So you spent a ton of time creating your beautiful newsletter or announcement and…now what? You schedule it of course! This is by far the most exciting and fulfilling part of the creation process; getting to show all of your hard work to your email list.     First things first, you’ll want to look everything over and make sure everything looks right. You can even take this time to send yourself a test version of the email by clicking “Preview”    and then using the send a test link on the right. You can enter up to five email addresses to send the test to.   Now that you’ve tested your email and everything looks glorious, let’s go ahead and schedule this thing! You’ll want to look for the continue button in the upper right hand corner. After hitting “continue” you will be directed to the scheduling screen. You’ll want to make sure that your subject line is perfect and then you’ll want to select which lists you would like to send your email to. This is also your last chance to make sure your from/reply-to emails are correct.       You can choose to either send now or send later and then you can hit ‘OK’ as your last step! Your email will now be in scheduled status and launch within the hour! Congratulations on sending out your very first email campaign!    Updated on 8/26/2016 ... View more

Are you trying to get better results out of your fundraising email campaigns? Well thanks to Sara  Wolfson, contributor for mrss.com  we have a list of five email marketing mistakes that you should be  sure not to make. 1.  Relying on statistics for emotional impact  – This is something that we often see in fundraising  campaigns. It's not all about the percentage of people that donate on average per year; it's  about the clear facts and how much emotion goes into your campaign. Numbers are just  numbers, get real, and tell them how much donating to your campaign would help.   2.  Being, well, boring  – Don't let this happen to your campaign! Try something new! Be exciting!  Use meaningful and bright pictures or graphics and stay away from the droll and boring tone of  most non-profit campaigns.   3.  Getting real excited about how amazing the organization is and the supporter is just kind of,  well, an afterthought –  It's great that you are an amazing organization! It's great that you are  excited about this campaign but don't let that overpower your newsletter. You need to spend  some time focusing on the reader, the potential donor, the potential supporter.    4.  Dreading editorial feedback –  Welcome feedback! Most content creators think their first draft is  a work of gold and doesn't need to be changed at all. Sometimes having a second set of eyes on  something can drastically improve the overall readership experience of your campaign. Bring on the feedback! 5.  Being shy about asking for donations –  No need to be shy! You need to feel okay about asking for  donations. You want to use the idea that people who donate will be a huge part of your  organization. Make them feel like a part of the team by donating and don't feel shy when  putting this into your email marketing campaigns. For the full article and even more in depth break downs of these five email marketing no-no’s, check out  Sara’s full article here . ... View more

Are you wondering how you can win over your customers? Small businesses can benefit from this great  article written by Dorie Clark for Entrepreneur magazine  titled “ How to Win Clients Your First Week in  Business. ”   Small businesses cannot expect to be successful right off the bat, but Dorie Clark gives us  three expert tips that you can use to help your Small Business win clients over. 1.  Boost your Confidence  – Don’t be scared to go all in! You know your product or services rock  and you need to be able to show that to everyone with confidence. You are good enough and you can do this!   2.  Network Strategically  – Start to think about who you could go after before even starting up. For  small businesses you likely have already started up so try to think about this in a different way –  plan how you want to gather new prospects. Start planning a special project or offer and before  you launch it, think of clever ways you can market it so you can prepare once your project or  offer comes to a head.   3.  Don’t be afraid to cold call  – If done effectively you can make the right connections right off the  start and use that to your advantage. Don’t be a sales person, though. Market your product or  service as something the customer or client could benefit from and you are likely to have a  better response. To read Dorie’s fantastic full article, click here . ... View more

Are you looking to increase your awareness with donors? Are you not being noticed as much as you  would like?  Marissa Fajt wrote a great article for nonprofit donor management review and advisory firm, Software Advice, about How Invisible People Uses Youtube to Increase Donor Awareness." 1.  Prioritize Authenticity Over Production Value  – You do not need to be a video director in order to be successful with Youtube. You can shoot your video with your phone and upload it directly to Youtube. You do not need to spend thousands of dollars on video editing software or directors. Provide authenticity and you will come out on top.   2.  Create a Story, Not an Advertisement  – You want to convey your nonprofit’s mission in a meaningful and powerful way. Don’t make it some cheesy commercial that you see on late night television. Keep it real – keep it authentic – keep the focus on the people while showing your goal and what you are trying to fix.   3.  Keep it Short  – Don’t make your potential donors watch a movie just to get an understanding of your purpose. Keep your videos short, a few minutes to each one. Keep the fluff down and get to the direct content. A shorter video is likely to hold their attention and is great for those watching on mobile devices and want to keep the data usage down.   4.  Utilize Social Media to Spread Awareness  – Use social media to grow excitement about it. Tell your twitter followers or Facebook fans what you are working on, who you are interviewing and you will grow excitement about the video before you even post it. For more information on these four tips, I would check out Marissa’s full blog post here . She goes into great detail about how you can use Youtube to benefit your non-profit or small business. ... View more

