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7-Figure Small with Brian Clark
Confessions of a Pink-Haired Marketer
Copyblogger FM: Content Marketing, Copywriting, Freelance Writing, and Social Media Marketing
Get More Clients With Smarter Email Marketing
Hack the Entrepreneur
Members Only
Rainmaker.FM Elsewhere
Site Success: Tips for Building Better WordPress Websites
StudioPress FM
Technology Translated
The Digital Entrepreneur
The Missing Link
The Showrunner
The Writer Files: Writing, Productivity, Creativity, and Neuroscience
Youpreneur with Chris Ducker
Zero to Book
Copyblogger FM: Content Marketing, Copywriting, Freelance Writing, and Social Media Marketing
hosted by Darrell Vesterfelt and Tim Stoddart

Content Marketing for Nonprofits

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Previous Episode:The One-Two Punch that Creates the Most Successful Copywriters More Episodes Next Episode:Are You Leaving Money on the Table with Weak Headlines?

All Episodes:

March 30, 2020

The Advantage of Email Marketing, Featuring Nathan Barry of ConvertKit

March 15, 2020

How to Write Content That Resonates

March 9, 2020

How to Conquer Your Fear of Selling, with Leah Neaderthal

March 2, 2020

How to Build Remarkable Products to Grow Your Business, with Ramit Sethi

February 17, 2020

What You Should Talk about on Your Podcast, with Tara McMullin

February 9, 2020

How to Win at Search in 2020

February 3, 2020

How to Turn Pro as a Freelance Writer

January 27, 2020

Marketing Segmentation and Personalization with Brennan Dunn of RightMessage

January 20, 2020

Podcasting Still Matters, with Pat Flynn from Smart Passive Income

January 13, 2020

The New Look Copyblogger in 2020

January 8, 2020

New Year, New Copyblogger

October 23, 2019

The Self-Reliant Entrepreneur with John Jantsch

October 2, 2019

Consistency Will Take You Further

September 25, 2019

The Past, Present, and Future of Online Learning

September 16, 2019

How to Get More of the Right Things Done

September 9, 2019

Why the Future Is Still Email

September 3, 2019

What’s Next for
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August 26, 2019

How Smart, Nimble Companies Are Using Webinars Today

August 19, 2019

The Clarity Method: A Conversation with Tim Brownson

August 12, 2019

Digital Business Trends and the Latest on the Rainmaker Platform

August 5, 2019

4 ‘Naive’ Business Principles for Enduring Success

July 8, 2019

How to Write an Epic Blog Post, Part 3: Polishing and Promotion

July 1, 2019

How to Write an Epic Blog Post, Part 2: Getting It Written

June 24, 2019

How to Write an Epic Blog Post, Part 1: Thinking and Research

June 17, 2019

3 Almost Magical Headline Ingredients for More Traffic, Engagement, and Shares

June 10, 2019

Lessons Any Business Can Learn from an Impressive Influencer Marketing Fail

June 3, 2019

13 Ways of Looking at a Headline

May 27, 2019

The 7 ‘Bad’ Habits of Incredibly Successful People

May 20, 2019

Writers: How to Move from Making a Living to Driving Revenue

May 13, 2019

Choose the Right Frame to Boost the Power of Your Content

May 6, 2019

How Copywriting Teacher Belinda Weaver Reenergized Her Email List for Massive Engagement

April 29, 2019

3 Reasons Why Really Good Writers Sometimes Can’t Find Great Clients

April 22, 2019

3 Slightly Embarrassing Emotions that Drive Effective Copywriting

April 15, 2019

Get 10 Content Marketing Boosters in 20 Minutes

April 8, 2019

Becoming the ‘Chief Empathy Officer’ of Your Copy and Content

April 1, 2019

One of the Most Important Marketing Decisions You’ll Ever Make

March 18, 2019

What Nobody Wants to Hear about Content Marketing

March 11, 2019

Getting Your Big, Scary Projects Finished: A Conversation about Growing Gills

March 4, 2019

When Is It Time to Bring in a Professional Copywriter?

February 25, 2019

Using Content to Systematically Move Prospects Toward a Purchase

February 18, 2019

Understanding the Lifecycles of Your Website, with Pamela Wilson

February 11, 2019

5 Ways to Manage a Stress-Induced Creative Slump

February 4, 2019

3 Ways Strategic Content Can Drive Measurable Business Outcomes

January 28, 2019

The Social Media Platform Every Content Creator Should Be Using in 2019 (Nope, It’s Not Facebook)

January 21, 2019

Real Talk about Generating High-Quality Content

January 14, 2019

A Conversation with Paul Jarvis about Staying a ‘Company of One’

October 29, 2018

The 3 Plus 1 Foundational Elements of Effective Persuasion

October 22, 2018

5 Essential Copywriting Techniques from Copyblogger

October 15, 2018

5 Ways to Recover Your Professional and Creative Confidence

October 8, 2018

5 Stinky Sardine Secrets to Make Your Content More Fascinating

September 24, 2018

The Mindset ‘Hack’ that Frees Your Creativity and Makes You Happier

September 18, 2018

How to Kill Your Sales and Mess up Your Business: Lessons from a Used Car Salesman

September 4, 2018

The 7 Things Writers Need to Make a (Good) Living

August 27, 2018

Are You Making These Social Media Marketing Mistakes?

August 20, 2018

Fix These 7 About Page Mistakes for More Traffic and (Possibly) Better SEO

August 13, 2018

7 Ways to Boost Your Creativity

August 6, 2018

A 10-Step ‘Checklist’ for Your Content Marketing Site

July 30, 2018

The 3 Keys to Publishing Strong Content … Even If You Aren’t a ‘Great’ Writer (Yet)

July 23, 2018

Fix These 3 Points of Failure to Get Better Results for Your Content

July 16, 2018

Big Changes at ConvertKit: A Discussion with Founder Nathan Barry

July 9, 2018

3 Skills to Master to Become a Marketing Badass this Year

June 18, 2018

The Quiet Power of Conversational Copy

June 11, 2018

5 Rules of Thumb to Relieve SEO-Induced Stress

June 4, 2018

How to Use the GDPR to Make Your Business Stronger than Ever

May 14, 2018

‘Good Karma’ Selling that Works: A Conversation with Tim Paige

April 30, 2018

How to Get More Comfortable (and Effective) at Selling

April 23, 2018

Privacy and Permission in the Wake of Cambridge Analytica

April 16, 2018

Seth Godin and How to Create Change

April 9, 2018

Email? Chatbots? Social? How Are We Supposed to Reach People?

