nonprofit e marketing on a shoe string

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Nonprofit eMarketing on a Shoe String

Terry Miller, Professor of eMarketing

Kaplan University

www.kaplan.edu

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Agenda• Who the heck is Terry Miller• Questions to Ask – 5 minutes• Why eMarketing? – 5 minutes• Research Tools – 5 minutes• Research Tools Exercise – 15 minutes• Build A Web Strategy – 10 minutes• Freeservers.com Exercise – 15 minutes• Maintaining A Web Site – 5 minutes• Break – 10 minutes• Search Engine Marketing – 10 minutes• Community Building – 5 minutes• Blog Activity – 15 minutes• eMail Marketing – 10 minutes• eMail Activity – 15 minutes• Budget Example – 5 minutes• What’s In Store for the Future – 5 minutes• Question – 10 minutes

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Terry Miller• Twenty-eight years IT and marketing experience• BS – Mathematics, MS – Info Sys Mgmt, MBA – eMarketing• Marketing Research Certification – Univ. of Georgia• Former Global Web Manager – Shell Oil• Professor of eMarketing – Kaplan University• Former Chief Technology Officer – Sam Houston Area Council, Boy Scouts of

America• Web Content and eLoyalty Subject Matter Expert – APQC, IQPC• eMarketing Consultant (Houston Metro, Methodist Hospital, New England

Teen Challenge, BYTE, Boy Scouts of America, U of H – College of Architecture)

• Author of two books on Web design and eMarketing• Numerous American Marketing Association awards and marketing

recognitions from the Boy Scouts of America• Former students include David Filo, founder of Yahoo.com, and Ralph

Eggleston, Oscar-winning Computer Animation Director for Pixar Pictures

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Questions To Ask

• Why eMarketing?

• Where to Start

• What Do I Need to Buy?

• What Tasks Do I Need to Perform?

• What Are The Roles of Volunteers, Employees, and Contractors/Vendors?

• How Do I Measure Success

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Why eMarketing?

• The Internet is where your audience is

• eMarketing is cheap

• eMarketing is measurable

• eMarketing lends itself to integration

• eMarketing yields quick results (requiring quick pro-action, action and reaction)

• eMarketing is expected by your executive board

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Where to Start

• Determine Your Business Goal– Set a business goal for your eMarketing efforts

• Increase membership (measure)• Increase revenue (measure)• Decrease costs (measure)• Increase awareness (measure)• Persuade (measure)

• Get Executive Commitment• Get Stakeholder Commitment

– Content owners (timely content, timely response)– Functional staff members (timely reaction)

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Where to Start

• After you Determine your Business Goal– Do you need more primary research– Do you need more secondary research– What does the research indicate

• Opportunities – the TAKS / SAT case study– the Scout Fair ticket case study

• Threats – the Soccer case study– Memorial Hospital case study

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Research Tools - Primary

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Research Tools - Primary

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Research Tools - Primary

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Research Tools - Secondary

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Research Tools - Secondary

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Research Tools - Secondary

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Research Tools - Secondary

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Research Tools – Survey Exercise

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Build a Web Strategy (not a Web Site)

• Visit Competitors’ Web sites• Web sites Are Meant to be Changed

– Audience expectations– Business goals

• Events, campaigns, plans for next year• Focus groups• Navigation and taxonomy are two different things• What pages are needed? (from a target audience

perspective)• What functionality is needed?• How will Web site integrate into call trees, mail

campaigns, collateral, etc.• Economies (graphics, text, etc)

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Building the Web Site• What’s the budget?• What pages are needed?

– Will these pages need to be updated– Who will own the content– Who will be a stakeholder / notification partner

• What’s the measure for success– Visitors– Conversions– Other metrics beyond the context of the Web site

• What functionality is needed? (registration, eCommerces, blogs, bulletin boards, email integration, etc)

• What’s the short range strategy?• What’s the long range strategy?• Where can economies take place?

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Building the Web Site• Common Pages for Web site

– Home page (current news, utility links)– Search– Site Map– Contact Us– Directions / Map– Calendar / Events– Employment– Feedback– Testimonials / Track Record– Purpose statement– Board of Directors– Annual Report

• Common footers– Opt in / Opt Out pages– Terms of Use / Privacy Policy– Charter organization– Last updated and Content Owner with email address (whomever @ whatever.com)

• Flash, Splash, Dash pages– Flash and Skip– Movies are effective if current

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Building the Web Site• Contractor to build the Web site

– Build a list of requirements• Who has the contractor worked with before• What is the contractor’s measure of success• Can you contact the contractor’s clients• Does the contractor use sub-contractors

– Availability– Accountability– Control– Confidentiality

– Send out an RFP– Evaluate proposals– Short List– Develop the contract

• Project milestones• Payment schedule• Long term support

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Building the Web Site

• Using Volunteers– Build a list of requirements

• Who has the volunteer worked with before

• What is the volunteer’s measure of success

• Can you contact the volunteer’s clients

• What is the organization’s relationship with the volunteer– Availability– Accountability– Control– Confidentiality

– Establish a project scope– Establish a time line tied to organization business goals– Develop an “escape plan”– Find volunteers/employees to provide long term support

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Building The Web Site

• Open Source Tools

• Proprietary Tools

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Building the Web Site• Using An Online Service Provider

