You Can Change the People That Matter

The always wonderful Seth Godin published some great wisdom on this subject in his blog recently, and I was so struck by his (always) right-on-the-money observations that I had to share them with you — adapted nonprofit style. Following are some of Seth’s main points (in bold), followed by my interpretations for the fundraising crowd.

“Marketing is about change — changing people’s actions, perceptions or the conversation. Successful change is almost always specific.” Fundraising, like marketing, is also about change. And, like marketing, it works best when it’s specific. It’s hard to get someone to support your cause, help a devastated region or volunteer for good. But when you ask her to give $5 to provide a reader for Eldana in Addis Ababa or sign up now to staff the domestic violence hotline for a 60-minute shift next Sunday, that usually works — if you’re talking in the right way to the right person at the right time.

“The challenge of mass media was how to run ads that would be seen by just about everyone and have those ads pay off. That problem is gone, because you can no longer run an ad that reaches everyone. Now, instead of yelling at the masses, the marketer has no choice but to choose her audience. So the first, most important question is, ‘Who do we want to change?’”

For fundraisers, this is actually the third most important question (first, of course, being, “What are the fundraising goals that will help my organization meet its overall goals?” and second being, “What are the specific actions needed to meet those fundraising goals?”). So, on to No. 3: “Who do we want to change?”

Nope, the answer is not “the general public,” which I hear from so many of you. You don’t want everyone — “everyone” won’t help your organization meet its marketing goals. If you try to make that happen, you’ll squander all your time and budget in a flash.

In fact, in trying to reach everybody, you can easily alienate the people most likely to help — your target audience — because you’re using generic messages that have nothing specific to do with them. After all, generic is the only choice when you’re trying to reach everyone.

So concentrate on the people who have the greatest influence and/or are most likely to help and/or motivate their networks to take those actions. I recommend you focus on no more than three groups, and then dive in (once you know more about them) to break each group into three or fewer segments, each of which shares values, wants and habits.

“If you can’t answer [the ‘who do we want to change’ question] specifically, do not proceed to the rest. By who, I mean, ‘give me a name.’ Or, if you can’t give me a name, then a persona, a tribe, a spot in the hierarchy, a set of people who share particular worldviews.
Then, be really clear about:

• What does she already believe?
• What is she afraid of?
• What does she think she wants?
• What does she really want?
• What stories have resonated with her in the past?
• Who does she follow and look up to?
• What channel has her permission? Where do messages that resonate with her come from? Who does she trust, and who does she pay attention to?
• What is the source of her urgency — why will she change now rather than later?
• After she has changed, what will she tell her friends and family?”

Here are some low-cost, high-return ways to get to know your people, so you can motivate them to change, give, volunteer and take more actions to move your issue or cause forward:

1. Create personas.

• Personas are hypothetical “stand-ins” or profiles for your nonprofit’s actual audiences.
• They enable you and your colleagues (and that includes planners, writers, designers and others) to stand in your audiences’ shoes.
• They enable your nonprofit to launch campaigns to mobilize supporters to move your key issues forward that are shaped around audience needs and interests.
• For each persona, craft a personal profile that typifies the people in each subgroup or segment (folks in a particular segment that share characteristics) of each target audience. Create no more than three segments in each of the (no more than three) target audiences.
• If you have someone in mind, that’s the easiest way to start. But make sure that the persona is an amalgam of the different types of people in that segment.
• Put demographics aside and focus on what your persona wants, loves, does in a day, is interested in, wants to leave behind … all the nitty-gritty you learn as you get to know a new colleague or friend.
• Give your persona a name, face (just pick a photo off the Web, really), and take her or him out to lunch. What would your conversation be?
• Shape your fundraising and marketing outreach to these personas. What would they think and do? Would they open the e-mail or letter, or post a response to your tweet?

2. Listen to the online conversation.

• Trust me — there’s so much being said about your organization and your issue or cause, whether you know it or not.
• Listening in — via techniques such as setting up Google Alerts on your organization name, leaders and issues; tracking tweets that include those same terms; and “liking” relevant Facebook pages — is easy and cost-effective, and it gives you major insights (good or bad).
• Once you have a sense of the conversation out there, figure out how you can join it in a productive — never defensive — way.

3. Launch a fundraising advisory group.

• I know you know at least five people — a mix of current supporters and those on the brink — who are willing to give you five to 10 minutes a month of their time.
• Ask them (more is fine too, but don’t overwhelm yourself — that’s the quickest way to failure) if you can call on them briefly as needed when you need insight from your base.
• Explain what kind of feedback you’ll be asking for (their take on content, campaign concepts, etc.) and how you’ll be in touch with them (mini-survey, e-mail, phone call, etc.).
• Set expectations of the time required so they know what’s expected and won’t shy away.
• Believe me, folks will love doing this. It’s minimum time for maximum engagement for them (which strengthens their loyalty with their organization) and fantastic, as-needed guidance for you.

“Now that you know these things, go make a product and a service and a story that works. No fair changing the answers to the questions to match the thing you’ve already made (you can change the desired audience, but you can’t change the truth of what they want and believe).”

Your prospects and supporters (plus your personas, their imaginary equivalents) are the best guides you’ll ever have to shaping relevant messages and campaigns that motivate them to give and spread the word to family and friends. So jump in. Get to know them. And sweep them off their feet!

Nancy Schwartz is president of Nancy Schwartz & Co. and author of the Getting Attention! blog. She also is a member of the FundRaising Success Editorial Advisory Board. Reach her at nancy@nancyschwartz.com