When you're in a quieter time of the year, what do you do? Do you relax and just stop doing everything because you're so burnt out? Or do you spend time nuturing your audience and continuing to spread awareness of your organization? The off-season is a great time to keep top of mind with your donors, build you audience, and test new things.

Jordana Merkin joins me today to share some ways you can think about your marketing when it's not the hustle and bustle of an event seasion or fundraising campaign.

What you'll learn:

→ why the off season is perfect for getting back to proactive marketing
→ how to tie your marketing efforts back to your overall goals.
→ importance of avoiding shiny object syndrome.
→ why testing is important.
→ how to add value to your audience

Want to skip ahead? Here are key takeaways:

[7:13] Creating strategies and tactics that tie to your goals. Just like your campaigns have goals, so do your off season marketing efforts. Think about how they can support your upcoming efforts and build your pipeline of interested sponsors, donors, etc. It's also a great time to put systems in place to uplevel your marketing when you're in busy seasons, like automated email sequences.
[13:01] Take this time to create proactive strategies. Don't just decide that now is the time to start a new social media platform or do the thing you've been wanting to try. Make sure that any activities you add in align with both your audience and your overall goals.
[17:41] Remember that marketing is meant to fill a pipeline and not necessarily lead to direct income. Your consistent actions today will lead to consistent income and donations 30-90-120 days from now. Take this time to really write your impact statement and truly understand how to talk to you audience about it.
[23:26] Have some fun experimenting. Marketing is all about testing. When you're not in a major campaign its a great opportunity to test what your audience likes and what it doesn't.
[27:06] How do you add value to your audience? When people are scrolling social media, they stop for posts that add value to them. In between seasons are the perfect time to include these posts into the mix. 

Resources

Messaging Guide Prompts and Marketing Plan Prompts

Full Transcript

This transcript was created with AI. Please forgive any discrepencies.

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern] So when you come off the campaign, a big event, and you're exhausted, marketing feels like something you don't want to be doing. You're overloaded, overwhelmed. What do you do? You just kind of hibernate for a little bit or do you get into retention mode and kind of getting back into the regular marketing that you do. Having a plan of attack for those quiet times can really help make your life easier throughout the whole year. Because now you know what to do during those downtimes. You know what to expect, you know how to engage with your audience, and you know how to get prepped for that next big campaign that is inevitably just around the corner. I am so excited to have this conversation with Jordanna Merkin today about ways to think about your marketing strategy during those downtimes in between our campaigns and seasons.

After decades as an in house nonprofit marketer Jordanna Merkin founded voice for good to bring her insider knowledge and outsider perspective to help growing nonprofits raise awareness, and funds through strategic marketing and communications. Her work as a mission driven marketer includes crafting messaging guides, strategic marketing plans, and multi channel fundraising campaigns. Every nonprofit has a story to tell and Jordanna partners with under resourced organizations to build a foundation for each one to share its story effectively, with a mission to give voice to good causes. Jordanna grows capacity for small nonprofits, building meaningful connections with those who matter most to each one.

She has a great insight on really how we want to take a look at what we do in those quieter moments in our organization, and how we as an entire organization can really support marketing efforts so that it makes all of our lives easier. There's so many good nuggets in this episode. I know you'll probably have to listen to it a couple of times. But I want you to just pick out one or two things that you can use right now to make an impact in your organization. You can always come back to this episode.

But before we get in to all of the good meat and potatoes and great tips that Jordana shares, this episode is brought to you by our quiz, should you DIY your website. We're in the second month of 2023. Now, and it's really a great time to make sure that we're looking at our website and making sure it's reflecting the goals that we set for our organization this year. If it's not, then maybe we need to think about how we want to set our website up to help us be successful in this new year. Take our quiz at https://thefirstclick.net/quiz  And you'll get some great resources wherever you're at whether that's hiring somebody to build your website or refresh for you, or doing it yourself. You'll get great tools, resources and places to go for more information so that you can have the website you're proud of just as much as you are your mission. But for now, let's get into the episode.

[INTRO] You're listening to the digital marketing therapy podcast. I'm your host, Sami Bedell-Mulhern. And each week, I bring you tips from myself and other experts, as well as hot seats with small business owners and entrepreneurs to demystify digital marketing and get you on your way to generating more leads and growing your business. 

