{"id":710,"date":"2011-11-16T10:38:15","date_gmt":"2011-11-16T15:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/?p=710"},"modified":"2011-11-16T10:38:15","modified_gmt":"2011-11-16T15:38:15","slug":"marketing-and-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2011\/11\/marketing-and-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Marketing and More"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Many of you probably know (or know of) Katya Andresen and Katya’s Nonprofit Marketing Blog<\/a>. She is an expert on marketing, a great speaker (I’ve heard her a couple of times), and a relentless blogger. (She posts almost every day. My hat is off, in awe, to her.) She does not present herself as an arts expert. However, in a recent post she presented 3 Diagnoses for why your message isn\u2019t getting through<\/a>. I can’t resist allowing her to make one of my central points, so I am going to present (i.e.<\/em>, steal) the first two here:<\/p>\n

#1: \u201cField of Dreams\u201d syndrome. Those who have this disease believe that, \u201cIf you build it, they will come.\u201d If you have FODS, you think that if you build a website and stick a DonateNow button on it, donors will arrive and click.\u00a0 This disease also manifests itself as an assumption that uttering your mission statement will inspire people to give.\u00a0 If you find yourself saying, \u201cIf people only knew, they would\u2026,\u201d then you have FODS.\u00a0 Declaring your existence is not a marketing campaign.\u00a0 It is a symptom of FODS. The cure? You need to reach out to people and build relationships with them.\u00a0 Then maybe they\u2019ll want to support you<\/span>. <\/em>[Emphasis mine, I’ll confess.]<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

<\/em>A part of me is tempted to stop and let the reader draw his or her own (obvious) conclusions. That would be a bit like my trick in class of asking students why I told a particular story. But, lest any deem me lazy, let me simply say, once again, “It’s all about relationships.” Ms. Andresen is not primarily a crusader for engagement. She is a crusader for effective marketing. Her message, however, puts my passion for engagement on the side of the marketing angels. In other words, substantive engagement (relationships) with the community is ultimately the most solid foundation for the improvement of marketing results. In order to enhance its marketing (and fundraising) efforts, the arts world needs to enhance its skills in community engagement.<\/p>\n

#2: \u201cIt\u2019s all about us\u201d disease. Nonprofits suffering from this disease are easy to spot\u2014their home pages, emails and all of their correspondence reads like an \u201cAbout Us\u201d page. Sometimes, this ailment is called \u201cNonprofit Narcissism.\u201d\u00a0 Mission statements, the history of your organization and other related details should not be found everywhere and do not constitute a strong message.\u00a0 The cure? Make it about your supporters, not you.\u00a0 Why should they care?\u00a0 What can they accomplish?\u00a0 How have they changed the world with their support?\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

This is simply practical advice about how to be seen as an approachable partner. I’ll let arts organizations out there hold this particular mirror up to their website (and their organization generally) to see whether they see themselves.<\/p>\n

———————<\/p>\n

Today I’ll plug another arts neighbor, this one in Greensboro, NC, that sees itself as a community citizen. Elsewhere<\/a> is a gallery, self-described community center, and residency venue<\/a> for artists from around the country. [NOTE: Sections of their website are under re-construction. You might want to come back in the future to check them out more thoroughly.]<\/p>\n

Elsewhere is a living museum set inside a former thrift store. Our three story building, housing one woman’s 58 year collection of thrift and surplus, has become a living installation curated by hundreds of contributors over a 9 year period. Today, Elsewhere is a space to investigate creative collaboration, through our living museum, community events, international residency program, and educational initiatives.\u00a0<\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Earlier this month they held a storefront lecture on community health and sustainability<\/a>. [That link is how I was notified of the event.] It’s all about developing relationships with the community!<\/p>\n

Engage!<\/p>\n

Doug<\/p>\n

Image \"Attribution\"<\/a> Some rights reserved<\/a> by toprankonlinemarketing<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Many of you probably know (or know of) Katya Andresen and Katya’s Nonprofit Marketing Blog. She is an expert on marketing, a great speaker (I’ve heard her a couple of times), and a relentless blogger. (She posts almost every day. My hat is off, in awe, to her.) She does not present herself as an […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-710","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-principles","7":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1G6h9-bs","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":1957,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2012\/09\/engagement-principles-from-a-marketer\/","url_meta":{"origin":710,"position":0},"title":"Engagement Principles from a Marketer","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"September 12, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"In The Farmer and the Cowman I posited that arts marketers and community engagement advocates (in my case, probably \"zealots\" would be more appropriate) should be great friends and collaborators. In it I mentioned a series that Trevor O'Donnell (MARKETING THE ARTS TO DEATH) is doing on inexpensive approaches to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Principles"","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/08\/HalOfMirrors-300x251.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5212,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2018\/02\/know-your-communities\/","url_meta":{"origin":710,"position":1},"title":"Know Your Communities","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"February 14, 2018","format":false,"excerpt":"While what\u2019s needed demands, for many organizations, a seismic shift, that is not the fault of community engagement. It\u2019s the fault of our marketing history and practices.","rel":"","context":"In "The Practice of Engagement"","block_context":{"text":"The Practice of Engagement","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/the-practice-of-engagement\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/Know-300x225.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":1903,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2012\/08\/engagement-principles\/","url_meta":{"origin":710,"position":2},"title":"Engagement Principles: Relationships","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"August 29, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"Katya Andresen writes a very good (if somewhat breathless\u2013she has committed to posting every day) blog about nonprofit marketing, cleverly titled Katya's Nonprofit Marketing Blog. In a recent post, Thriving in the social media gift economy, she discussed some important social media concepts, comparing the market economy with the \"gift\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Principles"","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":5082,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2017\/11\/external-connections\/","url_meta":{"origin":710,"position":3},"title":"External Connections","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"November 15, 2017","format":false,"excerpt":"Fundraising, sales, education, and engagement are how we \"connect.\" They are all important to the current and future health of our organizations. Studying them together could prove highly valuable.","rel":"","context":"In "Principles"","block_context":{"text":"Principles","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/category\/principles\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/10\/ExteriorOutlet-300x200.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":2234,"url":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/engage\/2012\/11\/brilliant-advice\/","url_meta":{"origin":710,"position":4},"title":"Brilliant Advice","author":"Doug Borwick","date":"November 17, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"I recently returned from the National Arts Marketing Project Conference in Charlotte where I led a roundtable on mainstreaming engagement (pursuing all organizational systems from a community engagement perspective) and had a book signing. I had been concerned that I might feel like a fish out of water. 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