Friday, December 5, 2014

It's Possible: Measurement for Nonprofits

“One of the great mistakes is to judge policies and programs and programs by their intentions rather than their results.” –Milton Friedman

Maintaining good relationships is critical to any organization, but these relationships take on even greater importance in the not-for-profit world. The biggest reason why these relationships matter to nonprofits is the very nature of the operation relies on goodwill and volunteerism. The foundation of the reputation is made up of these relationships and awareness of your PR and other marketing efforts. Strong communal relationships with your constituencies is the only way to keep your organization alive. This is also why continuous measurement of the nature and efficacy of your relations is so critical.

In the nonprofit sector, measurement and accountability have become more important than ever due to three reasons:
  1. Social Media: Social media has brought many new ways of reaching out to your community stakeholders. Without measurement, there is no way for you to judge which will be most effective. Social groupware applications have further complicated this environment by providing nonprofits with easy no-cost or low-cost tools to create their own communities and staying in touch with their stakeholders. The good news is not only are the varieties of communities growing, but so is our ability to measure them.
  2. Metrics: The difficult financial environment nonprofits face today seeing a need to act more like for-profits in terms of measurement. Increasingly, executive directors and board members are being recruited from the for-profit sector, bringing with them expectations of available metrics. Trustees are requiring detailed evaluation of programs and initiatives. There is greater competition among nonprofits for share of wallet, all of which increases pressure to measure results.
  3. Accountability: Even in our financially cautious world, donors and contributors are increasingly demanding accountability for their gifts. Trustees require detailed evaluation of programs and initiatives.
          -"Measure What Matters" by Katie Paine

There is often a perception that only the biggest nonprofits have the necessary funds for the manpower of real evaluation. This is not the case. Measurement is possible for all nonprofits, big and small.



Thursday, December 4, 2014

What I Wish I Would Have Known

I was recently required to write a short paper discussing what I wish I would have known as a freshman here at Ohio Northern University. Instead of sharing my spiel about only focusing on a few organizations you are truly passionate about and allowing yourself to strengthen your talents, I want to talk about some other things I wish I would’ve known as a freshman:
  1. Don’t be afraid to meet new people. I have always been an introverted person and it’s often difficult for me to open up and get to know new people. I wish I would have known that meeting new people would require me to step outside of my comfort zone and take the first steps as a freshman. I often sat back and did not introduce myself or make an effort to get to know people. I know I missed out on some great friendships by doing this. Now, I am still introverted. The difference is I force myself to get to know people because I value relationships with others, regardless of how uncomfortable it might make me during the first introduction.
  2. It’s OK to not get an A. I knew college would be more challenging than high school, but I was not prepared for the harsh grading. When I got my first C back on an assignment, I cried. I thought I was a failure and I was going to have to drop the class. That was freshman year. Now in my junior year, I know I am extremely lucky to even get a C in some of my difficult classes. It’s OK and normal not to get straight A’s in college. Don’t get too hung up on the lower grades. They do not mean you are insufficient or a bad student. These grades either mean study harder next time OR your professor is crazy difficult and the only thing you can do is suck it up and do your very best.
  3. People will judge you. If you thought high school was bad, you are in for a real treat! If you didn’t catch the sarcasm in my last comment, then prepare yourself for disappointing maturity levels and caddy people who only care about themselves. Don’t get me wrong, I have made plenty of friends who do not fit this explanation at all. It’s important for you to find these kind of friends because they are the ones who will help you get through the rest of the drama you desperately tried to avoid. Some people will not like you. Some people will lie and make rumors up about you. People will do whatever they can to tear you down and humiliate you. Be the better person and show them you came to college to grow and learn. Show your maturity level is higher. Don’t let the lies and judgments get to you because at the end of the day, you know who you are and that’s the most important.
  4. Take time for yourself. College is stressful and exhausting. Don’t let the constant homework, studying and activities keep you from enjoying your time here. A bit of free time for yourself is absolutely necessary in order to survive your college years. You have a paper due next week? Do a little bit at a time. Take some of the day to relax and watch Netflix. Take a walk outside or go to an event on campus with your friends. God forbid you have some fun during the best days of your life! Go have a drink at the bar with friends (if you’re 21). Watch a movie with your roommate you hardly ever see. Take a road trip to Lima to get real food with a group of your friends from your major! The paper you have due next week can wait; time for yourself cannot.
  5. Loss is a constant. I’m not talking about actually losing someone who has died, although this is something I have had to deal with during my time here at ONU. What I really am talking about is the constant stream of your friends graduating and moving on to bigger and better things in life. I have always been someone who befriends the upperclassmen. It might be the maturity level, but I find myself getting along better with them. When graduation comes around each year, it’s extremely difficult for me. I’m extremely happy for my friends. They are graduating and growing up, but it’s hard to see them leaving me behind. I wonder if I will ever see them again or if our friendship will fade after our time together at ONU. This loss is hard to deal with, so try to stay in contact with the friends you have made. If you show you want to be a part in their life even after they have graduated, then they are sure to do the same.
These are just a few things I wish I would have known as a freshman. Everyone says college is hard. Yes, the classes are hard. Yes, it’s hard to force yourself to get out of bed and go to class each day. It’s hard to turn Netflix off and do your homework. What people tend to leave out is it’s hard to form these close relationships with new friends at such an important time in your life and learning to let them go and accomplish their own dreams after graduation is not easy.


