From snoring to soaring
I’ve skimmed through, and trashed, my share of incredibly boring newsletters in my time. I fact, these days I try to avoid newsletters as much as possible. But if organisations followed the advice Katya’s Non-Profit Marketing Blog has uncovered the world would be a much better place.
After all, community organisations do great work, making real change in peoples lives. Their newsletters should be don’t miss material. Here are some edited highlights of what Katya says, but read her post for the full monty, all details exposed:
So what’s a nonprofit to do? How do we take our newsletters from snoring to soaring? … here’s what trainer, writer and newsletter guru Kivi Leroux Miller of Nonprofit Marketing Guide.com had to say.
Katya: Why are there no stories, or only milquetoast stories, in so many newsletters? What gives?
Kivi: Two reasons, I think. First, people are afraid that they can’t pull it off. When you say “storytelling,” most people envision either someone like Mark Twain or Toni Morrison or a wild-haired grandpa on a stage at some mountain storytelling festival spinning some yarn – someone with way more creative juices flowing. Or they simply don’t think they are good writers, and the thought of writing something that qualifies as a “story” is just too daunting. It doesn’t have to be that way. Nonprofits have tons of great stories. Finding material in the nonprofit sector is never a problem.
Kivi: You just need to learn some basic storytelling patterns. …
Kivi: The Challenge Plot is your basic three–act structure that practically every Hollywood movie is based on. These are your classic underdog stories, against all odds stories. …
Kivi: Creativity stories are those with the “aha!” moments and those “what if we . . .” stories that work out in the end. …
Kivi: [the Connection Plot] is a little harder to pull off without sounding sappy or forced, but once again, with the right elements, it’s easy. These are the bridging the gap stories and big meaning in small events stories. …
[Via Katya's Non-Profit Marketing Blog: How to fix boring newsletters.]
Oh, and the medium doesn’t matter: print, web, email, video, audio, posters — they all need their stories.
If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!
July 20, 2008 No Comments
Tell stories
Beth Kanter’s post about her process for raising funds as part of the America’s Giving Challenge tells the story of Pharoth, an orphan in Cambodia. The story reinforces the all-important point that Beth makes:
…all nonprofits need to use stories as part of their communications and fundraising. Research and studies have shown that donors are more likely to give if they are hear a story about one person who has been helped by the charity versus numbers and statistics. I now have a collection of stories about the Sharing Foundation.
[Via BlogHer - Social change, Non-profits & NGOs: Stories, Conversations, and Supportive Network are Key for Social Fundraising.]
It’s easy to think of charities who use the story technique, who ask for a dollar a day for a named person, for example. But there are also still many organisations who would benefit from working a little harder on putting stories to statistics.
Stories engage our human hearts and allow us to feel that the ‘problem’ is manageable. We can’t help hundreds, or thousands or millions who need a particular service, but we do feel able to improve the life of Josephine or Johnny.
What are the stories in your organisation?
January 31, 2008 1 Comment
