Goals

Goals  A goal statement should be simple and unambiguous.  Your goal should also be realistic and aligned with your available capacity, resources and time.  Think about the ultimate social change you are seeking and the ways that your communication activities will complement the programmatic work required to get you there. The first step in any strategic communication effort is clearly defining your objective. Think of it as a destination, a specific spot on the map.

Goals Goals 1 Rank of "build communication capacity of nonprofits" as a goal of communication.

Goals Goals 2 Rank of "build public will" as a goal of communication.

Goals Goals 3 Rank of "influence policy and practice" as a goal of communication.

Goals “ “In this day and age, often communication is the work.” EXECUTIVE LEADER Private Foundation

Goals “ “Without communication we cannot advance our public policy objectives or raise the dollars we need. Communication is central to our strategy. It is a programmatic lever that we use early and often.” BOARD MEMBER Nonprofit

Goals “ “I’ve seen people who embrace communication but don't really get it. They want to make a snazzy video but haven't really thought it through. Why? What is the purpose? Who is the audience?” PROGRAM LEADER Private Foundation

Goals How are your goals aligned with the social change you are seeking?

Goals How do you communicate your goals internally?

Goals How do you measure your goals?

Audiences

Audiences Define your target audiences before you select the best way to reach them. Focus on those best positioned to directly determine the success or failure of your goal.  It is imperative that you clearly identify, as narrowly as possible, the people you need to reach and influence with your communication.  It is important to remember that policy change is determined not by faceless, governmental cyborgs, but by living, breathing humans.  Be careful to avoid the pitfall of stratifying your audiences into imprecise subsets like “voters” and “electeds.”

Audiences Audiences 50/50 Roughly the split between time spent on internal and external communication.

Audiences Audiences 9% Average percentage of communication time spent communicating with policymakers.

Audiences Audiences 22% Average percentage of communication time spent communicating with grantees.

Audiences “ “By communicating what the foundation is supporting to our key audiences, such as policy makers and potential partners, we can amplify our impact in achieving our mission-driven goals.” EXECUTIVE LEADER Private Foundation

Audiences “ “If our efforts aren't heard by the right people, it’s just as if a tree fell in the forest. Without communication our work is like that tree. No will care.” COMMUNICATION LEADER Private Foundation

Audiences “ “Communication is essential. The best evidence is of little value if it doesn’t get to the people who need it, when they want it, in a form that's understandable to them.” EVALUATION LEADER Nonprofit

Audiences Can you clearly define your audiences?

Audiences How do you segment your audiences?

Audiences Who is your internal versus your external audience?

Point of View

Point of View  Point of view can be carefully designed and cultivated, or an organic outgrowth of your organizational style.  Whatever your circumstance, the key to success is acting authentically. That means communicating with a point of view that is believable, appropriate and aligned with your organizational values. Every successful communication effort has an inherent point of view. Think of point of view as the tone, voice, style or personality for your communication.

Point of View Point of View 20% The percentage of annual expenditures that most nonprofits can spend on lobbying.

Point of View Point of View 17M The number of Ice Bucket Challenge videos that were shared to Facebook. The videos were viewed more than 10 billion times by 440 million people.

Point of View Point of View 74% Percentage of participants in a 47-country survey who said that seeing the film An Inconvenient Truth caused them to change some of their daily habits.

Point of View “ “Foundations should be as loud as possible about issues, grantees, and grantmaking approaches that move the work forward. I think foundations should be extremely mouthy in an “it's not about us” kind of way” COMMUNICATION LEADER Private Foundation

Point of View “ “I have frequently heard advocates ask us to put our name on something, because policymakers find it easier to hear it from us.” COMMUNICATION LEADER Private Foundation

Point of View “ “One of the things we have been thinking a lot about lately is our voice. It's tricky trying to strike the right balance between authentic, strategic, approachable, and visionary.” PROGRAM LEADER Private Foundation

Point of View What “voice” do you use for your communications?

Point of View Is your point of view cultivated or is it organic?

Point of View How is your message shaped by your point of view?

