Latest / We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits / 259. Create a Marketing Plan and Your Brand Voice for the “Off-Season” - Jordana Merkin

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259. Create a Marketing Plan and Your Brand Voice for the “Off-Season” - Jordana Merkin · We Are For Good Podcast - The Podcast for Nonprofits

• 0:01
  Jonathan McCoy: Today's episode is sponsored by feather feather provides digital marketing tools and strategies for nonprofits of all shapes and sizes, including the Humane Society of North Central Florida. Stick around for the break to hear how feather power their $300 digital ad campaign that raised nearly$6,000 In just one day. Hey, I'm John.
• 0:20
  Becky Endicott: And I'm Becky.
• 0:21
  Jonathan McCoy: And this is the we are for good podcast.
• 0:24
  Becky Endicott: Nonprofits are faced with more challenges to accomplish their missions and the growing pressure to do more, raise more and be more for the causes that improve our world.
• 0:33
  Jonathan McCoy: We're here to learn with you from some of the best in the industry, bringing the most innovative ideas, inspirational stories, all to create an impact uprising.
• 0:42
  Becky Endicott: So welcome to the good community, where Nonprofit Professionals, philanthropist, world changers and rabid fans who are striving to bring a little more goodness into the world.
• 0:52
  Jonathan McCoy: So let's get started. Hey, Becky.
• 0:55
  Becky Endicott: Hi, John.
• 0:57
  Jonathan McCoy: Why are you smiling over there?
• 0:58
  Becky Endicott: Well, because not only is one of our favorite nonprofit marketers on the podcast today, I am just so geeked out to talk about one of our favorite topics, which is marketing plans, brand voice, and we're doing it with someone that I feel like is almost a little overdue for coming onto our podcast. So I'm just so thrilled to introduce Jordanna Merkin to the we're for good community. She's the founder of voice for good. And listen, she is one of us. She was in nonprofits in various sizes, small to large and medium nonprofits doing the hard work before she kind of stepped out and started her own consultancy.
• 1:34
  Becky Endicott: And she's bringing this incredible knowledge and outsider perspective to grow nonprofits who just need more marketing support. So if you're a small but mighty nonprofit, who's just saying I don't have the bandwidth, to do all of the things, and we're standing in this incredible moment of where marketing and digital engagement is absolutely the catalyst for not only just connection, but fundraising and brand awareness, it's going to put your mission on fire. Jordanna is one of those experts in the business.
• 2:06
  Becky Endicott: So she does a lot of things including crafting messaging guidelines, marketing plans, she does multi channel public awareness. She works on fundraising campaigns. And today we're going to be talking about what do you do during the offseason? And I think this is a big question that we have a lot in our community. And so we're gonna be talking about how to maximize those times when you're not in campaign or in a heavy, heavily concentrated program area that you're trying to get funding for. But I just want to say from a personal standpoint, we've known Jordanna for several months. She is one of the most empathetic, most kind humans, she is a warrior mom. We love our New Jersey friends. And I just think that she pours all of that heart wired soul and passion into our work. And we're just delighted to have her here.
• 2:53
  Becky Endicott: So Jordanna Welcome to the we're for good podcast.
• 2:57
  Jordana Merkin: Oh, my goodness, thank you so much for that wonderful introduction. I, I am so excited to be here chatting with you guys. We got to know each other or coming up on a year, which is crazy. But he was one of the first people that I connected with on Instagram when I started this venture. And you really tell me about voice for good. And I was like me, okay, like, I guess I'm doing this. So yeah, I've come a long way since that and, you know, in almost a year, it's it's crazy. And right around that time you guys were celebrating 50,000 downloads. So it's been amazing to watch you guys grow as well. So thanks again for having me
• 3:39
  Becky Endicott: lean in to the Instagram DM. I mean, I literally was watching some of Jordan danas offerings, you know, get unpacked and I was so curious, and I loved how modern they were and how human they were. So okay, enough about us.
• 3:53
  Becky Endicott: We want to know about you. Like, take us back and tell us about where you grew up and how you fell into the nonprofit sector.
• 4:01
  Jordana Merkin: So I grew up in a house where philanthropy was always really an important focus both you know, within our own community outside of our community, lots of different cause areas. It was always hard for me to choose for my bat mitzvah, I was tasked with like, you know, what do you want to do for this project to give back and I couldn't choose I think I ended up collecting books and baby supplies and children's clothing. And I think kids get like end games like four or five different organizations because I just couldn't decide one thing. And then after 10 years in house, I different organizations of various sizes and cause areas I am now I started my nonprofit marketing consultancy voice for good and that's what I love to do. As part of this consultancy is I get to work with so many different organizations again, I still don't have to choose which is wonderful. But for 10 years in house I They did all of the marketing things, right? Because that's how it is when you're at especially smaller shops, you'll do all of the things, which was really wonderful. And I learned so much, I was an English major in college. And so that storytelling piece and that writing piece is just always has had my heart and to be able to do it on a day to day basis in the nonprofit space has always just been such a blessing. So I really consider myself lucky that I really just love what I do.
