“Meet them where there are” is not a new concept, but it has crossed my virtual desk recently more than usual. For example, as profiled below in our Mission Drivers section, Wholesome Wave is committed to meeting people where they are in order to address not just food insecurity, but more importantly, nutrition insecurity.
But even if you’re not directly helping people, the concept is a powerful one for advancing your work—whether that’s rallying others around a new initiative or introducing a new product or service to the market.
Creating a brand and its message is easy.
However, creating one that will work is far more difficult.
Five questions can guide you towards meeting people where they are.
New White Paper Available!
Messaging Strategies in the Nonprofit and For-Profit Worlds
What each type of organization can learn from the other
When for-profit company Charlotte’s Web centered their messaging around Charlotte, a girl whose seizures drastically reduced after taking their hemp product, they were using a popular non-profit messaging strategy: the power of an emotionally-driven story. By 2020, Charlotte’s Web had a 35% market share of CBD in food, drug, and mass-retail channels. It’s also fair to say that In the nonprofit world, adapting commonly used for-profit digital marketing strategies became the key to survival during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Our newest white paper, “Messaging Strategies in the Nonprofit and For-Profit Worlds,” details what the two categories have to learn from one another. Almost every difference between nonprofit and for-profit organizations is based on their organizational culture, their goals, and the inputs they use to achieve them. Despite their many differences, there is much to be learned from the messaging strategies of each.
We believe that messaging plays a vital role in six key areas:
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MESSAGING ON A MISSION
Center for Environmental Reporting
In the latest episode of our podcast, Messaging on a Mission, we speak with Darren LaShelle, President and CEO of Northern California Public Media. Learn how they found a way to differentiate themselves using content.
Get notified when new episodes drop.
MISSION DRIVERS
Wholesome Wave
In this recurring feature of Focal Point, we profile people and organizations on a mission! If you have someone to suggest, let us know!
Food insecurity is about providing enough food to those in need. Nutrition insecurity is about providing the right food to prevent or alleviate diet-related diseases like diabetes, heart disease, hypertension, and obesity. Since 2007, Wholesome Wave has partnered with community-based organizations in the places they call home, by bringing powerful concepts and seed funding to co-design program approaches that work best for their community.
Program concepts are designed to raise and re-invest private funding to demonstrate what might happen if public funding was used more effectively. You can find out more about their commitment to FED: Fidelity, Equity, and Dignity on the Wholesome Wave website.
Focal Pointing
Focal Pointing shares some of the books, podcasts, and emails that are helping us learn, create, and grow.
BOOK
Building a Social Business: The New Kind of Capitalism by Muhammad Yunus
IDEAS
5 ways business can support and partner with social entrepreneurs
LISTS
The Best Gifts for Mom (That Do Good, Too)
Blog Posts You May Have Missed
Well Said
"As we express our gratitude, we must never forget that the highest appreciation is not to utter words, but to live by them."
—John F. Kennedy
John Fitzgerald Kennedy, born this month in 1917, was the 35th president of the United States from 1961 until his assassination in 1963. Often referred to by his initials JFK, Kennedy served at the height of the Cold War, and the majority of his work as president concerned relations with the Soviet Union and Cuba. A Democrat, Kennedy represented Massachusetts in both houses of the U.S. Congress prior to becoming president.
