Rev & Reach Episode 2 Transcript

00:08
LORI: Hello, everybody. Welcome to this episode of Rev & Reach, PopSpeed Digital Marketing LLC’s podcast, where we provide you with tips and tricks to amp up your ROI on your social and digital marketing efforts. With me today is Kiley Metcalfe, who is the first real employee of PopSpeed Digital Marketing four or five years ago. And I’m Lori Jo Vest. I’m the founder of the agency with my husband, Ron Wingard, who does our websites.

So we want to get you as much solid information as we can that will help you immediately in your digital marketing efforts. So today, Kiley and I are here to talk about a grief support for children nonprofit that we work with. And we want to treat it kind of as a case study because it’s a really good example of why a nonprofit should have a very solid digital marketing effort going on. If you do not, you are missing out on so much. Right, Kiley?

01:11
KILEY: Yes, absolutely. And this client, this particular group, they’re not the only nonprofit we’ve ever done work for, but they are a great example of what our work looks like in a really all encompassing way. For them we do their newsletter, their social, their website, we take care of their blog. There’s so many different things that we do on behalf of this client. And it’s really a great way of just putting proof in the pudding, honestly, of how a solid, cohesive digital marketing effort can help sustain volunteers, donations, and continued fundraising support for nonprofits.

LORI: So let’s dig into the story of how we got to work with this group. It was right before the pandemic. It was really interesting because they’re part of a huge health network in Metro Detroit, and they work with a development office. And the head of development at that point decided that they really needed this particular nonprofit inside the health system, needed help beyond just, let’s try to raise some money.

They needed to have a social presence. They needed an email initiative. They needed a better website. So they called us in initially just to do the social media. And we started off right before COVID, right? That was crazy. So everybody was, you know, spinning and crazy things were happening.

And it was a difficult time for nonprofits because people were saving their money. A lot of people weren’t working or they couldn’t do their jobs on site because of, you know, the shutdowns. Well, the best part about it was that they ended up raising more money in that year of the pandemic than they had raised in years previous. And that shows you what a good social media effort can do.

So what did we do differently for this particular grief support group that helps them kind of soar above some of their competitors when it comes to fundraising?

03:16
KILEY: Yeah, absolutely. I think that a—and it’s… I wish there was a simple answer for it, I don’t think that there necessarily is one single answer—I think when it comes to non profits in particular, you know, I think about some of our other clients, and in most cases, there’s one single, you know, pinpoint of what ROI looks like. You know? In our last episode, we talked about our dental implant clients. For them, we want leads right? Over and over and over again. For this particular nonprofit, we go into it and there’s almost a new kind of marker for ROI regularly. You know, this given post, we need volunteers. This given post, we need people to sign up for camp. We need, donors, we need fundraisers. The list really goes on and on for what we need to achieve for this client in particular. I think that’s true with a lot of nonprofits as well.

So for us, I think the key, you know, the key thing that we keep in mind on a regular basis is to keep our minds very, very open. It’s a great learning opportunity to go see what competitors are doing and not steal their ideas, but get inspired by them. See how we can turn it around for this particular client and even make it better on a lot of occasions. And it’s different in a lot of ways than you know, just a traditional company or organization because there’s so much more collaboration and freedom and the need for ideas to really garner the attention of prospective donors and say without saying, we’re worthy of your dollars. We’re worthy of your donations and your volunteer hours and your attendance at our fundraisers. And here’s why.

LORI: And matter of fact, what we’re- here’s why, because we’re going to show you a story, an impact story, or several impact stories that are going to help you want to become a part of that organization’s mission. And one of the ways we did it with this grief support group, I got to share the story of the live that we did, it was awesome. And what we did was we got their alumni volunteers. Now, this is a group that supports children who have experienced the death of a loved one. Friend, family, parent. The stories are heartbreaking. And we’re not sure why it works, but it does. There’s a lot of joy in this group.

05:56
So let’s talk about the live event we did for them. This was really cool because it was multi purpose and they are a grief support organization for children. And what has happened over the years, they’ve been around for 20 plus years, is their children that were helped by this program, they experienced the death of a loved one. It could be when they were 5, when they were 10, when they were 15. But a lot of these kids end up growing up and either becoming social workers. One that I talked to was 19 or 20 and he wanted to become a psychologist. And they also come back and volunteer. So there’s an alumni group. They love what the group did for them and how they were supported and the difference it made. And so they come back and volunteer and there’s an alumni group.

