By: Lidia Varesco Racoma Brand Strategist & Creative Marketer Lidia Varesco Design Determining your organization’s audience is a crucial part of branding and marketing. Developing a persona for each segment of your audience provides a framework for your content and assures that your outreach is strategic, focused and targeted. What Is a Persona? A persona is a representation of the target audience segment you are trying to reach based on internal data and research, and it includes the basics of who they are, as well as insights into their challenges and values. Some personas even include a name and image...
By: Melissa Lagowski CEO/Founder/Queen Bee Big Buzz Idea Group Routine “bored” meetings have transitioned from conference rooms to Zoom rooms for today’s remote workforce (and many are still a challenge to get enthused about…). Video conferencing is here to stay, so if you want your meetings to stand out while you increase engagement and avoid contributing to your staff’s zoom fatigue, you’ll want to pay attention. Whether you are using Zoom, Microsoft Teams, Google Hangouts or one of the many other online video platforms, it is always a good idea to look for ways to increase the engagement of your...
By: Melissa Lagowski CEO/Founder/Queen Bee Big Buzz Idea Group In “Promotion Ideas to Benefit Your Nonprofit – Part I” we covered ideas for you to utilize relative to email marketing, leveraging your community and capitalizing on some basic public relations tactics. Part II will advance the promotional discussions and cover more ideas for digital exposure. Online Marketing Marketing online via social media remains an important part of overall promotions for nonprofits and associations so we encourage our clients to include online promotions to achieve maximum exposure. Social media options can be a bit overwhelming, so it’s best to compare the various...
By: Melissa Lagowski CEO/Founder/Queen Bee Big Buzz Idea Group I recently heard a horror story about a nonprofit that was promised a packed room for their annual fundraiser. The development team guaranteed that the tables would be full and the event would be a huge success. I don’t know all the intricacies, but in the end, their promotions clearly failed as there were not even three full tables and it was a huge flop. This is everyone’s worst nightmare. We are constantly tasked with growing our audiences and engaging new supporters but often don’t know where to begin. This list...
By: Debbie McCann Partner W4Sight A virtual event is a great opportunity to showcase your nonprofit’s resilience and demonstrate your impact amidst the “new normal.” Just like with any in-person event, good planning is critical to virtual event success. Keep these three tips in mind to ensure that people remember the inspiring speaker, the amazing video, or the thought-provoking panel discussion – not the glitches. Tip #1: Set Expectations. Make sure people know what your event is all about, especially if you are doing a virtual event that specifically takes the place of an in-person event. In your email blasts...
By: Melissa Lagowski CEO/Founder/Queen Bee Big Buzz Idea Group During an election year, people within your nonprofit may want to support political causes and candidates. What does this mean for your 501(c)(3) organization? To maintain tax-exempt status under the Internal Revenue Code, your organization cannot directly or indirectly participate in a political campaign to support or oppose a candidate for elected office. This means your nonprofit cannot show political bias. You may not, in any way, indicate that the organization favors or opposes a candidate. Your organization cannot make political statements or endorsements in favor of one candidate or make...
By: Brad Ball Vice President Big Buzz Idea Group Whether you are well-seasoned in your nonprofit management career, just starting out at an entry-level nonprofit job or somewhere in the middle, you most likely spend a good deal of time in the digital workspace. In this post, we’re going to tell you about our top five favorite online tools to make your life easier and keep your nonprofit organization running smoothly without spending a penny. DESIGN: Canva We’ve written about this one before and it’s worth mentioning again because it’s such a powerful tool for your nonprofit marketing team. Keep...
By: Lidia Varesco Racoma
Owner of Lidia Varesco Design
Are your organization’s visuals on-brand or have they slowly started to derail?
Between working with multiple team members and outside vendors—plus the popularity of image creation apps like Canva and Adobe Spark—brand visuals can start to become diluted over time.
But fear not, you can maintain successful brand consistency by doing some simple planning and preparation.
One way to engage your organization’s current or prospective customers, members or donors, is through a newsletter. It doesn’t have to be big and splashy, but it should look professional and be easy to read. Here are some tips to help make your newsletter more readable.
By: Katelyn Foehner Communications Manager Big Buzz Idea Group As many nonprofit executive leaders know, your title encompasses much more than what it states. Many executive directors serve as not only the ED but the bookkeeper, event planner, communications guru and everything in between. Finding easier ways to get the job done is essential to fulfilling all your tasks. Insert Canva into the equation to save stress, time and money. Canva is a free-to-use online design platform. While many people use it to create images for social media, Canva can be used to create t-shirt designs, invitations, blog banners, business...
