Does your leadership team have the talent and the bandwidth to craft consistent, mission-driven messaging about your organizational impact? Here are some ideas for short-term investments that produce long-term results.
Storytelling: The content for your website helps your audience to connect with your mission. Research demonstrates that people don’t make decisions based on facts and figures – they are persuaded to act (donate, volunteer, join a campaign) by powerful stories. Regularly invite front-line staff to send anecdotes and photos of programs and events they’d like to celebrate. With a little editing, even a paragraph or two can bring your work to life.
Insights from your field: A ghostwriter can interview you about sources of information that you value and particular topics where you have something to say. If you don’t have the budget to hire a ghostwriter, establish an organizational Twitter account in order to re-share content with your own quick take.
Speaking of Twitter: It can be challenging for busy leaders to continually refresh your website. Embed your Twitter feed in a box or sidebar on your website, and then look for something to Tweet about daily. For just a minute or two of your time, you are posting fresh content while showing that you are thoughtful and engaged.
If it’s not fresh, make sure it’s not dated: It is very common for websites to be built without enough resources (time, staffing) to maintain them as envisioned. You may want to take the time to re-organize your website to de-emphasize dates and announcements and function more like an online brochure. An out of date website creates the impression that your work is being neglected.
Work smart by working ahead: Fresh content communicates engagement, but some organizations have a bigger story to tell than they have available staff. You can work smarter, not harder by enlisting some clearly-defined, time-limited help. Ask a paid contractor, intern, or skilled volunteer to create a reservoir of blog posts that you can schedule into the future. Bonus points if they can gather some photos or identify images to make these posts “pop.”