Whether you’re a corporate brand or a non-profit organization, press and media attention is vital to your success – especially when your success is driven by public interaction and community support.  When your non-profit gains followers and donors through charity events such as benefit auctions, increasing the press coverage and gaining media attention specifically for that event can make or break your ticket sales.

“Gaining press” used to mean direct solicitation of journalists and print media.  Now, with the ever growing online world, it’s important for non-profits to solidify themselves by understanding and embracing the power of online PR.  Try these tips to better position yourself for your next event and set your non-profit up for success:

The Press Release

The press release has long been viewed as a formal way to let print media know when big changes are happening among organizations and big-business (think Wall Street).  With the way information is sent & shared online, press releases aren’t just about the big guys anymore.

A press release is still distributed to major media players but it’s also shared among major search engines like Google, Yahoo! and Bing within their live news feed.  For those watching (and many do) your news release is seen immediately.  In many cases, press releases are featured on page 1 of the search engines when someone does a related search.  That means instantaneous global reach for your non-profit with a release that’s read by the public (potential donors included) as well as journalists.

A Landing Page

This is a term used for a page on your site or domain where you send targeted traffic for marketing purposes.  Marketing doesn’t always have to be about sales though, and when you’re on track to engage the press you should have a designated page to send them for more information.

Whether you’re soliciting the press through direct letters, a phone call, a press release, etc. you must create a landing page containing the main points of your event & organization.  This will give the press a “plate full of meat” when it comes to putting a story together.  Add a call to action and invite them to contact you directly for additional information if need be but by easily feeding them all the details without forcing them to contact you for more info you increase the chances of being picked up for a feature story.

The added benefit of a landing page – if you’re doing any other marketing for your event to increase community awareness, you can also send those people to the same landing page, or one completely unique to their interest  and demographics.

Guest Blogging

For every niche – or market – there’s a blogger out there talking about it.  Each of these bloggers comes up against a (sometimes nagging) requirement to produce regular content.  You can alleviate some of the strain of developing content by offering up a guest post to a blogger relevant to your non-profit or charity organization.  They’ll likely love you for it because it gives them a break from writing, and they can align themselves with a good cause – great for their brand and your exposure.

It’s essentially free marketing to their entire reader base and guest posts tend to come with links to your website, so you’ll see additional traffic funneling in.  If you’re savvy on search optimization, guest blogging is also a great way to build a backlink to your charity organization using targeted keywords; also great for increasing exposure online.

Social Media Outreach

The world lives in social media.  This is evident by the fact that there are more than 600 million users on Facebook alone.  If it were a country, it would be the 3^rd largest country in the world.  You can increase your press coverage by leveraging social media.  This is a great opportunity to not only reach out to your target audience but also to directly solicit journalists by engaging them through Twitter.

Calendar Listings

There are a variety of free and paid calendar services on the web that assist with announcing upcoming events.  CharityHappenings.org is a perfect example of how you can leverage a widely-used and respected calendar service to announce an upcoming charity event.  Not only are these calendars seen by local community members but also potential donors as well as journalists in search of local or national story opportunities.

Whether you use one or more of these methods, you should always be prepared for the contact.  The more you increase your exposure and outreach to the media, the more likely you are to receive contacts from a journalist or reporter.  In some cases a refined landing page won’t be enough so you should plan how you will respond to common questions, what you want to say, what to highlight, etc.

A little planning and bolstering of your outreach will do wonders on your exposure and ticket sales.  If your aim is to sell out your next charity event, then start leveraging the web for increasing your press exposure today.

I am really excited right now because I just saw an example of a pie-in-the-sky idea that I’ve been talking about for years. But before I tell you what it is, allow me to give you some context. I’ll begin with a question that I often ask people:  What is your favorite part of the traditional movie-going experience?

If you’re like most individuals, you’re favorite part is the previews. I know, right! I love seeing movies on the big screen, and I love the popcorn, particularly when the butter is real, but nothing is more enjoyable than a quality mix of 4-5 trailers.

Ever wondered why we love our movie trailers so much? Upon quick reflection, it’s not so surprising.  For one, previews take the most compelling scenes from a two-hour feature film and boil them down to two-minute, bite-sized nuggets of cinematic goodness. Secondly, trailers are often how we first learn of a new movie, or even better, that a long-awaited movie is close to release (is The Hobbit trailer ever going to come out!?).