Messages

Messages  The best messages are those that align with an audience’s value system. They are simple, factual, and provocative.  Identify the values that sit at the core of the change you are seeking and zero in on them as crisply and succinctly as possible.  Give careful consideration to the visual design of your messages and the pictures you use to tell your story. Successful messaging requires clarity and consistency. Good messages also must align with the interests and concerns most important to your audience.

Messages Messages 20 Number of times people need to hear a campaign message before it sinks in.

Messages Messages 45 Or above. The recommended Flesch score for better readability.

Messages Messages 5.4M Total number of foundation followers on Twitter (January 2013)

Messages Messages 4.4M Total number of Facebook likes for foundations (January 2013)

Messages “ “We communicate to reach policy makers. We can have the best programs and policies in the world, but unless we translate them into language that reaches policy makers and the public, we won’t be effective.” EXECUTIVE LEADER Nonprofit

Messages “ “When you say things in a clear, exciting, engaging way, people listen to what you have to say. If we want people to respond to our mission, we need to communicate that mission clearly.” COMMUNICATION LEADER Nonprofit

Messages “ “So many of the issues we work on are stuck because of the dominant narrative, and that doesn't change just by doing program work that gets results. To leverage those results to create new narratives takes strategic communication.” COMMUNICATION LEADER Private Foundation

Messages How do you tie your messages to your values?

Messages What are examples of successful messages you have used?

Messages What kind of visual messages do you use?

Messengers

Messengers  Cognitive science has demonstrated time and time again that what is being said can matter far less than who is saying it.  The key is to be intentional about choosing messengers who are viewed with trust, respect and the appropriate level of authority on your issue. Choosing the right messenger is a critical step in every strategic communication effort. Without the right person delivering it, your message is just a nice set of words.

Messengers Messengers 50,000 Videos created and uploaded to the It Gets Better Project.

Messengers Messengers $112M Raised by the ALS Association in the Ice Bucket Challenge (as of September 2014).

Messengers Messengers 71% Percentage of foundations using social media who have not developed a formal social media strategy.

Messengers “ “Though the foundation speaks to what we're learning, we never wanted to be a soloist. Instead, we find ways to make sure that others can effectively "join the choir" and use what we learn.” PROGRAM LEADER Private Foundation

Messengers “ “We only achieve our goals through the efforts of others. We need to communicate so that our goals and objectives are shared by others. If we can enlist others into our perspective, we have more of us working toward our goals.” EXECUTIVE LEADER Private Foundation

Messengers “ “We are working on integrating communications into the grant cycle with communication capacity provided to our grantees. Their reporting helps provide more stories, media outreach, and impactful outcomes for our internal and external communication efforts.” COMMUNICATION LEADER Private Foundation

Messengers Who are the right messengers for your organization?

Messengers What is your social media strategy?

Messengers Have your messengers changed over time?

Channels

Channels  Earned media: Can you control how (or if) the story will be reported?  Paid media: Will it have the resonance and influence you need to best advance your goal?  Owned media: The price tag might be more appealing, but will these channels help you reach the decision makers you’ve identified as your key audience? Your likelihood for success increases when you chose the right channel to deliver your message. Consider how you want your audience to receive and engage your communication.

Channels Channels 87% Percentage of American adults who use the internet.

Channels Channels 90% Percentage of American adults who have a cell phone. 58% have a smart phone.

Channels Channels 74% Percentage of internet users who use social networks.

Channels Channels 7th The rank of annual reports as a source of information by engaged Americans.

Channels “ “Every year our board asks us why we aren't in NYT or WSJ. The answer to that is easy. We work on systems change! There's nothing sexy about changing systems. The story is in the work our grantees do.” COMMUNICATION LEADER Private Foundation

Channels “ “I care more about the content and strategy of communication than the tools. I'm passionate about seeing the communication field in philanthropy move away from a fascination with the tools.” COMMUNICATION LEADER Private Foundation

Channels How do you choose your communication channels?

Channels What is your social media strategy?

Channels How do you control your message in different channels?