Newsletter: 5 Lessons From Writing 100+ Partnership Case Studies ✍️ ; The Companies Stepping Up to Support Kentucky Flood Victims 🌊 ; We Must Address Declining Trust in Nonprofits 📉
A couple years ago I noticed that while case studies were prized and used by businesses, very few nonprofits used them. What surprised me even more was that most of the corporate partnership teams I knew didn't even use them - which made no sense to me whatsoever!
Since then I've written well over 100 case studies for partnership teams!
Whether you write your own case studies, or have me write them for you (just hit reply to this email and we can discuss! 🥰), I've learned a few things along the way that I want to share with you.
✅ Done is better than perfect. Whenever I talk to a prospective case study client they tell me they always wanted to write case studies but never got around to actually doing them. While you may be the perfect person to write the case study - because you know the partnership best - they take a lot of time, which you probably don't have. Delegate the work to another person on your team or hire an outside writer to get them DONE.
☕️ Strike while the iron is hot. The best time to write a case study is either when the partnership is happening or shortly after it's finished. Your contact at the company will move on to another project - or another job! Write the case study while it's still fresh in everyone's minds and both you and the partner are focused and enthused about the campaign!
✍️ Every version of the case study is a first draft. A case study is never really finished. Even though my case studies go through multiple edits by me and both partners, it's still a first draft when it's done. Ideally, you should always have it open on your computer so you can change it to meet your needs.
Presenting it to a partner later in the day? Change the title to better fit the prospect's interests. Did you have a great call with your partner today? Ask for permission to include their praise in the case study. Is your corporate partner supporting you in a new way? Add that to the case study, or write a new case study altogether. Yes, I've written multiple case studies on the same partner!
🦗 It's not about the case study, grasshopper. A case study is like a stack of charity pinups next to a cashier at a store. If the cashier doesn't engage the consumer and ask the shopper to buy a pinup she won't sell any pinups or raise any money. That stack will be just as tall at the end of the day as it was in the beginning. The same with a case study. Having it does nothing for you. You have to use the case study. You have to engage the prospect with it. You have to become a case study-centric organization to be successful.
🙌 Write case studies on the partnerships you want more of. You don't need a case study on every single corporate partnership. Just write case studies on the partnerships you want more of. Want more point-of-sale (POS) partners? Write a case study on that partner that raised $500,000 for you over the holidays last year. Have lots of POS partners but want more partners in the supermarket partners? Write case studies on just your current supermarket partners.
A case study isn't historical or informative. You're not just trying to chronicle what happened in a partnership. A case study is convincing. It's social proof that's meant to persuade a prospect to partner with you over another nonprofit. Period!
Planning to write your own case studies? I'm still here to help. Just hit reply to this email and I'm happy to answer your questions.😃
✍️ Partnership Notes
1. Which companies are stepping up to help Kentucky flood victims.
2. This brand has donated more than $2 million to the Wildland Firefighter Foundation over the past eight years. And they just launched a new campaign this month!
🤑 Marketing Your Cause
1. Great deep-dive from DonorVoice on a direct mail campaign they did with charity: water and what worked and didn't. Interesting!
2. Whatever content you're creating, here's a simple formula to keep your audience top of mind.
When I (audience member) ______________, I want to ___________________, so I can __________________.
Check out the article for some examples of how this works.
3. While I think you should be building your nonprofit's audience with email, I also know that TikTok is the hot social media platform right now. I also know that Bari Rosenstien, Social Media Manager for Auntie Anne’s, who I've written about before, is a wiz on the platform. That's why I'm attending her free Branding Bootcamp - TikTok Edition on August 23rd @ 4pm EDT. I'm always up for learning something new! Join me?
😎 Cool Jobs in Cause
1. Director, Corporate Partnerships & Cause Marketing, Duke's Children's Hospital, Durham, NC ($69k - $95k)
2. Vice President, Corporate Alliances, American Diabetes Association, Remote ($142k - $178k)
🧠🍌 Brain Food
1. 5-minute video: How to win more business grants.
2. Must-read: We must confront declining trust in nonprofits - before it’s too late
3. A project named for Peanuts character Franklin aims to boost Black animators.