And we held a Facebook live about this alumni group and promoted the organization. And they really talked about what it meant to them as a child to walk into a room and thinking that you were the only one that had ever had your dad die or the only one whose grandma died when you were, you know, and everybody else still has their grandma and I don’t, and that’s not fair. And you walk into this room and there’s 20 other kids and they’ve all experienced the same thing. You’re not alone.

So they told these stories of why they came back and what they did. And we recorded them on StreamYard, which is a tool we use for our podcast and other video projects. And we were able to take individual recordings from each of these alumni and let them tell their story and also let them tell the combined stories. And so that impact story is the most amazing tool for fundraising and soliciting, you know, volunteers and other types of involvement, sponsorships, all that kind of stuff. So if you can figure out a way to get those impact stories with faces and voices and, you know, real true authenticity, you will have more impact.

08:09
Another trick that we tell people, and this applies to everybody, not just this grief support group, is faces are what gets attention. Faces sell. And they don’t have to be beautiful, perfect. Matter of fact, the more imperfect, the better. If it looks like I took it or you took it, you know, it was just a flash in the moment, joy or sadness, that’s going to attract that view of that social audience.

That’s part of the story that I wanted to get out there, that if you can get your- the people that you’ve impacted to share their experience over and over and over again. It helps you create that feeling of, I want to be a part of this mission, I want to be a part of this organization. Which is what a donation can be if you handle it correctly and maintain communication.

Let’s talk about the newsletter we do for this group. Kiley, I know that is a part of keeping in touch with those donors as well as volunteers, everybody. Right? What do we do for that every month? Would you share it with us?

09:15
KILEY: Yeah. So we do, I would say, a short newsletter for them would be about five topics. I would say a normal one, maybe six and then a little bit longer we get into 7ish topics per month. Because again you want to, you want to make your—particularly with email communications, I think, just because everybody hates spam. Right?—So when you’re crafting your newsletter, I think particularly, when it comes to a non-profit, when a good chunk of your email list is donors who are like, hey, I’ve given you my money already. If you’re gonna send me emails, make sure they’re worth my time.

That it’s really important to be intentional about what goes in there. And consider that you’re writing for who’s receiving it. Not for yourself, the brand, the non profit, etc. So for us, we like to- we typically include a note from the program manager in, in every edition. That’s how they start. It’s a personal touch. She always has. As Lori said, it’s somehow for a group that really could be clouded by so much sadness. It somehow is a very joyful group and I really believe that that stems from the program manager because of who she is as a person.

LORI: And let me add real quick, her address always has a photo and her signature. Personal. Personal. That’s a big part of it.

KILEY: Exactly. Exactly. It’s very personal. It really connects the audience from the jump of the email with the people behind the organization. And then we follow that with kind of whatever’s hot in the program right now. So on a month by month basis we run a- like an audiogram series. We couldn’t get approval to do a full blown podcast with the group, but we do every month a—we’ll talk about that, sure, in more depth in a little bit—But it’s not a podcast series, but it’s a podcast series. It’s very short episodes month by month on different topics surrounding the group.

So we follow- every newsletter gets a snippet about that, whatever episode came out that month. And then you know, we get into this time of year, we start talking about the fundraisers that are coming up over the summer. Some save the dates. Camp dates.

LORI: Golf outings. Golf outings. Grief camp.

KILEY: Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And then it’s very seasonal too. Yeah, exactly. And then we run it kind of on a seasonal basis. So around the holidays we’ll talk a lot about topics that are very timely to, you know, grieving, you know, around the holiday season and how to, you know, manage your grief during Christmas or Hanukkah or Thanksgiving or you know, whatever your family’s big holiday is. Because ultimately we know that a lot of the audience that’s going to read the newsletters is parents of grieving children or guardians. A nd so it’s important to cater to what they need too, because in most cases they’re also grieving. Right?

So we kind of- we kind of work towards getting resources and information to support the community and to display to those past donors. You know, kind of reiterate what the impact of the group is as opposed to just every month over month making a direct appeal for more donations. It’s a little bit more important to tailor it to, if you’re a grieving family on our list, here are some resources that can help you this season. If you’re a past donor, oh, look at how, you know, we’re continuing to support these people. We can do it a little bit more with another donation. Very subtle, very subtle, pleas. Yeah.

13:06
LORI: Yeah. And it’s interesting because as we have added more and more video, it’s been the more effective, the impact of the story. When you actually, like I did last year, go to grief camp and you would think, you know- I went the first day once and the kids were all a little anxious and kind of, you know, not sure of themselves. I went the second day this past year and by then they’re all like wilding out, you know, they’re all crazy and having a great time and, and they- there’s so much joy and they meet each other and make those really fast friends and, and when you ask them straight out, what is it that you love about this organization, they always say, I’m not alone. And they spend a lot of time at grief camp learning how to process grief in a healthy way, learning, you know, doing exercise to help them manage their emotions, all kinds of really healthy things that help them when they, when they grow up.