March 26, 2018

The Double-Edged Sword that Can Make (or Break) Your Content

March 19, 2018

Make More Progress by Getting (Gently) Out of Your Comfort Zone

March 12, 2018

Are You Doing Content Marketing Wrong?

March 5, 2018

Storytelling for Modern Content Marketing (Part 2 of 2)

February 26, 2018

Storytelling for Modern Content Marketing (Part 1 of 2)

February 19, 2018

10 Quality Factors Search Engines Need to See on Your Site

February 12, 2018

A Simple Content Strategy to Make Your Site Massively More Useful

February 5, 2018

How to Avoid a Heartbreaking Business Failure

January 29, 2018

Hey Writers: Let’s Get You Paid What You’re Worth

January 15, 2018

5 Keys to Making Your Content More Shareable

December 18, 2017

3 Observations on Trends (but not Predictions) for 2018

December 11, 2017

3 Tips Now to Build a Strong Foundation in 2018

December 4, 2017

The 3 Success Factors that Help Writers Earn a Great Living

November 27, 2017

How to Recognize a Great Content Idea

November 20, 2017

How to Cultivate a More Meaningful Gratitude Practice

November 13, 2017

Advice for Poets, Advice for Killers

October 30, 2017

Face Your Business Fears on Halloween Week

October 23, 2017

How to Make Smarter Decisions about Your Website

October 2, 2017

A Series of Unfortunate Content Events

September 18, 2017

The Evolution of a Successful Copywriter

August 28, 2017

7 Ways to Improve Your Marketing by Harnessing the Power of Evil

August 14, 2017

Smart Questions from our Brilliant Audience

August 7, 2017

Does the Web Have Enough Patience for Your In-Depth Content?

July 31, 2017

How to Write (Much Better) Blog Comments

July 17, 2017

Which Works Better: Positive or Negative Content?

July 10, 2017

How to Attract the Exact Customers You Want

July 3, 2017

How to Create Stability and Success as an Artist

June 19, 2017

Two Powerful Resources for Life-Changing Growth

June 12, 2017

How to Turn All that Marketing Advice into Action

June 5, 2017

How to Develop a Compelling Marketing Idea in 4 Steps

May 30, 2017

Getting Over the Fear of Selling

May 22, 2017

Talking Community and Digital Business with Tara Gentile

May 15, 2017

Plagiarism, Self-Deception, Bad Sandwiches, and Other Interesting Disasters

May 1, 2017

Professional Writers: Find Out How to Get Certified by Copyblogger

April 17, 2017

The Painful Core Lesson Taught by 3 Astonishing Big-Brand Fails

April 3, 2017

5 Mindset Habits that Actually Work

March 27, 2017

On Grammar, Usage, and Not Being a Great Big Jerk

March 20, 2017

Creative Strategies for Content Writers

March 13, 2017

A New Ultra-Easy Resource for Creating Excellent WordPress Sites

February 20, 2017

Thriving Freelancers and Clients from Hell

February 13, 2017

Politics, Content Marketing, and the 2017 Super Bowl Ads

February 6, 2017

Copyblogger Book Club: Winning the Story Wars

January 23, 2017

3 Content Marketing Strategy Fails (and How to Fix Them)

January 9, 2017

The 2017 Content Excellence Challenge: Your January Assignments

December 19, 2016

Bad Writing Advice: The ‘Post Truth’ Episode

December 12, 2016

Get Ready Now for a Creative and Productive 2017

December 5, 2016

The 4 Pillars Every Online Business Is Built On

November 28, 2016

Orbit Media’s Latest Survey of 1000 Bloggers

November 14, 2016

Have You Already Missed the Podcasting Gold Rush?

November 7, 2016

Getting More Traffic, Links, and Shares to Your Content

October 31, 2016

5 Quick Wins for Content Marketers

October 24, 2016

Announcing: An Intriguing New Tool for Collaborative Content

October 17, 2016

A New Book to Make Content Marketing Easier

October 10, 2016

Behind the Scenes at Copyblogger: Our New Email Approach

October 3, 2016

The ‘Obligatory’ Structure of Effective Content

September 26, 2016

7 Powerful Content Strategies Borrowed from Advertising Masters

September 15, 2016

How to Handle Demographic and Psychographic Segmentation (without Looking Like an Idiot)

September 8, 2016

Ethics, Professionalism, and Good Manners for Content Marketers

September 1, 2016

3 Questions that Can Haunt Creative Professionals

August 25, 2016

How to Give and Get Exceptional Testimonials, Part Two

August 18, 2016

How to Give and Get Exceptional Testimonials, Part One

August 11, 2016

Are You Leaving Money on the Table with Weak Headlines?

August 4, 2016

Content Marketing for Nonprofits

July 28, 2016

The One-Two Punch that Creates the Most Successful Copywriters

July 21, 2016

Pokémon Go: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly

July 14, 2016

5 Suggestions When You’re Writing About Controversy

July 7, 2016

Announcing: A Breakthrough Educational Collaboration between Copyblogger and U.C. Davis

June 30, 2016

How to Break Past the #1 Conversion Killer

June 23, 2016

The New Age of Marketing Automation: Powerful, Simple, Cost-Effective

June 16, 2016

How to Make a (Really Good) Living as a Freelance Writer

June 9, 2016

Self-Publishing, Side Hustles, and Doing It All: A Conversation with Linda Formichelli

June 2, 2016

A Process for Content Marketing Success

May 26, 2016

Content Marketing Best Practices: Getting Email Opt-Ins

May 19, 2016

Behind the Scenes: Adventures in Advertising

May 12, 2016

Trump, Apple, and Facebook Advertising: Content Marketing News for May, 2016

May 5, 2016

Sally Hogshead and the Art of Fascination

April 28, 2016

Behind the Scenes at the Rainmaker Digital Company Meeting!