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern] Hey, everybody, please join me in welcoming Jordanna Merkin to the podcast Jordana, thank you so much for being on this episode today. Hi, thanks so much for having me.

[Jordana Merkin] Happy to be here.

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern] Yeah, so we're talking kind of marketing efforts in the downtime and how those can really be maybe some of the most impactful times really, but kind of why before we jump into all of that, like why marketing why, you know, supporting organizations that are doing good things in the world. Why is that a passion of yours?

[Jordana Merkin] Yeah, um, so I've been in nonprofit marketing, marketing and communications my whole career for about a decade that was in house at several different organizations with varying varying sizes of varying resources.

And, you know, I had initially started in college on more of like an advertising truck, and I did a few internships and I quickly realized that a heart just wasn't in it. I really enjoyed using that part of my brain, but I really wanted to do work that was more mission focused. So for my first job out of college until now, he works exclusively with nonprofits. And I love what I do.

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern] I love that. Well, let's talk about downtime. I put quotes around that because we're just coming out of year end craziness trying to finish out everything and then we I feel like we kind of are just trying to get our heads wrapped around what we're doing in January and now as this is gonna go live as the middle of February and you know, what is kind of the cycle you see with organizations when it comes to their marketing when they come out? Have it might just be any sort of big campaign or a big event. And I feel like sometimes we kind of hibernate for a little bit. But what's the cycle that you see?

[Jordana Merkin] Yeah, so I definitely see that going on feeling like hibernating? When is it when it's cold? And so it's appropriate all around?

By but yeah, I think you know, there are certain key points of the year there is, you know, giving Tuesday heading into year end, there are different major events, there's maybe another major fundraising campaign or two throughout the year and every organization's calendar. And those are the times that you know, no matter how under resourced, or you know, how many people are on staff? Those are the times when we think about marketing, right? So it's, well, we've got to get people to come to this event, we have to get people aware of this campaign, what are we going to do in terms of marketing.

And what I really try to work on with my clients is not just thinking about it, then it's, it's hard, because we all have a million things going on, we're all wearing all the hats, I know I've been there. Even if you don't have someone, most of the organizations I work with now don't have someone who has marketing in their title. So and that makes it even harder, right, because we all have different priorities. But the more you can plan, especially in the offseason, the more proactive you can be. And the more ahead of the game, you'll be when it comes time to those major events or campaigns.

And in between is really a good time to work on all the things that will make that easier. You know, you can stay top of mind for donors and really demonstrate the impact that they've made during those events, and, and campaigns. So the offseason, I would argue is a really crucial time. And even if you're moving the needle in small ways in realistic ways for your staff and your organization. That's still not the time that you want to be, you know, just forgetting about marketing until then.

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern] So what might be some of the marketing activities we would want to focus on during those kind of in between moments?

[Jordana Merkin] Yeah, so when I build out a marketing plan for an organization I'm focused on.

Really, we load a lot in there, right? So we want to think about the organizational goals as a whole. So whereas for a specific campaign or specific event, you're thinking about the campaign goal, or the the event goal.

Focusing on the offseason marketing plan, the overall marketing plan gives you an opportunity to focus on the organization's goals, right marketing should really work within those goals to support those goals. They're not separate. So when you start from that perspective, then you can build out okay, so how does marketing really reinforce these goals? And how can I come up with strategies and tactics to support that? So you know, if, you know, fundraising is a big part of every organization, right? So when you're thinking about that as a goal, maybe you're thinking about retention?

So for example, you can think about what is a marketing goal? You know, how can marketing support retention, so you can think about, maybe strategically, you want to build out a welcome journey, so that once someone's getting donating, they're not just getting that automated, automated, thank you. But there's really a path for them to get involved to stay involved and to stay engaged with your organization. So you know, that's something that you can that you can build, and then you can track it. So you can think about, where are you starting from, maybe you have no welcome journey. Maybe people are not getting emails at all past that, thank you initial, you know, automated Thank you.