But these are the obvious reasons. Push further. What fundamental attributes of movie trailers make them so darn enticing? What grabs us by the psyches and demands “you must see this movie!” What was it about this trailer and this trailer that convinced me to waste my money and my time? I assure you, there is a science to making good sneak previews and it results in millions of dollars in consumer spending each year.

The power of movie trailers is built around the idea of CONTEXT. Trailers will almost never begin by showing you a movie star or explaining the main plot thrust of the story. No. Instead, they set the stage by providing context and letting you the viewer get transported, if only for an instant, into the realm of the movie. It’s an absolutely essential part of the trailer because it primes the viewer for what follows next.

How does the stereotypical movie trailer always begin? In a world where crime was the law of the land…” or “In a land before time…” or “A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away…” It’s all about the context. It’s only once the context has been provided that the narrator can deliver part two of his one-two punch and say, “one man lived to tell the tale.” Don’t believe me? Check out this hysterical and utterly appropriate trailer on YouTube.

If there is a lesson to be learned here it’s that context is a key aspect of effective communication. Yet so many of us neglect to utilize it. We speak as if everyone is already quite knowledgeable about that which we ourselves are passionate. We assume audiences understand the intricacies of our worlds, as if the complex plot thrust of our day-to-day professional lives hold meaning for others. But that’s absurd.

Said bluntly, assume that the audience knows nothing about you or your organization. When a person asks you what you do at your next networking event or cocktail party, don’t start by answering with the “one man…” part of the trailer. Begin with the “in a world where…” part. Not only will you find that your listener is more engaged in what you have to say, they will more readily understand why you do what you do.

Here is an example of a person who does not provide context when asked about what he does (it begins at second 23 in the video). It’s a shame because the Acumen Fund is a really cool organization and does amazing work. They have a compelling story to tell, but their value proposition is meaningless without context.

Contrast that video with this one – also from Acumen Fund – in which CEO Jacqueline Novogratz provides over a minute of context (albeit with the help of music and compelling footage) before talking about Acumen Fund (**note the title of the video**). What a difference!

At the beginning of this blog, I mentioned that I had recently seen an example of something I’ve been talking about for a long time. What I saw was a nonprofit, in this case Davidson College, produce this full-on movie trailer as a way of saying thank you to its donors. The video is campy and awkward. It’s not even the best example of how to effectively use context. But when I saw it, it put a smile on my face and inspired me to write this post.

It’s time for organizations to take a cue from Hollywood trailers, and to incorporate the power of context into presentations, interviews, elevator pitches, and cocktail party dialogue. Also … more buttered popcorn at board meetings.

How would your organization’s movie trailer begin? “In a world where ____________, one organization dared to _____________!”

Guest Author: “In a world where organizations struggled to get their point across, one man helped a nation communicate more effectively.” Rich Polt is principal of the PR consultancy, Communicate Good, serving nonprofits, foundations, and cause-driven for-profits. Previously, Rich founded and ran the Boston-based PR agency, Louder Than Words, which communicated the inspirational stories of organizations and individuals to the world. Follow Rich at www.communicategood.wordpress.com or @communicategood on Twitter.  He can be reached at rp@richpolt.com.

Opening the Invite – The Party Starts Here

Social media has helped connect millions of users around the globe, but the instant gratification of micro-content has led to complacency in simple, uninspiring event invitations. What was once a world of beautiful paper invites has gone digital with event calendars and social media event invites. While the convenience and rapid transfer of information can be beneficial and cost effective when paired with a great invite, something has been left behind.

An event launch needs to appeal to a certain audience – especially to donors. The last thing you want is your invite to be ignored among the digital noise, forgotten, or pitched with the rest of the junk mail because it doesn’t capture the recipient. You want to appeal to your supporters in a way that is vibrant, topical and engaging.

Think in terms of selling your event and how to get attention; when you send marketing emails for your organization, you craft a powerful subject line to get people to click and open that email. With an event invitation through the mail, you want to grab attention and entice the recipient to open it, interact with it and read.

This is important because the event invitation is sometimes the first point of contact. Where many organizations fall short is in boring DIY event invitations and electronic invites through free sites (and some simple paid sites). Going with simple invitations like this, or with social media event posts, is a mistake for a number of reasons.

