Pre-marketing can maximize your success at a networking event

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Special to Philanthropy Journal

Janet L. Falk

You've decided to attend a large networking event hosted by a professional organization where you are considering membership. If you're nervous in anticipation of walking into a room where you know almost no one, here are five tips to maximize your success at the event:

1. Having pre-registered, look at the website of the organization. Make a list of the officers, board members and committee chairs; if their email addresses are not provided, contact their employer's receptionist and get their email address. With the Subject line: Will you attend the NAME OF EVENT on DATE, send a brief introductory email that describes a bit about you, plus your work with a relevant business or organization, along these lines:
   NAME,
   
   
   Your name came to my attention as an officer of the ORGANIZATION.
   
   
   
   I am YOUR NAME and TITLE at COMPANY/ORGANIZATION, BRIEF DESCRIPTION.
   
   
   Having worked with RELEVANT COMPANY/ORGANIZATION on various projects in SUBJECT AREA, I am interested in learning more about the PROFESSIONAL ORGANIZATION and how I might get involved in your activities.
   
   
   Perhaps we can chat at the NAME OF EVENT, where I hope to meet you and your colleagues.
   
   
   Regards,
   YOUR NAME
   Company/Organization website in signature block
   
   
   Because these individuals are the leaders, movers and shakers of the host organization, they will be thrilled to hear from a potential new member and may even visit your website to learn more about you. Perhaps 60-90 percent of them will email you back with a warm welcome.
2. Respond to their replies indicating that you will be wearing a distinctive tie or jacket at the event, so that you will be sure to spot each other.
3. Look at the photos of the officers on the organization's website or their LinkedIn profiles before you go to the event, and bring the list of officers with you.
4. At the event, be on the look-out for these contacts, and when you speak with them, the initial subject of the conversation is the professional organization, not yourself.  As the conversation flows freely and you collect their cards, ask them to introduce you to others in the organization. Remember, you are a prospective member, so let the officers cultivate you.
5. Follow-up after the event, indicating what a pleasure it was to connect in person, how much you enjoyed learning about the organization and you look forward to seeing them at future events. If you have joined the organization, let them know they played a role in that decision.

This approach turns you, a newcomer, from a bystander to a focus of attention. It also creates a shared agenda of the benefits of membership and future activities of the professional organization, in which these contacts are heavily invested. Thanks to that common ground, you can sow productive networking seeds as you work toward your own goals.

Good luck!

Janet Falk provides media relations and marketing communications services for nonprofits, small businesses and consultants. Her proactive communication campaigns help them achieve their goals through expanded contact with members, prospects, supporters and influentials.

When nonprofits fail to communicate they risk losing connections

Janet L. Falk

"I give money to groups that I know. One way for me to get to know your organization is to see your name in the press.” An executive of The Starr Foundation, which annually grants more than $50 million to nonprofit groups, clearly stated the power of communications to a group of fundraising professionals.

Too many nonprofit groups overlook budgeting time and money for communications, whether contact with the press, maintaining a current website or sending a quarterly newsletter.

When an organization decides not to proactively engage in communications, not to allocate budget and staff (or consultant) time, not to invest in itself, not to promote itself and its successful programs and partnerships, it may experience unanticipated outcomes:

●By relying on an annual letter from the executive director, a nonprofit may become too heavily dependent on existing supporters. It may find it difficult to attract new donors, partners and advocates or receive referrals from outside observers, because "Everybody already knows us."

●The absence of third-party validation may create the erroneous impression that there is no news, no progress and no achievement taking place at the nonprofit. A lack of news coverage may make it even harder to land media attention when newsworthy developments take place. Reporters, like funders, are partial to those they already know.

●Nonprofit organizations may be limited in their ability to diversify their funding sources. Without promoting their innovative and replicable programs through newsletters and media coverage, these groups remain below the radar of regional and national funders. As a result, the organizations are mired in a weaker position to obtain new or even matching funds from such sources.

●When new advocacy coalitions are formed, participating members may overlook the nonprofit as a potential partner. They may be are unaware of shared concerns and relevant programs.

●The area business community provides support to selected organizations, largely based on personal contacts and vendor relationships. In the absence of periodic reminders of successful programs in the media and newsletters, local businesses may perceive little incentive to increase giving to selected nonprofits or to connect with groups beyond the small circle they already support. The lack of news coverage promoting the impact of businesses' philanthropy becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.

●Elected officials at the municipal/county and state level may erroneously believe that the nonprofit group is supported sufficiently by residents and businesses; they may not allocate monies from their discretionary funds that are part of the annual budget.

●Website visitors that stumble upon the website (which is not consistently referenced in outward-bound communications), may encounter outdated information. They may perceive an image of indifference to external audiences or a lack of attention to detail. Neither impression bodes well for the organization's professionalism.

Cutting back on Communications can be a satisfactory arrangement in the near term for a short-staffed and budget-constrained group. Whether for fundraising, advocacy, ticket sales or any other programmatic purpose, the long term consequences of a failure to engage in proactive communications are too serious to be overlooked.

Janet Falk provides media relations and marketing communications services for nonprofits, small businesses and consultants. Her proactive communication campaigns help them achieve their goals through expanded contact with members, prospects, supporters and influentials.