• 5:29
  Jonathan McCoy: I love hearing your story. I mean, there's some overlap. And us, Becky and me spending years in development too. And I think what's really cool about it now that you've kind of flipped the tables, and you're consulting and you're sharing wisdom, is like you're cutting off so much time, you know, so much mistakes and just learning things for your clients. And I think you can come at it with that perspective. So that's so cool that you're doing that I love this topic, let's dive into this idea of crafting your organization's story. I mean, we talk about storytelling all the time on this podcast, probably too much sometimes. But it's kind of where it's at, you know, it's kind of really important.
• 6:04
  Jonathan McCoy: And so give us some of your, you know, initial ideas. When you're trying to create messaging for organizations. Where do you start?
• 6:11
  Jordana Merkin: Yeah, so I always start with the question, what do you do? Because it's such a basic question. And yet, even at an organization with like, three people, you could get three different answers. So I think it's really Yeah, I don't like it happens all the time, right? Like you have a board member and like an admin person and the executive director, and you ask that very basic question, and you get three completely different answers. And it's not that any of them aren't true, right?
• 6:39
  Jordana Merkin: Like, it's not like anyone doesn't know what they're talking about. It's just when we're so in it, and we have our nose to the grindstone all the time, we get very caught up in, you know, like, what do I do in this moment, day to day and not like, what is big picture impact? What is the story of what you do? So I always start with that question. And then we look at the mission and a mission, as we know, it should be clear and concise and compelling. And it should really say what you do and who you do it for. But a mission is just the starting point and telling a story, right? Because what a mission doesn't always have is the impact piece. The mission doesn't have what how are you showing up for your community.
• 7:17
  Jordana Merkin: So that's the piece that I moved to next. And what I do is an exercise called the Three Wise which is based on an exercise to get to the emotional core of an issue by Chip and Dan Heath that they write about in their book Made to Stick. And basically they say, to get to the emotional core of an issue, you should ask the question, why is this important? Three times. So I apply that to nonprofit impact storytelling. When you start with a mission? Or you start with answering that question, what do you do? If you ask, why is this important? And then you dig deeper? And say, again, why is this important? And then a third time, why is this important, you really peel back the layers, not just on what you do, if you're a food bank, you're not really giving food to people, but eventually you really get to that emotional piece of No, you're telling people that they matter, you're saying that they're valuable enough to give them foods so that they can feel a part of communities so they can feel like they're worthy. And that's a very different story, then we hand out X number of food packages every day, week, month, you know, and it's not that the number of cans of food you hand out isn't what you do it is. But that second piece of the impact, that's the story that you want to be telling and all of your communications. So that's generally where I start, because that big picture impact story is what really is going to underlie all of your messaging. And it should really be that umbrella, or a lens that you're viewing everything else through. And if it doesn't match, then you need to think about how to either you're getting into an issue where like, maybe it's not really your mission, or you need to change the big picture of storytelling so that it really includes all the things you do.
• 8:58
  Becky Endicott: Okay, I need to geek out about this for a hot moment. As a storyteller, this is such a brilliant exercise for someone who like me who is so verbose. I use 100 words when three will do. And it really helps you get down to the very basis of what is it that we're trying to do. And I think that this is such a great starting point. And I have to tell you, I've never thought about it this way. If you can get down to the very, very bottom of what are we actually doing? I think you can build up from then and the way that you can scale that idea through again, through story through lived experience through and I think what you said initially is really an important lens for people to think about is if everybody thinks that our mission is doing something else.
• 9:47
  Becky Endicott: That's okay. I mean, our key messages can can communicate whatever that bear essential form is, but we want everyone's perspective. I want to know what a donor thinks. I want to know what a board member thing Thanks, I want to know what a beneficiary thinks, I want to know what a staff member thinks.
• 10:02
  Becky Endicott: And when you can bring the collective voices of everyone into that discussion, the richness, the mosaic of your story, and your mission becomes so much brighter, people can see themselves expressed in, in someone's viewpoint. So I actually think that that was such a brilliant starting point, because I do think that a lot of people say we want to do this, we don't know where to start. So I want to just say that we hear a lot from other nonprofit professionals that their organization is doing really good work, but they're having a hard time telling the stories.
• 10:37
  Becky Endicott: So talk to us about your advice around crafting and telling that organization story, once you've gotten to that basic form.
