Newsletter: How They Do Cause Marketing Down East 🦞; Largest Bottle of Soap Pumps Up Record Product Donations🧴; Soldier Who Shot Bin Laden is Now Targeting Cause Marketing 🎯
I'm proud that my newsletter has inspired others to start a newsletter or to improve the one they have. Since I've fielded a number of questions on newsletters this past week - and it's on my brain - here are a few bits of newsletter advice!
1. Consistency (almost) trumps quality. Sure, your newsletter has to be good. That's table stakes. But people will never stick with your newsletter if it's not delivered consistently (e.g. daily, weekly, bi-monthly). You're trying to create a habit with readers, and if you're not consistent it will never happen. And believe me, consistency can be a grind. But it's also when the magic happens!
2. Send out your newsletter twice. The first time, send it out to everyone…
Newsletter: New Cause Campaign Calls Out Unfulfilled Promise of July 4th 😔 ; Best Content for Each Stage of the Funnel 🚀 ; 3 Partner Questions You Need to Answer Within 10 Minutes ⏱
The Fourth of July is over, but I'm still thinking about it because it really didn't happen here in Boston. The whole weekend was a disaster. We got five inches of rain and we set a new record low temperature for July 3rd.
Don't get me wrong, the gahhden ❤️❤️❤️ the rain, but did it have to fall on a holiday weekend???
Of course, events were cancelled due to weather.
Every year I try to attend a reading of Frederick Douglass' speech, What to the Slave is the Fourth of July? It was cancelled and moved to this Friday when the speech will be read at the newly refurbished Shaw Memorial that honors black Civil War soldiers. If you've seen the movie GLORY, you know the story….
Newsletter: Re-Born on the Fourth of July 🧨 ; This is the New Long-Term CSR Priority 📊 ; 8 Questions to Ask Someone Besides ‘What Do You Do?’ 🤝
I'll keep things short this week as everyone is probably thinking about vacation time, fireworks and BBQs. I know I am! 🏖🧨🌭
Something to think about on Sunday...
On July 4, 1845, Henry David Thoreau moved into a one-room cabin he had built on the shores of Walden Pond in Concord, Massachusetts.
Thoreau wasn't seeking to live in isolation. Heck, he was only a half-mile from both the railroad and the main road into Concord. Rather, his move to Walden was a statement about who he was and what was important to him…
Newsletter: How to Get a Cold Prospect to Talk to You 🥶 ; A Simple Deck to Pitch Your Partnership Program 🃏 ; The Biggest Problem with Most Nonprofit Newsletters is… 🙄
Prospecting Circles are one way to organize and prioritize potential partners. The circle nonprofits struggle with the most is suspects because they are cold leads (unlike prospects which is warm and supporters which is downright hot 🔥).
Nonprofits ask: "How do I get a cold prospect to talk to me?"
I thought I had a pretty good answer to this question: demonstrate overwhelming value. But I like digital marketing expert Rand Fishkin's answer better….
Newsletter: Company Giving Dropped 6% in 2020 🙄; Burger King Uses Cause Marketing to Take Shot at Competitor 🥊 ; Why Every Nonprofit Should Use Animal Marketing 🐶
One of the articles I had planned to share with you this week was from Hubspot called Everything You Need to Know About Using Tie Downs in Sales.
I hadn't heard of "tie downs" before. The Hubspot writer defined them this way:
“Using sales tie downs allows you to check your assumptions around each of these points. They also get your customer engaged and saying 'yes' before the time comes for you to go for the close. Building up slowly can make things feel much more natural to your customer.”
I thought, maybe tie downs aren’t such a bad idea! But then I thought, WAIT! I should reach out to the guru of cause sales, Dan Cohen of Cause Partners, and ask him what he thinks of tie downs.
I'm so glad I did. Here's what Dan said….
Newsletter: Influencer Toolkit for Nonprofits 🧰 ; The Power of Incentives in Cause Marketing 🍭 ; Pride Month Has a QR Code Obsession 😍
We had a great Cause Docs clinic on INFLUENCER MARKETING last week with Lauren Lawson-Zilai, Senior Director of Public Relations & National Spokesperson for Goodwill Industries International.
In addition to watching the replay, you should download these two valuable resources:
Goodwill's Influencer Toolkit
Sample Influencer Letter of Agreement
Lauren also recommended these tools…
Newsletter: How to Scale Your Biz Dev Team 📈 ; What 25 Companies are Doing for Pride Month 🏳️🌈 ; Everyone Loves Plain Language - Except Nonprofits 🤔
Join the Cause Docs Tomorrow, June 3rd at 2pm EDT as Lauren Lawson-Zilai, Senior Director of Public Relations & National Spokesperson for Goodwill Industries International, will be answering your questions on how to identify and work with influencers.
She'll be sharing her prescriptions on...
Newsletter: Influencer Marketing for Nonprofits 🤩 ; Why You Should be Targeting Directors Instead of CEOs 🎯 ; Are you a ‘Geriatric Millennial’? 😂
The Cause Docs are back! 🩺🥼
Joining us on Thursday, June 3rd at 2pm EDT is Lauren Lawson-Zilai, Senior Director of Public Relations & National Spokesperson for Goodwill Industries International.
Lauren will be answering your questions on how to identify and work with influencers.
She'll be sharing her prescriptions on...
Newsletter: Add This Industry to Your Prospect List Now 🍔 ; Everything Old is New Again as Pizza Hut Launches New Book It! 📚; For Career Success You Need a Signature Move 😎
I'm helping my 89-year-old mom settle into new home this week. I took this picture to showoff my bed-making skills! Pretty good, right? My mom didn't agree as she has a 36-step process for making a bed and I missed a few steps.
I'm also emptying out her apartment that she's been in for 30 years. Wish me luck! ☘️☘️
I'll be back next week….