Wednesday, December 3, 2014

Psychology of Typography

A recent article on PRdaily entitled What Your Organization’s Font Choices Say About Your Brand caught my attention. We all know colors can influence a consumer’s purchasing decision, but I never really considered typography as another factor. The fonts used have an influence on the feelings customers associate with the brand.

The fonts organizations choose to use on their websites and in their logos have the potential to persuade or even dissuade someone to do business with them. People tend to judge your business by the fonts used because there are feelings associated with certain typefaces and other elements of typography. This information is available from RCM Website Design’s recent infographic. I have included this infographic in my blog to give you an idea of the psychology involved in typography.

According to the infographic, these are the typical views people have for certain fonts:
  • Serif fonts: These fonts are best for print and are considered warm, old, expensive and beautiful.
  • Sans-serif fonts: People typically see these fonts as informal, playful, cool and youthful. Sans-serif fonts are best suited for digital use.
  • Script fonts (resemble handwriting): People often use these fonts for formal invitation. These fonts seem delicate, feminine and happy.
I found the psychology that accompanies typography very interesting. What organizations do you think of that uphold these typical views of fonts?


Monday, December 1, 2014

Thankful for Thanksgiving

My family gathered in Troy, Ohio for our Thanksgiving celebration on Thursday. I don’t think I have ever seen so much food! After eating dinner, we played football. It was too cold for us to stay outside for long, but at least I got a chance to win the game again. Bragging rights for the car ride home.

We went to the Christmas tree farm on Saturday to cut down our unique tree. I’ve shared my family’s tradition to choose the imperfect tree. This year was fun because we had plenty of time to enjoy the farm and look at many of the trees.

My Thanksgiving wasn’t much of a break because I worked every single day except for Thanksgiving and Saturday when I had family over. I needed a chance to relax, but I didn’t really get the opportunity to take a break. I’m too short on money to not work my entire break.


Even though I worked the majority of my break, I enjoyed spending at least a couple of days with my family. Those short breaks were exactly what I needed to help recharge me and get me through my upcoming finals. I’m eager to finish my final papers and projects so I can go home for a long Christmas break!


Monday, November 24, 2014

A Christmas Tradition

You know those fake Christmas trees most families buy and use every year in their home? The ones that don’t have real pine needles, the lights are already strung on the branches and the shape never changes. What’s the fun of having the same Christmas tree every year?

My family has a tradition each year on Black Friday. We refuse to decorate for Christmas until after Thanksgiving, so the day after seems like the perfect time! Our tradition is to visit a tree farm on the edge of town to search for a unique tree, cut it down and take it home to decorate. These trees have real pine needles, you get to string the lights on the branches and there are so many choices. My family always choose a unique shape because we believe in finding the beauty in the imperfections.


Our trees are not usually the perfect shape. There aren’t always an abundance of pine needles. It might have a few bare spots and a unique point on top, presenting a challenge for the star placement. Instead of finding the “perfect tree”, we look for the imperfect tree that has character. When our family comes to visit on Christmas, they love to see what our tree looks like and what unique aspects attracted our attention.

I love this tradition because we are the family that chooses the trees no one else would. We cut down the trees that would normally be overlooked or called ugly. Once we’ve cut down the tree and decorated it, my family proves that even the ugliest tree can be beautiful with the proper care.



This tradition might seem a little crazy to most, but I can’t imagine having a fake tree in our house on Christmas. I love finding a unique tree, the smell of pine needles in the house, the mess of pine needles on the carpet and the challenge of making a unique tree look beautiful. I can’t wait to find our tree this year!


Sunday, November 23, 2014

Perfecting Your Press Release

We recently had David Trinko as a speaker at a PRSSA meeting. David talked to us about how to pitch to a reporter. In PR, it seems like we are always writing press releases. There are so many important elements required and a good press release can determine whether your story is used by the journalist you have sent it to or not.