• The Invite Doesn’t Accurately Represent You, Your Event or Organization
• Cheap Invites are Often Rushed with Information Missing
• Limited Space on Cookie Cutter Invites Leads to Abbreviations
• Cookie Cutter Invites Don’t Often Match Event Formality
• Cheaper Invites Reflect Poorly on the Planner and Organizational Committee

Will simple invitations ruin an event?  Not necessarily. The issue with simple invitations is that they don’t often motivate the recipient to support the cause. Would you rather your invitation simply notify a recipient like a dinner chime or would you like your invitation to rally supports like a reveille?

“I’m Too Sexy For This Card”

Custom invitations designed specifically for your event give you the eye-catching edge you need to stand out among other invites that come to the recipient, especially if they’re receiving a flurry of event invites and a number of other organizations are targeting that individual for donor support at the same time.

Your invitation should be a symbol of what makes your organization or group unique – it should stand out as impressively as your cause. When you achieve this, you can capture the attention you need to get that all-important donor to open your invite.

This is where the event actually begins or “where the party starts” – the invite. With a clever design that accurately represents your cause, your event and your organization you can ramp up the excitement and get recipients interested in attending.

A Picture is Worth a Thousand Donors

The words on your invitation are important but one of the more common mistakes made in designing event invitations is in making things too wordy; it’s entirely possible to say too much.  Instead of trying to communicate everything in words, get the point across with the name, event, time, location, hosts and registry/RSVP info. Offer a simple explanation of the invite and let your design do the talking.

Visual effects can astound and mystify, they can provoke interest and in many cases seal the deal on attendance before the invite is read in full. A powerful invitation isn’t just read, it is “experienced” much the same way one would experience the event itself.

The Hand of an Artist

An artist or creative soul paints a picture with a careful hand and focus that proves they care about their craft.  It shows their level of devotion.  When you take the time to carefully plan a creative invitation designed to overwhelm the senses, entertain, and ensnare your target audience then you show to attendees and potential donors that you care about your cause and the image of your organization.

That type of devotion cannot be communicated in a simple card, an e-vite or Facebook event invitation.

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Guest Author: John Kneapler Design is an award-winning graphic design firm, bringing almost 30 years of industry experience to create invitations, organizational branding and print collateral for New York City’s most prestigious charities and fundraisers. Learn more about creative invitation design today – http://www.johnkneaplerdesign.com

2 – MANAGEMENT: Have you ever attended a poorly managed event? If you have, you clearly know how management is important. A well-managed event has flow, and every issue has been addressed appropriately without influence your guests and supporters. In an event, there tends to be big and small problems that occur from time to time. I call these problems “fires”…if there isn’t someone who is managing your event and can put out the fires before they get out of control – then they will grow bigger and hurt your entire event. Planning is key to the entire experience of your guests. Everyone enjoys an event that starts and stops on a timeline. Managing it appropriately, keeping your volunteers on task will definitely ensure its ultimate success. Furthermore, a well-managed event will assist in its ultimate success which is both financially and how people feel about it after it’s over.

Keep these three (3) topics in consideration when planning your next event. These are the cornerstones which will set you on your way to a very successful fundraising event. To learn more about a highly successful fundraising event, please visit our website at www.bwunlimited.com or contact us today.

By Karen Bantuveris, founder and CEO VolunteerSpot, DOING GOOD just got easier!

Spring marks a new season of volunteering as nonprofits, schools and faith groups of all types ramp-up their fundraising and service activities. These 4 common volunteer management mistakes can derail your projects and worse, cause volunteers to lose interest in your organization.  Here’s how to identify them and suggestions for avoiding them.

Supersizing the Schedule: It’s hard to resist scheduling a few ‘extra’ volunteers in case someone forgets or cancels at the last minute. Sometimes we even leave the schedule wide open thinking ‘the more the merrier’.  Unfortunately, supersizing the schedule sets up a vicious circle – it works like this: a volunteer takes the time to come help and finds that her efforts aren’t really needed because the shift is over-staffed.  Next time she’s asked to help, she doesn’t, assuming the organization already has plenty of helpers and she won’t be needed. When it’s time for the leader to set the volunteer schedule again, additional spots are added to compensate for no-shows.

