By Sarah Montoya
I am not a product developer, nor do I work in tech. Even so, Femgineer’s scrappy marketing class taught as one of the classes in Femgineer’s Lean Product Development course, caught my attention because I work for an all volunteer run non-profit that is dedicated to spending almost all of our budget on funding projects in the developing world. We have no budget for marketing. We are an ever evolving community of volunteers constantly seeking to improve our organization. As an all volunteer team the lean marketing model and the way Poornima constantly reminds the class that lean doesn’t mean lazy describes Do Good Lab perfectly. In fact, I am confident that our lean budget makes us all work harder. I also appreciate that Poornima’s class is committed to helping us think through what works so we do what works, while also recognizing that we are all experimenting. Do Good Lab has the word lab in the name because we see our work as an experiment in improving the way people do funding for the developing world.
DGL is committed to getting our name out there, but we are also dedicated to doing that without spending money to get our name out there. We are confident that what we are doing matters and will make an impact, and therefore people need to know about our work. Nonetheless, we are unwilling to use funds that could go to funding projects the support public health, education, and agriculture. Femgineer’s Lean Product Development course and particularly the class on marketing was a lifesaver for me as a member of a team of volunteers learning how to use all the free tools found in social media, email, and blogs. I knew all these tools existed and I use them all regularly. The challenge is learning to using these tools well with my audience as the focus. I can post all over our social media accounts, but if it isn’t reaching possible our customer or donor base, and connecting to their needs we are not going to get anywhere.
Poornima’s class on scrappy marketing is a well developed resource for understanding how to craft effective marketing in order to build relationships to that lead to the purchase of goods. She also does a great job of letting us know what resources are already out there for us to use for free and how to use them. It is helpful for me to remember that there are free tools that I can access beyond facebook and twitter. This is particularly helpful for organizations like DGL because we need to be as lean as possible while creating our brand awareness.
One challenge that we have is that our goods are not tangible for the people putting money towards them; however, they are tangible for the people in the developing world receiving them. The only actual goods or services we sell are tickets to fundraising events that we host. For the most part we are trying to engage people in giving that doesn’t result in a product or service.
This can be challenging to think about as we are trying to move our social media audience toward actionable steps. Femgineer’s Lean Product Development class reminded me of the need to understand our customers and remember that our communication is really about them. Remembering this helped me recognize that even if I am not selling them a product, I am selling an idea, and a way of thinking about funding the developing projects in the world. At first I didn’t like the way it sounded to talk about selling an idea for social change, but at the end of the day DGL wants people to buy in to the idea that we can do better when it comes to supporting change in the developing world.
When I admit this to myself I am better able to think about the people I am marketing this idea to. In order to sell the idea effectively I need to think about how I approach them, the same as someone selling a good or a service. I need to ask myself:
Does my audience prefer email or social media?
Are they searching for us or do we need to create awareness?
How are they responding to what we put out there and how can we build engagement?
Understanding the benefits of each form of marketing makes it easier for me to think about why I would choose to put more energy into one than another. We have to be strategic about our energy. It also helps me know what to do to be sure that the marketing choices I make fit the people I am reaching out to. Just because I like email and facebook doesn’t mean that our blog isn’t someone else’s major source of information.
Furthermore, if I want someone to find me, I need to be searchable. Hence, I need to have a blog that has the information people are looking for. I hadn’t thought about the shelf life of the information we put out there, until Poornima mentioned it, “An email only lasts 7 days, but a blog post can be found as long as it is online.” Facebook and twitter have minutes sometimes even seconds of life before something else fills the space. Honestly, it all seems so obvious, but at the same time because all of us have different preferences what feels obvious to me might not be what my donors is responding to.
I have to confess one of the most interesting part for me was understanding what the crawlers on search engines are looking for. I am interested in why some web pages come up in searches while others don’t. Most importantly these days I want to know how to get my organization at the top of a search list when people look up international development. Femgineer’s Scrappy Marketing class provided some really helpful insights to make this happen!
Sarah Montoya loves to learn and wants to make the world a better place. As the event manager for Do Good Lab she hosts fabulous events to support sustainable development. She also volunteers with Old Skool Cafe, and is passionate about human rights. Before moving to San Francisco she received her Masters of Divinity from Truett Seminary at Baylor University. Sarah loves traveling, running, crafting, and playing with her dog.
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