• 10:45
  Jordana Merkin: Yeah. So I would say the next part of what you need to think about is not just the story that you're putting out there, but a who you're talking about and be who you're talking to. So it's really important to think about the people you serve, like who your beneficiaries are, and who your audience is. And for some organizations, that may be the same. For some organizations, it may be completely different. I feel like you have like the Venn diagram, like for some organizations, it's one circle, for some, it's two completely separate circles. And for them, it's like anywhere in between, you can also have more than one audience. So it's possible that it's both at the same organization. But whatever it is, it's really important to dive deep into that, when thinking about your messaging for several reasons. So in terms of your beneficiaries, you want to make sure that they're included in the story you're telling, you don't want to be talking about them, you want to be talking almost with them. And that's how you, I know, you talk a lot here about ethical storytelling, which is super important, and how you really, you provide dignity to those that you're serving, when you involve them in the conversation. So that's one piece of it. And the other piece is the audience, you if you're putting out messaging there, this happens often on social media, because you're just like putting things out there into the social media world and not even always aware of who you're talking to. And you really need to be aware of who you're talking to, like, think about your audience, think about specific people that you're talking to. And it makes it a lot easier to think about crafting your messaging, right?
• 12:12
  Jordana Merkin: Because you want to think about your big picture story, then you want to think about who's hearing that big picture story and how it's going to land. So I'd say that's, that's the next piece to think about. And then in thinking about those things, you also want to think about what makes your organization unique? No, with 1.5 million and counting nonprofits, just in the US alone, someone else is gonna have the same mission you do, probably more than one person is gonna have the same mission you do. And that's okay, right?
• 12:36
  Jordana Merkin: Like, if we're sticking with a food bank example, like what makes your food bank different than every other food bank, and there's something right, I often like to lean into the founders story, because depending on the founder and the personality, some are more comfortable sharing than others. But there's no such thing as a founder that doesn't have a passion for the cause, right? Like, why would you bother. So I think that's often are really a great place to start also, to the extent that you can share it and that that person is willing to share it. Because then you really think about how you can connect with your audience, maybe there are audience, people in your audience who have a similar background, who have a similar story who don't have a similar story and are grateful for, you know, maybe they come from a place of privilege and the founder didn't done and they can connect over that. There are lots of different ways to come at it. But the extent to which you can personalize it, both the way the story is told and to whom you're telling the story, the stronger your story will be.
• 13:34
  Jonathan McCoy: I mean, all this is such great tips, as you start to put this together, it really does give you like a framework to build from. And that's what I like about this, because you use an example, early on that if you ask, you know, numerous people, what you do, you're gonna get all these different replies, which is fine from the context of people storytelling in their own way. But you kind of also want to be saying the same general idea, I would think, and this is going to give you so much more clarity around that.
• 13:58
  Jonathan McCoy: So let's talk about taking all those pieces, you got this beautiful salad and use the salad analogy. Let's talk about creating a marketing plan from that, because we know it's kind of easier to know what to talk about when you're in a campaign.
• 14:10
  Jonathan McCoy: I mean, you're so focused, there's one clear call to action. What about in the offseason? And I would love for you to kind of give us some color around this.
• 14:19
  Jordana Merkin: So I think the offseason, it's important to be storytelling all the time. To me, that sounds super fun. I know that might sound a little daunting, when else maybe. But it's important to be doing that all the time. So I think you want to create a culture of storytelling at your organization, even before you put pen to paper on your marketing plan. You want to think about the types of stories that you're telling. So yes, to your point, John, you want to have this overarching umbrella, that big picture impact story, but you also want to have your day to day stories, and they're not necessarily the stories that you think, right so you want to have your success stories of I've worked for one of my clients in the special needs preschool I use them as an example. as their goal is to have children with developmental, behavioral social challenges, engaged in mainstream environments once they leave their program, and we talk a lot about making friends and listening to the teacher, those are big goals for these kids, because they're kids that don't, that doesn't come to them naturally. So at last year's graduation, right, the story of that is we have X number of kids graduating, and they're going to this many mainstream environments. And that's a wonderful story. And that's an important story. But last year, last year's graduation, I think of this often, I overheard one of the teachers telling one of the therapists that one of the little girls in the program who was graduating and said something about how well you know, I am going to this new school in the fall, and I'm going to be really anxious, but now I know how to make friends.
• 15:44
  Jordana Merkin: So I'm not going to be anxious so much anymore. And I was like, really not going to share that with me.
• 15:52
  Jonathan McCoy: I think that's so good. Cuz you get numb sometimes to what really can be really poignant, though. I think that's such a good point. Like, it's the small details that man like sucker punch. Yeah.