So the video aspect I think of it is really- is also really important. If there’s any way you can find a down and dirty, quick and easy way to capture video—on your phone is fine—do it. Because you never know when you’re going to get that perfect moment that inspires a whole bunch of people to join your list of supporters.

KILEY: I mean I would even argue too—like you say on your phone is fine—I’d argue that it’s better. I mean you look at the- we talked about the live that we did back in, I think it was in December, with the alumni group Lori. And a lot of those, you know, we got so much. I mean it was such an amazing event to talk to, you know, directly to families that are either, you know, young and experiencing it currently, or prospective families that want to join the group. You know, a wide array of people within the community.

But it also gave us a lot of content to work with after the fact. So there are a lot of, like, videos you’ll see on our pages now with little snippets of, you know, this alumni talking about how the program impacted them in this specific way. Right? As an example. And it’s so, you know, authentic. You know, we talk about talking head videos. It’s not, it’s not professionally done. It’s coming directly chopped up from a live event that was on Facebook. It’s not terribly high quality or terribly over polished or professional or formal or anything of the sort, but it’s authentic, and more than what the people in the video, you know, are presenting. Whether it’s a perfect, you know, camera angle or lighting or etc. It’s the content of their words that really matters. And particularly I think with impact stories for on behalf of nonprofits, that’s what matters. We’re not looking for the over commercialized, over professional, super highly edited and treated video content.

We’re looking for, you know, things. Things like this where we’re just sitting here having a conversation, talking about general impact on, on personal lives and even just a cell phone video of, you know, this is why I volunteer with this group. Things like that, I mean, in this case are so, so much more real. And the content of nonprofits and groups like this is just that- it’s things people deal with every day in real life. So why not keep the content real?

LORI: Yeah. What I liked about that too was some of the young people that participated—because these people are people in their 20s, maybe somebody was 30, I don’t know—but they were recording them, a lot of them were on their cell phones. So when we took the video clips, they looked like reels on Instagram or TikTok something on TikTok. They were just like, you did that yourself. But at the same time, because they were talking to each other, it was a very heartfelt, authentic conversation where if you sit somebody in front of a camera and say, okay, say this. It’s not the same. It’s so not the same. So you may not get the perfect sentence or the perfect lighting, but you will get the perfect level of authenticity to create connection. And that’s really what you need to do as a nonprofit, is to create that connection.

17:38
I wanted to mention here, and I talk about it a lot with our nonprofit clients, there’s a model for fundraising out there. It used to be called making more money. Now it’s called Benevon and it’s got a formulaic approach. I’m sure it’s changed with social media and digital marketing, and I’ve not looked into it, but the idea is that you share a huge impact story with your audience, and then once they become connected, you encourage that monthly donation kind of thing so that they’re donating every month and you communicate with them every month and you give them opportunities.

We’re going to stuff backpacks for, you know, kids at the school because we’re an educational organization and we want to demonstrate our commitment. So we’re inviting 50 people to come help us stuff backpacks and, you know, drive them out to the schools. People love that kind of thing. So it’s- as a nonprofit, being involved, creating opportunities to be involved is absolutely critical. And digital marketing is a great way to do it.

I’ll tell you- before we wrap up, I want to tell the story of our pet contest.

KILEY: Oh, yes! Yes, yes, yes.

18:47
LORI: I saw this- oh, gosh, I saw this years ago. And we’re in the process of launching it. So don’t steal it until at least, if you’re going to do it yourself, do it after June, because we’re getting ready to do it, like, March, April, May of 2025. But what we’re doing is we’re offering our followers and supporters the opportunity to have some artwork made of a picture of their pet. And when we say artwork, we’re saying that very loosely because it could be good refrigerator art, or you might get art from, you know, that looks a little nicer, but it’s going to be done by the kids from this grief support agency, the staff of the grief support agency. I might even draw a dog or two. Kiley might have to draw her dog, I don’t know. But they’re going to be refrigerator art.

And it’s a small donation. And what it does is it pulls people into our sphere. It pulls people into this organization’s group, and we’ll show all of them. So we’re going to be able to show on social the before and the after. Here’s what the picture looked like, and here’s what the kid drew. And it’ll be funny and it’ll be cute, you know, and it’s a minor donation, but it creates that connection, which is what you really, really want. There’s a really nice way to balance grassroots fundraising with corporate sponsorships.

