Every day, we learn about the latest and best tips to generating awareness and increasing your non-profit’s web presence. If you spend any time on Twitter or Facebook, it’s almost impossible to scroll through your newsfeed without reading headlines about ways to increase your SEO, connecting on social media, or how to build up your brand.
While all of that information is invaluable, it is important to remember that your story is your most powerful marketing tool. Your story – your mission- is what makes you unique; it’s what sets you apart, and it’s what makes people want to get to know you.
What is your story?
Going against the grain a bit, but brand storytelling is not all about your organization. It’s about your clients and the value they get when engaging with your organization and services. The most powerful stories are the ones that prioritize their clients as stars.
Many times, we can get caught up in writing the best content and having the best website, but a story is much more than the text on a tweet. It’s what people believe about you based on your complete picture, and goes beyond what you tell them. Everything your non-profit does, from your website, to your volunteers, to your business cards, or the volunteer staff you hire is part of your story, and it’s important that every element is a true reflection of your organization. Your story is about how you serve the community.
Your story should have:
- The reason your non-profit came to be
- What motivates you and your team to come to work every day
- Descriptions and stories about people/animals/environment you help
- Views and stories from the volunteers inside your organization
- Behind the scenes looks, stories, interviews
- What you want to accomplish and why
- Milestones and the processes you took to get to where you are
How do you tell a good story? Keep it simple, keep it sharable
Your story should be the central point in communicating who you are to your audience. It should be consistent throughout each and every element in your marketing strategies and campaigns.
If your non-profit has social media accounts, share your story through pictures, videos, milestones, stats, quotes, and interviews with your audience. Take them behind-the-scenes to see the inner workings of daily tasks and activities within your organization. Post videos and interviews of your clients and the community you serve. Highlight the value they get when they engage with your organization. Take your audience through ways they can help and get involved, so they too can become part of your story.
Charity:Water is a great example of a non-profit sharing their story on social media. In their Facebook and Twitter accounts, they share inspirational stories of people they’ve helped, facts and statistics, and milestones. They highlight the people they help, and the lives they change, and focus on emphasizing their mission: bringing water to people who don’t have it. They also include behind-the-scenes looks and interviews into their organization and their staff.
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If you don’t have social media accounts, you can share your story through your website. Have your client’s stories and pictures on your website. Include a comment or blog section where people can read about some of your clients, and their relationship with your organization. Have a “Meet the team” page and include your picture and bios. In your ‘About Us” section, share how your organization started, and what led you and your team to where you are. People want to know you, how you got involved in your organization- what paths led you to be where you are. Be sure to include your volunteers too! You never know who will be inspired to join the team!
If you’ve already created a marketing plan, make sure you are sharing your story in your outreach and throughout your content. Form relationships with people and organizations that hold the same values you do, and continue to grow a community.
Remember Blondies, your story shouldn’t be about sales; it should be about showing the world the good you do, the value you bring, and the positive change you are making. Build relationships and share your organization’s thoughts, mission, values, beliefs, goals, and accomplishments with a growing community of followers. Put your clients first; prioritize them, and the value they get when they engage with you!
Hope you find this useful!
All my love,
Blondie
