TURNS HIS MONEY INTO LIGHT TO LOOK FOR HER: Wherein “money” is your nonprofit’s money, “light” is whatever means or method or trick or campaign or mailer or fundraiser (take a breath!) you are using to drum up support, and “her” is the friend, supporter, or donor you are looking to nab…
There’s a interesting story over at PaidContent – Bigger budgets ahead for viral campaigns – about where advertisers and marketers are planning to put their money.
More will be spent on viral campaigns,” i.e. getting friends to tell their friends via word-of-mouth, email forwarding, Facebook, etc.
Less will be spent on”ad networks,” which I take to mean purchasing traditional-looking adverts via Google or some-such and letting the company “place” the ad on various web pages and sites. (I’m not a marketer, I just know enough to fix or break things).
The survey also found that a bunch of money will be allocated toward SEO, or Search Engine Optimization.
What’s it all mean for non-marketing professionals? I’m not altogether sure. But let me share what comes to mind:
It appears marketing pros think the number one way to win a customer is “friend referral.” People trust people they know.
(The SEO figure is something to watch, because that approach involves making it easy for an individual to find your product via random googling, which is either the #1 or #2 way to find something. Think about your own habits.)
For urban ministries, or any nonprofit:
Make it easy for your existing friends and supporters to forward your content to their people. Email blasts are easy to forward; send these more frequently (I say a max of 1 per week and minimum of 1 per month). People are already used to forwarding stuff they like to their friends; ride the wave, as Rick Warren says.
Also, make it easy to share your ministry’s web pages. A “Forward Article” or “Share This” link at each web page should do the trick. Look at the bottom of this post – it has a “Share This” link. I use web page forwarding links a lot in my own browsing / sharing.
Anyway… a word to the wise…
WSJ’s Walt Mossberg says the new Kindle may not be all that.
Giving USA sez charitable donations fell by 6% in 2008. Wait til they see the 2009 figures.
Michael Arrington has been talking a lot about “process journalism.” Here’s an interview he did with NPR. He’s been beefing about how blogs get penalized in the public eye for covering a story in “drafts” or as it “emerges,” but contends that big papers like New York Times do it, too:
But anyway, media outlets like the NYTimes think that having to update a story is a sign of weakness. I believe the opposite, that it’s a sign of transparency and a promise to our readers to continue to give them the best information we have. Corrections and updates are made constantly to big news posts.
It’s the spirit of the age: They’re gonna tax your mobile phone.
People should really study The President’s community organizing philosophy. You’d understand a lot better how he operates. Here’s a story at Christianity Today about the Saguaro Seminar.
And then this: A big article on Krump in the LA Times (albeit the LAT blogs section, but still.) My 9-year-old son has been in a Krump bible study with other boys, led by a great Krumper in my neighborhood. My guy says Krump stands for Kingdom Radically Uplifting Mighty Praise and he uses it as a distinctly Christian expression. Not everyone does, as the blog post makes no reference to a Christian undercurrent. I know a number of young people who use Krump as a means of self-expression, as release, that is distinctly not gang-related or violence-based. Among other things, Krump is keeping a lot of young men alive to live another day. Keep an eye out for it.