Articles

How to Maintain (and Build) Your Brand in a Weak Economy
Common sense might dictate that organizations reduce expenses – especially discretionary ones like marketing – in an economic downturn, right? Well, at the risk of disappointing every thrifty CEO looking to improve the bottom line, research suggests that not only should you maintain your marketing efforts, you should (dare I say it?) spend more in recessionary times.
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Beyond Eeyore: Building Accountability into Your Workplace
Eeyore is a sometimes loveable, always pessimistic donkey in A.A. Milne’s Winnie the Pooh stories. "There are those who will wish you good morning,” Eeyore says in typical fashion. “If it is a good morning, which I doubt." Eeyore’s name comes from the sound of the donkey’s signature bray, and his disposition is much like that noise—repetitive and annoying. Eeyore always assume the worst is going to happen, and wanders around in a constant state of negativity.
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Sticky Ideas Share Six Basic Traits
From the book, “Why Some Ideas Survive and Others Die: Made to Stick” by Chip and Dan Heath
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Five Predictions for the Nonprofit World
Excerpted in part from an article by Tracy Gary that appeared in the Chronicle of Philanthropy, dated January 10, 2008
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Finding the Perfect Grant: Nine Keys to Successful Grant Writing and Development
We've all heard about the so called "elevator pitch" a scenario in which you're in an elevator with a prospective client or donor and they ask "tell me about what you do." You have about 20 seconds to grab their attention.A friend of mine just ventured into the world of online dating. When I asked her how it’s going, she said it was “exhausting.” “First,” she said, “you have to create a profile that will appeal to someone you might find attractive, then you have to exchange messages to see if you are both compatible and interested in dating, and finally you still have to decide if you want to invest the time and energy and try to build a relationship.”
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Thinking Inside the Box: Keeping a Strategic Focus to Guide Decisions
The world is full of opportunities, but which are the right ones for your organization to pursue? Thinking inside the box can help maintain your focus.
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Are you for Real? Effective Marketing in the Internet Age
Authenticity: A Requirement in the Information Age Being authentic in your approach involves raising awareness about benefits over manufacturing interest or intentionally hiding the parts that aren’t glamorous.
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5 Tips to Boosting Workplace Creativity
Looking for ways to inject a little creative thinking into your day-to-day activities at the office? Here are a few tips to try...
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Going Green: A Sustainable Change
Small and large, nonprofit and for profit, many organizations today understand the benefits of going green. In addition to a positive impact on the bottom line from reduced energy costs, instituting green standards can result in improved employee morale, greater brand strength, enhanced marketing opportunities, and increased client loyalty. However, it's not enough to simply talk about being ecology-minded; organizations must demonstrate their environmental values by implementing changes that are effective and sustainable something that is easier said than done.
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How Important are Winery Donations to your Fundraising Efforts?
"The wine industry is invaluable to our fundraising efforts." That opinion was shared by many of the 73 nonprofit agencies throughout Napa, Sonoma, Solano, and Marin Counties who responded to NewLevel Group's survey — How Important are Winery Donations to Your Fundraising Efforts?
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Vision and Mission Definitions
A vision is a guiding image of success formed in terms of a contribution to society. If a strategic plan is the
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Three Keys to a Quick, Powerful Message
We've all heard about the so called "elevator pitch" a scenario in which you're in an elevator with a prospective client or donor and they ask "tell me about what you do." You have about 20 seconds to grab their attention.
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Head-off Holiday Party Harassment: Ten Tips for Managers
Office parties are meant to reward employees and build team spirit, but harassment complaints can result if expectations for party-smart behavior aren't made clear. Ensure that your holiday festivities go smoothly by following these Ten Tips for Managers.
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The Next Generation of Nonprofit Leaders: Will There Be Enough?
A perfect storm is brewing in the nonprofit world — one that promises to rock the boat for nonprofits and the communities that they serve. At a time when the sector is rapidly expanding (between 1995 and 2004, the number of nonprofits grew at a compound growth rate of 69%), baby boom executives are retiring and the available labor pool will soon be insufficient to meet demand.
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Building An Effective, Sustainable, Impactful Organization
While there is no one formula for building a high-performance social sector organization, there are attributes and processes that all effective organizations have in common. The following is a checklist of some of those basic components.
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High Satisfaction Days TM: Leading Indicators of Results
Have you ever measured the doneness of cookies baking in your oven using the smoke detector instead of a timer? When the smoke alarm goes off, you certainly know the cookies are done, it's just that the information isn't very helpful at that point. That's an example of what economists call a "Lagging Indicator". While most successful organizations use performance measures to gauge results, the majority of the measures they employ — financial reports, sales results, 360° reviews — are lagging indicators. That is, they tell you with some accuracy how you did, but not until after the fact.
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Making the "Ask": Six Fundamentals of Writing an Effective Fundraising Letter
The reason many donors cite for giving money? They were asked! One of the most common methods that nonprofits use to raise funds is the appeal letter. Not only can an appeal letter bring in much needed funds, it can strengthen the connection with current supporters, reactivate lapsed donors, encourage more donors to become major donors, and increase the size of major donor gifts.
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5 Tips to Getting Media Coverage
Journalists are barraged with hundreds of emails, phone calls, and faxes every day from well-meaning business owners, nonprofit executives, and public relations professionals who pitch story after story without any regard to what the journalist really needs: something his or her readers will find interesting. Here are a few keys to get the media to pay attention to your story...
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Getting Your Nonprofit Board On-Board
One of the great things about nonprofit boards is the passion they bring to their volunteerism. But passion alone is not enough to develop, plan, and provide the leadership necessary to have an effective, high-functioning organization. Board members of successful organizations are constantly challenging themselves to improve their approach to fulfilling the legal, fiduciary, and management responsibilities of the position.
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What's in a Name?
"That which we call a rose by any other word would smell as sweet." Shakespeare may have been a great playwright, but he would have failed Branding 101. A powerful name is a key component to a brand's success and especially critical in today's densely crowded marketplace. A rose by any other name would perhaps smell as sweet but, more importantly, would it sell?
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A Culture of Learning
Today's knowledge workers are a lot different from workers of past generations. Well-educated, highly-experienced specialists often coming out of big corporate environments, these are not really employees in the traditional sense. Just as a company's capital may be held in buildings, equipment, inventories, brands, and proprietary processes, a knowledge worker's capital — their intellectual property — is held inside their heads.
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What Gets Measured...
It's been said that, "What gets measured, gets managed." But how does one determine what should be measured? Should all measurements be objective or is there a place for the subjective as well? Measurements — both subjective and objective — are critical for an organization to maintain alignment between its strategic goals and its day-to-day activities.
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Doing Good: Marketing Social Causes
Ben & Jerry's does it. So does American Express, Home Depot, and Avon. In fact, one need not look any further than our own backyard to find a number of Napa Valley wineries doing it. What is it? Sometimes referred to as Cause Marketing or Values Led Marketing, this new breed of corporate philanthropy is becoming as common as Chunky Monkey®.
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Culture and the Bottom Line
What does a successful wine business looks like? Most of the measures wineries focus on to steer their success tend to be hard and quantifiable: gross margins, price points, sales volume, market share, distribution clout, or direct sales percentages. How can something more qualitative, like your organization's culture, determine success?
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Comparing Apples, Coffee, and Donuts
What do brands like Apple, Starbucks and Krispy Kreme have in common? Sure, they all have great logos, creative advertising campaigns, and powerful PR strategies, but their success is due to something much less tangible and often misunderstood — the emotional connection the customer has formed with the brand.
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