• 16:01
  Jordana Merkin: Right. And I think often people, they were super proud of that, you know, that's why they were talking about it. Because as teachers and therapists, they had worked with this girl all year. But you know, I understand that most people don't wear the marketing hat that I wear. And they don't think about it in terms of like, well, why does anyone else care.
• 16:17
  Jordana Merkin: So it's stories like that, and you really want to create this place of, so if I hadn't been standing there, you want to create something, you want to create a culture where at the very least, they would have like, emailed something like that to me. But also, sometimes it's helpful depending on the organization, the size of the organization, the way that you function internally to like, literally have a place like a shared Google folder, or something where people can like, type up these quick things and have them there, because you want to have them to pull from them like to pull from this library throughout, because it's important to tell these stories, not just when it's a campaign time, and not just when there's an event coming, you want to be able to tell them throughout because the cycle of communication is such that A you want to stay top of mind in between things. And you also want to be able to show your donors their impact. So it's not just the impact because we're asking for more money. It's the impact because you made a gift a few months ago, and now check this out. And like you know, it's it's working, what you gave toward is actually working. So I think that's an important piece of it, too.
• 17:58
  Jonathan McCoy: Hey, friends, this episode is presented by virtuous and they just happen to be one of our favorite companies. Let me tell you why.
• 18:02
  Jonathan McCoy: You know, we believe everyone matters. And we've witnessed the greatest philanthropic movements happen when you see and activate donors at every level. And here's the thing, virtuous created a fundraising platform to help you do just that. It's much more than a nonprofit CRM.
• 18:18
  Jonathan McCoy: Virtuous is committed to helping charities reimagine generosity through responsive fundraising, which is simply putting the donor at the center of fundraising, growing giving through personalized donor journeys, and by helping you respond to the needs of every individual. We love it because this approach builds trust and loyalty through personalized engagement. Some, like virtuous may be a fit for your organization. Learn more today and virtuous.org or follow the link in our show.
• 18:48
  Becky Endicott: Hey, friends, are you ready to take your digital engagement to the next level, it kind of feels stuck about where to start, let us introduce you to feather feathers and amazing tech startup focused on making nonprofit outreach more impactful by connecting you to your audience wherever they are online, from fundraising to program awareness, they've got you covered. And rather than telling you we just wanted to show you for years, the Humane Society of North Central Florida has participated in a local online giving day called the amazing give. It's a competitive landscape for donations. So in 2021, the Humane Society knew they needed to stand out in order to maximize donations for$300 in ad spend their retargeting ads brought 119 visitors to their amazing give donation page and generated nearly $6,000 in donations in just one day. With feather a small amount of ad spend can go a long way. Learn more about their solutions for nonprofits@feather.co. That's feather without the last e.co.
• 19:43
  Becky Endicott: Now let's get back to this amazing conversation. But I want to debunk one of the myths of storytelling really quick here that I don't even think I've said on the podcast, but I think about it all the time. It's storytelling is not just the responsibility of the marketer on your team. It's not just the responsibility of the communications team or the donor relations team. Storytelling is a team sport. And so if you are a frontline fundraiser and you are out and you are visiting with donors, you are talking with companies and foundations, you're talking with frontline staff members, people on the front lines, you are the ones who need to bring those stories back. I want you to be thinking about your contact reports right now. Contact reports can be such A wealth of storytelling detail.
• 20:34
  Becky Endicott: And so I want you, whoever you are to understand that we are all in this together, we all need to have our eyes open, you know, our ears perked up, because these stories are out there. And even as you're telling the sweet story about this preschool, I think that it doesn't even just have to be about the person. And I think that's something that we feel like we have to do, oh, I have to go find somebody to tell the story I think about if you have a really compelling piece of equipment, if you have a program, we can always thread people into that story. But I'm just going to share a quick example if we worked at a healthcare organization, and they really needed a new transport isolette. And we thought, Well, that's good, because you know, that's NICU babies, no, no, we found out the story of the transport isolette.
• 21:19
  Becky Endicott: And when we sat down and dug into it, the nurse said, well, actually, what we have right now is so clunky that it can't fit into the helicopter. So when we have to go get a baby, that you know, where minutes are precious, and they're going to create hopefully, if we can move faster, we can create long term viability and more healthy lives, we have to go and get the transport isolette, we have to go downstairs, put it in an ambulance, we have to drive 17 minutes out to an airport and put it on a fixed wing aircraft.
