How to launch successful, cost-efficient NGO campaigns

In today’s changing development landscape, international aid organizations face a huge challenge: How can they attract as much attention as possible to their advocacies and campaigns without breaking the bank? Take the case, for instance, of Save the Children’s recent “sexy ad” campaign. The video featured regular models in a typical studio reading poverty statistics in a sensual — albeit awkward — voice. The clip went viral on YouTube and social media, so the impact was overwhelming both in terms of making development issues relevant and defying the convention of “sadvertising” or “guilty marketing” that have characterized campaigns of nongovernmental organizations in the past. Ettore Rossetti, digital marketing and social media director at Save the Children USA, told Devex the campaign’s three goals — views, likes and dislikes ratio, and comments — were met within a month of the video’s release. The clip got 3.6 million views over the initial goal of 400,000, as well as 60 comments per 100,000 views, 20 more than the target. But while NGOs get a lot of clout and mileage for the “good” work that they do to further their advocacies, the development they tackle are often not “sexy” enough for many people to actually care about. This conundrum may be exacerbated by the cost-cutting trend in international development, pushing aid groups to find ways to get more bang for their buck. Campaigns are essential to any organization’s operations. They serve as a tool to strengthen relationships and trust with stakeholders and the general public, and of course to attract funding through donations. Campaigns can also have a huge impact in influencing the path of development work and amplifying it in different sectors of society, according to Ben Grierson-Hill, senior global campaigns adviser for World Vision International. “Through popular support, we’ve seen shifts in government policies that create lasting change,” Grierson-Hill, who wrapped up a successful Global Week of Action for Child Health campaign in May, told Devex. But getting a campaign right — from planning to implementation — is much more important than just getting it out. Getting it wrong may prove to be counterproductive, as organizations sometimes “only get one chance to win someone over … and one chance to lose” them, as Devex senior reporter Michael Igoe learned in his interview with Malaria No More chief Martin Edlund. Aside from raising awareness over development issues, elevating an organization’s brand and serving as a fundraising mechanism, campaigns equip stakeholders and supporters to be “better advocates” of development themselves by prodding them into action via signing a petition, making a donation, joining an event or inspiring policy changes. While it may be a challenge for NGOs to achieve all these campaign goals at the same time, meeting them is not an “either-or” question for aid groups, we learned from Aaron Sherinian, the U.N. Foundation’s vice president for communications, a Devex 40 under 40 development leader and one of the most well-respected development communications leaders in Washington, D.C. On the other hand, Dianne Sherman, vice president for communications at InterAction at the time of interview, suggested that prioritization of goals “can be a solution.” We spoke to several top marketing and communications officials to gather practical tips on how NGOs can roll out successful yet cost-effective campaigns. Take your time planning Thorough research is vital for coming up with a well-thought-out campaign. It provides the necessary information for an organization to have a solid working foundation for the campaign plan, including the target audience and the development issue at hand. But doing your homework takes time. Don’t rush into rolling out a campaign without the necessary tools and knowledge. Research should include a good grasp of the development issue, knowledge of the target audience — “what motivates them” — as well as narrowcasting tools that will be used for the campaign to the kind of media the target audience utilizes, World Vision’s Grierson-Hill explained. He added that taking the time to ensure all the “details, strategy and process” are in place before hitting the road running will make campaigns “more effective and [would give] better value for money.” Trendjack! Engage the public where they are. --— Ben Grierson-Hill, senior global campaigns adviser for World Vision International Embrace new technology The overall plan should include available and appropriate mediums to launch the campaign. While good old newspaper, magazine and television marketing work, digital technology provides a cheaper and even more viable alternative. These tools include the Internet, social media and mobile phones, depending on the information geography of the target audience. Once the medium is identified, organizations have to identify how to engage the audience in real time to keep the conversation and interaction going, Grierson-hill said. “Trendjack! Engage the public where they are. Social media’s influence on the speed of conversation calls for an increasingly rapid response time,” he stressed. “Keep an eye out for what is trending [and] what is relevant, and look for ways to engage in that conversation.” Make plans as detailed as possible One of the biggest challenges to setting up a coordinated campaign is making sure every stakeholder is knowledgeable about and accountable for their roles and responsibilities. Proper coordination always increases the prospect that plans will be implemented like a well-oiled machine, with everyone performing the duties assigned to them. Making a project schedule matrix — like a GANTT chart — that includes a timeline, deliverables and the person responsible for them will aid in this step. “It’s important to have a campaign operational plan with roles, responsibilities, expectations and measures of success clearly identified,” noted Sherman from InterAction, the main umbrella groups for U.S.