My Gift to You: Freebies

I think 2018 has already cost you enough.

Between your business expenses and your personal ones, you’ve probably reached the end of the year fed up with whipping out your debit or credit card. You’re ready to give your swiping muscle the slip.

So, while I can’t do a lot about your personal expenses, I’d like to help supply your nonprofit or social enterprises with a few freebies that will help you get noticed and grow. Consider them my gift to you.

As much as I’d love to believe you read every word of my website with wrapped attention, I know that’s not the case. Some things are more important to you than others, and some information is more urgent. So, even though you can find these links on other parts of my site, I’ll make it easy to find by listing below for your convenience. Simply choose what matters most to you right now.

I hope this helps you succeed in 2019!

E-COURSE

5 Things To Stop Doing This Week To Jumpstart Your Marketing and Communications

LISTS

Make Your Next Launch Your Best Yet Marketing Checklist

21 Simple Yet Powerful Marketing Ideas That Are Free or Cheap

100 Content Ideas for Your Emails, Blogs, and Social Media Posts

My Favorite Resources List (books, podcasts, events, links, etc.)

10 Common Website Mistakes (And How to Fix Them!)

TOOLS

Marketing Plan Template

Know Your Audience Guide

10 Tools to Make Your Small Business Look More Professional

Social Media Scheduler Tool Comparison (13 popular softwares!)

Independent Contractor Hiring Checklist

What You Need to Convince Potential Sponsors and Partners Presentation Cheat Sheet

FACEBOOK GROUP

Join the Signifiers Facebook Group!

FOR MORE TRADITIONAL SMALL BUSINESSES

35 Creative Ways to Give Back With Your Business

PSST: Don't forget that you only have a couple more days to enter the Communications Strategy Session holiday giveaway, valued at $500! Details here. Resolve to improve your marketing in 2019!

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I'm Kristi Porter, and I started Signify to provide writing and consulting services to nonprofits and for-profit organizations with a social mission, primarily through copywriting, marketing, and business communications. I also teach solopreneurs and small businesses how to incorporate philanthropy and giving strategies. I believe that cause-focused organizations are the future of business. You're proof that companies can both make money and do good. And I'm here to help you get noticed and grow. When you succeed, we all win.

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Top 5 Blog Posts Of 2018

Wow, I feel like I have a little whiplash from 2018. It feels like I’m just getting started, and yet, here it is December again!

My year was full of twists and turns, highs and lows, bumps and bruises, tears of laughter and tears of joy—much like I’m sure your year was. On one hand, I checked multiple locations off of my travel bucket list, including England, Ireland, and Scotland, as well as a cross-country Amtrak trip. I was also a guest on multiple podcasts and featured in several interviews. And I worked with some amazing new clients, along with some old friends.

On the other hand, while I launched two digital products, I was hoping for at least three. I also didn’t meet a few big numbers I set for myself, including the coveted income goal. And my health didn’t improve as much as I hoped it would.

So, my 2018 was a bit of a mixed bag. I’m trying to hang onto the good stuff and learn from the less-than-good stuff. Both of those things will help propel me in 2019.

But before we get there, I wanted to circle back to my five most popular blog posts of 2018. Since I publish a weekly blog post and you’ve got a lot on your plate, it stands to reason that you might have missed one or two along the way.

No worries! I’ll share what others found to be the most helpful in the hopes that it’ll help you succeed as well. Looking forward to a wonderful New Year with you!

1. The Key to Your Success May Be Staring You in the Face (Literally)

Not only are you a human with a life and responsibilities, but you are also at a cause-focused organization, either for- or non-profit. So, whether your work deals with extremely sensitive and dark subjects like human trafficking or not, you still feel the pressure to succeed because there’s a social problem you’re trying to solve. There is a different kind of gravity to your work that few understand.

This can certainly wear on you over time, and without checks and balances, can lead to burnout. And burnout would be a terrible situation not only for you, but for your cause. The world needs your work!

So, what’s the answer to combating the fatigue and burnout? Community.

Read the full post . . .

2. 4 Insider Reasons Interns are Motivated to Help You

I made a couple of big, small business decisions in 2018, and one of those was to hire interns. I'd know for a long time that I eventually wanted to bring in some spry, young talent, but a couple of things were holding me back.