• 21:57
  Becky Endicott: And then we go. But if we had this new bougie, Cadillac sort of transport isolette, we can save 34 minutes per baby every single time because we're just going to roll that baby down. It has everything in there, it's got the oxygen, it's got, you know all the different pieces that you need to help keep a baby stable. And I will tell you just sharing a story about the importance of having great equipment. That is such an easy entry point for people, I just think what you're saying is so smart Jordanna. And you're making people think differently about the way that we store retail. So I want to ask you about brand voice because I absolutely love brand voice. I don't know that we've talked about it that much on the podcast. But the way you choose your words, the way you show up the way you communicate matters so deeply. So talk to us a little bit about how people can craft their voice.
• 22:56
  Jordana Merkin: Second, you said that the words you choose matter. And I say that all the time I like words matter. I am like an Etymology and grammar nerd. So like I love to geek out on all of that words matter. I also think the words that you don't use matter, too. So I also go through that exercise and coming up in a brand voice when working on a messenger guide with my clients is, let's talk about the words that you use.
• 23:24
  Jordana Merkin: You know, going back to that initial question of what do you do paying really close attention to how that story is answered?
• 23:30
  Jordana Merkin: If it's answered in three or seven or 15 different ways? What are the common words that are used throughout that answer?
• 23:38
  Jordana Merkin: Because even if they're talking about slightly different parts of the organization, they're probably still using some of the same words. And those are words that are important to your mission. And also what are the words that should be avoided?
• 23:50
  Jordana Merkin: What are the words that you don't ever want to use the types of ways you don't ever want to use them? I've worked a lot in special needs organizations, the first day of my first job ever, I was told, okay, here are the way we talk about people with Down syndrome. And here are the ways we don't talk about people with Down syndrome. And I was like, oh, okay, so like, Yeah, that's really like, let's think about that. And it was like hardwired into my brain, it still is, if I ever hear something like breaking those rules. Let's turn that around.
• 24:18
  Jordana Merkin: So I think that's, that's a really important piece of that.
• 24:22
  Jordana Merkin: Also, you also want to think about the tone and the voice and the style in which you're telling your stories. And this sort of plays into there's there's there's some overlap between the messaging guide and the marketing plan. And part of what I think about and part is part of marketing plan is content strategy. And in telling your stories through your content, what are the types of things you're going to talk about? Is it? Do you provide educational value? Do you provide inspirational value, you need to be providing value, right? It can't just be talking about things you want to talk about or asking for money when you need it. So what are the ways that you provide value to your audience? And what are the ways that you talk about those things? Are you Is it okay to be a little bit irreverent in your organization? Is it okay to be witty? Is it okay to be please Yes.
• 25:17
  Becky Endicott: Every time be human,
• 25:19
  Jordana Merkin: be human for sure. But there are different ways to you know, what is what is I shouldn't say is it okay like what what ways in what ways is it okay to be you know, to have a sense of humor in your in your content? In what ways is it okay to have empathy in your content? Right? Who are you? Who are you being kind to when you talk about your your beneficiaries? How do you talk about them? How do you include them in the stories again, like that ethical piece. So the tone in which you take, actually having that in writing is important too, because the idea with a messaging guide is that if you have, it'll get all of your people on the same page, and then if anyone new comes into your organization, you can share it with that new intern, especially with Lean teams, there's often that that like high turnover, because you have an intern who comes in for six months, or a volunteer who's able to work with you for a little bit, and then move on. If you have this guide, from the outset to say, like, here are all the things about us. And here's how to tell our story.
• 26:17
  Jordana Merkin: And here are the words we use.
• 26:17
  Jordana Merkin: And here's the tone we use, then you can really set off from the right direction from the outset.
• 26:23
  Jonathan McCoy: I mean, okay, there's a reason why we love this. So much Becky put a lot of effort into crafting ours too.
• 26:28
  Jonathan McCoy: And it's kind of an ever evolving Google Doc, which is awesome, because it's living, breathing, changing all the time, too. But I'll say, because I'm a millennial barely, like, almost 40. Over here, I remember an era when this wasn't talked about, and social media was coming out. And everyone was like, so concerned of like, I don't belong on Facebook, I don't belong on Twitter. And I think it's so important now, because you do need to show up in those platforms, if you're going to be engaging at all, and have a different voice. I mean, this the way you're coming at people, everything you're saying is different when you're on a social media feed than if you're delivering an annual report to a C suite, I get that. And so I think this is really powerful, and why everybody on the team needs to be involved in what this is and why it matters.