April 14, 2016

Social Media News, Social Media Constants

April 7, 2016

Strategies for B2B Podcasting, with Clark Buckner

March 31, 2016

Content Marketing Success Stories: Fitness Powerhouse Examine.com

March 24, 2016

Behind the Scenes: An Inside Look at the Rainmaker FM Redesign

March 17, 2016

Our Latest Advice and Resources for Digital Business Owners

March 10, 2016

Should Content Publishers Adopt Google’s New AMP?

March 3, 2016

7 Ways to Get Smarter with Social Media Listening

February 25, 2016

Content Marketing Shout-Out: Orbit Media and Andy Crestodina

February 18, 2016

The Tactic You Should Steal from Copyblogger

February 11, 2016

Content Marketing News for February, 2016

February 4, 2016

Email Marketing: The Misunderstood Powerhouse

January 28, 2016

The Secret Weapon Behind Great Websites: The Role of the Content Editor

January 21, 2016

Behind the Scenes: The Relaunch and Re-Imagining of Copyblogger.com

January 14, 2016

Trends and Predictions for Digital Commerce: A Conversation with Brian Clark

January 7, 2016

2016 Content Marketing Resolutions

December 28, 2015

The End of The Lede, The Beginning of Copyblogger FM

November 10, 2015

Constraints Can Be Blessings (Plus 2 Other Essential Lessons Jerod Re-Learned This Week)

November 3, 2015

Long or Short? The Content Length Question Answered, Once and For All

October 27, 2015

The Simple Publishing Hack That Gives Old Content New Life (Plus 3 More Tips)

October 20, 2015

The Surprising Truth about Earning a Profit from Your Content

October 13, 2015

How to Move Your Audience From Infatuation to Love

October 6, 2015

3 Things Your Audience Wants You to Know about Useful Content

September 29, 2015

Revisiting Authenticity: What It Is, What It’s Not, and Why It Matters

September 22, 2015

Publishing Lessons from Dave Pell, the Most Fascinating Email Newsletter Writer in the Business

September 15, 2015

Why Content Creators Should Kiss Their Programmers

September 8, 2015

Finally — A Podcast about the Superiority of Written Content

September 1, 2015

Hot Seat: Grilling Jerod on Using Audio Content to Seed a Content Arsenal

August 25, 2015

How to Optimize Your Headlines for Content Discovery with Vinegar (Before You Die of Cholera)

August 18, 2015

5 Stories That Explain Jerod Morris (Plus One Massive Marketing Lesson)

August 11, 2015

Lede Potpourri: A Big Idea, Talking About Demian Behind His Back, and Lessons from #PM15

August 4, 2015

How to Attend an Industry Conference Like a Boss

July 28, 2015

Getting the Most Out of a Conference When You’re There to Promote, Part 1

July 21, 2015

How Much Does the Modern Content Marketer Need to Know About SEO?

July 14, 2015

Are Podcasters Digitally Sharecropping Without Realizing It?

July 7, 2015

Celebrating Our 101st Episode (with a Special Guest Interviewer)

June 30, 2015

Why The Phrase ‘Leaders Are Readers’ Should Die

June 23, 2015

Why You Should Think Outside the Box About Online Courses

June 16, 2015

The Proper (and Safe) Way to Republish Old Articles

June 9, 2015

How to Grow an Audience on LinkedIn by Repurposing Content

June 2, 2015

Key Takeaways from Three-and-a-Half Hours with Henry Rollins

May 27, 2015

Rapid-Fire Takeaways from Authority Rainmaker

May 19, 2015

The Proper Way to Grow an Audience on Medium

May 12, 2015

The Introvert’s Guide to Launching a Successful Podcast

May 5, 2015

The One Quality All Popular Podcasts Share

April 28, 2015

Proof That Grit Is the Only Way to Reach Your Potential

April 21, 2015

Do We Celebrate Failure Too Much?

April 14, 2015

Choose Yourself Part 2: James Altucher Fights Back

April 7, 2015

Should We Fear Content Shock? (Or Could It Actually Be a Good Thing?)

March 31, 2015

Should You Really ‘Walk in the Direction of Your Fear’?

March 24, 2015

Is ‘Choose Yourself’ Good Advice … or New-Age Phooey?

March 17, 2015

Is Authority Earned or Bestowed?

March 3, 2015

Dan Pink on How to Succeed in the New Era of Selling

February 24, 2015

Here’s How to Answer the Most Important Question in Life (and Make a Living from It)

February 17, 2015

Sally Hogshead on How You Can Unlock Your Natural Ability to Fascinate

February 10, 2015

How to Learn from Your Successes

January 27, 2015

How to Learn From Your Mistakes

January 13, 2015

Lessons Learned from Conducting Two Monster Audience Surveys

December 16, 2014

Adaptive Content: A Trend to Pay Attention to in 2015

December 2, 2014

The Most Important Lessons You Should Have Learned in 2014

November 18, 2014

How We Built Our Careers Online (And What You Can Learn From It)

November 4, 2014

Interview with Brian Clark: How Customer Experience Maps Help You Develop a Smarter Content Strategy

October 21, 2014

How Empathy Maps Help You Speak Directly to the Hearts of Your Audience

October 7, 2014

How to Ignite a Feeling in Your Audience

September 23, 2014

Are You Overlooking This Cornerstone of a Smart Content Strategy?