The Fix: Ask for the right number of volunteers and work to ensure the people scheduled show up. VolunteerSpot.com’s free online sign up sheets make it easy to sign up just the right number of people for each job or task and send automated reminders to help people keep their commitments.  If volunteers ask to bring their friends, steer them towards openings in the schedule or have a few ‘anytime’ projects on hand so everyone can have meaningful work to do.

Missing Metrics: Coming back to the same situation over and over again without seeing progress is disheartening and emotionally draining.  If you don’t know whether your volunteers feel like they are making a difference, you’re missing the key metrics that speak to their enthusiasm and your program’s success.

The Fix: Take the time, every time, to explain to volunteers why they’re there and what will be accomplished today. Speak on both the mission-level of the organization, and more tactically, what’s to be accomplished during this shift.

Handcuffs instead of Handrails: Micro-managing work by giving volunteers too many directions or rigid guidelines can create an extremely frustrating and demotivating volunteer environment, one volunteers don’t return to.

The Fix: Ask yourself, “Why is it important to do it this way?”  Unless absolutely necessary for security or safety purposes, encourage volunteers to exercise their own creativity in performing tasks and accomplishing goals. Participating in decisions, even small ones, builds ownership in the work at hand and ultimately strengthens a volunteer’s commitment to your organization.

Mirror Mirror: Only inviting volunteers to participate who are like you or who are your friends. It may seem fast and easy to involve your inner circle, but you run the risk of burning out your friends, making your program appear cliquish, and denying new people the chance to develop a relationship with your cause or organization.

The Fix: Cast a wide net when it comes to inviting volunteers to participate and include those who have expressed interest in your program that you don’t know personally yet. Not only do you gain fresh perspectives, you’re building a broader volunteer base and future leaders.  Online volunteer coordination tools like VolunteerSpot.com make easy to invite people to sign up in a variety of ways – via a link on facebook, your program e-newsletter, a website and even messages.

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Say goodbye to juggling Excel spread sheets, clipboard sign up sheets and reply-all email! VolunteerSpot’s free online sign up sheets and scheduler saves time and gets more people involved!  Get more tips and ideas about volunteering on VolunteerSpot’s blog.

How the “Taste of Hope” raised over $170,000

Pamela Mohr, Division Director, Distinguished Events for the American Cancer Society

How did you get into the field?

My original career path was going to be social work.  As a college senior, I had a 30 hour/week internship at the American Cancer Society, working on school health education and cancer prevention programs.  I volunteered at my first gala that year (1995) and loved it.  My father was diagnosed with Non-Hodgkins Lymphoma a few months into my internship and I decided to put my social work degree on hold.  I took a job out of college with the American Cancer Society on Long Island after graduation and have been with them over 11 years in total.

What is your favorite or most successful event fundraiser that you were involved in?

I created a 6-figure fundraiser in Manhattan called “Taste of Hope”.  A culinary, wine and spirits tasting event featuring some of New York’s hottest and most popular restaurants and food & beverage vendors.  Hosted annually by the American Cancer Society, all proceeds from Taste of Hope go toward our goal of eliminating cancer as a major health problem.  We are entering our 6th year and the event expects to draw 1000 attendees and raise $170,000.  It will be held on May 5, 2011 at 82Mercer.  For tickets, go to http://community.acsevents.org/tasteofhopeny

I started this event from just a simple idea, recruited a brand new committee and solicited all of the restaurants and vendors with their assistance.  Now we have an amazing and sustainable fundraisier that appeals to an audience the American Cancer Society was unable to reach before

What was the best method for securing sponsorship?

The best method for securing sponsorships is working with your committees or boards to identify key relationships that they might have.  A cold ask from the organization will never generate the same response as a warm ask from someone they know.  When a committee member is able to get a meeting for me, I will go in with sponsorship levels listed on individual pages.  I base my ask on the conversation.  You never want to ask for an amount that is less than the company is willing to give – and most of the time you won’t know that amount until you meet face-to-face.

What unforeseen problem did you run into? How did you solve it?