And Kiley, do you want to talk a little bit about what we can do or what nonprofits can do and what we’ve done for nonprofits when it comes to creating sponsorable assets?

20:16
KILEY: Yeah, absolutely. I think this client in particular is a great example of that for us. And it’s another- it just kind of goes to show the importance of being creative. Right? So when we think of our general service offerings as an agency for digital marketing, we do a lot of social media, we do a lot of newsletters, we do a lot of websites, SEO, lead gen.

But in this case we got to have a little bit of fun. Because obviously nonprofit is another great way to kind of accept philanthropic dollars is with sponsorships. Right? So for us, we’re like, okay, so if we’re not really doing it at events and things of that nature, how do we create sponsorable assets to be consumed in the digital media space?

So the not podcast podcast that I mentioned earlier that we do for this client on a monthly basis, those are relatively quick. I would say episode lengths kind of span from, I would say shorter ones are about two to three minutes longer ones, I believe the longest we’ve ever done is about 20. And then generally maybe like 8 to 10, I would say is pretty average. So they come out every month. They’re on different topics related to grief and healing and coping and community and you know, finding joy.

LORI: How to be a better ally. I love that one. How to be a better grief ally. We all need to know how to do that, right?

KILEY: Exactly. Yep. That was a great one. Yes, exactly. So really speaking to the entire community, I think—it’s March 2025 right now—this month we did kind of playing into, you know, green being the month or the color of March with St. Patrick’s Day, talking about, you know, the little green monster that comes up, jealousy and envy during grief. So it’s a- that’s a sponsorable asset. It’s an episode that comes out every month. We’ve- I believe we’ve talked before about pitching it to, like, bereavement facilities and funeral homes and things of that nature, you know. Other organizations and companies that are involved in some way or another in grieving. Right?

And that is something that any company can come in, pay a set fee and have, you know, their logo stamped on the audiogram each month and you know, get a shout out in the episode. Right? And then obviously win-win, some marketing for the company and a little bit more money for our nonprofit.

22:53
Another one that we’ve done that is my personal favorite because it’s so fun, is humor. Humor is healing. So it’s a grief support program. And one of the things that this particular client really relies on is humor and finding joy, as we mentioned, in the wake of grief. So we don’t shy away from laughing. We keep things light as often as possible. We tell jokes and really, really cheesy jokes. So it was a little thing that kind of started on our own Instagram page for the most part, with little graphics with little puns and, you know, funny little jokes kind of designed for kids and them being told on just cutesy, fun, colorful graphics. That has now turned into Humorous Healing, becoming its own Instagram page. And it’s just flooded.

LORI: We’re growing it.

KILEY: Yeah. It’s a growth process, absolutely. But it’s just this cute, silly page that’s just flooded with these dumb little punny jokes and

LORI: Dad jokes.

KILEY: Yeah, right. Dad jokes and the cheesiest ones. And it’s so fun and the community loves it because it’s just, you know, what’s your little dad joke today? What’s going to make me laugh today? We take, you know, jokes from the community and highlight those anytime we get them in the next graphic.

And it’s become this very communal thing that again, is a sponsorable asset now that it’s turned into its own Instagram page. In particular, because at any time, you know, this company, this funeral home has sponsored this joke or this week’s jokes. So it’s a great way, I think, to be really creative with how to make an organization that does really, really important work get access to more funds and more resources to be able to do more of that work, you know?

25:01
LORI: Absolutely. They’re 100% supported by donations. And even though they’re part of a healthcare system, they’re actually attached to the hospice aspect of the healthcare system and they support the families coming through as well as free support to all the families in Metro Detroit. It’s absolutely amazing. And there’s a lot of these organizations.

We found out over time that there’s a lot of organizations that help children grieve. So if you are, you know, side note here, if you have a child that has experienced the death of an important person to them, grief support is really important. And what we’ve learned from this is that these kids grow up to be really healthy adults because they’ve had to learn how to process really heavy emotions. And that gives them a solid base for a healthy and successful future. So it is important, you know, so something to think about.

25:57
Anything else we want to talk about with this particular nonprofit? I think we’ve covered everything. Our next episode is going to be about what? What are we talking about? Coming up?

KILEY: Next episode, we are going to be talking about spending money to make money.

LORI: Oh, yeah.

KILEY: And that is not just for nonprofits. That is for all clients across the board. Forever and ever.

LORI: For everybody. So social media is pay to play. That’s what we’re going to talk about next time. But for now, that’s what we’ve got. Again, we are PopSpeed Digital Marketing and we are here to help you bring solid ROI to your social and digital marketing efforts. Check out our website at popspeeddigital.com and we’ll see you soon.