• 27:08
  Jonathan McCoy: Because as we think about threading dignity, from our beneficiary, to our donors to everyone, we have to respect how to talk and engage and what's going to land you know, and I love your point about of leading with value, I think that has missed a lot too. But it's a place of power, you know, we can come to the table with power,
• 27:26
  Becky Endicott: I've got to talk a little bit, just about brand voice. And I want if you don't have a voice style guide for your organization, please put that on your to do list with the other mountain of to dues that you have in your nonprofit because I think the voice style guide should be put in your onboarding packet. I mean, it should be this is how we talk here are the things that we break down in our voice style guide, we break down tone, we break down formatting, why we bold, how we storytel how we use punctuation. When do you use visuals, we talk about word choice. And thank you for talking about value driven word choices, because I think understanding who you are and where you come from is deeply important. We talk about pacing, we talk about emojis, and when we use them and when we don't use them. So if you don't have one of those, maybe start thinking about how to build one, it doesn't have to be long. I mean, it could literally be one piece of paper with a couple of your values and your and your formatting threaded in there.
• 28:30
  Becky Endicott: But I do think that that will help the organization speak with one voice. And it allows you to thread that not just into your digital content, but into grants into proposals. And I think when people start to see those values reflected everywhere, in that tone, you are one, all of a sudden you're not an organization, you're not a corporate robot, your organization is as a person, they can see you, they can see the human at the end. And that is what I think is so powerful about this medium, you know,
• 29:03
  Jordana Merkin: being human.
• 29:03
  Jordana Merkin: That's also why I like to dig into the founder story. And if that's not an option, honestly, even if it is digging into certain humans at the organization, because people give to people and I think that's an important, that's an important piece of content.
• 29:18
  Jordana Merkin: That's an important piece of the story. And I think also Becky, it's amazing how specific you are. And I think that's something that really needs to be like I wanted to just dive into that a little bit more like the exact word choices, the exact tone, the exact like the specificity on the emojis, I love that like the the extent to which you can really dig into that to your organization will really benefit your organization because it also makes you more memorable, and makes you that organization that you know, people aren't going to know from the outside. Right like as an outsider, I don't know what it says in your guide about when to use emojis and when not to but I remember your tone and your voice because it's so specific.
• 29:58
  Jordana Merkin: So the extent to which you can be specific in your stories and the extent to which you can be specific in your brand voice will make the rest of the planning easier and that much more cohesive and smoother to roll out in terms of crafting a marketing plan to have the offseason I think it's important to have so often marketing is reactive, right? It's like well, giving Tuesday's coming and your end. And so we have to do this thing. And then how do we market for that? Or, you know, our big event of the season is coming up and we need bodies there. So how are we going to market for that and too often we only have this reactive response to marketing.
• 30:34
  Jordana Merkin: But as Becky said, marketing is a team sport. And it's important to have this marketing plan that like underlies everything. So you can be proactive, you can be strategic and all of your communication because it's not just about we need bodies at this gala, or we need money to come in for this campaign.
• 30:54
  Jordana Merkin: Right. So it gives you that strategic, proactive approach.
• 30:57
  Jordana Merkin: And it gives you control over your messaging with the content, as we just discussed, the ways that I outline a marketing plan are I, I put a lot into it so that there's always something to draw from. So it can be one or more goals. But each goal is going to have one or more strategies. And each strategy has one or more tactics. So the meat of it is like an ad, I would say in thinking about your goals, marketing being the underlying thing to I think all aspects of your organization is you're not just it's not just marketing goals, right? It's not just what how can we get seats that you know, butts in seats at this program? It's, most organizations have an organizational goal of raising more money, right? So how can marketing support that? So if the goal is to fundraise more than maybe a strategy is you're looking at increasing gifts from current donors, and then maybe a tactic for that is okay, so we're going to put in a welcome journey, and what does that look like? And so that's maybe one tactic there.
• 32:09
  Jordana Merkin: But then, so you're going to build each one out. And then within the tactics and strategies, you're also going to have measures of success. So you're going to say, well, so to have this tactic of this welcome journey, what is the welcome journey look like? And also, how do I know if it's being successful? So you're going to look at your own internal numbers and say, Well, we're here now and we want to get here, and what does that look like? And it's important to track it. And I put all of this into a marketing plan. And then I have the following conversation, because there's a lot in it. And I said, let's make sure to be realistic, right? Because I think we should dream big. And we can put all of this in there. And it's really important to have this to draw from so that you don't wake up the morning after your event in your life. Now, what do I do for the next few months until the next thing, and you're tested, right? Like you want to have a plan, you want to have all of this in place. But no matter how big or not big your organization is, you cannot do all of this at once. It's not realistic. And it's not going to set you up for success to think that you can.
• 33:16
  Jordana Merkin: So I think it's important to have a plan, I think it's important to have a big plan, like put everything in there, right, put all of the goals, put all the strategies outlined all the tactics, but then when it comes and all of the measures of success, but then when it comes to execution, I think it's really important to be realistic, and have one piece of it at a time. And even if that means one tactic, right, even if it's not a whole strategy, even if it's not a whole goal, like one tactic, this quarter that I'm going to tackle whatever you can do to move the needle at your organization, rather than just staring at a blank screen and doing nothing. I think that's what's important. And measure that and then see how far you've gotten. And then when that's in shape, then you can choose another tactic to continue to move that needle.
