The Hostess with the Mostess

When was the last time you had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? If it wasn’t this week, fix that. To me, it’s comfort food. How can a sandwich take you back to a simpler time and place, I do not know. But it does. So, I’ve really been missing this bit of calming comfort since the great peanut butter debacle of 2022. I haven’t researched it, so I’m unclear of exactly what happened but I do know that there was a big peanut butter recall. One day, peanut butter filled the shelves and the next day nada.

While this nutty situation is improving, we still can’t find crunchy Jif around these parts. I look every time I go to the store. My husband looks every time he goes to the store. Alas, no crunchy Jif. Double alas, no PBJ’s in the Brown Bungalow. It’s sad, really. I miss that crunchy goodness.

So, during my birthday week, the hubs sent me a text message that said, “I made you something.” Hmmmm, I wondered. That’s typically not the text I get when he’s whipped up a Hello Fresh meal. I legit had no idea what he could possibly have made…perhaps a mess? But it wasn’t that either.

I got home and to my surprise he had bought a fresh jar of creamy Jif and a salted jar of Planter’s peanuts. Yep, that man got out his Ginsu knife and cut those peanuts up nice and small and made me his own, semi-homemade crunchy peanut butter. I gotta tell ya, the only thing better than a crunchy PBJ is a crunchy PBJ when you haven’t had one in a while. It. Was. Amazing!

There are dynamic duos like peanut butter and jelly that simply can’t be beat. And there are some pretty cool fundraising duos as well.

This week our left brain marketing methods and right brain marketing moxie will highlight some duos that you need to adopt in your fundraising practices.

Left Brain Marketing Methods:  You can’t be everything to everyone. In fact, I’d go as far as saying that community foundations and conversion marketing tactics are a good pair. Sure, brand marketing is nice if you’re Coke or Pepsi, but that’s not who we are and maybe not everyone does need to know about us and what we do—and that’s ok.

Right Brain Marketing Moxie: This blog has focused a great deal on the MVA, Minimum Viable Audience, because it’s just that important. Today’s right brain concept is all about identifying your MVA through a lens that you don’t often look through, the hostess with the mostess.

In the spirit of Kermit and Miss Piggy, Romeo and Juliet, and peanut butter and jelly, let’s do this. 

Left Brain Marketing Methods:  There are many kinds of marketing. And with small staffs and even smaller budgets, it’s important to know which kind is the most important for you to utilize to maximize your profits and, thus, your impact.

That’s why community foundations and conversion marketing make such a perfect pair. This really goes for most nonprofits, too.

While brand marketing might be the sexier kind of marketing that the big name companies like Kleenex and McDonalds might rely on, that’s not most of us. We don’t have big budgets and even bigger departments that can push out information that would make you known by all and synonymous with your product. And even if we did, should that be our goal?

When it comes to fundraising, you need more than your name to be known by all or even recognized simply by your logo—you need to them act on the asks that you have of them. If your goal is donor action, you need to adopt a conversion marketing approach. After all, you can't make everyone happy--you aren't a jar of peanut butter.

While being known to all is a cool concept, if they aren’t acting on that knowledge it does little to no good. Conversion marketing is all about making the right ask to the right people at the right time by the right person. You need to transform that ask into action! It should be no surprise to you that the right people to convert are those who have an affinity for your mission and the capacity to do something about it.

Brand marketing is fine if you’re trying to bring awareness to your organization, but conversion marketing is what brings donations in to further your mission. And with this kind of work, you can’t communicate with everyone. So, who do you communicate with? Well, Seth Godin wrote a brilliant 4-line blog the other day that answers this question beautifully.

Who cares? by Seth Godin

No one cares. That happens rarely.

Someone cares. That happens all the time, and it’s at the heart of our work.

Everyone cares. Almost never.

Someone is enough. In fact, someone is the entire point.

Someone is the entire point! So, you must find your someones. Brand marketers believe everyone should care. Conversion marketers understand that you don’t need everyone, you just need the right someones. Community foundations and conversion marketing, they go together like peas and carrots.

Right Brain Marketing Moxie:  Conversion marketers get the MVA, Minimum Viable Audience, concept. They leverage it and work to build those relationships in deep, meaningful ways. But it doesn’t mean it’s easy to identify who to steward and who not to steward—those are difficult decisions. Of course, left brain data analysis can help you make wise choices, but there is a right brain method that Zoe Chance writes about in Influence is your Superpower that I just love.

Chance suggests that oftentimes we simply need to reframe how we look at the work we do. It’s not just a nonprofit asking a donor for money, although that is how some think of it. (Cue the board members who have told you that they’ll do anything but ask for money.)

In this reframing activity, Change encourages the new frame of thinking of yourself being in the hospitality business instead of the fundraising business. How might this mindset give you a fresh lens with which to view your work and your MVA? Let’s take a look.

If you’re in the hospitality biz, you would view yourself as a host to your guests—in this case, your guests are your donors. When you’re the host, the focus is on your guests. When you’re the host, you don’t invite everyone to your party—no venue could withstand it. When you’re the host, you try to create an environment that appeals to what your guests have in common. You’re not in charge of anyone as a host. In fact, you’re in service to your guests. As a host, you’re not telling your guests what to do, you’re inviting them to participate in something really amazing!

Do you see how this new frame shifts the power differential? The ‘rules’ of how to do fundraising take on a different form when you view yourself as serving your donors. You can now focus on the experience the donor has, yet you don’t have to feel responsible for every guest to enjoy themselves at the same level. Some will like the experience more than others; we’re all different.

It’s your job to offer the best donor experience for each ‘party’ you host and you keep inviting your guests back for more. You get to know guests by name. Heck you even provide the kind of music they like. You probably even introduce guests to each other to make their experience richer. When you’re the host, the experience is not about you at all—it’s always about the guests. They participate because they want to and because you’ve invited them to—those are your someones.

And guess what happens? You actually become a happier marketer and fundraiser. And your donors like the experience they have with you even more than they ever did before—because they are the focus of your communication’s plan. And when someone is the focus, they feel that. It’s intentional.

Perhaps, it’s worthwhile to think of yourself as a host and determine who you want to invite to your fundraising communication’s party. It’s a way to do less better and helps you convert many more prospects into active donors.

Every party needs a host. Every Batman needs a Robin. And every community foundation needs to adopt some conversion marketing methods to their fundraising strategy. It’s the best thing since a sliced brioche bun with a dollop of pureed nut spread paired with a grape relish reduction. After all, every host needs a marvelous menu, right?

All My Best,

Dawn
[email protected]
dawn brown creative, llc.