NPA 036 – Reaching your Millennial Audience

In this episode I talk with Chad Reid of JotForm.com. You may remember Chad from his three part series he wrote for Nonprofit Ally about using forms to survey your members, creating your donation page and making “apply online” forms. Connecting with your audience can be like hopping on a moving train from an bridge overpass. OK – not the best metaphor but it is does capture the changing landscape of connecting with followers. What people read, how they read and where they read have all changed drastically. The fact that a sentence can serve as a paragraph is just one obvious change in the field of communication in general. So effectively communicating with your audience, with content that is engaging, takes skill and forethought. Here are some key points that all communicators should strive to accomplish: Start with WHY: This seems a no brainer, but don’t assume that your visitor knows “why” they are on your site and “why” you do what you do. So when you write your about page, your mission page, your latest posts or even a calendar event try to relay “why its important” at the beginning of your content. Know WHO your Audience is: we have heard this before in other podcast, so obviously this is important. If you want to connect to your audience you have to know who they are. Go beyond the basic demographic (gender, age location) and try to learn more about your audience: soccer mom? country music listener? social media user? sports fan? parent of autistic child? Connect with your Audience: don’t just assume that since someone is on your site they know what they are doing there. So the sooner you can connect with with, with stories, photos or videos, the better chance they will stay on your site and read more about what you do. People may come to your site because of a topic you offer information on, but they stay for themselves… they stay because there is something of there for them. Fix a Problem: if you can “fix” a problem or answer a question, then you are relevant to your audience and connecting with them at a level that is useful and meaningful. Chad suggest writing content that includes tips and how-to’s, stories about your agency and metaphors (jumping on a train = connecting with your audience). Resources Chad works at JotForm.com Simon Sinek Ted Talk – How Great Leaders Inspire Action Simon Sinek Book – Start with Why: How Great Leaders Inspire Everyone to Take Action Just for Fun: So, for those who have listened to the podcast you now know why there is a picture of my dog with Trump hair as the featured image for this podcast. Join in on the fun… just brush your dog and use the hair to make a Trump wig. Then post it on twitter #trumpdog. The post NPA 036 – Reaching your Millennial Audience first appeared on Nonprofit Ally.