First, I didn't feel "successful" enough to bring anyone else into the mix. I still don't know what "successful" enough meant/means to me, but I finally decided it was time to put that thought to bed. I had valuable lessons to teach someone, and it was time to start imparting.

Second, I knew it would take some legitimate time and effort to get things in place and delegate. Most of us feel like we move at the speed of light, and slowing down isn't an option. But, again, I needed to take a step back. The reality is that I needed extra help, and there were people available to assist. And once I got things up and running, the hard part was over. So, in the end, I got over myself and found two, fantastic interns. 

Read the full post . . .

3. How to Share the Love with Your Amazing Volunteers

I love volunteers.

I’ve always worked in nonprofits, and I've always relied heavily on volunteers to make things happen. Along the way, I have also learned a few things. Yes, people need to be needed. But, the warm and fuzzy feelings that first draw them to you will not always keep them around. As volunteers serve with you, or for you, they will eventually need more. And I’ve found that it is so important to continue to show them the love.

So, here's a list of the top five ways you can continue to love on your volunteers.

Read the full post . . .

4. How to Make Your Next Event More Successful

I don't know about you, but I love events. I love attending them, of course, but also working on them behind-the-scenes. When I was an event marketing director, I was able to help create a dynamic experience for almost 8,000 people. And with my nonprofit and social enterprise freelance clients, it's still a blast to see an event go from concept to completion, resulting in smiling faces, sales earned, and money raised.

A couple of years ago, I had the privilege of working with one of my favorite local organizations, Atlanta Dream Center, on their annual benefit dinner. I had been volunteering with them for three years at that point, and they were Signify's first, official client, so they'll always have a soft spot in my heart. Understandably, I was thrilled to be working with them on a professional level now, too.

At the end of the evening, we had quite a surprise—we had not only met the fundraising goal, but we had quadrupled the previous year's total! High fives all around!

However, I don't think it was an accident. After working on so many events over the years, both large and small, I believe there is a key factor we implemented during the event planning process that changed everything.

Read the full post . . .

5. What (and Why) You Should Be Emailing Your List

Everyone wants to talk social media all the time, but it's not the most important thing when it comes to engaging with your current donors and customers. That's right I said it—social media is NOT the most important thing. Breathe that in, people.

Don't get me wrong, social media is an important (and unavoidable) part of marketing, especially when it comes to finding new prospects, but it isn't the top priority for those currently in your circle of trust. I'd rather you stop focusing on social media, and start focusing on your email list. 

I've had many, many conversations with friends and clients about this topic. I get some slow head-nodding, blank eyes, puzzled looks, and then a question or two usually follows. Something along the lines of, "Why is email marketing so important?" or "Ok, but what should I send to my email list?" I usually also hear that people do send emails to their fans and supporters, but it's been a few...months.

Sending emails just sorta happens when they get around to it. Maybe they'd planned to send out an email blast, but there was yet another fire to put out. Or, they'll email again when they have something "important" to say. 

Any of this sound familiar?

I'm here today to tell you what and why you should be emailing your list. Because it's vital to the health of your organization. Yep, it's that big of a deal.

Read the full post . . .

Looking for more popular options? Here are some of my readers’ all-time favorites:

12 Unique Launch Ideas You'll Want to Copy

What You Need to Convince Potential Sponsors and Partners

A Comparison of 13 Popular Social Media Scheduling Tools

5 Must-See TED Talks for Nonprofit Leaders

10 Tools to Make Your Small Business Look More Professional (Most Are Free!)

PSST: Don't forget that you only have a few more days to enter to win a Communications Strategy Session, valued at $500! Details here. Resolve to make your marketing better in 2019.

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I'm Kristi Porter, and I started Signify to provide writing and consulting services to nonprofits and for-profit organizations with a social mission, primarily through copywriting, marketing, and business communications. I also teach solopreneurs and small businesses how to incorporate philanthropy and giving strategies. I believe that cause-focused organizations are the future of business. You're proof that companies can both make money and do good. And I'm here to help you get noticed and grow. When you succeed, we all win.

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10 High Result, Low Budget Launch Marketing Ideas

A few days ago, I laughed and cried my way through the Won’t You Be My Neighbor? documentary about Mister Roger’s and his famed neighborhood. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend it!

