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Marketing is not a dirty word (2/2)
by
dreid
—
last modified
2006-10-29 10:13
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If you are a social entrepreneur, the place to start is really to define your mission and to work on your strategic plan.
• Who are you as an organization and what are you trying to accomplish?
• How will you get there – on your own, or with donors, sponsors or corporate partners?
• How much money do you need to raise and where will it come from?
• Who and/or what will benefit from your work?
• Who else do you need to involve or reach with your efforts?
• Who do you need to convince to take action?
• How will you measure success?
Getting very clear on this early on will help ensure you understand fully the leverage and resources you will need to fulfill your mission.
Once you have this important information in hand, the way towards achieving your strategic goals with the help of marketing will be much clearer.
But yes, you still have a lot of work cut out for you. And yes, it often costs money. But not always! Some of the next topics we’ll cover in this column will include:
• Development of your organization’s brand and identity (getting clear on who you are and how you differ from other organizations)
• Message creation (how to tell your story clearly and concisely)
• Research (understanding what people really think of you, your organization and your product, issue or cause)
• Stakeholder identification and prioritization (who’s really important to the success of your mission and how will you find them and reach them?)
• Tools and techniques for developing effective communications materials that get results and help propel your mission forward.
And we’ll discuss where and when to invest your marketing dollars as well as how to do things on the cheap.
I’d also like to hear from you. How does your organization utilize marketing and communications? What are your biggest challenges in doing more (and don’t just say budget constraints)? What marketing programs or tools are you currently utilizing? What’s worked best for you to date and what hasn’t? Let’s talk.
For further reading regarding this week's topic, you may want to read this BusinessWeek article.
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- Diana L. Reid, Conscious Communications
• Who are you as an organization and what are you trying to accomplish?
• How will you get there – on your own, or with donors, sponsors or corporate partners?
• How much money do you need to raise and where will it come from?
• Who and/or what will benefit from your work?
• Who else do you need to involve or reach with your efforts?
• Who do you need to convince to take action?
• How will you measure success?
Getting very clear on this early on will help ensure you understand fully the leverage and resources you will need to fulfill your mission.
Once you have this important information in hand, the way towards achieving your strategic goals with the help of marketing will be much clearer.
But yes, you still have a lot of work cut out for you. And yes, it often costs money. But not always! Some of the next topics we’ll cover in this column will include:
• Development of your organization’s brand and identity (getting clear on who you are and how you differ from other organizations)
• Message creation (how to tell your story clearly and concisely)
• Research (understanding what people really think of you, your organization and your product, issue or cause)
• Stakeholder identification and prioritization (who’s really important to the success of your mission and how will you find them and reach them?)
• Tools and techniques for developing effective communications materials that get results and help propel your mission forward.
And we’ll discuss where and when to invest your marketing dollars as well as how to do things on the cheap.
I’d also like to hear from you. How does your organization utilize marketing and communications? What are your biggest challenges in doing more (and don’t just say budget constraints)? What marketing programs or tools are you currently utilizing? What’s worked best for you to date and what hasn’t? Let’s talk.
For further reading regarding this week's topic, you may want to read this BusinessWeek article.
##
- Diana L. Reid, Conscious Communications