A recent article entitled 5 Press Release Gaffes PR Pros Should Avoid outlined the five blunders most frequently made by even the best PR pros. Are you making any of these mistakes with your own press releases?
  1. Forgetting the title: If you spend too much time perfecting the body of your press release and forget about crafting the perfect title, not many people are going to want to read the body. Yes, the body is important. Your title is vital to catching your readers’ attention and encouraging them to continue reading. An ideal title for your press release is concise, enlightening and interesting. If your title is confusing or boring, you’re going to loose the attention of your readers and they won’t want to read the rest of the release.
  2. Using the wrong voice: Press releases must be formal and impersonal. Deviating from this format by using personal language more appropriate for social media posts will only get your press release ignored.
  3. Not editing enough: After spending valuable time writing the perfect press release, you don’t want to ruin your chances of getting it published if you don’t take the time to edit. Scanning through the release once is not enough to catch all of the potential mistakes. Take the time to edit multiple times and even ask someone else to take a look with a fresh set of eyes that might be able to catch mistakes you are missing.
  4. Trying to do too much: Ideally, focusing on one thing in your press release will keep your readers paying attention to the information you intended. Too much information will only confuse the reader.
  5. Sending it to the wrong people: Sending your press release to anyone and everyone is not the appropriate approach. If you send your press release to the wrong people and your content is irrelevant to them, you will be rejected. If you have a press release that actually pertains to those people in the future, they’ll remember you sent them irrelevant content in the past and they’re likely to reject you before even reading your new press release.
Keep these in mind the next time you compose a press release, craft the perfect pitch, follow the tips I shared from David Trinko in a previous post and you are bound to get your press release published!






Friday, November 21, 2014

Reputation Management

“Far more crucial than what we know or do not know is what we do not want to know. One often obtains a clue to a person’s nature by discovering the reason for his or her imperviousness to certain impressions.” –Eric Hoffer

The reputation you have with your stakeholders is vital to the existence of your organization: “Your reputation is the sum total of your relationships with all your publics. It is what people think of when they hear your brand mentioned; it determines the likelihood that they purchase or recommend your products, invest in your company, or apply for a job” (Measure What Matters). If you have a negative reputation, trust between your organization and your publics will be the only way to rebuild the foundation. Society gives your organization the permission to exist based largely on your reputation.

We talk about the importance of relationships and how building positive relationships is not something you can accomplish overnight. Relationships take time to build trust, commitment and satisfaction. Unfortunately, crises can threaten the reputation of your organization: “The key to measuring threats to your reputation is measuring the trust between you and your publics, and the effectiveness with which your organization handles crises” (Measure What Matters). Good crisis communication is more of a proactive approach than a reactive approach.


The best way to avoid a crisis is to listen to your audience carefully and respond immediately to any threats before they get out of hand. Daily monitoring can prevent a crisis from getting out of hand and allows your organization to determine what is being said about you and what kind of issues are surfacing. Listening cannot always prevent unavoidable crises, but being prepared for these potential situations will help your organization come out on top.

Thursday, November 20, 2014

Why We Care What the Newspaper Guy Says

Tonight at our PRSSA meeting, we had David Trinko as a speaker. David is a journalist for the Lima News. Journalists and PR people have to work together whether we like it or not. This is why we wanted a perspective from the journalists side to understand how we can make their job easier and how to build mutually beneficial relationships with them.

David talked to us about how he loves getting to do something different everyday, but there are some aspects of his job he doesn’t love. As a journalist, David is bombarded with information all day long. People are constantly contacting him, asking him to do something for them. Each day, he receives over 300 emails, 100 faxes and 25 phone calls. He joked and said "that’s four dead trees and a lot of deleted emails".

Put yourself in the seat of the person you are delivering your message to and simplify it as much as possible. David shared the best way to get him to read what you send to him is to get to the core of your message as quickly as possible and KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid). He wants the who, what, when, where and why and he doesn’t even mind if this information is in bullet points. Don’t forget to include the pertinent information, keep your file sizes small and double-check your work. As a journalist, David suggests you do your legwork ahead of time. Establishing a good relationship with journalists is vital:
  • Do what you said you were going to do. For example, if you tell the journalist you will call back tomorrow with more information, call back tomorrow.
  • Be the person they can count on.
  • Don’t be the person who makes their job more difficult.
  • A good relationship with a reporter can influence future stories, putting them in a positive or negative light depending on the relationship.
  • Although journalists are supposed to leave emotions out of their job, they are human and underpaid. They will take their aggression out on you if you give them a reason.
Why should we care what the guy from newspaper says? Some may think newspaper is dying. The fact is more people are using local media today than they were 10 years ago. How? The combination of print and online presents more opportunities for newspaper. People still use local information centers and online is only presenting more opportunities for the newspaper industry. Newspaper has the advantage because they are word and picture based. Online just gives them another way to share the words and pictures along with other material such as video. David Trinko shared a lot of valuable information with us this evening. My biggest takeaway was the importance of being gracious if you get a no from a journalist and the importance of staying resilient. Journalists and PR professionals will always have to work together, so keep these things in mind and the relationship will be a positive one!