June 26, 2014

How to Curate Knowledge, Turn it Into Wisdom, and Build Your Audience

June 19, 2014

How Successful Writers Curate Ideas

June 13, 2014

The 5 W’s of Link Curation

June 6, 2014

Why You Should Curate Content (And How to Do It Right)

May 30, 2014

How Freaks and Misfits Can Succeed in Business: A Conversation with Chris Brogan

May 23, 2014

The 2 Reasons People Don’t Click on Your Buttons … And How to Overcome Them

May 16, 2014

Chase Customers, Not Clicks

May 9, 2014

How to Be Authentic

May 2, 2014

How to Close With Style

April 25, 2014

The Best of Seth Godin on Copyblogger

April 17, 2014

How to Choose Arresting Images for Your Blog Posts (And Why You Should)

April 11, 2014

Removing Blog Comments: The View So Far

April 4, 2014

How to Use Internal Cliffhangers

March 28, 2014

Hangout Hot Seat with Brian Clark

March 21, 2014

How to Tell a Seductive Story

March 14, 2014

How to Create Exquisite Subheads

March 7, 2014

How to Write Killer Bullet Points

February 28, 2014

How to Write Damn Good Sentences

February 21, 2014

How to Use Persuasive Words

February 14, 2014

Michael Stelzner on Capturing Emails and Committing to Quality

February 7, 2014

How to Nail Your Opening

January 24, 2014

How to Write a Magnetic Headline (in Under 15 Minutes)

May 18, 2012

Seth Godin on When You Should Start Marketing Your Product, Service, or Idea

May 11, 2012

How to Attract an Audience by Integrating Content, Social, and Search

March 30, 2012

Why You Should Build an Audience Before You Build a Business

March 16, 2012

How Chris Brogan Built His Content Platform

March 9, 2012

Jay Baer on How to Turn Interested Prospects into Lifelong Customers

March 2, 2012

A 30-Minute Copywriting Course from a Master of the Craft

February 24, 2012

The Path to a Legendary Copywriting Career

February 17, 2012

5 Tips for Affiliate Marketing Beginners

February 10, 2012

Why Not Sell Physical Stuff With Digital Media?

February 3, 2012

Whether You Call it Blogging or Not, Online Content Still Rules

January 27, 2012

Answers to the 3 Biggest Email Marketing Questions We Get

January 20, 2012

How to Newsjack Your Way to Free Media Exposure with David Meerman Scott

January 13, 2012

Steven Pressfield and the War of Work

November 18, 2011

The Strategy Behind the Copyblogger Redesign

November 11, 2011

7 Ways to Create an Email Marketing "Snowball Effect"

November 4, 2011

Warning: If You're Not a Privacy Nut, You're Losing Sales

October 28, 2011

The 3 Kinds of Writing That Builds a Business

October 21, 2011

The Art of Seductive Writing: A Conversation with Robert Greene

October 7, 2011

Why Content Marketing Doesn't Suck

September 30, 2011

Are You Weird Enough to Succeed at Content Marketing?

September 23, 2011

What Works With SEO Right Now and Why No One Does What You Want

September 16, 2011

Are You Flushing Your Marketing Down the Social Media Toilet?

September 11, 2011

Seth Godin on Blogging, Business Books, and Creating Content that Matters

September 2, 2011

The Return of Copyblogger Radio …

June 10, 2011

Answered: Your Most Burning Content Marketing Questions

June 3, 2011

How to Get All the Clients and Customers You Can Handle

May 20, 2011

Is Content Marketing Worth the Work?

May 13, 2011

How to Write Nearly Undeletable Emails

May 6, 2011

Is the Online Gold Rush Over?

April 22, 2011

The Art of Enchanting Online Marketing with Guy Kawasaki

April 15, 2011

The Market for Something to Believe in is Infinite: An Interview with Hugh MacLeod

April 8, 2011

How to Constantly Create Compelling Content

March 25, 2011

The Content Marketing Question You Need to Answer … Now

March 18, 2011

Good SEO is Simple. Really.

March 4, 2011

Did Social Media Kill the Marketing Star?

February 25, 2011

How to Write (and Execute) a Simple but Powerful Business Plan

February 17, 2011

How to Kick Groupon to the Curb and Become a Local Hero

February 3, 2011

Convert … Or Die

January 27, 2011

Attention: Is Your Headline Getting Any?

January 20, 2011

How to Craft Landing Pages that Work

January 13, 2011

Why Every Smart Business is in the Media Business

January 5, 2011

2011 Content Marketing Predictions

December 15, 2010

Tim Ferriss on How to Reinvent Yourself with Blog Marketing

December 8, 2010

The 6 Elements of an Influential Web Experience

December 1, 2010

Your Staggeringly Unfair Marketing Advantage

November 17, 2010

How to Get Some Action

November 10, 2010

The Foundation of All Marketing that Works

November 3, 2010

Introducing Copyblogger Radio

August 4, 2016

Content Marketing for Nonprofits

Are the rules of content marketing different for nonprofits? We talk with Help One Now founder Chris Marlow to find out.

Content marketing has exploded in traditional for-profit companies, but nonprofits have different needs and agendas.

In this 29-minute episode, Chris Marlow and I talk about:

  • The #1 mistake most nonprofits make with their content — and what to do instead
  • How a charitable organization can get its message through in an environment of “constant crisis”
  • Getting your messages opened and building relationships for the long term (Chris has great tips for for-profit businesses as well on this)
  • Thoughts on how we as individuals — as well as our companies — can make the world a better place

Listen to Copyblogger FM: Content Marketing, Copywriting, Freelance Writing, and Social Media Marketing below ...

Content Marketing for NonprofitsSonia Simone
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The Show Notes

  • More on Chris Marlow and Help One Now
  • Help One Now’s Ten Dollar Tribe
  • Chris’s book, Doing Good is Simple
  • Chris’s TEDX talk: What if Doing Good Was Simple?
  • I’m always happy to see your questions or your thoughts on Twitter @soniasimone!

The Transcript

Content Marketing for Nonprofits

Jerod Morris: Hey, Jerod Morris here. If you know anything about Rainmaker Digital and Copyblogger, you may know that we produce incredible live events. Some would say that we produce incredible live events as an excuse to throw great parties, but that’s another story. We’ve got another one coming up this October in Denver, it’s called Digital Commerce Summit. It is entirely focused on giving you the smartest ways to create and sell digital products and services.