As a kid who watched and loved that show, it brought back a lot of memories. However, as a kid who grew up to be a marketer, I can’t help but watch everything through that lens as well. Occupational hazard! One of the things that struck me was his approach to the concept of his show. He stripped away a lot of the fanfare and gimmicks he saw on other shows, leaving room for his authenticity, playfulness, and heart for educating children on important values. And kids loved it!

Okay, so what does this movie have to do with launching, you might ask? Well, it’s that same lesson I want you to take into your next launch. People will ultimately resonate with you and your mission, not simply because of some stunt or gimmick.

Sure, there might be times when those kinds of tricks enhance your launch, but don’t come to depend on them. If you have a sale every time you launch a new product, for example, people may start to only buy at that time. After all, when’s the last time you bought something full priced at Old Navy? With a new sale every other week, they’ve trained people to wait for the next sale before making a purchase.

I’m also reminded of those launches that give away the latest iPhone or a European trip. Does anyone else sign up for all of those? I know they do because I never seem to win! However, as soon as that giveaway is over, I jump ship and unsubscribe. That’s no way to build a loyal list.

But I also realize that people also have to see and hear your mission to get on board. So, let’s talk about 10 high result, low budget launch marketing ideas that I love. There are varying levels of time and energy required for each, but I’ve seen them do great things for other nonprofits and social enterprises, and think they can serve you well, too.

1) Empower People to Share About Your Launch

There’s still no better form of advertising than word-of-mouth. So, why not increase yours by empowering people to do just that? And it helps when you can give them a nudge, too!

I wrote a whole blog post about this idea, but the gist is that you should provide pre-written social media samples (text, images, videos, etc.) to your staff and key stakeholders for every major launch. Essentially, you’re giving them all the tools they need to help promote with little effort on their part. If they have to think hard about it or write their own, they’re much less likely to take action.

2) Update Your Website . . . In More Than One Place

This may seem like a silly thing to state, but remember how we’re all still waiting for common sense to catch on? Yep, this goes in that category. I’m saying it because I see it.

If you’ve got a huge launch coming up, and you don’t make it prominent on your website—and in multiple places—you’re doing yourself a big disservice. It’s common to put a launch image or blurb on your homepage, but what about other pages? It might be a great fit there, too. And, depending on how someone found you, they may not even land on your homepage first, so you don’t want them to miss the memo.

3) Add Bonuses to Your Launch

Bonuses are usually my preference over discounts. This way you aren’t devaluing your service, product, event, or whatever else you may be creating. Plus, they can make your launch even more exciting, resulting in more eyes paying attention.

Bonuses are normally offered during the pre-launch or early launch phase, and examples can include one-on-one time with you, an additional product, a video series, a gift from one of your partners, etc. The options are endless!

Don’t get me wrong, sometimes sales and discounts are the way to go, but take a look at bonuses as well. “Limited time offers” fall under this umbrella, too. They’re a great way to ask people to take an action with a deadline in mind, which is often very beneficial for you in the planning stages.

4) Email Your Tribe (More Than Once)

Inboxes fill up fast, so don’t rely on just one or two emails to make your big announcement. And people often have great intentions to buy or donate, but they’re also bombarded with a million distractions every day.

So, create a series of emails to educate and inspire your tribe to take action. Find different angles of your launch to address in each one, rather than simply repeating the same information.

5) Jump On Facebook Live and Instagram Live

Over the last couple of years, video has become hot, hot, hot! For this introverted copywriter, that’s a real bummer, ha! For others it may be great news. Regardless, it’s important to sit up and pay attention. Takeaway —> You can’t ignore video!

So, it’s time to jump on Facebook and Instagram Live. What you should love about this marketing channel is that it’s super cheap. As in free. You don’t need a studio or all the fancy lighting. With the click of a button, you’re in business.

If video is new or uncomfortable to you, I suggest starting with Facebook and Insta Stories because they disappear in 24 hours. Less pressure, hooray! Once you have a little more courage, or if you prefer to force yourself as I do, give Facebook Live a chance. Video allows you to talk to your fans almost as if you were in the room with them, giving you a fantastic opportunity to talk about your launch and cause.

6) Utilize All Your Real Estate

If your organization has multiple websites, email lists, social media channels, or apps, make sure they’re all involved and promoting. This is no time to be timid!

When I was an event marketing director, our main sources of revenue were events and curriculum. The curriculum purchasers logged in regularly to view materials, and we also had an internal bulletin board on their website for announcements. So, you’d better believe I promoted events over there!

