The one book that every nonprofit communicator should read

This is a blog post for the Nonprofit Blog Carnival. This month’s topic: What one book has most changed your professional life?

The one book that got me to see the light and become a better nonprofit communicator is Robin Hood Marketing: Stealing Corporate Savvy to Sell Just Causes by the brilliant Katya Andresen. The first time I read it I kept exclaiming out loud, “now I get it!” and I filled the margins with ideas for implementing her advice at my nonprofit.  Robin Hood Marketing helped me understand how my nonprofit could make the leap from doing a fine job at communicating to really effectively engaging our audiences and inspiring action for our mission.

That was way back in 2007 and I used what I learned from Robin Hood Marketing every day in my job as Director of Communications at Pride Foundation until I left in 2010. I had the chance to revisit Katya’s book last month when I assigned it to the students in the University of Washington’s Certificate in Nonprofit Management. It was my top pick when looking for a text that would solidly ground the students in best communication practices.

What I love is that the book provides such solid fundamentals for how to communicate that it remains completely relevant, maybe even more so, with the advent and adoption of social media. Katya essentially walks you through a brand audit so you can better understand your audience, what they care about and value, the marketplace you’re working in and what benefits your nonprofit provides. She then provides a framework to put what you’ve learned into action by creating a message that really sticks

with your audience and selecting the proper mediums to deliver your messages. She does all this through tons of great examples that really bring the concepts to life.

Since I was teaching the book I sent Katya an e-mail asking her if there was anything she would add since she wrote the book. She replied that she would change the acronym CRAM which stands for Connection, Reward, Action and Memory by replacing memory with messenger. “When I teach CRAM now,” Katya said in her email, “I have made the M into messenger as a way to discuss the increasing importance of WHO is speaking for a cause. I think the WHO is the power of social media.”

I’m happy to say that I have an autographed copy of Robin Hood Marketing within arms reach of my desk at all times and I know that it will continue to influence and guide my thinking on nonprofit communications.  It’s a fun and easy read and will help you turn the corner from mediocre to effective communication, hitting the target and inspiring action every time.