The Year's Main Marketing Messages

This was a big year for marketing, and marketers should come away from it with a better understanding of what makes their customers/donors tick. Here are three of the main ways marketing was turned on its head in 2010 — and what that means for fundraisers.

1. People don't trust marketers. They trust each other. Once upon a time, we believed the claims in the ad that said, "More doctors smoke Camel than any other cigarette!" Now we look at marketing with skepticism and even scorn. We don't trust much of the marketing from companies, government, institutions or charities. Only 6 percent of people say they believe marketers' claims, according to Forrester Research.

So who do we trust? Each other. Nielsen says 90 
percent of consumers trust recommendations from acquaintances. That's why we put more stock in the reader reviews on Amazon than in the blurbs on the book covers. It's why we read traveler ratings on TripAdvisor. And it's why donors go to Charity Navigator and read the comments tab on your charity. They want the truth.

It's not enough for you to say your cause is worthy. Your credibility only goes so far. You need someone else to say your cause is worthy — especially online, where people are accustomed to looking to third parties to decide which actions to take. Feature ratings from charity watchdogs, quotes from community leaders, stories from beneficiaries of your programs and the endorsement of your biggest supporters. People are more likely to believe them than you.

2. Spray-and-pray marketing fails. Micromarketing prevails. Back in the era of mass advertising portrayed in the cable TV show "Mad Men," marketers didn't just have great clothes. They had an easier job. Everyone watched the same few TV stations or read LIFE magazine. You could spray out a generic message to everyone and pray someone would listen and buy. Ah, those were the days. Great dresses, cool cocktails and blanket 
messaging. Does anyone have a time machine handy?

In an era of hundreds of channels, social media and message overload, targeting the general public is futile unless you have the budget of Coca-Cola. It's also ineffective. People expect a more personalized experience when they interact with a brand, including yours.

That's where micromarketing comes in — which happens to be the name of a new book by Greg Verdino ("MicroMarketing: Get Big Results by Thinking and Acting Small," McGraw-Hill). The idea is that we need many small, targeted acts of outreach from people reaching out to their own circles of influence. Those many small acts can lead to big movements. The result of the growth in micromarketing is a big power shift. Mass communication has been supplanted by masses of 
communicators.

So don't think "spray and pray" — think "concentrate and inundate." Build small, passionate, committed groups of supporters with the power to spread the word in various communities rather than focusing on one big, faceless prospect file.

3. Monologues don't work; conversations do. Trust in marketers has given way to trust in each other. Mass communication has given way to masses of communicators. So people are listening to each other and talking to each other and forming their own communities. You're just another party in communication with everyone else. You can't simply be a marketer with a message. You need to be a marketer committed to conversation.

Remember when you were taught to "control your message"? If you're not over 40 like yours truly, take my word for it: Message control was the name of the marketing game. So was treating marketing like a monologue. I was taught, just say everything you want to say, the way you want to say it, and then people will take action.

News flash: We're not in control. We can put whatever we want on our websites, but that doesn't mean anyone's listening. Not only that, our audiences are free to trash us to their 900 friends on Facebook. So don't dwell on what you can't command. Embrace the fact that in this new world, marketers and fundraisers are only half of a relationship with a prospect, supporter or donor. Our role is not to talk at people but to engage with them, listen to them, and build a rapport and relationship around what mutually matters.

We used to crank out the self-serving copy, tell people to trust us and hit them for money. That era is over. Change your message, your messengers and your goals. This isn't about extracting money from people. It's about making great things happen — together. FS