A presentation for a Hepatitis Australia workshop. It gives some examples and ideas of ways not-for-profits can use the web to raise awareness and attract new supporters.
A presentation I gave internally at our agency last week (3/21/08) for our monthly "What's Next" lunches.
Quick background on these lunch sessions: Each month, three or four people are called upon to share either what inspires them or what's going on in a specific area. So far, I've seen some of our creatives talk to what motivates them and share trends and up-and-coming names in art and design; some of our tech team talk to emerging technologies, showing off what they can do and how they're relevant to our clients; and finally some of our modern media team share the newest ways we can help people find what they're looking for more easily and get more relevant information in front of them for our clients. Like I said, it has all been very fun to take part in as well as quite inspiring and energizing.
For this one, I was asked to share what's going on in marketing and where things are moving. What you'll see/did see is that I ended up using a little bit of what I've been posting about on my blog and some of what has been getting covered both within the trade pubs and on industry related blogs to give me the outline. If you follow the plannersphere and other social media and marketing blogs, then this probably won't be much new, but it might connect the conversations a little more. Or maybe not.
Mostly just wanted to share it since I did put a bit of time into pulling it together and was inspired by many of you who've been writing about similar subject matter. Also because what limited free time I did have last week went into putting it together instead of writing on my blog.
Note: Most of the examples in it are the more covered ones used to support the topics they're associated with. With limited time, I opted for the easy-to-find examples. Sorry about that. One that isn't as covered across the blogs and in the press yet is the My Vegas site. For more info on it see David Armano's Logic + Emotion blog where he has a detailed post on it.
As always, if you've got any thoughts, questions or comments...
Canberra's political parties have yet to use the Internet strategically as a campaign tool in the 2008 ACT Election.
And compared with internet marketing in the US Election our local parties are stone age when it comes to the on-line age.
The US Election is running at the same time as our local race but the approach is completely different. Obama and McCain are all over the Internet, on Facebook, MySpace, YouTube andother on-line platforms.They are cleverly using blogs, video, sound files, downloadable programs, computer games and other social media tools to reach Americans.
As the Canberra Times reported we believe there is a 1998 approach to the Internet in the local 2008 campaign. And the ACT parties are failing to reach voters through their keyboards.
A few parties have ventured into new media territory in an effort to woo younger voters. But they show they just don't get the youth-oriented culture of social media when they disable the comments section on their YouTube videos and their Facebook ads feature candidates in collar and tie.
It's a shame ACT politicians are not fully using the new internet tools. Besides being cheap to use, they would allow more two way conversations between candidates and voters beyond the traditional door knock and mall meetings on Saturday morning.
Choosing a media spokesperson is key issue for most organisations.
Many choose the default position and select the Minister, CEO, Head of PR or another specific individual for that role. And then the curtains come down and no-one else is allowed to talk to the media. True this ensures absolute control over the message. But it often robs an organisation of the chance to get its really interesting stories out and put a more human face before the public.
We noticed during the Olympics the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (an Australian university) had a number of academic spokespersons providing media commentary on the Games. The Institute advertised their availability to journalists and used event-specific interviews to profile its people and its brand. Check out the results here.
And on the subject of media interviews, click on this short video featuring a Fox News interview with Todd Palin, the husband of US Republican Vice Presidential candidate, Sarah Palin.
Perhaps Todd could use a little media training and the journalist interviewing him could certainly use help in asking more substantive questions.
Recently we had coffee with the ACT Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Society.The Society supports people suffering chronic fatigue syndrome and estimates around 3000 Canberra families may be impacted.
Since January the Society has attended the marketing workshops we run for community groups and has been overhauling its marketing and PR approach.
In the last three to four months it has promoted a Chronic Fatigue Syndrome Awareness Day, a theatre screening to raise funds and a self help course.Along the way it has used community radio, YouTube, Facebook and email campaigns and changed the way it stages events.
* Word of mouth
* Posters on community notice boards
* Online and offline community event calendars - including free notices on ABC, ACTEW AGL Switch, Canberra Times fridge door and wotzon
* Getting pro-bono support from communicationsprofessionals.
The President reports so far the Society has spent less than $100 on the new PR arrangements yet the results have been impressive.
”Our enquiries are up 400% since March! As we haven't recorded everything this is a conservative figure. As such our staff member is run off her feet trying to answer it all.I imagine our website is also receiving more hits ...our membership is (also) up approximately 10% since March”.