• 34:04
  Jordana Merkin: But I think it's important to dream big, but also be realistic in what you can accomplish. And don't beat yourself up when you can't do all of it by the next day. Because no one can even with all the resources in the world. So I think that's a really important piece of it to remember also, especially with a lot of these smaller organizations that I work with is that let's have a great big plan that you can always draw upon. But then think about how you're gonna prioritize what to work on.
• 34:30
  Jonathan McCoy: Well, I think too, like is you talk about kind of ticking off different things.
• 34:32
  Jonathan McCoy: I think there's plates you can start spinning that are automated. I hear you say welcome series. It's like that's the perfect offseason project because you build it once maybe you touch it every year or every few months, but it's just going in the background and it's gonna serve you all year even when you're not in offseason. So such great advice. Okay, you spent all these years in house I'm just curious, what are a couple of lessons that you learned through your career that you'd want to drop with our listeners today.
• 34:58
  Jordana Merkin: So I just touched on one of them which is you can't do all the things at once. Enneagram Ron recovering perfectionist, like I want to do all the things all the time and I want to do them perfectly. So again, this is a reminder to myself as much as anyone listening but it's an important one you you can't do everything.
• 35:12
  Jordana Merkin: I don't know if you guys are office fans, but yeah, okay, so I think about often the launch party episode where fellas come to Angela with like the post it's on her fingers she's like a posted on every finger and she's like, You have to choose one of these things for me to do it's unreasonable for you to ask me to do all of them. I think about About with myself now even now that like, I'm doing this on my own, like what is realistic, but I think about it a lot for my clients like, what is realistic for them to do? Because if they have 10 posts, and any given time, right, and marketing is only one one of them maybe then what is realistic. So I think it's you know, we are primed in nonprofit to do so much with so little. And I think, you know, the whole other conversation about how, you know, there are good parts and bad parts to that. But I think it's important really to, to give yourself grace and just think about, you know, what you can do and what you can't, and then I would add to that, to really try to celebrate the wins when you can, and to celebrate them with other people at your organization, like don't just quietly in your corner, say like, Oh, I did this thing today, like really try to because it's good for everyone, right? Like, it's good for everyone there to really see like, oh, the needle was moved in this like small way, or we had this impact on this beneficiary and, you know, to really try to do that in whatever way possible, because you are doing a lot, and and to really try to celebrate that.
• 36:43
  Jordana Merkin: And I again, I think when you're in liens in house, you don't always take the time to do that.
• 36:51
  Jordana Merkin: So I think that's an important piece to
• 36:53
  Becky Endicott: Okay, since we push play, I have been so eager to ask this question to the storyteller. But we want to know about a moment of philanthropy that has touched your life in a profound way. So I can't wait to hear what your answer to this is. Jordanna
• 37:09
  Jordana Merkin: Yeah. Okay. So this one happened relatively recently. It's a story of philanthropy and communications.
• 37:15
  Jordana Merkin: So like my my own Venn diagram, a few months ago, my son was on the subway with my brother in New York City. We moved from New York City to New Jersey when my son was three. And with the pandemic the past few years, the he this is the first time in his life, he remembered being on a subway, and there was a homeless man on the subway, and it really moved him he was really upset that there was this person in this situation. And I picked him up for my brothers later. And he was crying on the way home and he couldn't sleep that night.
• 37:45
  Jordana Merkin: And it really affected him. And he just kept saying, Well, how can like how can they fix this?
• 37:51
  Jordana Merkin: What can they do to to donate?
• 37:51
  Jordana Merkin: What can we buy? How can we how can we address this? So we found an organization that addresses homelessness in New York City, and he took $2 out of his piggy bank, and he gave it to me, and I upped the gift by a little bit. And we made the gift together online, and we put his name as the donor. And a couple of weeks later, he got a postcard in the mail with his name on it. And you know, kids love getting mail. So that was exciting. And it shared the story of his impact. And it said, so you know, thank you so much for making this gifts.
• 38:25
  Jordana Merkin: Because of you, we've been able to do X, Y and Z. And so I was really just impressed with this really nice piece of donor communication. And my son was like, blown away that they were writing to him that he made this gift. And then he got this postcard with it. And he said, he goes, this makes me feel so good. I really want to donate again. And I was like yeah, you do. That's the
• 38:51
  Jonathan McCoy: I mean, kudos to this organization. That's what I was about to say to any go for having your ducks in a row for having this ready to go. And I'm guessing they had a plan. They didn't wait until you they gave the gift to decide if they're gonna send a postcard. They had the bag are rocking it What a beautiful story and kudos mom.