That very first event, I ran into 2 major problems.
#1.  Electricity.  In 2006, our event was held at the Puck Building.  I did not realize that I needed to hire an electrician to provide outlets for the restaurants that needed them.  After I faxed my electrical map over to the catering office, they called to tell me. Needless to say – I ended up with $2500 in expenses that I did not anticipate.
#2.  Upon arriving at the event, many of the restaurants and vendors needed ice.  I did not put this on my “confirmation form” and did not have any extra ice to give them.  At the last minute, we had the catering company who sponsored our bar run out and purchase ice, which we had to then pay for.
#3.  I relied on volunteer bartenders and waiters to serve the guests and deal with the garbage.  (At a tasting event for 800 – we order 17,000 paper plates).  The volunteers just were not committed enough and I learned that I needed to hire an event staffing agency. (Plug for Bob Hall, owner of Kensington Staffing – he’s AMAZING)

If the auction was successful what would you say were the keys to the success?

Since our Taste of Hope venue is so large – and we are selling tickets at $150 (general admission) and $250 (VIP admission) – we have to consider 2 very important factors.
#1.  Auction placement – you want to put your auction in a highly visible area, but you can’t put it in a place that will block the flow of your event.
#2.  Variety of prizes at different price points – for some – the $150 ticket is a lot of money, for others, it’s the best deal in town.  You want to make sure that you have auction items that appeal to everyone – at different price points – so all are enouraged to bid.  This particular event appeals to many different types of people.  We try to have items for families, singles, and professionals.

What were your best selling items?

Trips, special dinner packages, jewelry and handbags

Any key PR wins? Media, well-known users, or company partnerships, etc.? How did they happen?

We have a hard time with PR – since there is another Manhattan tasting event every night of the week in the Spring! We work closely with Wine Spectator Magazine and they write an online article about our event.  This year, we are about to secure a chef who is also a cancer survivor, so we will work with our in-house PR team to pitch a story.

This year, we were able to secure Chef Eric Levine who is also a five-time cancer survivor, cookbook author and winner of the Food Network’s “Chopped”.  He is now the Executive Chef at Montammy Golf Club in Alpine New Jersey.  We recently interviewed him and plan to pitch the media with his amazing and inspirational story of success despite his long cancer journey.

What’s your best host committee tip?

You must must must give your committee clear roles and responsibilities from the very beginning in order for them to take ownership of the event.

Best sponsorship acquisition tip?

Again – it’s all about the relationship.

Any vendor negotiation tips?

If you work at a larger organization, talk with your internal team.  See if there are additional opportunities to use that vendor again in order to get the best price.  For those that work at smaller organizations, network with other event planners.  There is always strength in numbers and if you present multiple business opportunities to the same vendor, you’ll have more room for negotiation.

If you were to do it all over again this year, what would you do differently?

We do the event annually and are always learning something new.
I would say that hiring a staffing company was absolutely necessary.  We reply on volunteers for registration, auction, raffle etc – but when it comes to cleaning and “bussing” – we need professionals.
This is the first year we were able to get all of our paper goods donated – this is a $2500 savings to the organization!

People are often surprised when I say that if given the choice, I would choose 10,000 e-Newsletter subscribers over 10,000 Followers on Twitter, 10,000 Fans on Facebook, or 10,000 Friends on Foursquare… combined. Any day of the week and without hesitation. And though some reports claim that email use is dropping, others claim its use is steady and even on the rise. Reports and predictions of the death of e-mail fluctuate seemingly on a quarterly basis.

However, one thing that is certain is that the ROI (Return on Investment) from e-newsletters is still relatively high compared to other Web-based channels. For me, that ROI translates into webinar attendees and speaking engagements. For nonprofits, the ROI of e-newsletters translates into online dollars raised through “Donate Now” technology, event attendees, website and blog traffic, and paradoxically new Followers, Fans, and Friends on social networking sites.

That said, the roles of email and e-newsletters are constantly evolving and even though the number one activity on mobile phones is email, that could change in the future. Group text messaging could become the new email of the Mobile Web. But for now, nonprofits would be wise to continue to build their e-newsletter list at every opportunity to get in while the getting is still good. That said, here are five ways to do so using social media:

1) Blog, blog, blog!

