Successfully developing an educational website that enables or relies on user-generated content depend on getting the word out and bringing people in. We are competing for attention with very savvy corporate marketeers, and Katya's Non-Profit Marketing Blog provides tips, observations, and professional marketing advice to non-profits. Katya Andreson is also the author of Robin Hood Marketing: Stealing Corporate Savvy to Sell Just Causes. Below are a few relevant posts from the blog:


Neiman Marcus goes Oldsmobile on us
Referencing Oldsmobile's "this is not your father's oldsmobile' ad, Katya Anderson critiques Nieman Marcus's youTube marketing campaign, and offers tips on how to avoid the same mistakes. The NM campaign was a big audience mismatch, was the wrong format and style (CEO talking head praising his own company), and was trying too hard to be hip. The lessons to be learnt are to match your message to your core audience, to respect the culture of where you are advertising, and to "show, don't tell". She also links to another thoughtful critique at the Viral Marketing Voodoo blog

Video: the what, why and how for nonprofits
links to the following post at the Getting Attention Blog:
How to Use Online Video to Strengthen Your Nonprofit Marketing Impact -- Carnival of Nonprofit Consultants
A blog "Carnival" or roundup of marketing consultant's responses to the question of how to use video for non-profit marketing. Video killed the radio star by Alia McKee of Sea Change Strategies presents 3 favorite video campaigns and offers tips, including keep it short - 30s-2min, build a library of footage to draw upon, and humor is hard, but if you decide to use it, go all out. Steve Andrews at the Whitewater Agency describes how they are using video to show donors exactly what their contributions are achieving. Bob Johnson advises that video is becoming an expectation among younger web audiences, that viewers want real information from their perspective not a PR message delivered by the CEO, and that quality production is important. The blog post goes on to list some successful non-profit video campaigns, including Greenpeace's Join the Energy Revolution, The Buffalo Movie, and the Kidscast Radio promo.

What is good: being relentlessly generous
Brief post emphasizing the importance of being generous in your outreach efforts: thanking people before and after they take action, giving information away for free and asking for support later, and giving credit generously.

My four year old knows bad marketing
A post using her four year old as an example of bad marketing techniques: yelling your message from where you are, rather than going to your audience; getting someone's attention, and then failing to deliver a compelling message (mom, mom, mom. what? i forgot); throwing a tantrum to get attention - ie making things seem apocalyptic rather than being inspirational by "showing how bad can become good".