We recently produced a video annual report for KIPP MA. KIPP MA has five charter schools in Lynn and Boston that educate approximately 2,200 students. Their mission is to prepare students with the skills and confidence to pursue the paths they choose – college, career, and beyond. In addition to educating students from grades K-12, KIPP MA is also active in their communities, offering free classes...

Silent Spring is an organization that researches the causes of cancer (versus the cure), with a particular focus on breast cancer. The founding of the organization was inspired by Rachel Carson and her book, Silent Spring. Carson was one of the first scientists to study the environmental causes of cancer, especially the chemicals we are exposed to in our everyday lives that are carcinogenic. (Think:...

Recently, I attended a session about “Using Google Analytics & Google AdWords” hosted by the Massachusetts Nonprofit Network. While we have a basic knowledge of Google AdWords and Google Analytics, this presentation was helpful in reminding us how marketing online is changing everyday. Here are a few of my takeaways: 1. Google Dominates the Search Space It’s true. Google has become such...

A few weeks ago I gave a brief overview of the app Snapchat. And as promised, here is a follow-up post on Snapchat Geofilters. (Yes, they are a thing) What are “geofilters”? Geofilters are “stickers” or a “filter” you can use to show where your Snap was taken. I created one recently for a birthday party. Pretty snazzy! Yeah, this is all cool stuff, but I’m sure you’re asking...

You may have heard of the app called Snapchat. I have a couple of other blog posts in the works about certain Snapchat features, but we decided to give an overview of this app for those of you who have not been introduced to it. So what is Snapchat? TechTarget provides a short and sweet definition: Snapchat is a mobile app that allows users to send and receive "self-destructing" photos and videos....

Later this summer we are going create a series of videos for lead nurturing, also called marketing automation. We had never really considered using an automated system for our lead nurturing, until we came across a piece of data from Marketo. It found that companies using good marketing automation created 50% more sales-ready leads and at 33% lower cost. This makes sense to us. While we have...

I recently attended a presentation by Suzan Czajkowski, who shared some best practices when using email marketing to promote fundraising events. Simplify Email marketing is about keeping things simple and clear for your readers.  When sending out invitation and registration emails, make sure that the sign-up link is the most obvious content.  It should be above the scroll line. Reduce 66%...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy6gjkICKfk During Super Bowl 50, you may have seen that commercial.  Amongst all the flashy and even goofy commercials, this one made you step back and think.  NO MORE is a public awareness campaign aimed at ending domestic violence and sexual assault.  This advertisement was very effective.  How is this 30-second commercial so compelling? How can you use similar...

Tom Ahern was a recent guest speaker at Women in Development of Greater Boston, sharing tips on writing for digital donor communications. Here are three takeaways I thought were particularly interesting and useful: Using “we” is for public relations. Using “you” is for donor communications. You need to tell the donors that they are needed before they are primed to give. When communicating...

You can watch this video for one of two reasons: 1) to hear Rachel muse about how organizations differentiate themselves; or 2) answer the question Why the heck is she dressed up like Julia Child? Rachel: We’ve entered the holiday zone and I’m just whipping up some of my famous Indian pudding for the office party. This is also the time to reflect on the past year. We here at Reflection...