Or maybe you have something in place, but you can build it out and make it a little bit more robust and focus on more of the touch points, wherever you're starting from kind of assess that in the beginning. And then they can track from there. So I mean, industry benchmarks. You know, how they have their value. But I always advise, especially, especially for smaller shops to really think about where you're starting and where you're headed. And then in terms of moving the needle where you're going.

So I would I would start there. Something else to consider in the offseason is your content. So storytelling is at the heart of everything I do. And while it's super important, and usually the focus for you know, the major event, right, whose story are we going to tell that's going to be in the video who's going to be speaking that kind of a thing. And for campaigns, it's usually a focus too. But again, in between what are we what are the stories we're telling, how are we keeping people engaged? And when, you know, in February, right, your donors have made these gifts a couple of months back, how are you showing them the impact of that gift, right What are you

What is their money doing for your mission? And that's something that's really important to demonstrate. So that's as part of a content strategy. That's generally what I build out there. So Right. So how are you telling the story is, who are you collecting stories from, because you want to think about the people you serve, and how to tell those stories ethically, and with dignity, that you also want to think about your donors. They also have stories, right? So and they have reasons why they gave to you. So that's a different way to demonstrate the impact. You know, you want to share your your founders story. It's also another way, there are lots of different ways to do it.

But all of them really add up to painting a pretty full picture for your supporters about what you what you do, and what you have learned now that they've made their gift.

And to those who haven't yet me to give why they might want to make a gift. Without always asking, that's another important piece, right? You're not always asking, but you're demonstrating why when you come to them with an ask. They're already primed and ready, because they've been following along, not just when you're, you know, in the middle of the campaign. Yeah.

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern] There's so many, like, I can't even so many good nuggets that you just dropped there. So I want to go back and touch on a few because this is gold.

I love you that your immediate answer on what activities should you do in the downtime is really on going back to your goals, because I think a lot of times we tend to be like, Okay, well, now we were a little bit quieter. So we can, you know, do the TikToc thing. Or we can do this or like you just kind of go to these activities that you haven't actually, that people have been brought bringing to you is impactful without taking it back to your goals. So I think that's such a great reminder. And that that comes first. I love that that was your your take there. I think that's critical.

And then really just kind of thinking about maybe like your cycle in general through your year. So I'm sure you do this with your with your clients. But, you know, I know for me, I like to map out my promotional calendar for the whole year. So I know when I'm in promo period, and when I'm in what we call like rest or non promotional periods, knowing that during that time, my content is different than during promotional periods.

But that can really help you plan and like really think about what you're doing. So maybe in the quieter times, it's also a great time to start collecting all of those, those stories and having that diversity in maybe it's a board member, what like all of the examples that you shared, I think that's critical. So for people that are like, well, we collect these stories, and we've shared one, but now we can't share that story again, or, you know, this story is from a couple years ago, like, could you talk a little bit on your thoughts about kind of repurposing some of those things and how we kind of can make things easier on ourselves. So we're don't go into scramble mode in our off slower times. Yeah, absolutely.

[Jordana Merkin] So yeah, so first of all, you touched on a couple of things with, you know, everything. Everything I teach is about being proactive, right? So if you're proactive, and you're not scrambling, so to your point, like you're not like, oh, we haven't posted anything in a while, should they be on tick tock? Like, you know, it's it maybe maybe not like, you know, to really have a chance to sit and think about like the right channels, and the the frequency of posting and all the things that makes sense for your organization.

And we all have a lot of shiny object syndrome, that shows up in different ways. And I think for especially for smaller organizations, I hear it a lot with social media platforms, right? Like, we need to be on all the things and you really don't need to be on all the things, you need to think about what makes sense for you, and what makes sense for your audience and where the two meet.

So I think in terms of content, it's both about where you want to be, and also how you can repurpose exactly like, you know, I've heard, well, you know, we did that already. We sent out an email about that. So we don't want redundancies. So we don't want to put it on social media to and I know it sounds counterintuitive, but you do want redundancy. You know, there's like the the outdated rule of seven that you need to see some take action, right? That was like 100 years ago, actually, I think we're coming up on 100 years since that was first said.

