Inflight Briefing: 028

How to empower communities to tell
your story 🎧

Amanda Garzon is the COO of the Hydrocephalus Association and recently joined Feathr for a Good Marketing Unplugged session. The work she does — sharing people’s stories, connecting the community, and advocating for research — is close to her heart. Amanda found out that her daughter had Hydrocephalus after spending their first 90 days together in the hospital. She said, “We have to think like a for-profit because we are selling this incredibly valuable service, for free! So even though we aren’t measuring our profit margins, we are selling ourselves. And it is priceless what we are selling.” Hydrocephalus isn’t as widely-known as Parkinson’s or Alzheimer’s, although about one million Americans live with a diagnosis. And because of this, when Amanda shares these stories, she’s making what was once invisible, visible.

How to get the most out of a story 📖

This article focuses on storytelling tactics for museums, but all of the tips are perfectly applicable for any nonprofit or association. Building a content strategy that includes compelling stories should be built in a way that draws readers in the direction you want them to go. At first this should be toward your website or other property — places where you can get to know them and begin to understand what interests them. Once they’re engaging with you, it’s time to take the relationship a step further. Invite them to join your newsletter or follow up on an upcoming event through digital ads. Stories chemically affect the human brain, and this can be an effective step one in beginning a much longer conversation.

10 marketing principles to live by 💡

There are parts of marketing that can be rather complex — positioning, identifying an audience, branding. But there are a few things that aren’t all that complicated, stand the test of time, and  consistently move the needle forward. Kaylee Edmondson is a fantastic marketer and her 10 principles aren’t complicated and are worth applying today. Number 10 is especially worth repeating, “Regardless of your industry, marketing is about people. Never let anyone convince you otherwise. Understanding the principles of social psychology, where people spend time, how they engage, what they care about fuels everything you do.”

The key to excellence 📖

This article may be focusing on personal excellence, but your organization or association’s excellence is also about finding your unique value. While everyone else was aiming at being the best guitarist or best singer, Bruce Springsteen decided to write lyrics that came from the heart. This set him apart from the rest and set him up for an incredibly successful and long-lasting career. What is your organization doing to set it apart? How is your voice unique? Is it the melody, the vocals, the rhythm? Pinpointing what’s different about your organization will help you identify the community you’re built to serve. Only after you do the work of understanding yourself and your organization can you start making sense of the community you serve.