-based NGOs. Ensure ‘buy-in’ Before “selling” a campaign to an external audience, marketing and campaign managers should first ensure that they have “buy-in” or support from the organization’s top dogs. Getting the support and input from senior leadership is crucial — and without it, a campaign will likely have much less impact. Getting these people on board with the campaign strategy can serve as leverage for the organization, as CEOs and other senior officials often become the figurehead not only of the group but also the development issue they are advocating. “Get agreement across senior leadership … If the campaign strategy and messaging is done well, then all efforts within an organization can fit under these campaigns and work together to support main organizational goals — whether it’s to change policy, raise awareness or money, or elevate the brand,” Sherman explained, adding that campaigns should be limited to a maximum of three per year for coherence and clarity. Engage everyone, align all external messaging Support, however, should not be limited to top management. The whole organization — from aid workers on the ground to the director level — and other partners must be involved from the start. Aid workers, for instance, can be an organization’s most active ambassadors because of the nature of their work. Engaging and carefully integrating the right people, whether outside or inside the group, to the strategy can amplify a campaign’s impact. Getting a celebrity as the face of a campaign could help, although there are caveats, according to Sherman. “Identify, recruit, train and equip strategic partners,” she said. “Having a celebrity, a highly regarded expert or a CEO of a major company can be a tremendous asset — just make sure they are aligned with and can speak articulately about your campaign goals.” A perfect example of this is Irish rock star Bono, co-founder of the ONE Campaign, who actively campaigns and performs the “inside game” to help further the advocacies of the antipoverty organization. Not every NGO-celebrity love story ends in a happy note, however, as Devex reported in February, following Scarlett Johansson’s contentious breakup with Oxfam. The reality is that, the development sector is curating the most relevant conversations of our time. --— Aaron Sherinian, vice president for communications at the U.N. Foundation Focus on the issue NGOs nowadays walk a fine line when coming up with a campaign: Should it be about the development issue or the work they do? While both approaches are valid, issue-driven campaigns are likely to provide more impact. An example is Nike’s Girl Effect campaign to enable girls to be drivers of change. The campaign, which focused on the issue and not the brand itself, went viral — with more than 10 million views across social media — and was considered a success. It provided a wider passage for the audience to identify with the issue. This is not to say that NGOs should completely detach themselves from the work they do. A good balance of narrative without the advertising vibe would be helpful; Sherinian explained that the whole development narrative inevitably includes these aid groups. “The reality is that, the development sector is curating the most relevant conversations of our time. These issues are very real, very urgent issues facing our planet. People want to see the whole picture and [NGOs] are a part of that. If you don’t show it that way, it’s not authentic,” he said. “It’s not about us as a sector but all of us as a [part of] a community.” Tell an authentic story Once a development issue is identified, writing an engaging, captivating and compelling storyline for a campaign strategy can be a challenge. But the bigger challenge is telling stories that stand out without blurring the lines of truth. Sherinian said that storytelling is one of the most difficult aspects of a development campaign, but he stressed that this criteria is non-negotiable. “Storytelling is sometimes viewed as the most important yet most elusive goal. The NGO sector should embrace the fact that new media, including social media, has made storytelling more readily available,” she explained. “Storytelling is never easy but it needs to be done right and it needs to be done authentically.” So how do you create an “authentic” storyline? While there’s no silver bullet for this, focusing on people and their stories could be a good start. World Vision’s Grierson-hill said campaigns should be “people-led” and “real stories of real people are still the best way to make an issue real.” “Whether it is a story about a mother who has lost one child to diarrhea but had another saved because of the availability of prevention education and treatment, or a supporter living on a $1 a day for a week to raise money and awareness, stories about people drive change,” he noted. Form matters, too While the message forms part of a campaign’s objective, the way it is delivered and presented to the public matters, too. A good campaign would also have to have an aesthetic quality to it that engages, captivates, “grabs and holds [the] attention” of the audience, Grierson-Hill explained. Form would likely focus on the words, images, actions, sounds and the length and brevity of the campaign. A video campaign should ideally be around one to two minutes long; longer than that and the audience loses interest. It should also appeal more to the emotion, with compelling stories from real people, but balanced with a dash of rational information like statistics. This is important because organizations are seeking not just impact but also the attention of the audience, Save the Children’s Rossetti noted. “We pay attention as if it’s a form of currency, and in the information economy, it is currency because of the diversity of data we have. So it is important to break through this barrier with a novel idea,” he said. Follow-up Finally, NGOs should keep in mind that the campaigns they roll out do not end once they reach their target audience. There should be follow-up in the process as it shows an organization’s commitment to transparency and accountability. If a campaign is meant to encourage people to donate money, groups must show these people where their money went. If a campaign is meant to inform policy reform, an organization is encouraged to keep its stakeholders updated on the status of the process. “Report progress frequently to your organization, to strategic partners, your campaign supporters and the public. Increasingly, people are more likely to support a campaign if they feel part of a successful movement that is holding itself accountable to campaign goals and impact,” InterAction’s Sherman concluded. “Progress reports are also a good way to give current supporters more stories and facts to engage new people in [the] campaign.” Did we miss essential tips in launching successful NGO campaigns? Share your insights by leaving a comment below. Check out more insights and analysis provided to hundreds of Executive Members worldwide, and subscribe to the Development Insider to receive the latest news, trends and policies that influence your organization.