You can find out more at Rainmaker.FM/summit. That’s Rainmaker.FM/summit. We’ll be talking about Digital Commerce Summit in more detail as it gets closer, but for now I’d like to let a few attendees from our past events speak for us.

Attendee 1: For me, it’s just hearing from the experts. This is my first industry event, so it’s awesome to learn new stuff and also get confirmation that we’re not doing it completely wrong where I work.

Attendee 2: The best part of the conference, for me, is being able to mingle with people and realize that you have connections with everyone here. It feels like LinkedIn live. I also love the parties after each day, being able to talk to the speakers, talk to other people who are here for the first time, people who have been here before.

Attendee 3: I think the best part of the conference, for me, is understanding how I can service my customers a little more easily. Seeing all the different facets and components of various enterprises then helps me pick the best tools.

Jerod Morris: Hey, we agree. One of the biggest reasons we host the conference every year is so that we can learn how to service our customers — people like you — more easily. Here are just a few more words from folks who have come to our past live events.

Attendee 4: It’s really fun. I think it’s a great mix of beginner information and advanced information. I’m really learning a lot and having a lot of fun.

Attendee 5: The conference is great, especially because it’s a single-track conference where you don’t get distracted by “Which session should I go to?” And, “Am I missing something?”

Attendee 6: The training and everything — the speakers have been awesome — but I think the coolest aspect for me has been connecting with those people who are putting it on and the other attendees.

Jerod Morris: That’s it for now. There’s a lot more to come on Digital Commerce Summit. I really hope to see you there in October. Again, to get all the details and the very best deal on tickets, head over to Rainmaker.FM/summit. That’s Rainmaker.FM/summit.

Sonia Simone: Hey there, it is so good to see you again. Welcome back to Copyblogger FM, the content marketing podcast. Copyblogger FM is about emerging content marketing trends, interesting disasters, and enduring best practices, along with the occasional rant. My name is Sonia Simone, I’m the Chief Content Officer for Rainmaker Digital. I hang out with the folks who do the heavy lifting over on the Copyblogger blog. You can always get extra links, extra resources, and additional notes in the show notes. You can find those anytime at Copyblogger.FM, along with the complete archive for the series.

I’m excited because for a long time now I’ve been trying to snag Chris Marlow. Chris founded a non-profit organization called Help One Now. We were able to catch up today. He’s a busy guy. I’m a busy gal. We’re going to be talking about Chris’ marketing and how he communicates with the nonprofit audience. We don’t talk about that a lot here at Copyblogger, but I know a significant number of you are doing communication for nonprofits. We’re also going to talk about a new book that he has out, which is really powerful. I think people will get a lot out of it.

Chris, hello. It’s so good to talk to you.

Chris Marlow: Hey Sonia, it’s so good to be here. I’m super excited to be on your podcast and be able to connect with your audience. I love talking about nonprofit communications because it’s so important and it can make such an impact in the world.

Sonia Simone: It really can. Let’s start with just letting people know — I mentioned your organization is called Help One Now. When I heard Chris speak, I was really moved by how he approaches his mission. I became a regular donor. If anybody listening to the call thinks that would be cool, you can certainly do that. What does Help One Now do? What kind of organization is it?

Chris Marlow: Awesome. Thank you so much for asking. Help One Now basically does three key scenarios. One is we want to impact high-capacity local leaders. We’re trying to source leaders all over the world who are doing amazing work in their communities and we want to come behind them and help them accomplish their dreams. We do that in order to care for kids who have been orphaned, abandoned, or trafficked.

Then we do what we call community development, community transformation work. It’s all the big-picture infrastructure stuff that we all deal with all over the world: clean water, education, healthcare, and job creation. The goal, basically, is to make sure folks are empowered to be able to care for themselves and not have to rely on aid forever.

The #1 Mistake Nonprofits Make with their Content — and What to Do instead

Sonia Simone: Yeah, that’s excellent. It’s great work. It really gets to the hands of people and really helps them out. Let’s talk about a little bit — because we had a really good conversation. Chris and I met at Jeff Goins’ event, Tribes. We had a really good talk about what nonprofit communication usually looks like when we get the newsletters from the charities that we’ve signed up for or donated for. The usual model for nonprofit content marketing is essentially, “Let’s make our potential donors feel really guilty.”

Chris Marlow: Yeah.

Sonia Simone: “We’re going to just squeeze all the guilt dollars out of these people that we can.” You know, I think that we talked about it. To some, degree it works.

Chris Marlow: It does work.

Sonia Simone: It sure works. Let’s talk about your perspective on that and why that’s not an approach that you actually recommend.

Chris Marlow: Yeah, it’s so interesting. There are two things. Folks in the nonprofit world, one, we really care about the issues that we’re trying to solve. Part of the challenge in any nonprofit is you’re typically giving away most of your proceeds. There’s a culture in so many nonprofits — it’s this desperation. It’s this never-ending, “We have to get more money, get more money, get more money.” It’s a machine that doesn’t stop.

When I started Help One Now in 2009, the economy was falling apart. I was living in Austin, Texas. I spent a year doing research. I’m like, “What nonprofits are communicating really well in making their donor base feel really good about being a part of the nonprofit?” Guilt is one of those things that I don’t think works long term. If you’re guilting people to give money, they’re going to stop giving money and being a part of the organization, being part of your tribe. Eventually you’re going to have to go out and guilt more people because you’re going to have to replace people who are tired of being guilt-ridden with the way you communicate.

What if we just communicated in a way where we invited people into the story and they were a part of this thing — short-term or long-term — and they felt super amazing about being a part of doing good, doing it well, and doing it together? What if we just stayed away from the guilt?

What we try to do — and this is important — we don’t want to hide from the realities of the world. There are certain realities that are harsh and hard to deal with. For the most part, we want our stories to be based on hope, and impact, and transformation. Then, occasionally, we’ll have to deal with some of the hard things. I think in our current world especially, everything seems so hard and so much complexity. When people hear from Help One Now, I want them to be excited to read it because they’re going to hear a story that’s going to give them fuel to take it another day and make another impact.