Besides your main website and social media, where else can you communicate to potential donors and customers?

7) Ask Partners to Promote Your Launch

Who do you know that can help promote your launch for free? This can be individuals or companies. It might be official partners and sponsors, or casual friends of your nonprofit or social enterprise that want to see you succeed enough to promote on your behalf.

This is a great opportunity to get in front of entirely new audiences. Just remember, however, that you may need to scratch their back in the future, too.

8) Let Your Audience In On The Process

Create ready-made buyers when you give people a say in the end result. Allowing your audience to provide ideas, feedback, or suggestions during the pre-launch phase to gives them ownership and gets them excited. They’re more likely to participate and share the launch as well.

I’ve seen authors allow their fans to choose book covers, course creators ask for suggestions, product makers seek out testers, and much more. How can you get your people involved?

9) Share Customer Reviews or Testimonials

We all love social proof. It’s the reason we seek out Yelp and Amazon reviews. It’s nice to know that someone has come before us and already loves what we’re interested in. It simply helps us proceed with confidence.

Obviously, some launches lend themselves better to this idea than others, but don’t be afraid to think out-of-the-box. If you have a fundraising campaign, for example, add testimonials to your site (and giving page) from those that have benefitted from your work or have previously donated.

Here’s an example from Signify.

10) Pre-Sale Your Launch

Wouldn’t it be a wondrous thing to have money coming in before you’ve officially launched? That’s the beauty of a pre-sale.

This is why some events allow you to purchase tickets to the following year before you even walk out the door. It’s also why movies sell tickets months in advance. And don’t forget about those books that come with pre-launch bonuses, or courses that give you a discount prior to hitting the market. The pre-sale has definite advantages for both you and the buyer!

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I'm Kristi Porter, and I started Signify to provide writing and consulting services to nonprofits and for-profit organizations with a social mission, primarily through copywriting, marketing, and business communications. I also teach solopreneurs and small businesses how to incorporate philanthropy and giving strategies. I believe that cause-focused organizations are the future of business. You're proof that companies can both make money and do good. And I'm here to help you get noticed and grow. When you succeed, we all win.

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Your 4-Step Facebook Advertising Checklist

Social media remains a great way to get eyes on your cause, but because of those ever-changing algorithms, it’s also become much more difficult to get people to actually see your posts. So, what’s the next step? Social media advertising.

You’re interested in getting started with something like Facebook ads, but it’s also darn confusing. It seems overwhelming to take the first step, and how do you even know what the first step is?

Today’s post is going to help answer that pesky question and more. Dana Bakich is the Founder and CEO of Positive Equation, a purpose-driven social media consultancy, and she’s a wiz when it comes to social media advertising. So, I asked her to share what steps you need to know as you get started with your Facebook ad strategy, and she’s broken it down to four steps.

Don’t let the daunting Facebook Ads Manager push you away from social advertising. Here are four, simple steps to set you up for success.

It’s no secret that your social media News Feed is in high demand. It’s more difficult than ever to have your posts seen, let alone engaged with. Within the past year, you’ve heard news of Facebook’s News Feed algorithm changing—a few times. The content coming from companies and brand pages is no longer the priority content on our feeds. Facebook’s goal is to connect people with messages they’ll authentically care about.

Due to the News Feed changes, there’s been a rush to figure out social advertising. You might be thinking that if people don’t see your message, you’ll just add some $$ to make it so, right? However, from boosting posts to creating a full social campaign, there are four things to consider before you spend a penny.

1. Listen to Facebook’s algorithm change. Does your campaign creative (images/video) speak to your target audience?

2. Have you created custom target audiences that contain people who are most likely to engage with your content and be moved to take action?

3. Can you measure success? Do you have tracking pixels in place to evaluate whether your campaign was a success or not?

4. What’s your goal for this ad? What type of ad needs to be created based on that goal—a boosted post or ad campaign created within ads manager?

CAMPAIGN CREATIVE

Let’s rewind to the note about Facebook’s new algorithm. How does it actually work? Well, Facebook uses a tool called, “Ranking,” and it’s broken down into four steps:

1.  Inventory of stories – what content is available from your friends and pages you follow

2. Signals – information available about the stories/content, such as how popular they are, what type of device you’re using, and your internet connection

3. Predictions – how likely you are to engage with that post

4. Relevancy Score – Each piece of content receives a relevancy score of how interested Facebook thinks you would be in that post/story.

