Gigi won't let me forget Baltimore!

The absolute best mass communications tool 
is cheap, easy, measurable, and effective. Part 1.

I lived in Washington, DC during Jimmy Carter's administration (and Ronald Reagan's, but I don't talk about that much). Baltimore was a short train ride away, but I never felt the urge to visit.
    My loss. Baltimore has many of the attributes I still miss from my hometown of Pittsburgh: real neighborhoods, great old buildings (whatever Johns Hopkins hasn't torn down), down home eating, and a tough and friendly attitude. (The Wire is both my and Barack's favorite TV series.)
    Happily I've since visited Baltimore several times for conferences, college tours, a reunion with a childhood buddy, and some work for Gigi Casey Wirtz (Mrs.). 
    Gigi (everyone should have a "Gigi" in his or her address book; it's so...exotic!) is the Director of Communications for the Baltimore Community Foundation.
    I don't get to Baltimore often, so I'm grateful that Gigi keeps me -- and several hundred other admirers -- informed several times a month with the push of a button. She ebroadcasts at least once every two weeks.
 
Ebroadcasts are a perfect answer, 
but I have to beg my clients to use them frequently
Go ahead, break my heart. Don't do annual reports. Don't meet with donors face to face. Never give a public speech. Don't collaborate with other nonprofits. Don't join your local Chamber of Commerce. Ignore the rules for good websites. Write boring annual appeals. 
But please, please, please: send frequent ebroadcasts. Remind me constantly that your nonprofit matters. Like Gigi does.
    Done correctly, ebroadcasts work, I promise. You will find that:

1.       You'll add new friends every time you mail.

2.       (Some) people will do what you ask: take a poll, visit your website, call their legislator, watch a YouTube video, eat an extra serving of fruit, say 'I love you' to their children.

3.       People may send you money. I counseled a community foundation president recently to use an ebroadcast to eulogize a beloved donor. People sent unsolicited donations.

4.       You will strengthen your relationship by being in touch regularly.

5.       You will remind the reader that your nonprofit is special, over and over again.

    You have plenty to write about, especially since you'll only write two paragraphs per ebroadcast about your

1.       powerful mission

2.       deserving clients

3.       innovative programs

4.       talented staff

5.       generous donors

6.       specialized knowledge.

    Among those six topics -- and there are more -- your nonprofit should be able to send at least 18 two-paragraph stories a year. 
That's just three per topic. 
   Under "specialized knowledge" you may write about free publications on college financing (www.edpubs.ed.gov), if you are focused on higher education; refer to Chicago Trib columnist Eric Zorn's blog on Rod Blagojevich's new book; or encourage attendance at an upcoming lecture on how wine, chocolate, and garlic helps prevent cancer.
    Under "generous donors" you may write a brief eulogy of a favorite donor who has passed away, a tip from the Wall Street Journal about the advantages of giving appreciated stock (lol), or an unusual gift your nonprofit has just received.
    Under "innovative programs" you can highlight something truly unique about one of your programs. Be specific, no generalities.
You can announce new staff with their impressive credentials, clients who have succeeded beyond anyone's dreams, expanded office hours, new grants, revision of your mission, and so on. 
    The national data and studies that regularly cross your desk are second nature for you, but news to me. You can simply share a couple paragraphs of your daily mail.
    For a sampling of Gigi's year of ebroadcasts, visit www.bcf.org/(includes other press releases too).

Easy, cheap, measurable, effective, if you let it be
You could make ebroadcasting complicated, onerous, time-consuming, and expensive.
    But that would be foolish. Instead, follow these five rules to keep life simple:

1.       Write a fantastic 'subject' line. Don't write "From the Baltimore Community Foundation." Instead, write "Inside: the ten smartest people in Baltimore". Gigi says, "The time we spend at our communications meeting writing subject lines is often the most fun we have all week."

2.       Never write more than three tight paragraphs. Once readers realize your ebroadcasts are always short, they won't run in horror when they see them in their "In" boxes.

3.       Only one topic per ebroadcast. Do not create a newsletter! It's too much work, it's intimidating, and no one wants to read it. Have two important things to say? Great! Wait three days and send a separate ebroadcast.

4.       Don't ask for money. An ebroadcast is (usually) not the vehicle for fundraising. Obvious exceptions are disaster relief, timely memorials, holiday giving, and very special opportunities. But if every ebroadcast asks for money, I'll start trashing them without opening.

5.       Don't go nuts about design. Keep it simple (see Part 2, about email services). Lots of folks have images turned off for their emails anyway.

    That's it. Discipline yourself to send one at least every three weeks, more often if possible. Watch your recognition rise.

If you want to make things a bit tougher on yourself
To improve your ebroadcasting, I suggest two other valuable steps.

1.       When possible, link to a resource on your website. It's great when those resources already exist. When they don't, you have to decide whether it's worth writing one. Get people to your website!

2.       Measure. All the ebroadcast services will give you the basics: how many recipients opened your ebroadcast, how many forwarded it to a friend, how many had bad addresses. Some topics draw better than others. If you want to pander to the crowd, then figure out which ones. Test mail on different days of the week at different times of the day to find what seems to work best. (See "Which day to mail" in Part 2.)

Part 2 in two weeks
I wrote a bunch more about ebroadcasts, but my friend Tom tells me I write (and talk) too much, so I split it in half. In two weeks I'll cover:

1.       Using an email service

2.       Getting names on your emailing list

3.       When is the best time to send?

4.       Going overboard for the more intense

5.       If ebroadcasting is so great, are Twitter and blogging better?

Hey community foundations, going to San Antonio?
Me too! I'm traveling with my web-mentor Ann-Marie Harrington and her Internet geniuses from Embolden.com. You'll find me under her sign in the exhibition halls. Ask her about Barack Obama. She met him earlier this year at the White House when she won the Small Business Person of the Year Award!

Speaking of Ann-Marie, read my latest book reviews
Okay, so Tom's right. But one last thing. Ann-Marie slipped me a copy of The Twitter Book last month, which I review in the marketing resources section of www.schwartztalk.com. I also recently reviewed a "must read" book called Sway. Check them out!

See you in two weeks! 
Rick