How a Charitable Organization Can Get Its Message Through in an Environment of “Constant Crisis”

Sonia Simone: Yeah, I think that’s kind of core to your organization. We’re going to talk about — we can actually just talk about it right now.

Chris Marlow: All right, go ahead.

Sonia Simone: You work on global extreme poverty.

Chris Marlow: Correct, yes.

Sonia Simone: This is an issue among many that we’re looking at right now that makes people feel completely hopeless. In your book — we’ll talk about your book in little bit – I’ve heard you share and I’ve read in your books some stories about situations that were overwhelming because they were so painful. That feeling of helplessness is overwhelming. We were talking before we started recording — it is worse now.

Chris Marlow: Yep.

Sonia Simone: We can really get into this, but people feel overwhelmed. You were mentioning, right now, basically anybody who’s on Facebook and paying attention to the world and the situations. What’s going on in Turkey. What’s going on in the United States. What’s going on with even something like Brexit. People feel completely helpless and paralyzed. How does a nonprofit communicate when everything’s an emergency all the time and everybody is actually quickly going numb?

Chris Marlow: Yeah, it’s a great question. I think every nonprofit leader is basically spending time trying to process, “What does it mean to communicate in an age where every single day there’s another emergency, there’s another tragedy, there’s another issue?” It’s almost driving — we’re digging a hole of hopelessness, and we’re digging deeper and deeper.

You know this as well as anyone, the media only tells one side of the story. There’s all this amazing work being done all over the world, in our back yard. I just got back from Uganda and Ethiopia. To see the hope and the amazing impact that people are making — but those stories never make it on the news.

Chris Marlow: I think there are a few things. At Help One Now, we try to invite people into a story that will really help them feel good about who they are and would want to continue to be a part of the story. We also want to create on ramps and off ramps. Here’s one thing that nonprofits do — it’s really hard. “If I sponsor this child, is it a forever thing or is it not?” How do we communicate clearly, “Hey, there’s so much chaos going into the world, but here’s a way you can make an impact and here’s what we expect of you.”

Often times, in nonprofit spaces, we don’t tell people what to expect. People want to be involved and they want to bring hope and they want to fight all the negativity, but they also need a clear line of sight. “What do you want from me?” Then one thing they’re always asking is, “Will you be transparent? Will you tell me — is it working, is it not working? I at least want to have access to the information.”

We’re fans of having fun. There’s so much negativity in our world. I just spent two weeks — just had a blast with real people who are living real lives in a much better place because folks are jumping in, donating, sponsoring a child, or being part of the 10 Dollar Tribe. Throwing Garage Sale 4 Orphan parties. Donating out of their budget. It is making a huge impact.

I think the most important thing as we think through the layers of communication, is for the listener to really have a disciplined approach to making sure — as we listen to the national news, let’s also make sure we have news feeds that are more authentic and down to the ground. What we’re hearing about hope and transformation — because it is happening — we’re just never going to hear it in the mainstream.

Sonia Simone: Yeah, I agree. You touched on something, and I talk about this a lot with marketing and communication and content. People will associate you with what you communicate, and they will associate with you a certain feeling. If you create communication content that makes people feel positive, then they will open your next email. If you are constantly making people feel — now, usually when I talk about this it’s in the context of a pitch. I’m pitching you on an ebook. I’m pitching you on a course. I’m pitching you on a $10,000 mastermind, whatever it is. If all I do is pitch, pitch, pitch, eventually you associate seeing my name in the email with being kind of irritated, and you stop opening.

In your world, it’s the same equation. I have my organizations I donate to, and some of them I always open and some of them I don’t, because some of them it’s always like, “I can’t deal with that today. I just can’t.”

Chris Marlow: The real question is, do you open Help One Now? That’s really what — no, I’m just kidding.

You’re totally right though, think about it. Anyone who’s communicating, the goal is to get people to click. There’s so much information. If folks see Help One Now in their subject line, or in Twitter, in social media, if we’re not creating content that’s going to want them to be a part of reading and engaging the content and sharing the content then we’re in trouble, because basically the end-user now gets to choose how or if they even pay attention to us.

Our job is to make sure folks who are already part of Help One Now’s tribe — they’re donating, they’re advocating, they’re moving the mission forward — when they see Help One Now they want to know about it and they want to engage it. Then for new folks who we’re inviting into the story, for them to realize “Wait a minute, this is something that actually matters. It’s hope-based. They deal with the reality. I want to be a part of this because if I’m a part of this, my life will also be better.”

I think the other thing, Sonia, here’s where a lot of non-profits really fail. Every time they send something out they’re asking for money. That’s a big mistake. Even personally, I don’t want anyone to think when they see Chris Marlow, that I’m going to ask them for money. I hardly ever ask people for money in day-to-day conversations. I’m being very strategic. Because if you become known as someone who’s always asking for something, eventually people aren’t going to want to hang out with you. They’re not going to do lunch with you. They’re definitely not going to do coffee with you. They’ll begin to ignore you. It’s really your own fault.

Sonia Simone: Yeah, exactly. I think that’s so smart, that understanding of, “it’s story-based.” I think that communication is very powerful. I think you guys do an awesome job of helping people see — and the book is also really great for this — helping people see that there’s the material needs which are really important, but then there’s just that message of, “You’re not alone, person having an issue on this planet. There are other people who care about what’s going on.” Knowing that is really important.

I liked what you said about on ramps and off ramps. It seems to me like that’s the theme of your book: small actions can roll up to big results. Don’t be afraid. I teach this all the time about everything — from your fitness to your business to everything else. Just that message — small actions can roll up to big results — is really powerful and it helps us get out of that paralysis of gloom that is always a factor. And boy, 2016 is giving it to us in spades.

Chris Marlow: It is. 2016 is a year that, when it’s over, we’ll probably be glad it’s over. Especially here in the United States with the Presidential elections. I was just listening to Rio and all the different issues for the Olympics — even the Olympics are having these problems. The one thing that could bring hope to the world this year, and excitement and a little entertainment, is having issues.

