LEAD STORY
Having Patience with Your Message
My toothbrush has a built-in timer—two minutes for each session. Recently somewhere between when the paste hit the first tooth and what felt like 45 minutes later, I started thinking about patience and, more specifically, all the times in our lives we have to muster it up. Toasting bread came to mind, as did waiting for my 14-year-old niece to stop texting her friends and answer my question.
And because messaging is what I live and breathe, it, too, came to mind. When do we need to find patience with our messaging strategy, and when is it time to move on? The answer, as is my initial answer to almost all questions marketing, is “It depends.”
Patience is the ability to idle your motor when you feel like stripping your gears. — Barbara Johnson
It depends on many factors, such as but not limited to, what you’re trying to accomplish, how much you’ve invested, and what else you may or may not be doing in concert. With all that in mind, here are some thoughts I’ve had which hardly constitute an exhaustive list. (Please add in yours when we’re done.)
Mass Emails or Mass Texts?
by Samuel Awe
Mass text messaging is quickly becoming the star communication channel, as the use of mobile phones increases. However, for decades, mass email has been a tried-and-true method to send messages and reach a mass audience. Is its time over?
Truth is, certain messages are best suited for each channel. Moreover, the right communication tool for your organization depends on your organization’s needs. So, how do you decide which two-way communication channel is right for your organization? We’ll take a look at both channels to help you decide.
Let’s compare mass email and mass text.
MISSION DRIVERS
NAACP
In this recurring feature of Focal Point, we profile people and organizations on a mission! If you have someone to suggest, let us know! February is Black History Month, which has inspired this issue’s Mission Driver:
The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) was established in 1909 and is America’s oldest and largest civil rights organization. It was formed in New York City by white and Black activists, partially in response to the ongoing violence against Black Americans around the country. In the NAACP’s early decades, its anti-lynching campaign was central to its agenda. During the civil rights era in the 1950s and 1960s, the group won major legal victories. (SOURCE: History.com)
Today, with more than 2,200 units across the nation, 2 million members, and 114 years of experience, the NAACP is the home of grassroots activism for civil rights and social justice. The organization works to disrupt inequality, dismantle racism, and accelerate change in key areas including criminal justice, healthcare, education, climate, and the economy.
The NAACP envisions an inclusive community rooted in liberation where all persons can exercise their civil and human rights without discrimination. For more information, visit: naacp.org.
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Well Said
“Too many of us still believe our differences define us.”
—John Lewis
John Robert Lewis, born this month in 1940, was an American politician and civil rights activist who served in the United States House of Representatives for Georgia’s 5th congressional district from 1987 until his death in 2020. He participated in the 1960 Nashville sit-ins, the Freedom Rides, was the chairman of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) from 1963 to 1966, and was one of the “Big Six” leaders of groups who organized the 1963 March on Washington.
Fulfilling many key roles in the civil rights movement and its actions to end legalized racial segregation in the United States, in 1965 Lewis led the first of three Selma to Montgomery marches across the Edmund Pettus Bridge where, in an incident which became known as Bloody Sunday, state troopers and police attacked Lewis and the other marchers.