Yeah, I think it was, I think it's from the 30s originally. So now it's like the rule of 70. Right? Like you need to see it so many times because we all have so much coming at us from all directions at all times. So that actually works to our benefit in several ways. Right? Like you absolutely should be repurposing right, you should take your longest form content, which for a lot of organizations is their newsletter, where they've shared a story

And definitely think about how to share that and several pieces over your social media channels and how to put that out there in ways so that people are seeing it multiple times in multiple ways, right? You're also not going to post it in the same way each time. Maybe it's a video, maybe it's a carousel, maybe it's just pulling a quote. So there's a visual next to a photo. There are lots of different ways to do it. But people also are not seeing the content in the same way that you are. So like, I know, I get like this, right? Like I'm, you know, when I'm running a campaign for a client, and you know, I'm in the weeds, right, you have to really take a step back and think like, Wait, okay, so I am poring over every single word, which is really important. But the vast majority of people seeing this or not, a people don't read really. So. Words are important, but they are not pouring over them like you are right.

And B they're not they're not even necessarily seeing it right everywhere. Like just because you're putting something on Instagram doesn't mean they're seeing it. They're just because they're you know, you're sending them an email doesn't mean they're opening it. So the fact that there are all these different touch points just makes it that much more likely that people are going to see your content and engage with it. And I always feel like if they've seen it already, it just makes them feel more in the know, right? Like if you've gotten that email, and then you're also seeing it on Facebook, you're like, oh, yeah, I knew that already. I saw that. Like, it's not like an eye roll. I do that already. Right. I'm I'm connected to this organization. I know what they're doing. And I've already engaged with this story. So to me, it's just there are benefits to that all around.

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern]  Yeah, well, and it could be that reminder that push of Oh, yeah, I did want to follow up on that. But I forgot to. And now I've seen it again. And it's reminding me to do it again. Yeah. Well, I want to kind of flip it the other way. And say like a lot of times with, especially with smaller shops, like you said, a lot of organizations that don't have a dedicated marketing person, during quieter times, if the organization hasn't planned very well as a whole, some of your leadership might go into panic mode of Oh, my God, the money's not coming in. This is a bad thing, even though we kind of should anticipate those during different times of the year. And then all of a sudden, they go to marketing, and they're like, We need you to get money in right now. Like you need to go find donors or like, it becomes a little bit crazy. So how can we in whatever capacity we have, as marketers in our organizations kind of set up that expectation and kind of help communicate what that cycle looks like and say, Okay, well, the actions I'm doing today, like validate the actions we're doing during quieter time, knowing that it's going to help, like you said, at the very beginning, make our campaigns more successful down the road and make our events more successful down the road, even if it doesn't equate to dollars right now.

[Jordana Merkin] Yeah. So marketing definitely is meant to, you know, marketing at its best fills the pipeline, right? Like it's getting the word out there. Even if people you know, to your point are not taking action that first time they're, you know, they're seeing it multiple times and eventually taking action. I think the ways that we can, you know, first of all, if you have a board member or someone coming to you with that, I think the best response is, well, here's my plan, right? So I'm saying there's a million times, but like that proactive piece, right? So you're not just staring at that blank screen and saying, like, oh, we need to do something, and we don't have anything planned, and we don't have a content strategy. So yeah, so I would say that's, that's the first piece is investing in a plan, whether that's, you know, investing time or money or whatever it looks like for your organization, just coming up with a plan from the beginning, so that there's something to outline your your action steps throughout the year.

And then also, you know, having, having a cadence that I mentioned earlier, like really being realistic about what that means for your organization. I don't think it's realistic for most smaller organizations, or larger ones, to be posting multiple times a day, every day on every platform being in all the places and it's not necessary, right? Like, you want to have really clear messaging, right? So think about your impact. Think about the stories that you want to tell think about. And I mean, also big picture I talk a lot about with my clients, big picture story and day to day stories, right?

So we've already touched on the day to day stories and the places they can come from but what's the big picture story, right? What's that impact? What is the core of the emotional, you know, that emotional piece that you're really getting into? I like to ask three why's to get to that emotional piece? Because you know, if you start with an organization's mission, which you know, should be clear and concise and demonstrate what you do, but it doesn't always include that impact piece. So if you say like, Well, why is it important that you do that? And then again, why is it important that you do that? Why is it important to do that? You know, if you really dig down? That's like that's the big picture story right? That's what you want to be digging into. And really, that's what you want to be conveying everywhere. And that strong message is what will keep people interested. And it will also make you more memorable. Right?

