The Agitator

Our previous posts this week have been pretty positive about social media, their penetration, and their potential marketing (and for us, that means fundraising) contribution. Here are some additional views. Take a look at them and then give us your opinion in a quick three-question Agitator ...  Read more

I’ve been thinking about this video ad from Medicins Sans Frontieres, which has stirred up quite a bit of controversy on the Chronicle’s Give & Take blog and elsewhere. Here are my observations. First, a piece of advertising needs to be assessed against its objectives. If the ...  Read more

Here are two recent articles from Marketing Daily describing the current state of play of cause marketing in the U.S. In the first, sponsorship giant IEG projects that $1.55 billion will be spent on cause marketing in 2009. IEG cites survey data saying that 41% believe companies should increase ...  Read more

B.L. Ochman, for my money, is one of the better social media strategists around. In this post, she critiques two online contests, finding one a clear winner … the other a distinct loser. Or, as she puts it: One rocks, one sucks. Here’s an excerpt: "Two current contests involving ...  Read more

Yesterday I suggested that competition amongst nonprofits for the hearts, minds and pocketbooks of donors might become more fierce; that this would be good for the causes served; and this trend would force more attention to communicating the core defferentiating qualities of competing groups. In ...  Read more

Our sister firm DonorTrends has just been in the field with a survey on donor loyalty for a major national nonprofit. This group has been around a few decades, long enough to develop some considerable brand awareness and loyalty. Here’s an interesting finding: Respondents are three times ...  Read more

In Online Spin, Joe Marchese of socialvibes offers this good advice regarding the kind of advertising that will work in online social media. As he sees it, the requirements are: Interaction — but more than a simple click-through to a landing page or micro-site; Customization — let ...  Read more

Periodically, I pass along articles talking about marketing to Hispanics. Here are a few more … from Business Week re TV advertising, Online Media Daily re online behavior, and from Engage:Hispanics re  brand perceptions. All good background reading. But am I beating a dead horse here? ...  Read more

Here are four bedrock suggestions for succeeding in your marketing (i.e., fundraising) in the coming year. Writing in eMarketing & Commerce, Lisa Wehr of Oneupweb, a digital marketing agency, offered these recommendations in a commercial marketing context. I’ve reproduced the essence of ...  Read more

So, you want to grow your organization. Who do you listen to for insight into how to expand your audience — your current best donors, or some new audience that you believe represents your growth opportunity? And how do you listen? Here’s an article, via Social Media Insider, with some ...  Read more