I think what people who are donating to charities don’t sometimes know is: What is the win? What are we trying to do? We’re trying to help our tribe understand, “Here’s what the win is. You don’t have to solve all the world’s problems, you don’t have to fix everything. You can go enjoy your normal life, whatever that is. But when you participate in this charity, in this cause, in this community, in this movement — if we all do small powerful, intentional acts, it can create massive change and massive momentum to see real live, some change.”

I was just in Ethiopia last week with our family empowerment program. Over a hundred families who, instead of having their kids orphaned and living in an institutional orphanage, for a thousand dollars they go through this year-long program. Basically, their entire family, by the end of that year, is sustained. They have a place to live. They have jobs. They can provide for themselves. When fifteen or twenty or thirty people come together and give to that one family, it creates a long-term impact in that community. What’s great is that donors get to see the entire process.

We can’t change everything, but what we can’t do is get paralyzed by the issues being too big. I talk about this in the book a little bit. There are so many issues. The problems are big. They’re so complicated, but we can’t let that paralyze us. Instead we have to start small, follow our passions, use our gifts and build relationships. The one thing where I think a lot of donors struggle is they have to stick with their causes through the ups and the downs. Causes aren’t perfect, we make mistakes. But man, when donors stick with us long term, it creates even a greater impact. When people see the transformation, then I think it really helps everyone involved.

Sonia Simone: Yeah, I like that a lot. Let’s talk a little bit about if you have somebody, comes up to you at a conference or an event or something, they’re trying to do a better job of their non-profit communication. They’re trying to do a better job reaching their people, raise more money for the organization, and also create better loyalty with the donors, and maybe more word of mouth with the donors. What are some steps that you would tell those people, “Okay, I want you to go back to your office and I want you to do these one or two things?”

Chris Marlow: Yeah, that’s good. I love it, too, because I think if nonprofit leaders create better cultures then people want to be more involved, and they’d be more open in the beginning. It’s actually really important. We have some Major League Baseball players involved. It’s pretty interesting when you begin to engage in folks of wealth and of fame. They get asked all the time. We do the whole opposite approach. We build a relationship and invite them into a story and just show them ways that they can make an impact and they can be involved. We allow them to pick and choose their own path. Some of them have been thoroughly involved and given significant funds. Others have gotten involved a little bit. We don’t make either one feel guilty.

I think one of the things that we’re constantly doing, and what I would encourage everyone to do, is invite people into a story where you have created a pathway for them to find their own way. Now, don’t get me wrong, one of my jobs is to ask for money. My job as the leaders of a nonprofit is to make sure it’s funded. I have clear conversations. I make clear asks, but the thing that’s beautiful is if people can’t be involved, it’s no big deal. It’s not like it’s awkward when I see them next.

A lot of it is creating this culture where people feel comfortable even saying no, because eventually if they’re sticking around you long enough, there’s going to come a moment where they say yes. Or they help someone else get involved. Or where they just respect you enough to say, “Man, I really want to be a part of that.”

I think nonprofit leaders — we’re so focused on the urgent, this quarter, this need — that we’re not creating a culture where people have time to process and get involved. Sometimes we’re on level eight, and our donors are on level one. We’re full steam ahead and they’re like, “What is going on? I had no clue this issue was happening.” We want them to immediately go from one to eight. We need to help them go from one to two to three, then some of them will actually be fully committed long term, and it’s powerful.

Sonia Simone: The thing is, it applies to so many different kinds of organizations too, it’s actually not just charities and nonprofits. That applies in a lot of ways.

I don’t want to not talk about the book, because you have a new book out, which is awesome. I’m reading it. It’s very powerful. It has a strong Christian perspective, that’s the framework, that’s the lens. Would you recommend it to people who don’t come from that tradition, they’re not a Christian? Do you think that it’s something that would benefit people who don’t come from the same tradition you do?

Chris Marlow: Yeah, I think so. At Help One Now in general, we have so many people involved. I was a pastor for over a decade, so a lot of my personal faith is important to my professional side of my life. I was pastoring when I met a starving orphan in a gas station in Zimbabwe. One of the things I challenged was, “I need this to be an authentic story where the reader can follow with me in the transformation that I’ve had.” But also we have so many people involved in Help One Now. We have people who are outside of the Christian faith. They don’t have any faith at all. They’re conservative, they’re liberals. I love that I can bring unity to the world. “For this one issue we can all agree that we need to care for people in need. Here’s how.”

I think most folks will — if they’re open-minded and they can understand that the faith thing is I’m not preaching to them. I’m not trying to convert. I’m just bringing people into my story. Then for those who are of faith, maybe helping them realize the calling that we have as a Christian faith. I think most folks would be okay with it because I’m mostly focused on stories and practical ways to make a difference.

Sonia Simone: Yeah. There are powerful stories. I admire that about you so much, because you’ve put yourself in the path of all of these intense stories, many of which I know you did not choose. You didn’t come from a fairy tale upbringing.

Chris Marlow: No.

Sonia Simone: Yeah, that’s a very powerful part of who you are, I think, that you come into contact with these stories and you share them with us.

Thoughts on How We As Individuals — As Well As Our Companies — Can Make the World a Better Place

Sonia Simone: What would you say about the book? I know what I think the theme of your book is, but what would you say the theme of your book is, and how could somebody even before they pick it up, go out and take that into the world? Not necessarily as a marketer, just as a person.

Chris Marlow: Yeah. When I began to write the book I had three goals. I wanted people to be able to read the book in two hours. I wanted them to laugh, I wanted them to cry. And I wanted them to close the book saying, “You know what? I can make a significant difference in the world and I don’t have to change everything.”

Often when people think about making a difference it’s like, “Do I need to move somewhere or do I need to change all my habits?” There’s such a guilt-driven culture often when it comes to issues of doing good and justice. I wanted to create a book where people felt they knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that they’re worth a lot. Every individual is worth a lot, and they can make a big difference in the world.

