Top 5 Reasons Why Charity Marketing Is Different

When the same questions come up several times in a short span of time it usually means it's time to write about the topic. In this case both with clients and friends the topic of charity advertising came up, particularly with respect to why it looks like it does, and why in particular it can be so "edgy", so provocative and (for better or for worse) so memorable?

In no particular order here are the top 5 reasons why charity marketing can be so different:

1. Charities want to break through the other "noise" of all the other advertisers but don't have the financial resources to do so with the purchase of large media weights. And even if they did have the funds for large media buys it might not be advisable to do so. So charities need to be innovative, "edgy" and perhaps a little provocative just to stand out and break through.
2. Charities are passionate about their cause. This creates a sense of urgency and almost a feeling of "we've got nothing to lose" in terms of inspiring new donors and prospects to respond and share the sense of urgency. Obviously this creates a willingness to consider more provocative messaging.
3. Charities are often not as bound by a particular "brand image" than traditional advertisers. Tide, Cheerios or Pampers would take a long time to consider significant changes to their media messages, but charities are less locked-in and willing to try a new direction after one campaign has ended.
4. For charities that can afford (or have donated) advertising agency / professional creative support, charity ad campaigns present a great opportunity to showcase new thinking for that team. The same sense of mission that motivates the charity often infuses the creative team and results in truly memorable work.
5. The corollary of the first reason (breaking through the "noise") is that with limited resources charities are forced to be creative in the ways they communicate.  If you don't have much money then by definition you will seek new ways to market your message - after all, necessity is the mother of innovation.

So in the end, charity advertising looks often looks so different simply because it has to!

One of the Best Ways to Minimize the Pain of Change

At a committee meeting last week of an organization where I volunteer, it was announced that a key part of their Government funding had been cut. It's a wonderful organization that does important work, but that unfortunate impact is not what most struck me.  What leapt out at me was that much of the pain could have been minimized by doing one simple thing: communicating better.

In this particular case better communications would have manifest itself in several ways.

• Better timed communications. Making the announcement about the cuts on a Friday afternoon before a long weekend understandably panicked many people who wanted to know if they were affected and what the plan was. And whether true or not, this timing left the taste in everyone's mouth that this "story" was being buried or timed so as to avoid media scrutiny. Obviously this only heightened the upset of the unexpected news.
• More lead-time in communicating. If key leaders (for example, the Executive Directors of the affected agencies) had been given a bit of lead-time they could have prepared for the phone calls from their staff, who instead found out through the media and their peers.
• Communicating a "message track". Since it fell to the various Executive Directors to communicate this change, it would have helped them to have key points to convey, specific reasons and messages to convey even if all the details weren't quite clear yet.
• Communicating before deadlines. The affected organizations were expecting news on this funding quite a while ago (a March 31 deadline had already passed nearly 2 months ago), and delays in confirmation of these funds has not been unusual over the years. So, rather than shut down their programs, they went ahead and renewed contracts and incurred costs just as they have in the past.  If this communication had happened before the deadline the organizations could have more effectively (and at less cost) wound down these programs.

In brief, having a communications plan that considers who knows what and when, and what details need to be communicated are all critical components of any change. Whether you're in the charitable world or the for-profit world, sweating the small details of communications can save time, money and pain for everyone.