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As the languid days of summer come to a close, Spitfire continues to hum along in pursuit of the best communications thinking in the field. As our readers gear up for what is sure to be a hectic fall season, now is the time to put smart outreach strategies in place. Spitfire welcomes the opportunity to share our thoughts on how to come up with the right title for any material you want to publish, why fact sheets can hinder your message, and how to help your audience take one step at a time toward your goals. Read on to learn more about our efforts to help nonprofit leaders hone their communications skills – and check out a resource we found that examines how the Obama campaign made new media work for them. It may work for you, too. Read it all now and you’ll be primed to leave the dog days behind and kick things into high gear.
Kristen Grimm - President
Inquiries or ideas about Spitfire Sparks? Please send us an email at
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Great Minds
Ideas to Make You Think
What's In a Name?
by Hollis Calhoun, Senior Associate
A title is the doorway to your writing. Your audience hovers at the door, deciding whether to enter or walk away. When releasing any written piece - a report, press release, op-ed, etc. - your title needs to grab your readers and make them want to enter the room. No matter how exciting or newsworthy your piece is, no one will read it if the title doesn’t do its job well.
So, how do you craft a compelling title that brings readers in? A few tips:
1. It’s not about you. A key Spitfire principle is that the message must reflect the values of your primary audience. The same goes for your title. Who is the primary audience for the piece and what does that audience care about? What is important to them? What piece of your report will they find the most relevant and motivating? Identify this, and incorporate it into your title.
2. What’s the big idea? Be creative with your title, but make sure you highlight the core message of the piece. Veering too far off course risks misleading your audience about what they are going to read. This will frustrate your readers and cause them to lose interest. Worse, it could harm your organization’s credibility. Instead of just identifying the topic (i.e. second-hand smoke and cancer), reference the main finding of your report (i.e., second-hand smoke linked to increased cancer rates).
3. Short and sweet. Resist the temptation to summarize the entire report with your title. Lengthy titles are confusing and alienating, and increase the likelihood that your readers won’t make it past the first few words. Pick the issue most important to your readership, and focus on that. Same goes for the subtitle. Avoid subtitles that read like a laundry list and focus instead on the main idea.
4. Make it memorable. Link it to a current event, play on words, or reword a popular quote, book or movie title. Have fun with it. Scan the opinion pages of national newspapers on any given day and you’ll see creative, catchy titles that grab your eye and keep you reading.
5. Get a fresh set of eyes on your work. Use the tips above to brainstorm some potential titles. Then share them with others - whether colleagues in your organization or outsiders who aren’t as familiar with your issue. Get their feedback, and adjust as necessary.
Creating a strong title is a balancing act, but when done well the result is a compelling entryway to your piece that draws readers in and helps you communicate your important messages.
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Don't Drink the Kool-Aid - Avoid Everyday Pitfalls
Skip the Myth v. Fact Sheet
by Kristen Grimm, President
If you are thinking “uh-oh” because you just approved one of these for posting on your organization’s Web site, you are not alone. David Axelrod, a top advisor to President Obama sent one out a week ago. Run a search on Google for “myth vs. fact” and more than 2 million results will pop up. Here are three good reasons to not be one of them:
1) In a myth vs. fact sheet, you spend 50 percent of your time communicating about something you don’t believe, i.e. “the myth.”
2) Research shows that using the myths vs. facts format to present information actually reinforces the very point(s) an organization may be trying to discredit. According to University of Michigan researcher Norbert Schwarz, “denials and clarifications, for all of their intuitive appeal, can paradoxically contribute to the resiliency of popular myths.” In short, you are helping out the opposition – the reverse of what you set out to do.
3) The more you repeat the bad information the more likely people will believe it, even when it’s coupled with a counter argument. You are creating your own cycle of despair.
What to do? Best case: make an assertion that is factual without referring to the incorrect information. Want to read more? Check out this article in The Washington Post. It is an oldie but goodie and clearly not read by enough people.
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Good to Great - Smart Strategies for Success
Small Steps, Real Changes
by Jessica Zimmer, Junior Account Executive
At Spitfire, we encourage our clients to make it personal. Rather than sharing statistic after statistic, or showing endless graphs and charts, a few personal stories can be much more persuasive when it comes to motivating an audience to action. Some of the best stories show how a small, manageable action can turn into a real, tangible success.
As New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof points out in a recent column, many studies have found that when people are told of the plight of one particular person, they are much more likely to help than if they are told of the larger context of the problem. One person can’t end world hunger with one small action. Stopping one person from going hungry, however, makes the problem seem manageable. This success story from Heifer International about Christine in Rwanda is a terrific example of how a single act - the purchase of a cow - allowed Christine to nourish her family, earn a living and have a beneficial impact on many others lives in her village.
Nonprofits grappling with the complex issues that confront our world are more likely to mobilize support for their efforts when they break down the challenge (end world hunger) into achievable steps (help buy a cow) that empower their audiences with the knowledge that their actions will make a positive impact. Click here to learn more about mobilizing your audience.
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Coming Soon - Opportunities of Note
Savvy Nonprofit Leaders Learn Smart Communications Techniques
by Jessica Love, Senior Account Executive
Ever wonder how you can become a better communicator? Or wish that the director at your organization could? Spitfire leads a year-long skills-building initiative aimed at helping nonprofit leaders build the communications tools and skills they need to create a strong communications culture within their organizations. Since 2003, over 150 participants have successfully completed Spitfire’s executive training program.
Combining classroom teaching and online learning with direct one-on-one support and strategic communications counsel, participants come together to work with top communications professionals and study the elements of communications strategy, planning, tactics, evaluation and fundraising. The program includes a series of webinars to support the classroom instruction and allow participants to share key concepts with their staffs and colleagues. The 2009 program included sessions with experts such as Spitfire president Kristen Grimm, storytelling guru Andy Goodman, word of mouth marketing whiz John Moore and nonprofit marketing and fundraising pro Katya Andresen.
Recent participants enthuse, "This is a critical training to help advance the organization from good to great." and, "This program revolutionized our nonprofit and inspired me to teach to other groups in Central Valley, where little capacity like this exists for non-profits." Spitfire is currently recruiting for the 2010 program. Interested? For more information about the program, enroll in the program or learn how to sponsor a nonprofit leader to participate click here. |
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Spitfire Recommends - Latest and Greatest Resources
Elements for New Media Success
by Heather Sullivan, Operations Executive
We couldn’t pass up this opportunity to direct your attention to a terrific new report, Online Tactics and Success: An Examination of the Obama for America New Media Campaign available from the Brainerd Foundation. Looking at what worked and what didn’t, this free report evaluates the fundraising, Web, social networking, video and text-message strategies of the Obama campaign to find the lessons learned that nonprofits can apply to their work.
For more information and to download a free copy, visit the Brainerd Foundation.
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