• 39:09
  Jordana Merkin: Oh, thank you little should they know that that donors aid. But by he Yeah.
• 39:11
  Jordana Merkin: And then he actually just yesterday got another letter, like a solicitation in the mail from them. And I was thrilled that they sent this right. And they and he read this whole letter about his impact. And it was really it was segmented.
• 39:27
  Jordana Merkin: Also it was clearly for someone who had given recently I was very impressed. And he was like, Okay, well, anytime they asked me, I we have to give, right. So like, what are we doing next?
• 39:39
  Becky Endicott: I love this example so much, because I'm actually working on a blog post with my kids about we're trying something out called the philanthropy allowance. And they're giving monthly and I'm watching it unfold. And I will just say, for anyone who's wondering about the power of the next generation of Gen alpha, this is the way to bring them in. I mean that example right?
• 40:01
  Becky Endicott: There is a perfect example of taking something that bothers you, and counteracting it entirely with a gift that uplifts and I think kids and just the purity and the innocence and the desire to want to help is so intrinsic that if you can find a way to funnel that for good, I can assure you he will be chasing the high of that piece of mail over and over again and that man's face will probably be in his head as he does it. That was a great story.
• 40:33
  Becky Endicott: You nailed it. knew you would,
• 40:34
  Jonathan McCoy: this has been so fun. And you know how we start to close podcasts, we want to get all of your wisdom down to one good thing with a mantra or a hack, something you would leave with our community today.
• 40:44
  Jordana Merkin: So I would say to keep learning, I think it's really important to Yeah, and it's, it's, it's weird for good in a nutshell. But it's in general to keep learning, I think it's, you know, there's an expectation, especially when, at least in my experience, when you're in house that you don't have to know everything going into the job, but you can learn it on the job. And I sort of learned over my years that you can't always learn it on the job, right? Sometimes you have to learn it outside of the job.
• 41:10
  Jordana Merkin: And I think it's important to keep doing that. And to keep learning and growing and really expanding your mind and exposing yourself to new ideas. And that it would it really benefits the whole organization when individuals do that. But I would also say I guess one of the half good things, I would also say that similar to being realistic about what you can get done in your marketing plan is that you want to keep learning, but you also want to really have a discerning eye about what you're learning, right? Like you, you don't need to know all the things in order to do your job.
• 41:44
  Jordana Merkin: Well, you don't need to know all of the things in the world. So I think and there's nothing more precious to each of us than our time. And I think the way that we spend that time is so important. And so I would say, keep learning because it's so important to do that. But also think about the things you really need to learn and then find those resources accordingly.
• 42:04
  Jonathan McCoy: Do you feel like we should change to one and a half good things because
• 42:08
  Becky Endicott: that was good.
• 42:08
  Becky Endicott: Well, and it totally jives with our ethos of just we believe that learning all the time is going to make us better humans.
• 42:16
  Becky Endicott: That's why this podcast was set up. I want to compliment every single person who's listening right now you are literally learning on your free time. And I just like the fact that people do that explodes my heart I thank you for saying that. I mean, you've come into Pro to teach and we are for good pro about how to move or how to share your nonprofits impact stories. And so I think you're living that appreciate it so much and we want to connect people to you. So anyone who needs a little marketing help, needs to outsource at once a start on something like that.
• 42:53
  Becky Endicott: Tell people how they can connect with you and get to know voice for good.
• 42:57
  Jordana Merkin: Yeah, definitely. So my website is voice for good marketing.com I have some free resources on their voice for good marketing.com/prompts which will help you get started with a messaging guide and a marketing plan. So you can feel free to download those and connect with me there. I'm on Instagram at voice for good. I'm on LinkedIn Jordanna Merkin feel free to connect. I would love to help you celebrate your wins and hear about your impact stories. Just share your stories for good.
• 43:29
  Becky Endicott: Thank you for joining us, my friend enjoyed this time just as we knew we would.
• 43:33
  Jordana Merkin: Thank you so much for having me. It's really been a pleasure. Yeah. Thanks.
• 43:37
  Jonathan McCoy: Thanks for joining us. Today's episode was brought to you by our good friends at office zero. Without zero your nonprofit can do more with a login box. Greet prospects and rabid fans of your mission with authenticity simply make it easier for your team to manage data. There's so much about zero login experience can do visit ot zero.org For more info.
• 43:56
  Becky Endicott: If you enjoyed this episode, we know you'll love being part of the we're for good community. It's like our own social network where you can find like minded friends ask questions, share resources and find inspiration anytime. Sign up today at we are for good.com backslash hello thanks friends