Newsletter: Let's Map Out the Partnership Solicitation Process 🗺 ; Will Companies Support Causes with Twitter's New Tip Jar? 🪙 ; Give Your Footer Some Love This Summer🦶
I want to map out the Partnership Solicitation Process from start to finish.
Above is the map I've drafted, but, heck, what do I know? What would YOU add, edit or remove?
My goal is to map the major steps in the process! I realize the map could get super-micro, but that's not my intent at this point. So let's stick to MAJOR STEPS in the partnership solicitation process….
Newsletter: Close More Partnerships by 'Warming Up’ Prospects 🔥; Drink Well and Give Back to the National Parks🌲; If You Own One of These Paintings You Won't Have to Fundraise Ever Again 🖼
Two housekeeping items this week... 🧹🧹
✅ I ❤️ when you send me things to include in my newsletter! Job openings, success stories, new campaigns - keep them coming. However, here's what I'm looking to actually include in my newsletter:
First, and most importantly, I'm looking for things that will be useful to partnership professionals. I'm not just publishing news on corporate partnerships. I want to help people do their jobs better. This is the #1 goal of my newsletter.
For example…
Newsletter: How Top Nonprofits Staff Their Partnership Teams 🏆; 10 Sponsorship Request Letters Every Nonprofit Needs ✍️ ; This Beer Tastes Horrible (But It’s All for a Good Cause) 🤢🍻
We had a great Cause Docs clinic last week on Engaging Your Board in Selling Corporate Partnerships! You can watch the replay here.
What should we tackle next on Cause Docs??? Take my 2-question survey.
Newsletter: Competing Caterpillar Cakes Spark Retail War for Charity 🐛 ; This ‘Vax-Tee’ Benefits a Great Cause 💉 ; The Era of Corporate Political Responsibility is Upon Us 😇
The Cause Docs 🩺 are back TOMORROW at 2pm EDT. Joining us are Nanette Fridman, President of Fridman Strategies, Inc. and Melissa Radin Goldstone, Founder of Freestyle Strategy.
They'll be answering your questions about how to finally get your board to help identify, cultivate and sell corporate partnerships.
Nanette and Melissa will be sharing their prescriptions on...
Newsletter: Engage Your Board in Selling Partnerships 🤝 ; Red Nose Day Becomes Red Nose Year 🔴 ; Toms Shoes Plots a Comeback - But Without One-For-One 👟
The Cause Docs are back!
Joining us on Thursday, April 22nd at 2pm EDT are Nanette Fridman, President of Fridman Strategies, Inc. and Melissa Radin Goldstone, Founder of Freestyle Strategy.
They will be answering your questions about how to finally get your board to help identify, cultivate and sell corporate partnerships.
Nanette and Melissa will be sharing their prescriptions on...
Newsletter: How to Promote an In-Store Cause Marketing Program 🏪 ; Luggage Company Makes the Case for Giving 🧳 ; Keeping Partnership Sales Going During the Slow Summer Months 🩳
Last month, Brittany Hill from Accelerist delivered an outstanding Cause Docs "clinic" on how to prospect for corporate partnerships. You can watch the replay here. It will be well worth your time!
As part of the clinic, attendees received Prospect - Like a Boss, part one of Accelerist's new Corporate Partnership Playbook Series - and they loved it! ❤️
Now the entire playbook is available for download. In addition to Prospect - Like a Boss the playbook includes:
Position – Like A Boss will help you to refresh and update your unique value proposition to competitively position your organization….
Newsletter: TikTok for Nonprofits with Partnership Programs 🤝 ; Jersey Mike’s Day of Giving Aims to Raise $8M Today 🥙 ; How to Reactivate Your Email List 📬
Two things this week...
First, the Cause Docs will be back TOMORROW at 2pm EDT. The doc joining us will be Mike Hollywood ⭐️, Vice President of Digital at Rocket Social Impact. Mike will be answering your questions on how to turn your boring web site into a lead magnet that attracts and converts prospects into partners. 🤭
Second, next week, Thursday, April 8th at 1pm EDT, Selfish Giving, TikTok and Rocket Social Impact are hosting: TikTok Best Practices for Nonprofits with Partnership Programs.
This will be a game-changing webinar on how nonprofits can use TikTok to build and cultivate a highly-engaged audience. As you know, audience engagement and growth is a key component of winning corporate partnerships.
During this webinar, you’ll….
Newsletter: Turn Your Web Site Into a Partnership Magnet 🧲 ; Digital Toilet Paper is the First Cause-Related NFT 🧻 ; Board Game Monopoly Gets Socially Conscious Makeover 🧐
We had a great Cause Docs clinic last week with Russ Holmes of Sprouts Solutions on building global partnerships. Check out the replay here.
Believe it or not, the Cause Docs will be back AGAIN on Thursday, April 1st at 2pm EDT. The doc joining us next week will be Mike Hollywood ⭐️, Vice President of Digital at Rocket Social Impact. Mike will be answering your questions on how to turn your boring web site into a digital magnet that attracts and converts visitors into partners. 🤭
Mike will be sharing his prescriptions on...
Newsletter: Yes! National Companies Will Do Local Cause Marketing 🤭 ; Grocery Chain Raises $200K During Black History Month 🖤 ; Why Your Next Fundraiser Should be a Fishing Tournament 🎣
The Cause Docs are back tomorrow, Thursday, March 18th at 2pm EDT with Russ Holmes, Founder of Sprouts Solutions. Russ will be answering your questions on how you can identify, cultivate and partner with global companies.
Russ will be sharing his prescriptions on:
Identifying global companies that align with your non-profit's mission
How to approach a global company
How to build a win-win partnership and what elements to include
Russ originates from the UK but is a true citizen of the world….
