I had the pleasure of presenting to the YMCA’s New Media/Marketing Conference held in Kansas City this past week on the topic of Nonprofits and Integrating Digital Marketing Strategies and Measuring ROI.
It was a special treat because I was asked to participate by a long time friend, Mary Mooney Burns, who’s not only just about one of the smartest PR/Marketing Communications pros on the planet, she also happens to be amazing at everything she does. And funny. I like that.
Mary and I started our careers at an agency that used to be called Barkley & Evergreen here in Kansas City, back in the day when the agency had about 70 employees and two names. Today, Barkley is one of the largest agencies in the city and nationally known for the work they do. And Mary and I wax nostalgic about those early days from time to time – they had a lot to do with where we both ended up in our careers today.
Mary asked me to present to her group of Chief Marketing Officers and Chief Technology Officers from YMCAs all across the United States, many of whom are wrestling with social media and the integration of other digital marketing strategies into their marketing efforts. She asked that I speak about digital marketing: what it is, how to integrate it into your marketing strategies and, equally as important, how to measure success.
Nonprofits are faced with many of the same challenges as for profit businesses, and those are some of the things we discussed. Those things included thinking of donor groups as clients, thinking about how to build community, how to engage with and reach donors and potential donors in the channels that they are and in the way they want to be reached, and how to use your analytics as a roadmap to help you figure out where you are, where you want to be and how to get there.
The presentation is below.
There are some resources at the end that we can’t recommend highly enough, especially if you’re a nonprofit or an association are mentioned in the presentation, but they are also linked here:
SocialFish and Maddie Grant.
SocialFish helps associations and nonprofits make the most out of social media. Also, check out Maddie’s book Open Community: The Little Book on Big Ideas For Associations Navigating the Social Web. And, once you’re properly hooked on the goodness that is Maddie Grant, preorder her newest book, Humanize: How People-Centric Organizations Succeed in a Social World which is FANTASTIC!
ThinkTank
ThinkTank, is a peer-to-peer learning hub and knowledge library for social media practitioners at associations and nonprofits (yet another product from Maddie and her team).
FrogLoop and Care2
FrogLoop is Care2’s Nonprofit Marketing Blog and run by the amazing Allyson Kapin of Rad Campaign. FrogLoop is a terrific resource and a must read for anyone in nonprofit marketing, communications, technology and fundraising.
Social Networking Calculator for Nonprofits
FrogLoop’s Justin Perkins developed the Social Networking Calculator for Nonprofits, a handy interactive tool for nonprofits that helps calculate your ROI when it comes to using social media for your fundraising and networking efforts. We love FrogLoop!
That’s it. Now, go forth and do good. Hopefully these resources will help. And, as always, if we can help, let us know! Thanks again to Mary, for inviting me to be a part of the YMCA and their event.
Shelly Kramer is a Principal Analyst and Founding Partner at Futurum Research. A serial entrepreneur with a technology centric focus, she has worked alongside some of the world’s largest brands to embrace disruption and spur innovation, understand and address the realities of the connected customer, and help navigate the process of digital transformation. She brings 20 years’ experience as a brand strategist to her work at Futurum, and has deep experience helping global companies with marketing challenges, GTM strategies, messaging develoment, and driving strategy and digital transformation for B2B brands across multiple verticals. Shelly’s coverage areas include Collaboration/CX/SaaS, platforms, ESG, and Cybersecurity, as well as topics and trends related to the Future of Work, the transformation of the workplace and how people and technology are driving that transformation. A transplanted New Yorker, she has learned to love life in the Midwest, and has firsthand experience that some of the most innovative minds and most successful companies in the world also happen to live in “flyover country.”
