Marketing Is Not Just For Profit

Last week someone told me nonprofits don't ever sell, they "educate." Years ago, someone told me sales is something everyone does whether they want to or not.

So who is right? In our opinion, there's truth to each perspective.

Every day, you are selling yourself starting with the first person you meet. From the things you say to what you wear, people will make judgments about your character. The impression you make will affect the extent to which others will respect your opinions and follow your lead.

The same is true for organizations, be they for profit or nonprofit. Whether you advertise well or not at all, people form opinions about your organization from the things you say and do (or fail to do).

That said, it's true that nonprofits should not be pushing their services on clients. It's understandable that the idea of "selling" seems out of place for many nonprofits. And while we think it's important for nonprofits to market themselves, we don't think nonprofits should be focused on marketing their services but rather seeking to match their services with clients who will benefit from them.

In fact, I personally believe even a for profit business should not push products that people do not want or need. And most businesses have moved away from the "hard sell" of the middle-1900s. Just as nonprofits strive to be client-centered, corporate marketing has transitioned from a sales-oriented model to a customer-centered model. Of course, there will always be examples of nonprofits and businesses not adhering to these ideals.

This is not just a semantic discussion. Marketing is fundamentally an exchange in which one entity provides a product or service needed by a second entity. This applies as well to a nonprofit providing a service as it does to a business "selling" a product.

The question then is not so much are you selling, but how well are you selling? Or to avoid the "sell" word we could say, how well are you educating your client about your ability to meet their needs? In the end, every organization is marketing but not all properly focus on the client.

Creating an Effective Fundraising Video for a Non Profit

One of the best things about my job is that I get to combine things that inspire me with my imagination to create something new and exciting. Recently, our company was provided the opportunity to create a promotional video for a non-profit auto repair shop in the vein of American Chopper or Monster Garage. As a fan of of the shooting style of "Chopper" I was intrigued by the challanges of creating a fast cut style similar to the show while mainting the project's underlying theme: The need to raise funds to continue their services to the community. So... basically the challenge was to create a 10 minute video that was very exciting but also pulled on the heartstrings.

In doing research and planning for the project we decided that with documentary style shooting incorporating ambient audio we could really place the viewer right in the middle of the action. Accepting nothing but the best I teamed up with Frozen Lake Studios owner Jeff Morgan to provide audio support services. (http://www.frozenlakestudios.com) The result - Phenominal natural audio that really helped tell the story.

I knew that by combining the documentary feel with emotional and high impact shooting we knew we could really emphasize the emotional aspect of our story. We knew we'd need to interview members of the RightWay team but I really wanted to contrast those interviews with the interviews with clients of the agency. So... we decided to shoot the team interviews in the shop with activity of the repairs in the background, while for the client interviews we shot with almost nothing in the background, drawing attention to their heart and emotion. Tim Donor,
director of Rightway Automotive was able to provide interviews with two absolutely perfect clients. The result - A stunning portrayal of one of the coolest non profits in Alaska.

The video was unveiled for the first time at a fundraiser for Rightway in mid February and as a result raised a substantial amount of money for the program. All in all, it was a very successful project. By coupling the emotion of the story with impressive, high impact shooting and editing this project impacted all that saw it.

For a direct link to the completed video:
Rightway Video

To learn more about Rightway Automotive:
Rightway Website