole scene symbolized the essence of creating a successful nonprofit donor letter.

Simply put, it's all in the appeal.

When you think like your prospect, you hold the power to create the right attraction.

Back to the analogy here: why does a 27-pound steelhead salmon gravitate toward the gold flash of a lure versus the red and yellow tails of a fly?

This is something you or your writer needs to know before a Word doc ever gets opened to craft that fundraising letter.

Do research.  (And if you haven't done any recent focus groups with your donors, clients or partners, we can help with that.)

What matters to your existing donor base? Are there any specific examples? Inquire of your staff what they hear at your organization's events and gatherings.

Are there specific outcomes to talk about? Have you made significant social impact with data to back it up? Can you show your prospect what kind of return comes about from their giving?

To stay with this analogy, cast, cast and cast out again until something takes a good...strong...bite.

Undoubtedly, it's emotional, balanced with some logical.

That's what moves we humans to action.

As certain as the Sandy river flows day and night, every nonprofit has its own "unique" appeal.

When that appeal is found, it can be the Holy Grail for consistently funding your programs and services. When not, it can be as elusive as that 27-pounder that got away.

~HCollaborative.com~

Nonprofit Executive Directors: Do You Notice the Little Things?

The Art of Observation...

 February is a beautiful month to visit La Paz, Mexico. The air smells fresh, clean and cool, by Baja Standards, and yet you only need a sweatshirt in the evenings.  It’s a nice respite from the rain of the Northwest.  I’m here volunteering for a nonprofit organization called, Centro Mujeres, helping this dedicated group of people  with branding and communications.  It’s rewarding work, supporting human rights and social justice for women.

 I have the afternoons off, so we head to the nearby beach of Tecolate where I like to look for seashells.  During the winter, however, it is especially hard to find these tiny gems of beauty. My search this February  proves quite challenging. But I persevere hoping to discover the hidden, tiny pieces of coral and spiral shells buried in the rubble of the sea debris.

 And soon I am rewarded and fill my tiny bag. Inside it, I see a miniature and delicate world of tiny clam and limpet shells, brightened by shards of red coral. My process isn’t difficult: I sift through the sand carefully and capture the wonder of these shells. As I walk back to the palapa, I think of all the times I did not notice the simple little things around me basically because I wasn’t looking.  

The work of nonprofits is especially demanding, and often there just isn’t the time or energy to stop, pause and take in the small pieces of the organization that sometimes seem humdrum.  The work of an Executive Director is to see the big picture, the overarching strategy and vision. Yet pockets of great creativity surround us at neighboring desks and cubicles. There is so much to appreciate and value if we simple pause a moment and observe.  

 As a branding and marketing strategist, I am humbled to learn from skilled artists, illustrators and master storytellers, who notice the little things intuitively. A simple turn of a word to create compelling messaging, a singular sketched line that evokes the emotion of the concept--it seems to come so easy to them.   And then there are the rest of us, a little more left-brained who have to work hard to see the patterns -- the ebb and flow of tiny things that together create beauty. For we are the more logical, analytical and objective types.

 Which brings me to this suggestion... Today, let's challenge ourselves to open our eyes and notice the subtlety of things that work in concert to create harmony in our jobs. Let’s perfect the art of observation. Perhaps these 3 guidelines will help you:

 1.  Take the time to find patterns. Think forest and not individual trees, looking for the synergy and collective rhythm of things to find the big picture.

2. Notice the details that together create the whole.  Each part contributes.  Honor the role even tiny components play in your next strategic or project plan. But remember that alone they are only data points. The sum is greater than the individual parts.

3. Read about social intelligence and try to improve your skills.  This means noticing the little things about your  co-workers....eyes that sparkle when they are doing passionate work, but dull when stressed or burned-out.  Subtle changes in behavior we need to notice if we care.  Empathy makes a difference.

 I guess the key is to open our eyes and our senses. Then, we will see the intricate weaving in the background waiting to be discovered and treasured, just like my shells on the beach of La Paz. 

Self-Kindness Critical For Non-Profits In 2016

In spite of the joy and celebration that holidays bring, they can also be demanding, exhausting, and take a lot out of us. Simply put they can be stressful. For nonprofit organizations, who are dedicated to making the holidays safe, secure and special for their clients, there may be extra worries that take a toll emotionally and physiologically.   Many nonprofit staff and volunteers are truly heros or angels, giving so much to help others during this season.  Yet kindness to others is not the whole answer.   We also need to practice self-kindness, and January is a great time of the year, as agencies launch new initiatives, to remember the value of self-compassion and make it a priority too.

Brain research has shown that being kind is good for the body.  David Hamilton, PhD, has written numerous articles about the “Helpers High”.  The mapping of brain patterns shows that when people give to others and are kind - showing empathy and compassion- the chemical Oxytocin is released.  It has been the called the chemical of emotional connection.  And studies show that people who release the most oxytocin are happier.  This hormone has also been shown to boost the immune system and enable people to manage stress better. And Hamilton’s research points out that kindness gives us healthier hearts and can even slow aging.

 Being kind to SELF is an extension of this process. Giving to self is interwoven with giving to others.  The reality is that the positive benefits to the body from giving to others, is negated by too much cortisol in the body.  And what produces cortisol--- STRESS! Lack of self-care and self -compassion that may look like burnout from providing for others, is one of the prime contributors to stress.    The key is more than   coping with stress by engaging in positive physical behaviors, such as exercise, massage, and healthy eating.  It also needs to include changing our internal self-talk, which inhibits self-compassion.  Thiscan sometimes be the hardest to change.

So in 2016 if you are in the nonprofit or cause -driven world that already gives so much to others, start giving back to yourself:

1.        Cut yourself some slack – don’t be a perfectionist.

2.       Focus of what you do well, and celebrate your strengths.

3.       Forgive yourself if and when  you make a mistake… these are just learning opportunities.  And if you screw up, apologies are ok.  You don’t always have to be right.

4.       Don’t compare yourself to others.  You have your own journey.

5.       Be patient with yourself, and don’t set expectations that are unreasonable.

6.       Remember your path may have detours.  It’s o.k. to veer, wander, stray.

7.       Don’t worry about the past or future… that is wasted time.  Rather feel proud of what you do each day.

8.       Slow down, smile, connecting with your feelings in a positive way. 

9.      Focus on the emotion of hope and gratitude when you are feeling down or depressed.

10.    Give yourself permission to enjoy the moment of spontaneity.  It’s not always about reaching a goal!

Harmer Collaborative has a wonderful workshop for your staff about Self-Kindness.  It includes an individual quiz that helps staff understand the degree of self-compassion they have.  And provides practical ways staff and volunteers can increase self-compassion… in order to give to others. Call Mary Anne at 503-708-9239 or email maryanne@hcollaborative.com  if you are interested.  It is a New Years gift they will thank you for.