Navigating the Digital Communications Journey

 

How nonprofit brands can break through the messy middle

In 1986, if you wanted to build brand awareness, you might take out an ad in the Sunday paper, print out flyers to place around town or pitch a heartwarming story to local media—all in hopes of saturating your city with a message in order to become better known.

Today, communications and our relationships with brands are not so simple. Audiences are bombarded with thousands of messages each day across a myriad of jumbled touchpoints on various platforms, devices and channels. Brands must navigate so much complexity and competition, yet users expect an easy and engaging experience every time. Because of this, an organization’s digital communications journey has become the crucial first impression and the long-term determining factor of its reputation.

What is the digital communications journey?

The digital communications journey is made up of each and every interaction someone has with a brand—from your website and social to donor communications and virtual events; from your search landscape to mentions in news media and online chatter.

It takes a tailored, consistent, integrated approach—like planting seeds in a well-planned garden—to make a strong connection and keep people’s attention.

With devices in every hand and eyes glued on screens, the opportunity to consume is ever present. A siloed approach to communications is no longer an option. Organizations that want to thrive must fully enter into the digital world and meet people where they are—in the messy middle—where thousands of messages compete for attention.

What the messy communications journey means for nonprofits today

While the marketplace might be messy, an integrated communications strategy presents an opportunity for charitable organizations to break through the noise. To untangle the middle, an organization must first understand the core needs of its target audience. Ask yourself these questions about your target audience:

  • What motivates them?

  • What challenges do they face?

  • How do they spend their time?

  • What do they value most?

  • What do they fear?

Understanding your audience means seeing the world through their eyes, so you can anticipate and deliver. From that deep understanding, you can begin to build connections and add value through your communications. Test and retest new platforms and forms of communication, optimize existing ones and always keep mobile top of mind. And while measuring engagement and gleaning insights from analytics are critical, you must also ensure that your messaging is goal-driven, reinforces your brand position and connects with your audience in their context.

Ultimately, to conquer the messy middle, you must win people over during moments of intent.

Enter: the push and pull.

  • Push: Your approach to planting seeds.
    Develop your brand awareness and communications strategy, then push content through a variety of digital channels, such as advertising, social media, e-communications, media relations, giving campaigns and events.

  • Pull: How to prepare for the harvest.
    Employ an organic search strategy, finetune your website and brand experience, make contact information easily accessible and modernize your online giving experience (to name a few). Through these, you can convert your audience in moments of intent, leading to meaningful results.

An integrated digital communications strategy requires a thoughtful balance of both push and pull. As our world becomes increasingly digital, every business, nonprofit and leader has an enormous opportunity to use technology to connect more deeply with their community.

 
Rob Forrester