Monday, November 17, 2014

Mutually Beneficial Relationships

It is more important today than ever before to understand, measure and improve your relationships with your local community. PR in general is all about relationships, but it is also vital to understand why your neighbors are so important.

As I discussed in my last post discussing the book Measure What Matters, social media has introduced an entirely new definition of communication. Communities now consist not only of organizations in close proximity to your business, but also virtually and through influential stakeholders. These influencers can include internal communities of customers, vendors, partners, external advocates, nongovernmental organizations and any other community with which your business has a relationship.

We know how important mutually beneficial relationships are in the PR industry. These relationships can influence all successes and failures of your organization. If you ignore the communities looking for answers from your organization, then your organization is bound to see a decline in the value of mutually beneficial relationships with influential stakeholders. If your organization is consistently responding and participating in the conversations the communities of influencers are participating in, then these communities are bound to have your organizations back during a crisis situation.

It's all about relationships. We hear this on a daily basis. If you don't understand the importance of maintaining these relationships, taking the time to understand them, measuring the involvement of your influencers and continuously work to improve these relationships, then your organization is bound to see unwanted residual effects.



Sunday, November 16, 2014

The Benefit of PRSSA Firm Trips

Ohio Northern University's PRSSA nationally affiliated student-run firm, True North, takes yearly trips to allow students to experience different aspects of the PR industry. From nonprofit to agency and corporate to sports, each trip helps PR students see how diverse the profession is and encourages a better understanding of the kind of PR work they would like to do in their future professional career.

I have been on one Firm trip to Nashville, Tennessee. This trip was such an amazing experience because I had the opportunity to explore different agencies in our tours and I also had the opportunity to get to know the rest of the members of PRSSA who collaborate in the student-run firm, True North. If I wouldn't have gone on this trip, I wouldn't be as close as I am now with some of the people who went on the Nashville trip.

These trips are an amazing experience that I think all members of the Firm and PRSSA should take advantage of during their time as a student at Ohio Northern University. Our professors are committed to helping us figure out what we want to do when we graduate, but these agency tours are fantastic educational tools to assist students in finding out their likes and dislikes of the PR profession. There are so many diverse opportunities in the PR industry and it can be a bit overwhelming for graduates when they don't know exactly what they like or don't like. Firm trips give them the opportunity to discover this before graduation and can help with the decision of what job to potentially take in the future.

Take a look at one of my assignments from my Principles of Social Media class! I had to create a video about the Firm trips my PRSSA Chapter takes each year. Watch the video and see what these awesome trips are all about!

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Thank Goodness for Thanksgiving!

I have reached the point in the semester where I am ready to turn in my final projects and just get it over with so I can enjoy a much needed break. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy my classes at ONU and I love my professors, but I am worn out. The schoolwork and extracurricular activities I am involved in are taking a toll on me.

I’m eager for Thanksgiving break because I will have plenty of time with my family. I haven’t spent much time with them since summer because I haven’t been able to visit on many weekends, so I could really use some quality family time. I’m also extremely low on cash, so I will be working almost everyday while I am home for break. Although this is not ideal and I would rather spend time with my family, it is necessary for me to make some money before coming back to ONU.

Thanksgiving is always a great time with my family because we have the traditional feast and football, but with a slight twist. Instead of watching football, we play. I know it might be hard to picture, but I can throw a football and I’m honestly not that bad. My older brother taught me to throw a football before I could even ride a bike. On Thanksgiving, all of the male cousins, uncles and my dad will gather in the yard to play touch football. While the female cousins, my aunts and my mom gather around the windows to watch the game, I join the guys for a fun game of touch football.


I’m not trying to sound cocky, but my team usually wins. This might be because I run much faster when large guys about three times my size are running after me, but I would like to think I am also somewhat good at the game! I always look forward to this tradition, especially when both of my brothers are on the opposite team than me. I really enjoy bragging about how I won on the car ride home because they both are sore losers. Or maybe I am a sore winner? Either way, we all have a great time and I think a little bragging is necessary to keep them inline!