Marketing with Purpose

If you’ve ever wondered, "How many emails should we send in our year-end campaign?" Turns out, you're not alone!  We get this question every year, and now, thanks to Jaime Freidrichs, a fundraising coach dedicated to helping small but mighty organizations succeed, and 71 nonprofit survey participants — we’ve got some real data to guide you. In our latest episode (and blog post), we dive into the findings of Jaime’s study on the 2023 year-end email strategies of 71 nonprofits running online campaigns to understand: How frequently successful nonprofits emailed their supporters. The sweet spot for sending emails (without overloading your supporters). Surprising stats on email volume vs. meeting fundraising goals. With this survey Jaime hopes to take at least SOME of the guesswork out of your year-end email strategy. Read the fully formatted blog post to accompany this episode at: [link to episode on MayeCreate.com]

A few weeks ago, Monica gave some tips on what to include on a business card and briefly mentioned QR codes, promising to dive deeper later. In this podcast/blog, Monica does just that! Recording and writing this felt a bit like QR code therapy to Monica. Turns out she has some strong feelings about where, when and how to use them (I’m sure you’re super surprised ). So…in this week's episode Monica’s sharing her QR tips and pet peeves including: What a QR code is and how it works When and where to use a QR code effectively Tips for selecting the right QR code generator A comparison of popular QR code tools Best practices for implementing QR codes Read the fully formatted blog post to accompany this episode at: [MayeCreate.com]

All the marketing gurus are saying “transparency” and “authenticity” are the measure of good marketing these days. And that’s great and all, but if we’re honest the road map to get there isn’t super clear. Unfortunately, there’s no universal yardstick for “authenticity.” It’s different for everyone. There is, however, a practical starting point to geo locating your version - defining your core values. To explain just how this is done, Monica invited core values expert Andrea Johnson to join her on this episode of the Marketing with Purpose podcast. She makes it sound simple (and you know I love that!). Here’s a quick rundown of the awesome stuff you’ll learn: How to pinpoint your core values to enhance your marketing and make your brand pop! Discover how being authentic builds trust with your audience—because nobody wants to feel like they’re talking to a robot, right? Get practical tips to align your values with your business decisions, so you’re not just winging it! Get the episode highlights and full transcript at: [mayecreate.com] Featured Resource: Marketing on a Shoestring

Monica thought everyone just knew what to put on a business card and how to design it so it’s a functional marketing tool. But, alas, a recent visit to a tradeshow revealed a sizable knowledge gap in that very area.  You want your prospects and your clients to have a streamlined, easy interaction with you all the time, right? And anytime you have an opportunity to control that process we want to take advantage of it to give them the best possible experience with your company.  This episode is all about how to do just that, with a lovely checklist to make your business card easy to use, beautiful, and a reliable representative of your organization. Read the fully formatted blog post and download the checklist to accompany this episode at: https://mayecreate.com/blog/what-to-put-on-a-business-card-plus-design-tips/  Featured Resource: Marketing on a Shoestringhttps://youmayecreate.com/marketing-on-a-shoestring/ 

Monica sat down with Donna Dube, a business growth strategist who knows how to simplify marketing like a pro. Seriously, she’s got some killer tips that will make you say, “Why didn’t I think of that?” Donna talked about the Eisenhower Matrix—sounds fancy, right? But it’s really just a smart way to prioritize what actually matters in your biz, not just the stuff that keeps you busy. Plus, Donna shared six CEO habits that’ll help you create marketing systems that practically run themselves. Imagine having more time to focus on what you love! Get the full transcript and episode summary on our website:https://mayecreate.com/blog/simplify-marketing-strategy/ 

Stacy calls Monica the “idea factory”. And blog topics just happen to be her favorite thing to produce in idea factory mode. In this episode, she’s firing up the factory to give you blog ideas out the wazoo AND share her framework she uses to make sure organizations are blogging about the right thing to meet the right people where they are.  Join us in this “what to blog about” workshop style episode designed to transform you into a purposeful blog idea generating machine! Read the fully formatted blog post to accompany this episode at: [link to episode on MayeCreate.com] Thank you to our featured resource sponsor:What to Put on Your Website https://mayecreate.com/resource/what-to-put-on-your-website/