9 Things Exceptionally Smart Entrepreneurs  *Small Businesses* Do To Be Successful   I’d like to re-name this article to say “9 Things Exceptionally Smart Small Businesses do to be Successful” because I believe that these 9 things can really help your small business succeed. Thanks to Thomas Oppong, contributor for Entrepreneur Magazine, we now have 9 great tips that can be used to drive your small business to success.          Take calculated steps toward their goals each day. – This is so true! It’s good to be a risk taker, but be a calculated risk taker. Set a to-do list for yourself each day and be mindful of the steps that you take to get each item done.        Concentrates on what they do best. – Focus on what you CAN do. Don’t focus on every single project; you have a team that is there to help you deliver. If you put all of your dedication into something you know you can do the best, you’re likely to get better results.        Sees every problem as an opportunity. – See a problem as an obstacle that you have to find a solution to. Think outside the box and see each problem as a learning experience.        Steps out of their comfort zones on a regular basis. – Seek new challenges! Your comfort zone may feel safe but the moment you push out of it you will connect with people that inspire you, help you to take a different approach, and probably learn more in the process!        Open to learning more. – No one knows it all. Successful small businesses should have an innate desire to keep getting better at what they do. The more you learn, the more you get better, and the more your business will succeed. Want to see the other four tips? Check out Thomas’s full article here. These 9 tips could be an easy solution to help your small businesses be the best it can be. ... View more

Are you looking to get more donations on your non-profit's website? Janelle Estes, blogger for the Nielsen Norman Group  has five great tips to help drive donations. Clearly Explain What the Organization Does – Studies show the most important information  people want to know about the nonprofit before they make a donation is the  type of work the  organization does  and  how it is done . Disclose how Donations are used – By adding how the contributions are going to be used, it  helps the potential donor  understand what their donation would be used for .  This is important  because you want to make sure that its clear their donation is going to be used for a good cause. Display Third Party Endorsements –  Reputation, reputation, reputation . The legitimacy of your  nonprofit is huge because users need to know that you are a legitimate non-profit working  towards a strong and worthwhile goal. Provide a Noticeable and Clear Link to Donate – You'll want to make it bright and noticeable about  how easy it is to make a quick donation. People don't want to have to dig through your website  just to find where to donate. Create  a clean, bright, easy to read button on your website with  phrases like “Donate” or “Donate Now”     Want to see the last tip? Check out the rest of Janelle's article here . It is fantastic and these five tips  could seriously help your non-profit gain donations. ... View more

Facebook recently implemented a new save feature! Instead of hacks or workarounds for saving content, such as taking screenshots or sharing content to your own wall, users now have the ability to save content for reading later.   This is huge! There are however, five important features that you need to know about. Mari Smith posted these five features on her blog and I’d love to share them with you.   Only links can be saved. – What does this mean? Users can save posts that have links associated with them where the link preview is intact, normal status updates cannot be saved currently.  What can be saved:         Link posts.         Pages         Places         Movies         Tv shows         Music         Books         Events Things that can’t be saved:       Status updates        Photo posts       Video posts (but you CAN save links to Youtube or Vimeo videos)   Some Saved Links go Back Into the News Feed.  – This is great news for page owners that post links! According to Mari you might want to start posting more links on your fan page and include a call to action to invite your fans to save your post. Pages can be saved.  – Users can save their favorite pages! This is huge! Of course you’ll want to persuade your fans to save your page in the first place. Entice them to do it so they can quickly and easily see updates from you.   Want to see the other two features? Go check out the rest of Mari’s blog post and start using the new Facebook Save Feature to benefit your business today! ... View more