Understanding how they rank content is helpful when you’re developing your campaign creative. Do your photos, videos, or articles align with what your audience is most likely interested in? How can you shape your organization’s content in a way to receive a high relevancy score? Think about it from the viewer or reader’s perspective, not just the perspective of your nonprofit or social enterprise.

Is your content social ready? Meaning, is up to the specs of the platform and ready to go? Video is hot right now, but the video length and size depends on the platform you’re posting to. For example, make sure to follow Facebook’s guidelines to maximize engagement. Also, 85 percent of videos on Facebook are watched without sound, so always include captions with videos that have audio. I recommend a company called Rev. They only charge $1/minute to create captions for your videos.

CREATE CUSTOM AUDIENCES

This is one of the most important aspects of a social advertising campaign.

WHO do you want to reach, and WHAT do you want them to do?

The WHO:

Within Facebook Ads Manager there’s a section called “Audiences.” This section allows you to upload csv files of your email newsletter contact list and retarget them through social media, create lookalike audiences to your current pages, and build a brand-new audience to reach a different market with demographics, interests, location, etc.

The WHAT:

The other component is understanding WHAT you’re asking for. Do you want to raise awareness of your cause? Maybe a video campaign makes the most sense to generate a large reach. Do you want to encourage your audience to purchase tickets to an event or make a donation? A conversion campaign might be a better fit to track the exact outcome.

NOTE: Think about the first time you’ve come across a new brand. You probably needed to see it a few times and engage on social media before making any financial commitment. If you’re running any kind of “ask” campaign, make sure you’re publishing educational, informative, or entertaining content first to increase your chances of success.

TRACKING PIXELS

One word: necessary. What you’re thinking: confusing. Don’t be!

Pixels enable you to understand the impact of your social advertising campaigns. Whether your goal is to increase website views, email signups or donations, adding pixels to your website is the only way to see how your ads are performing.

Here’s a step-by-step process of how to add pixels to your website from Facebook. (You don’t need a developer, but they help!) If Twitter is more your thing, they have them as well!

It’s helpful to install the Facebook Pixel Helper chrome extension. This will allow you to see if your pixel is active and working on the web pages you’ve applied it to. It usually recognizes the pixel within a few minutes.

Additionally, with any Facebook ad, the company recommends running the ad for a minimum of four days to allow the Facebook algorithm to work properly.  

Can you think back to a time when you’ve been scrolling through your feed and said, “That’s SO me.” Or, “I MUST share this—right now.” That’s the impact you want to create with your content.

BOOSTED POST vs AD CAMPAIGN

When you’re considering which type of ad to run, think about your goal. Boosted posts are usually created right within your Facebook Page News Feed post. They have limited options and audience selections to choose from. If you’re simply looking to amplify that piece of content for a short period of time, boosting is the way to go.

However, an ad campaign provides a much richer and controlled experience to get specific on your audiences, upload new ad content, and run longer campaigns. You can usually get much better results with ad campaigns, so don’t let any intimidation hold you back.

YOUR FORMULA FOR SOCIAL ADVERTISING SUCCESS

Use content that’s meant for social use + Tell a compelling story to a key audience(s) + Use tracking tools = A very Positive Equation.

To dive further into the latest social media tools, tactics, and executing a social ad campaign for nonprofits, check out my online course, The Ultimate Social Media Toolkit for Nonprofits.

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Dana Bakich is the Founder and CEO of Positive Equation, a purpose-driven social media consultancy. She’s launching her first online video course to help nonprofits with the latest and greatest that social media has to offer. She’s also a Digital Producer for Season 2 of American Idol! Dana is based in LA, but you can most likely find her 30,000 feet in the air traveling somewhere.

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PIN THIS POST FOR LATER:

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I'm Kristi Porter, and I started Signify to provide writing and consulting services to nonprofits and for-profit organizations with a social mission, primarily through copywriting, marketing, and business communications. I also teach solopreneurs and small businesses how to incorporate philanthropy and giving strategies. I believe that cause-focused organizations are the future of business. You're proof that companies can both make money and do good. And I'm here to help you get noticed and grow. When you succeed, we all win.

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