Tangent: This photo is from Salmon Fishing in the Yemen. It was one of my favourite reads. Will it be one of my favourite movies?

The people who name products, services and enterprises fly-cast into the wide deep pool of language, hoping to hook a big one.

So say Steve Rivkin and Fraser Sutherland in “The Making of a Name.” In their book, they make a thorough exploration of the fascinating craft of naming, which is the applied branch of onomastics—the study of the history and forms of proper names.

Fishing can be an uncertain sport. I recall endless hours in a boat as a child with my Dad plying the small lakes in northern Washington State looking for trout. I don’t recall catching many, although I do recall simply enjoying the scenery and the long quiet chats with my Dad. While I no longer do much fishing, I do like to approach the exercise of naming with rigour, focus and a substantial dollop of patience. The linguistic scenery can be captivating, the conversations illuminating—and  it can’t be rushed.

As with most pursuits, good preparation and the right equipment improve your chances immensely. Here’s my To-Do list when I start with a client on a naming project:

1. The first question is: Do you need a new name?  Most of my clients are looking for new names for existing products. You need a yes or no answer to this question first of all, but either way,  you’ll also need to articulate the compelling reasons to engage in a naming process—or not. Those reasons create a case for the change which justifies the effort it will take to get to that new name. You’ll need your case for change while plowing through the “messy middle” where people’s spirits and energies flag, and the goal seems impossibly far away.
2. Craft a positioning statement to frame the exercise   I wrote about positioning statements in a January blog. Do have a look. Why it’s important here is that all the stakeholders involved need to hold the same image and understanding of the entity they are responsible for naming. Often, the compelling reason for changing the name is that it no longer encompasses the full meaning or intent of the entity. Making sure everyone’s onboard with the same understanding at the beginning of this exercise is critical.
3. Choose the right people to be onboard  We’ll get into the process in a future blog, but for right now, the other foundational  element for a good naming process is to have the right people onboard at the right time. Ideally, you want to restrict the group who will be making the final decision on the name to as small a number as possible. On the other hand, you want to engage as wide a range of stakeholders as necessary to give your decision-makers the right information to work with.

It takes a tiny hook, a deep pool and a practiced arm to snag the big one.

Next week: The responsibilities of a good name

The question then comes, “Where should we start?” Here are my suggestions:

With the end in mind  Start by taking some time to think through what you want to accomplish with your communications efforts. Set out some tangible and realistic goals that will act as both a baseline measurement and a target.

Understand your audience  Organizations talk to a number of different audiences. List them. Write down what they already know and what they need to know about you. Figure out the best channels for communicating with each one of your audiences.

Articulate your key messages  You have a very limited time to grab people’s attention for the most important information you need them to know and act on. Refine your top level messages and set them as the framework for all you send out.

Implement  This usually means making sure your website is up-to-speed first of all—good design, intuitive flow, interactive and dynamic. It’s the home base for all of your other communication and marketing efforts. Following that, set an editorial calendar and develop content that can be used in other ongoing channels such as print, email and social media.

Live and learn  There are so many ways to monitor and analyze digital channels of communications.  Develop the discipline of looking at them regularly. Compare them with each other and with their own performance over time. The numbers have stories to tell that you’ll want to listen to. Listen carefully.

Then start at the top and do it again …

This comes from “The Rise and Fall of Poverty Porn”– a thoughtful piece with even more stimulating comments on the current state of development practice and human connection and fund raising.

I was recently approached to make comments on a strategic plan for an organization. Having only the written document to go on, I made comments as to lack of a persuasive focus, particularly in their offering to their key stakeholders. The response was that I just didn’t know enough about their organization. As I listened to them talk, they did indeed have a compelling offer and some great stories to tell, but they were hidden in the hearts and minds of the leadership.

The art of branding is to listen, listen, listen and ask strategic questions. In that manner you extract the wealth of information, insights and stories out of those collective heads and weave them into a framework that allows a rich narrative to be delivered in appropriate doses time and again as people come into contact with your organization.

