In our media-rich environment, today’s marketing and communications professionals are expected to know about a lot of things. From graphic design, to website management, to emerging trends in social media, to the most effective way to reach journalists, to how interpret analytics- whew, I’m tired just writing that list. In the nonprofit sector, where more than likely you are a one-person shop or working on a lean team, keeping up on all of these topics isn’t really a reasonable requirement or suitable expectation. So what should you try and stay on top of? Here’s my list of the top 7 things your boss should be able to count on you to know and explain.
1. Mission and Elevator Speech The most important thing you need to master is your organization’s mission and elevator speech. Whether you are answering the phone or representing your organization at a luncheon, dial in these two things. Practice them until they enter your memory and can sound natural and engaging.
2. The Calendar What’s happening right now at your organization? AND What’s on the horizon? As the communications lead, you need to be able to talk on the spot about what’s happening daily at your organization. Also being able to look ahead can give you the content you need to pitch media or donors at a moment’s notice.
3. Brand Materials Knowing the location and formats of your organization’s style guide, logo(s), fonts, boilerplates and templates will help you be invaluable to your boss. If you have time, it’s also helpful to have on hand information about when these will most recently updated. (Hint: It might be a long time ago- which I’ll talk about in another post.)
4. Your Budget It is all in the numbers. While it’s not advisable to answer every new hot idea with the reply, “Awesome idea, but it’s not in my budget”, knowing the general status of your budget can help guide your boss when they (inevitably) see a shinning object that they just have to manifest at your organization.
5. Crisis Plan While no one wants to think about the “what ifs”, you need to have a firm grasp on what to do if there is an emergency. What are you responsible for? Who needs to get information when and from whom? A crisis communications plan doesn’t need to be a hefty tome, but even having a simple prearranged plan, can be invaluable if an occasion arises.
6. Google Analytics You don’t have to master this, but you should get familiar with the numbers, trends and other user information you can uncover through this data. Looking at data can be a rabbit hole for sure, so knowing how to get in, grab data you need and get out on a regular basis (monthly or quarterly) is a best practice that I try to maintain.
7. How to Listen While it can be tempting to just roll up your sleeves and dive in to your work, continually keeping your listening ears turned on can be one of the most helpful and critical aspects of your work and continually listening to your peers, clients, customers and competitors will help you do your job more effectively. Monitoring your organization’s reputation and responding (if needed) to complaints or criticism is something your boss should be able to depend on you to handle.
For more information, download my 5 Habits For Success: Stressed Out Nonprofit Comms Pro Edition found here.