So if you're using examples of food bank, because there are so many, right, so yeah, you're different than every other one, right. So if you were the food bank that talks about, you know, the number of meals served and ends there, you know, that probably isn't going to make you stand out, because people aren't going to remember the number of meals served. But if you're the food bank that talks about the, you know, how people who come to your food bank feel after they've been through your food bank, how they feel worthy of being served, how they feel like they matter how, you know, that is the emotional core that you want to be conveying. And when you can convey that year round, that's what's going to connect people to your mission, that's what's going to be your pipeline. And that's going to be what drives people when the time comes to actually make a gift.

So I think it's both having the plan and the strategy in place, but also having the messaging in place so that you know what you're speaking to, right. And if you keep that in mind, I actually like you know, I encourage my clients to actually write it down, like what is the big picture story, visually, like, it should be right there so that you know that all of your communications should support that. And that also speaks to like offseason marketing more, because when you're running a campaign, or an event, it generally has a more specific theme. So then you're very, very laser focused on the theme, the theme should also support the big picture story, but you're focused more on that. So then, you know, ultimately, when that's over that what right so when you have your big picture story in mind, when you understand your why and the impact that you're having, that's, that's when you can really convey that to your people on a larger scale. And that's also how you grow organically, because when people see one post, or they're, you know, they need to really understand what you're about. And that's how you know, that's how you both engage your career people and how you grow?

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern]  Well, I think, to your point, we also all have our own motivations for why we give to different organizations. And so the more we can have what you're saying, spread out throughout the entire year, the more likely you're going to grab somebody where they are, because now you've got all these opportunities, you are intentionally telling more stories throughout the year, as opposed to just only relying on those two or three times a year where you have that big campaign to spread your story. And it makes it easier on you, you don't have to work so hard to create that content, it's already there for you, you just need to go grab it in kind of this intentional way. So I love that.

But if we're kind of like maybe maybe you're in a downtime right now, maybe not. I know, just depending on the season, you know, when I used to work for an organization down in Arizona, this time of year was crazy for us because it's warm down there. So you may not be in a quiet time right now. But if you're kind of hearing this, you're like, Okay, this all sounds great. I really need to kind of put some things together, these off seasons and quiet times, if you're just getting more intentional with marketing can be great for getting your systems in place, and really kind of setting that cadence also. Right. So that's like the important piece is, is that plan you're talking about? Like starting there?

[Jordana Merkin] Yeah, absolutely. It's also a great time, a lot of marketing is experimenting. And often when it's when the stakes are higher, we're afraid to do it, right. We don't want to be experimenting in December because what if we fail, and then we miss out on all of these year end gifts? So the offseason is also a good time to think about that the ways you're telling your stories, you know, is a longer form? Is it shorter form? Is it? How does it work? If we tell a story over several posts, you know, or the types of the Teddy know, again, like who's telling the story, like just different and see how it lands. You know, you'll have to experiment, you know, I wouldn't say if one post doesn't do well, that's not enough of a test piece. But when you're putting it out there, then like this is a good time to experiment. Because if you realize that something isn't working, then you don't need to lean into it as heavily when it matters more in terms of actual gifts coming in, or people registering for a big event or something like that.

But you may you may be surprised and find that something does work really well. And then you can lean into that when it does you know when the stakes are higher next time. So that's another benefit. I think of the offseason.

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern]  That's such a good point. So kind of, if you were gonna give people first action steps, kind of where would you tell them to start? Like if they were like, Okay, I'm ready to do something today. I need to start putting a plan in action. I think sometimes that plan feels overwhelming, like I have to plan out my whole year. So like where would you kind of get people to start with with putting some of these things to down on paper.

[Jordana Merkin] Yeah. So, um, so I always start with the messaging, right to really think clearly, like, take a step back from your work, which I know is super difficult to think as an outsider.