The starting point for branding is the positioning exercise, which delivers the kind of fierce focus needed for organizations to thrive even in the midst of difficult economic times. I find it helps my clients open the doors to new ways of thinking and seeing things. And it’s when I most often hear … aha! It forces you to collectively think about three key things that help you understand your unique offering:

1. Primary target audience:  These are the people you want to speak to most powerfully because you know they share your values and you are certain you can make the most meaningful impact with them. It doesn’t mean you won’t speak to other audiences, but it does force you to focus on what will give you the most impact. It also reinforces the principle that marketing and communications starts with understanding and responding to your audience.
2. Category of Competition:  We all live in a market context, and people who will choose to affiliate with your organization either by offering their voice, their influence, their talent or their dollars have choices. Going through the exercise of understanding the comparative landscape in which you exist strengthens your ability to be fiercely focused on the best you have to offer.
3. Reason to Believe:  This is where you articulate the specific and unique benefits that only your organization can offer. The best benefits are not just practical, but emotive and inspiring. Dig down deep to explore what turns your crank about what you do—and that often translates into what will excite others.

Done well, the process of developing your brand brings your organization into alignment. But don’t jump into branding unadvisedly. It is like a marriage and you have to be in it for the long term. It is the outward expression of all you are and do. It is about saying what you are going to do and then doing it. If you don’t deliver on that promise, it’s grounds for divorce. Donors and clients will move on quickly.

You cannot succeed in difficult times trying to be all things to all people. The key is to be the sharpest nail, find your niche and deliver. It’s the simplicity on the other side of complexity.

By Jim Lodico
Published April 28, 2011

Ever wonder why you can have 548 friends on Facebook, yet only 15-20 show up in your news feed? It’s not that those other friends have stopped using Facebook; chances are they’re still there. It’s just that they aren’t showing up in your news feed.

If you haven’t noticed, there are now two settings on your Facebook news feed: “Most Recent,” which shows most of the content published by your Facebook friends in chronological order and “Top News,” which filters content based on EdgeRank.

Friends and fan pages with a high EdgeRank are more likely to show in your “Top News” stream. Users with a low EdgeRank may not even show in your “Most Recent” news feed.

For businesses or others looking to market, promote or just interact through Facebook, the implications of this change are huge. “Top News” is the default setting, so unless a friend or fan changes their default, it’s quite possible that they will never see your updates. No matter how good the content, no matter how well you manage your Facebook page, EdgeRank might be holding you back.

EdgeRank Defined

Facebook looks at everything published as “objects.” These can be status updates, links, photos, video or anything else that can be shared on Facebook. Every object receives a ranking (EdgeRank), which determines if it will show in your personal newsfeed. Objects with a high EdgeRank appear in your “Top News” feed. Objects with a low EdgeRank will not. According to a study conducted last fall by The Daily Beast, objects with a really low EdgeRank may not even show in your “Most Recent” news feed.

An object’s EdgeRank is based on three factors: affinity or the relationship between the creator and user, interaction with the object (likes, comments, etc.) and timeliness. Add the three factors together using a formula that only Facebook truly knows and you’ve got an object’s EdgeRank.

Unlike Google’s PageRank, which stays the same from user to user, every object is scored based on the individual Facebook user who may (or may not) view the object in their news feed.

Let’s take a closer look at the three factors that determine EdgeRank.

Affinity

An object’s affinity score is based on the interactions you have with the friend or fan who published the object. Friends or fans with whom you regularly interact receive a higher affinity score. Each time you visit a fan page, click the “Like” button, comment on a user’s status or look at a picture, you increase the affinity score with that user.

As The Daily Beast study points out, this affinity score only works one way. I can’t increase my affinity score in another user’s feed by constantly clicking on their “Like” buttons or looking at their pictures. Although doing so will increase the likelihood that you’ll see their updates, your objects won’t do better in their news feed until they return the favor.

Level of Interaction

Different types of interactions are weighted differently on Facebook. Activities that require higher levels of user engagement get a higher score than those that don’t. For example, leaving a comment on a photo takes more effort on the user’s part than clicking the “Like” button. Objects that receive higher levels of interaction are more likely to show in a user’s newsfeed.

Timeliness

Most people don’t want to read yesterday’s news. Newer objects have a better chance of showing up in your news feed than older ones.