– Build a list of requirements• Whom are the OSP’s other clients• What is the OSP’s measure of success• Can you contact the OSP’s clients• What is the organization’s relationship with the OSP

– Availability of 24/7 help, resources who know the tool– Accountability (downtime warranty)– Control (restricted update access, functionality)

– Establish a project scope– Establish a time line tied to organization business goals– Develop an “escape plan”– Find volunteers/employees to provide long term support

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www.myNonProfitWeb.com

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Freeservers.com

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Freeservers.com

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Freeservers.com Exercise

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Freeservers.com Exercise

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A Word About Content• Have a content strategy in place (who is the audience – donors, volunteers, recruits, etc)• Who owns content• How often is content updated / What event causes content to be updated• Relate content to the business strategy• Relate content to other pages• Auto-archiving / auto-publishing• A process for transferring content ownership• Audience contact• Communicate Web content• Repurpose Web content• Economies of scale in graphics / content• Web content is different from printed content• Graphics are like seasoning• Rules of thumb

– No more than 100-words per page– Two sentence paragraphs– Active voice only– Search for pages when content is updated or removed

• PDF or not to PDF, that is the question

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A Word About Videoyoutube.com/user/shactube

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Video ToolsWindows Movie Maker

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Audio ToolsWavePad and Audacity

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Audio Tools – Royalty Free Music

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Flash Ads

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Flash Ads

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Building a Web Site

Contractor Volunteer OSP

Customization High Medium Low to Medium

Ease of update Low to Medium Low to Medium High

Functionality High Medium Medium

Support Medium Low High

Cost High Low Low

Reaction to Change

Low Low High

Requires “Escape Plan”

No Yes Yes

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Managing The Web Site

• Web Master or Content Gatekeeper

• Follow up on feedback and inquiries

• Update content– Remove outdated content– Fix broken or incorrect links– Relate, relate, relate

• Study Web Traffic

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Managing The Web SiteWeb Traffic

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Managing The Web SiteWeb Traffic

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Managing The Web SiteWeb Traffic

WhenContentOwnersSucceed

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Managing The Web SiteWeb Traffic

WhenContentOwnersFail

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Managing The Web SiteWeb Traffic

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Search Marketing

• Organic– Build content to facilitate organic search– Use the audience’s vocabulary– Build – Test – Modify – Test – Modify (etc)

• Paid– Yahoo, Google– Adsense– Pay Per Click, Pay Per View, Pay Per

Conversion

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Search Marketing Google - Organic

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Google - Organic

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Yahoo - Organic

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Yahoo - Organic

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Yahoo - Organic

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Search Marketing - Google

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Search Marketing - Paid

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Search Marketing - Paid

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Search Marketing - AdSense

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SEOmoz.org

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Affiliate Programs

• Free is good only if the affiliate drives visitors to your site

• Compute return on investment for paid affiliations

• Monitor, monitor, monitor

• Replan, Replan, Replan

• Change, change, change

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Affiliate Programs

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Using Community Marketing

• Monitored bulletin boards and blogs– Dedicated resources– Remove corruptive content– Relationships with other bloggers

• News articles– Blogs (HISD example)– Text of press releases matches Web site

(why…think search engines)

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Community

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Community

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Community

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Community

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Community

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Community

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MyBlogSite.com Activity

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eMail Marketing• Have a strategy / a purpose

– Inform (executive committee)– Influence– Change behavior– Make aware / Warn

• Where to get lists (organic versus paid)– eMail– Telephone (conversion to email – offer something the audience wants)– Address (conversion to email – offer something the audience wants)– Hard collateral– Billboards, advertisements– Word of Mouth

• Spam proof content• Web site landing pages and where to go from here• Web site forms• Measure success based upon purpose• Drill down / Drill Across• Viral programs

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eMail Marketing

• ExactTarget

• ConstantContact

• Director

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eMail Marketing

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eMail Marketing

• Objective / Goal• Strategy

– Who– When– What– How– Why

• Landing Page• Metrics (understand why a campaign failed)

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eMail Marketing

• Constant Contact activity

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Online Store

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Budget (for income of $6000)

eMarketing Component Cost

Web Site, Graphics, Functionality, Updates

$700

Organic and Paid Search $300

Email Program / Service $360

Affiliate Programs / Integration $300

Total $1,660

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Extras

• Call Blasts (CallFire.com)

• USPS.com

• Flash (Laughingbird Software)– Restrictions (cost, effectiveness)– Limitations (can’t use in email)– Why use it then?

• CRM

• Online auctions

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CallFire.com

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What’s In Store for the Future

• PodCasts

• RSS Feeds

• Mobile eMarketing– Cell phone– Twitter.com

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Podcasts

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RSS Feeds

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Mobile Marketing

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Mobile Marketing

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Mobile Marketing

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Twitter.com

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Links

• Online Research Tools - Primary – www.zoomerang.com & www.surveymonkey.com & www.usps.com

• Online Research Tools – Secondary – www.Census.gov & http://www.pewinternet.org/PPF/c/6/topics.asp

• Design, Print, Mail Postcards Online http://www.usps.com/netpost/reachcustomers.htm?from=netpostlanding&page=reachcustomers

• Search Engine Marketing – www.google.com & www.yahoo.com & http://www.seomoz.org/article/search-ranking-factors

• Audio Tools - http://www.nch.com.au/wavepad/ & http://www.copyfreetrax.com/page13.html