We’ve been honing in on our “why” at MayeCreate this year.  Studying the concept introduced by Simon Sinek, reading the Power of a Positive Team, redefining our core values, and updating our mission statement.   It’s been an incredible way to learn about each other and why we do what we do. MayeCreate’s “Core 4” (our senior team) has been together for over 10 years so we know in our gut why we keep at this business and website building thing.   But as we bring on new team members and refine our marketing efforts, we felt like we needed a documented why and purpose to guide us.   So with all this self-evaluation we’ve been doing, when Monica heard about Ian Chamandy, owner of Blueprint Business Architecture who helps organizations define the one thing that makes them uniquely remarkable – in 7 words or less…   She had to know…HOW!?!   Monica has a virtual stack of Google Docs piling up with all of her notes from this year, so HOW ON EARTH could she break it down into 7 words or less?   In this episode, Ian explains how it all comes together in 3 easy steps and morphs into a talisman to design how your organization is managed and how it will communicate.   Get the full transcript and episode summary on our website: [link to episode]

In a world dominated by flashy visuals and fleeting social media trends, you might wonder, "Is blogging still relevant?"    9 out of 10 marketers use  blogging to achieve their content goals (SEMrush, 2023). That’s because it works. Blogging drives traffic to your site and traffic drives leads. Companies that blog have an average of 67% more leads each month than companies without blogs. (DemandMetric).   I know what you’re thinking, “But Monica, search is changing, right? So will blogging still work?”   True, back in April with our Guest, SEO expert, Nina Gibson cautioned that, search is changing but blogging is rolling with the punches. 75% of marketers believe that AI-enabled search engines will positively impact their blogs. (HubSpot State of Marketing Report, 2023).   So, bloggins is far from dead. Blogging isn't just about churning out boring AI generated paragraphs of text either; when done right blogging establishes expertise, drives traffic, and powers your marketing.  In this episode I’m breaking it down and covering the most common questions I hear about blogging like: Do you really have to blog and how often should you do it? How do you set it up? How to attract visitors. Ideas for monetization. Mistakes to avoid and even how to measure success.

Monica’s brain turned into an idea factory while interviewing this week's guest, Shannon Houchin, owner of Roadside Republic. Yes, this episode is all about the success of roadside stands selling peaches, which is really fun all on its own. AND it’s also packed with ideas to locally market your business or organization. So. Before you do another carwash or bakesale for your nonprofit… Before you choose the next location for your business… Before you decide on a marketing tactic to connect with a local audience… You need to listen to this episode.  Because Shannon promotes her 200 roadside produce stands across three states so she is a master at hyper-local marketing. Monica almost shut down her company and started selling peaches after talking to her (and she’s only kind of kidding). Shannon explains everything from exactly how she chooses the right location, to what to say on Facebook to get people excited and coming back for more. Come hang out with Shannon and Monica and get those ideas flowing!   Get the full transcript and episode summary on our website: https://mayecreate.com/blog/hyper-local-marketing-shannon-houchin/   Featured Resource: Marketing on a Shoestringhttps://youmayecreate.com/marketing-on-a-shoestring/

I hear alot about nonprofit boards.  (Sometimes as web designers we get mistaken for marketing therapists…aaaaand tech support…) But while we work with boards to build websites…I don’t have to manage one. My advice in that area is limited at best. I do, however, see first hand how an engaged board could make marketing your nonprofit a WHOLE lot easier. I sure do wish I had a magic board motivating fairy godmother I could loan out to you. A lovely little winged creature to pixie dust your board right on into shape. But alas, my access to board managing fairy godmothers is limited…actually it’s pretty negligible. So today I’m bringing the next best thing… 11 inspiring nonprofit leaders — sharing their actionable advice on the best ways to get your board involved with your marketing efforts.  Read the fully formatted blog post to accompany this episode at: https://mayecreate.com/blog/nonprofit-board-marketing-engagement-strategies/ Featured Resource: Year End Campaign Planning Checklist https://mayecreate.com/resource/year-end-campaign-planning-checklist/