Months ago we showcased several posts on InnoCentive - a leading example of open innovation driven by an “open business model” was revolutionizing the world of chemistry. For those of you new to InnoCentive, it’s an online community of 120,000+ global researchers working with major companies like P&G to compete to […]
Oh what a chip!
A friend of mine from Louisiana recently sent me a package which contained a little surprise - a bag of Zapp’s Who Dat? chips.
Who Dat? What kind of regular flavor is that?
The bag also had a party of musicians dancing across the bottom.
As you may imagine, it did not take us long […]
Everyone seems to be talking about word-of-mouth marketing vs. traditional marketing around the blogoclump - here, and here, and here, and here…. and I chimed in somewhere with a comment about how I’m thinking about reevaluating the marketing vehicles I’ve been using for some of our programs. But something is bothering me about all of this, and it’s the same thing that bothers me about any scenario where the “marketing department” butts heads with any other department. My hubby Andy, who’s a techy, a program manager for a software company, has described this scenario a million times over the years - the marketing people want “flashy” stuff that the programmers don’t think is useful for the product. Obviously the same thing happens in associations, whether it’s that “there’s too much money being spent on such and such brochure”, or “why do we need an E-Newsletter, when the black and white paper version has been good enough for years”, etc etc. There’s a general antipathy for marketing from anyone except “marketers” and we seem to always be apologizing for being marketers.
But aren’t we ALL marketers? Every member, whether evangelist, uninvolved or detractor, is a marketer (positive or negative) through their related action or inaction. Every volunteer is saying , this is somewhere I want to give my time to - and that’s marketing. Within an association’s staff, everybody has the same goals, to make the association worthwhile for current members and to THEREBY attract new members, which is the goal of marketing.
To not have a line item for marketing doesn’t mean we’re not doing it - I have no marketing department, nor a marketing budget, but I can safely say I am marketing pretty much 100% of the time. Other bigger associations do have marketing departments, but it’s not only the marketing department doing the marketing! See what I’m saying? Marketing really is behind every strategic decision and if all branches of an association really recognized that, we would not be arguing over line items. Maybe there shouldn’t be a separate marketing department, but instead a person responsible for thinking about communications and branding in every department - and these people would all get together all the time to figure out how to make sure the message is consistent across the board. To me, WOM marketing is not something “other” than traditional marketing - there are just different communication vehicles. You think there wasn’t WOM marketing “back in the day”? If anything, there was lots MORE of it - before computers, and email, and the internet made it so easy. Heck, before the printing press! WOM marketing is older than time itself - it just didn’t have a nametag. Not only that, but there’s lots of crossover between how we use any number of communication vehicles, they are not all static things. And of course, the most obvious task is to know how to decide which vehicle works best for which audience, and marketers are NOT the only ones who should do that, that’s everyone’s job… but (trained) marketers are there to help.
Phew! Rant over. And yes, I think I did say “marketing” at least ten times in that paragraph. Gotta be a record!
Do you ever feel like you are just running on neutral?
I’ve got a lot going on…
The Chapter Leaders Playground
Some cool clients
All sorts of new adventures in landscaping our yard
And yet, I’m in the middle of all of these projects.
I’m not starting anything new or finishing anything old.
Just sort of blando in midst of them all…
Thankfully […]
So now people are talking about marketing in the tiny little association blogging world. Jason Della Rocca posted something that sounds a lot like my last couple of posts (except I don’t think “marketing” is a line item). Scott decides “traditional marketing” doesn’t work because apparently somebody is mailing out 500-page brochures to hundreds of […]
I’m far more likely to make an immediate donation to an online contribution request if a PayPal option. Degree of inconvenience to get up, get credit card/check, type info. Many will skip - or delay and forget. PayPal takes seconds to send.
If haven’t used, PayPal is preferred method of eBay payments - stores personal/business credit card info, and/or checking account info - to generate instant payments when you request. Sign-in and send. Doesn’t forward your card info. No need to type mailing address as auto-populates.
Might make sense to add PayPal as an option for charitable, PAC and other giving (when allowed in state law). Even if your ecommerce system has better rate - end user likely has to type lines and lines of data. Consider convenience of PayPal and clear potential to capture contributors who may not otherwise give. Make it easy.
Ben Martin’s blog relays a friend/AE/blogger’s wife in a car accident. Encourages contribution to help family - with online PayPal donation form. Ben makes it easy to give. PayPal can potentially improve your association fundraising activities.
Tony Rossell responds to Scott Briscoe's WOM Marketing post on Acronym:
I value the Acronym blog and the
dialog there. But I have some concerns with his comments. I think that
it is incorrect to blame marketing for a “flashy 500 page brochure”.
Traditional marketing is the professional discipline of understanding
and communicating the best message, to the best market segments, with
the best marketing channels and techniques…
My opinion: traditional marketing is extremely important for almost any organization… but maybe these are non-traditional times.
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