What what do you do? Like, right? It's that simple. What does your organization do? Because too often, you can ask, even at a very small organization, like you'll ask an ad and an admin, person and the board member, they'll get three different answers for one organization. It's not that anyone's wrong, right? Like, they're, it's not like they don't know what they're talking about. It's just that, you know, organizations do a lot of things, even small ones. And they, you know, that it comes across in different ways, right, especially when you're so in it. So I always start there, right? So and then that's when I go back to that three why's exercise to really get to the core of what it is you do. Once you identify that then everything that you know, all of your messaging can reflect that big picture story. So I would start there.

And then really, like, you know, map out the year, think about when your big campaigns are, think about when your big events are. And then think about what you can do in between, to stay top of mind to demonstrate your impact to those who have just participated in the events or supported your campaigns.

And again, just be realistic about what makes sense for you. It's not necessary to try to do all the things whether or not marketing is in your title, right? No one can do all the things either way.

So I think really, really just to start with that, and think about what what even if you know you, if you're thinking about your goals, and you're thinking about how many strategies you can have for each goal, even if you're only working on one piece of one, you know, one tactic or one strategy, per quarter, or whatever it is per month, that's okay. Right? Just think about how you can move the needle.

And I would also encourage people to think about the value that they're providing to their audiences, right? So you want a picture story, then when you're not sure what that actually looks like, in a post, just think about what someone's scrolling like, you know, what's going to give them value? People scroll, and you know, whether or not they're thinking about it in these terms, they're always asking what's in it for me, right? Yeah.

So you know, whether, you know, what is that value, whether it's inspirational, educational, whether it's fun, right? Like, that's also part of the messaging is think about? What is the tone and voice of your organization? And, you know, how can you show up in a fun way? When is it appropriate to show up in a fun way? When is it appropriate to show up in a witty way? When is it appropriate? You know, what does that look like? And obviously, depending on your mission, that will vary greatly.

But, you know, answer those questions so that you have a place to, to work from again, like, the more you can minimize that blank white paper, the better off you'll be.

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern]  Yeah, I want to touch on one last thing that you said before we kind of wrap this up. And that is, in quieter times, I think it just like in a traditional for profit business, you know, there's this this tug and pull between sales and marketing. And I think the same is true between like marketing, and fundraisers, if you're lucky to have people that are in both roles, and you said, you know, even if you don't have marketing in your title, like, here's some things to think about. So in these quieter times, you know, do you see an opportunity, if you have a bigger team to really like, sit down and have those conversations between both sides of the table so that maybe your fundraising team knows how to better support your marketing team to help get those better results. And vice versa, like creating some of those conversations and for marketing to share those stories with fundraisers and vice versa. Cuz I think there's a lack of communication there that some sometimes happens that doesn't allow for the best storytelling for the organization as a whole.

[Jordana Merkin] Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah, I'm happy you brought that up. Because definitely, you know, often, you know, the two departments are siloed, even if they're each department have one it's like, but in larger organizations, even more so and I have been in both positions where it's, you know, definitely gets to be where, like, here are my priorities here and yours and, you know, we're not going to communicate on them not intentionally again, it was like, you know, everyone's really busy. So that's what ends up happening. But yeah, I agree with you. The offseason is a is a great time when you know, when you're not coming up on an event, right. And everyone's focuses, they're coming up on a campaign. So yeah, because again, the marketing goal should support the overall organizational goals and And very often the overall organizational goals are fundraising related. So, you know, marketing should really support that.

And the two should work together, especially to your point on the storytelling front, I really encourage my clients to create, like a central place for telling stories. So that's both, you know, if there's a meeting where you can bring it up, you know, and intentionally discussed what people have heard lately, but then also to record the stories. So you know, to have people record them in even if just a Google folder, like a share in a shared drive, where everyone can just, you know, drop in, like, oh, I, you know, someone made this great comment to me today, and just quickly jot down like, what the quote was, or, you know, this happened at this program, or that kind of a thing.