Whether you’re of Christian faith, outside the faith, whether you’re famous or you’re the most normal person in the world like I was. I literally was just a normal person trying to raise my family. Trying to do my job. We started a nonprofit, and it is what it is now. I wanted people to feel unstuck, and that they weren’t paralyzed, and they can spend their moments in life making the world better, but in a way with grace and hope.

Sonia Simone: Yeah. You have such wonderful examples of people doing little things. Especially to me, doing little things within a community so that your one little action — but that little action gets added to … Whether your community is your Twitter community — a lot of us are so online — or the people you go to church with, or your kid’s soccer team, whatever it is. If you can pull people together to take focused action together, actually it’s amazing how quickly that can add up into something really meaningful.

Chris Marlow: Yeah, it’s amazing how far dollars will go around the world. One of the things we were trying to figure out is, often giving was done in such a private nature and people weren’t talking about what they were doing. “We give to this nonprofit or to this charity or to this church.” We wanted to make giving and making an impact a very community-driven reality.

Folks want to be together. We’re all really busy, so we hardly have time for even sometimes for community, for family. How do we integrate giving and community and making an impact? Something as little as throwing a Garage Sale party with your family or friends. It’s definitely a little bit of work to throw a Garage Sale party, but you get to do it together. We’ve rescued 60 kids from trafficking in Haiti all because 40 or 50 different families threw a Garage Sale party and launched this project in Haiti that helped rescue kids from trafficking.

None of that money came out of the normal budget. It was an action step that moms and dads and kids did together. Church small groups did together. All sorts of different people joined this movement, took small steps, and today over 60 kids are rescued because of that small but powerful step that they made.

Sonia Simone: Yeah, it’s funny because I actually had a note here about talking about contribution. In our culture a lot of people don’t think it’s right to talk about your contributions. You’re supposed to make a charity contribution and then not say anything about it because you’re bragging and you’re only doing it to make yourself feel better. Personally I’m like, “Go for it.” If making a big charity contribution makes you feel better about yourself and you brag on it, hey that’s awesome. You still did a lot of good.

Chris Marlow: Yep. Please, tell everyone.

Sonia Simone: Yeah, because your contribution might inspire somebody else to say, “Oh, I want to do that too.”

Chris Marlow: Speaking of that, it’s amazing how many people don’t know where they can help. It’s so important for Help One Now for our donors, our tribe if you will, for them to share their experience with other people because that’s how — it’s one-for-one marketing. We don’t have to spend as much money in marketing. We can spend more money on making an impact when our tribe is sharing.

We give them tools to share. They can figure out how much they want to share. We have folks who give significant money that never talk about it. We have folks who are always talking about it. Again, it’s back to letting donors pick what they feel is good for them. But one thing we always say, “Hey, please talk about Help One Now on your socials.” It does truly help the nonprofit. Another thing it does is it does bring hope to the world if we’ve given them powerful content that they can use to share with people that they’re connected to. It’s a huge part of what we do.

Sonia Simone: Yeah. It just strikes me. What are we? Six billion on the planet now, coming on seven?

Chris Marlow: Yep.

Sonia Simone: Working together, we really could fix the whole thing. We could just fix the whole thing.

Chris Marlow: Yes.

Sonia Simone: If we could just get out of this feeling of helplessness and isolation. It’s do-able. I think we can see it from here, but it’s just getting people to see that we can see it from here.

Chris Marlow: I was just in East Africa, and we had some well-known people with us and because of some issues they had to bring two former Navy Seals. It was interesting with these Navy Seals. The first day or two they were normal, stand-offish, to themselves — just doing their job. By day three, as they were with us meeting kids, meeting families, seeing the impact — you begin to see the humanity come back to them.

I don’t understand that world, it’s not my world. The powerful thing about it is they see so much of the negative in the world. In just two days being around hope-filled communities, one of them as we were leaving said, “You’ve restored my hope in humanity. That we can actually care for one another.” This guy’s only been through all the crazy parts of his life that he can’t talk about. But just a few days with people and he realized the humanity that we share in, and that we need one another if we’re going to make the world different. It was interesting to watch that whole thing flow for five days last week.

Sonia Simone: That’s cool. I think that’s really the power. That’s why I think content is so powerful for this kind of project or mission, is telling the stories. You can really change people a lot with a little bit of content and a little bit of sharing and a little bit of community. Very cool.

Chris Marlow: Yeah. Can I add real quick? We do have a six-step process. How does someone help make the world better? I talk about this in the book. You do something. You start small. You follow your passion. You use your gift. Build a real relationship.

Here’s the struggle. You go back to content marketing. Oftentimes, people don’t feel like there’s a relationship between the nonprofit and the people who are making the impact. A check is coming out, cash is coming out of a bank account, but there’s no humanity behind the gift, there’s no connection. So what we’re constantly trying to do is just again and again and again, build a human connection, because then it matters more.

Sonia Simone: Yeah, very cool. All right, good. People who are interested in what you’re doing, you do have a TEDx talk which is really powerful, and it’s a great way to get more of a sense of Chris and who he is and where he’s coming from. Some great stories. I’ll share all the links, guys. If you just go to Copyblogger.FM you get all the links as well as the show archives. The book is called, “Doing Good Is Simple. Making A Difference Right Where You Are,” which is a wonderful title. I think it really helps people start to see the themes. Then the organization is at HelpOneNow.org.

All right, anything you want to leave folks with before we wrap it up?

Chris Marlow: First of all, thanks for having me on the show. Second of all, I just want to let you know — when people listen to the podcast, if you’re listening to this right now — please know that the world needs you. You can make a huge impact. You don’t have to write big checks. You don’t have to change your entire life. You can start small and you can do good, and that doing good can be significant in the world. I think more than anything, we just need everyone to contribute to make the world brighter and better.

Sonia Simone: Yeah, awesome. Lovely. All right, Chris. I really appreciate your time. I’m really glad we got to sit down and talk about some of the nuts and bolts. Thank you so much.

Chris Marlow: Awesome. Thank you so much for having me.

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