Armed with an understanding of these three elements, here are six tips on how you can increase the likelihood that your content or objects will appear in your friends’ or fans’ “Top News” feed.

#1: Publish Objects That Encourage Interaction

Unless they’re interesting enough to draw comments, simple status updates aren’t going to move you into Top News feeds. Publish content that naturally encourages click-throughs or creates discussion. Objects such as creative games that require a response (i.e., trivia or caption contests) open up opportunities to add highly weighted interaction and build affinity with new users.

Top News is Facebook’s default setting. Top News only shows objects with a higher EdgeRank.

#2: Create a Forum

Ever notice how political content on Facebook can generate a ton of comments? Although it doesn’t take long to realize that Facebook and politics don’t mix, people love to debate and discuss hot issues. Make your fan page a place for constructive discussion on the latest industry topics. Although this approach takes careful management, objects from a fan page filled with healthy discussion are more likely to receive a higher EdgeRank.

Objects such as surveys require user interaction which can build EdgeRank.

#3: Make the Most of Photos and Videos

Photos and videos show up in the Facebook news feed as thumbnail images. Due to their size, they almost require interaction as users click on them to make them large enough to see. Be sure to add a comment that encourages users to open the photo and add comments of their own.

By their very nature, videos and pictures encourage interaction.

#4: Share Links

Links require interaction as users click on the link to view the object. While it’s good to share content from your own website, don’t be afraid to promote interesting content from other sources. Twitter users discovered long ago that the more content of value you share, the better chance you have of driving followers to your own content when the time comes. Again, a comment that encourages opening the link or leaving comments can go a long way.

An object that receives comments is more likely to show in the Top News feed and also builds affinity with users who comment.

#5: Keep It Fresh

The Facebook stream moves quickly. If you’ve got objects that aren’t getting a response, don’t be afraid to let them go and move on to the next thing. If the object is good but didn’t get the response you desired, consider repurposing it or sending it out again at a different time of day.

#6: Ask Users to Share

Don’t be afraid to ask users to share objects or click on the Like button—especially if you’re new to Facebook. It can take a little while for a Facebook page to gain momentum. Anything you can do to help it along will only speed the process.

Although the introduction of EdgeRank may make it more difficult to share information on Facebook, ultimately it still comes down to content. Publishing content that users want to share and interact with has always been vital to any Facebook marketing campaign. With the recent Facebook changes, that content may now need a little extra push to get it the attention it deserves.

As with many cost-conscious non-profits, WPC’s previous website was built by and relied on the kindness of talented volunteers. But it was cumbersome and difficult to update.

They received a generous grant from MEC to build this new site. We built it on WordPress so that it’s easy for them to use and to update. The design draws you in with the beautiful photos of the wildlife they work with, and then clear navigation takes you into the depth of the information they have to offer. At every stop, it’s easy to find where to make a donation to the cause. It links to a blog so that their biologists can send updates from the field — and you can feel like you’re right in the trenches with them. In the background, we built in analytics and SEO optimization so that WPC can watch their site’s performance and refine the site as it lives and grows.

Kabisa worked together with Mondodigitalis (web development) and MereName Design (graphics) to create this new virtual home for WPC.

So says a seven year study by Network for Good. We all know that December is the traditional top month for charitable giving. A third of charities’ online donations are made in December. Perhaps more remarkable, says the study: “22 percent of online gifts are made in the last two days of the year.”

The study found that the primest prime time for online giving occurs on December 31 between 10 a.m. and 6 p.m. in the donor’s time zone.

Make sure all systems and backup systems are go for these crucial year end days. Send out that final reminder email. And then have yourselves a very happy new year!

Banned Nando's Chicken ad

It’s darn hard to be funny—and to get your point across, especially at Christmas.

A perfect case in point in the Nando’s Chicken ad called “The Last Dictator Standing.” It is guffaw-level funny in its depiction of Zimbabwe’s President Mugabe frolicking with his former fellow autocrats to the tune of “Those were the days, my friend” prior to sitting down by himself at a Christmas banquet and a bucket o’ chicken. There’s a great punch line that I won’t spoil for you.