Blogging during the era of the Social Web is more valuable than ever to nonprofits provided your blog is well-designed and the content is good. For building your e-newsletter list, blogging is phenomenal as long as you feature “Subscribe” functionality promenently. For example, Greenpeace’s Making Waves Blog was recently redesigned to feature their “Subscribe to our e-newsletter” pitch over the ability to subscribe to their blog via RSS. My personal  experience has proven that to be a wise decision. When I started blogging 18 months ago my e-newsletter list was 3,000 and to that point had been built over 3.5 years primarily using my website. Today my list has now grown to 9,500 members. Thanks to blogging, my e-newsletter list tripled in size in half the time. Consequently, so has my ROI.

2) Convert Facebook Fans into Subscribers.

Once a month post a Status Update letting your Fans know that you are sending out an “important e-newsletter tomorrow, and if they would like to receive a copy, please subscribe!” You should definitely include a message that creates a deadline and a sense of urgency, and of course “Share” a link where users can directly subscribe. Again, don’t do a direct ask on Facebook more than once a month or you risk crossing that thin line between marketing and authenticity on Facebook. Once crossed, the Law of Diminishing Returns begins to kick in.

Also, your nonprofit can create a custom Tab urging Fans to subscribe to your e-newsletter list or participate in online petitions. For example, Oceana has set a Default Landing Tab on their Facebook Page that urges people to take action – which then builds their e-mail list. Of course, online petitions also make great Status Update content.

3) Ask your Twitter Followers to Subscribe.

Twitter has taught me a valuable lesson about social media ROI. Sometimes all you need to do is ask, provided you don’t ask to often. Again, once a month send out Tweet asking your Followers to subscribe to your e-newsletter. Be sure to create a sense of urgency and express gratitude:

Sending out my Web 2.0 Best Practices e-Newsletter tomorrow. To receive a copy, please subscribe: http://conta.cc/2VeW7A Thank you!

Unfortunately, “please” and “thank you” are expressions used less and less often (especially in email), and because of that can make a strong impression that will motivate readers to take action i.e., subscribe to your e-newsletter. Like Facebook, the trick is not to ask too often. Once a month is best… more than that and people begin to tune you out on Twitter.

4) Add “Subscribe” Pitches to Video Overlays.

If your nonprofit is a member of YouTube’s Nonprofit Program, you can add Call-to-Action Overlays to your videos. There’s no data proving that this will build your e-newsletter list, but it can’t hurt.

5) Add “Subscribe” Pitches to Photo Sets, Slideshows, and Captions.

Flickr Sets can be customized using HTML to add “Subscribe!” pitches, and Facebook Photos allow captions that can include links. In short, never waste an opportunity to promote and integrate your e-newsletter, website, blog, social networking communities, and or mobile campaigns social networking communities.

By: Heather Mansfield. Owner of DIOSA Communications and principal blogger at Nonprofit Tech 2.0, a social media guide for nonprofits.

Originally posted on Nonprofit Tech 2.0 Blog

Since more and more charity events are going online for their invitations and online ticketing, it’s now more important than ever to have a fantastic looking charity event ticketing page that can sell your event on it is own. Relying on your host committee to make forty phone calls is wishful thinking. Let me explain. I’ve served on a bunch of event committee’s and my clients call me to complain all the time, so I know firsthand that getting a host committee motivated can be a real challenge. It’s easy for a host committee member to join the board and be excited about helping; it’s another thing to get them to make all those phone calls, pitching their friends and family on why they should buy a ticket to your charity event. The committee is given all these tasks and they never get done. Yes there are always one or two superstars that do their job, but for the most part it is wishful thinking.

So what do you do?  Well, your host committee is willing to do something or else they wouldn’t have signed up. They knew there were going to be some expectations on them. They will make 3-5 phone calls and they will send out an email out to their entire address book of friends with the link to your ticketing page. Bingo! That is a huge help. So an organization needs to maximize the effectiveness of that link and webpage visitors are taken to.  There are several necessary features all charity event ticketing pages must have.

-          Clearly stated when and where details

-          Event details

-          An map to the location of your event

-          Photos from last year’s event or of the people or community the event is benefiting

-          An easy checkout process

-          Sponsors logos

You don’t want to have your visitor click off your page to find out anything. That includes your organization’s mission. You can see several great sample pages at Charityhappenings.org/ticketing.

I hope you now realize that having a boring donate page or a generic page created from your donor management software isn’t going to cut it. Take the time to create a charity event ticketing page that is elegant, exciting, highlights your organization and the event and most important of all sells itself.