You know, I myself have been in situations where I've, like, overheard other people talking about something and like, I work with a special needs preschool. And at last year's graduation, I remember hearing one of the therapists and teachers talking about this amazing comment that one of the graduates had made about her anxiety and feeling so prepared for next year. And then, but what if I had an overheard that you have to share these things? Yeah. Oh, and it's, you know, often again, like we're so we're in it that we don't think about, well, is anyone outside of this room going to care about that?

But the answer is yes. So you know, you want to broadly share your stories, you want to collect your stories. And you want to celebrate your stories, also, right, you want to make sure that even internally like that's a win is getting, you know, having a really great story. So I think it's important to keep in mind too.

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern]  I love having just like a place to deposit all that stuff. Because as an admin, as a volunteer as a fundraiser, you don't have to have it all flushed out and perfect. It's just more putting those things down in a place where then your marketing team can take it and either follow up with you for more information or, you know, ask if they can contact somebody like you don't have to have the pressure to have the whole story written out in some, like, verbose way. But like, you know, to your point, you hear a comment somewhere, you just throw it, throw it down somewhere, and we can we can address it when we're ready to dive deeper on it.

[Jordana Merkin] Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. Again, you want to minimize the white paper. So I'm gonna start from, that's a win.

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern] I love it. Well, Jordanna, so many incredible nuggets. And I think probably good reminders for people as you're kind of coming out of your end, and really focusing on what either the last half of your, your fiscal year looks like, or the whole brand new calendar year. If you were gonna leave any kind of one last word of wisdom or piece of advice for organizations, when it comes to their marketing, what would you share with them? I'm just one.

[Jordana Merkin] So I would say Yeah, so what I just touched on is, you know, celebrate the wins, right? Because it's, it's daunting, you know, to think about all of the ways one can, you know, quote, unquote, do marketing, like, you know, all of the ways that you need to show up?

Or, you know, what, what are the ways that you need to show up, and I would say, again, like, even just having a really good collection of stories, even have the beginning, having the beginnings of stories is a win to celebrate, you know, even having that connection between development and marketing is a win, I would say, you know, focus focus on that. And it will really make it'll, it'll bring joy to it. Because it you know, it just reminds you all again, that big picture story, like, What's your why and doing this work in the first place?

So that would be my last little my last little nugget celebrate.

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern] Yes, celebrate all the wins internally and externally. I love that.

Well, Jordanna if people want to learn more about you how they can work with you, I know you've got a free resource that we're going to have in the show notes for listeners, how can they do that?

[Jordana Merkin] Yeah, yeah, the free resources, it's prompts to get you started on your own messaging guide and marketing plan. Um, so that is on my website. My website is https://voiceforgoodmarketing.com. And the, the URL for that particular is just /prompt. I'm on LinkedIn Jordanna Merkin. I'm on Instagram at voice for good. And I'm happy to connect. I love it.

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern]  And we will have all of these linked up at the show notes. At https://thefirstclick.net/191 Jordanna thank you so much for being here today.

[Jordana Merkin] Thank you so much. Great.

[Sami Bedell-Mulhern]  Wow, wow. Wow. I just loved all of that conversation. I thought it was amazing. Dana gave us so many great tips and insights. And again, to get the show notes and her free resource, head on over to https://thefirstclick.net/191 . And as you're thinking about your marketing and your plans going in to 2023, or in 2023, we are so excited to be making some updates to the digital marketing therapy podcast, more to come in the next couple of episodes. But just to give you a little sneak peek, we're really going to be diving deep on a particular topic each month. I'll be listing those out for you on our updated website here in a little bit. But what I want you to think about are what are the activities and actions that you need to learn, grow and build on in 2023 for your nonprofit organization, then come and join us. You can listen every week, of course, but make sure you come back and deep dive on those topics that are going to be the most impactful for you and where you need support. We're also going to be featuring a nonprofit every single month. So if you have participated and found success with some of these activities that we're talking about, I'd love to feature you on the digital marketing therapy podcast. So just shoot us a message at hello@thefirstclick.net and we'll have a conversation and get you on the show. But for now, I really hope that you'll subscribe wherever you listen and make sure that you leave us a review especially at Apple podcasts. It just helps trigger the algorithm so that we can show up for more nonprofits that are looking for the support that you've already found here. Thank you so much for listening, and I will see you in the next one.