But Mugabe supporters didn’t think it was so funny and threatened Nando’s Chicken outlets in Zimbabwe. The South African company was forced to pull the ad out of circulation.

The Toronto charity, War Child, also tried a funny that flopped. Last Christmas, they put out two ads poking fun at tacky, useless Christmas presents. The tagline was: “Bad gifts don’t save lives. War Child gifts actually do.” They admitted that the ads did very poorly, but chalked it up to too crowded a market place over the prime time for charitable giving.

Both ads, however, proved an opposite case to the statement of the tagline and didn’t make sense. In both cases, the tacky presents actually saved lives. In one, a woman putting up a string of Christmas lights falls backwards and lands on a big, gaudily-wrapped pillow. In the other one, a man manages to give himself the Heimlich maneuver on a gilted leopard statue. Both lives saved by bad presents.

It left me scratching my head.  I do agree however with Stephen Jurisic, partner and creative director at John St who created the ad when asked what non-profits should do during the holidays.

“My advice would be to stay very focused on the loyal donors that you have, especially if you’re a small to medium-sized organization,” he says. “Do something more engaging at a less crowded time.”

John Deere's massaging corn teether

In the centre fold of the Globe and Mail recently was an article on philanthropy outlining a troubling trend. The amount of charitable donations is bouncing back and the number of givers is up (comparing 2009 to 2010 stats). This is the happy news. At 53 however, the median age of the givers hasn’t changed in over a decade. That’s the troubling part.

The question for charities is how to attract younger donors, especially when lessons of generosity are often taught through religious institutions, which are also failing in our country.

Perhaps we should be taking a lesson from John Deere. I was on the hunt recently for a massaging corn teether for a very new relative. It’s a clever little gizmo that looks like a smily-faced cob of corn and when it is gnawed on by a discontented teether, it emits a soothing buzzzzzzzzzzz. The packaging indicates that it also teaches cause and effect—a very good lesson for a baby who might grow up on a farm and need to know the immediate ramifications of throwing a rock at a bull.

On a trip out of town, I came across a John Deere dealership and stopped in to have a look. The yard around the store was neatly filled with big-boy John Deere mechanisms. Inside, I was amazed to find clearly one-third of the store taken up with little-boy toys (the gender bias is profound … but that’s another story). Every real-live John Deere has a mini version, all in their carefully branded green and yellow.

On a website where they describe their brand, they are very intentional about wanting to build their business on the sons and grandsons (their words) of this generation of farmers. Every time a little boy climbs on a replica of a tractor pulling a round baler (package of four round bales sold separately), he imprints like a gosling with its mama. Brilliant.

At 174 years old as a business, I’d say they have developed an enduring brand. They were #98 in the top 100 brands in the world this year.

So, the question remains. How do today’s charities build linkages with the next generation of givers? Good examples include fluffy stuffed animals from WWF and those nifty magnets that hold pictures of sponsored children nose-height on fridges across the country.  What can you do to ingrain on the children and grand children of your most valued donors?

On the up side, this explains the utterly remarkable generosity I’ve seen over the course of 20 years working with non-profits. I’ve seen it from donors, of course—some of whom choose to live simply and give substantial amounts to worthy causes. It is almost part of their DNA. “You never meet a grumpy generous person,” was often quoted by clients at a charitable foundation.

I’ve also seen this at the opposite end of the spectrum, most notably in disasters. People often ask how I could go into relief situations, thinking it must be so depressing. Quite the opposite was true for me. Dire circumstances can bring out the very best in humanity. I was often astonished by people who had recently lost almost everything and yet had so much to give to the people around them and to me. There was often a palpable sense of joy and hope in the midst of tremendous loss.

On the down side, because it feels good, people are prone to give impulsively and Arrillaga-Andreessen counsels against that. “Give to what interests or excites you most and make it a long-term affair, rather than a philanthropic one-night stand.”

For organizations looking for charitable dollars, this means we have to keep up our side of the relationship. Fundraising can tug at the heart strings, but it has to be surrounded by the substance of impact and positive change.

This requires a continuous flow of information—story and statistics, emotion and evidence, losses and lessons learned. The best donors are being taught to expect nothing less. Are we ready for the challenge?