The long way to say, "Paid members only."The radiant sun cracks into the amber sky and sheds a fresh glow over the dewy grass. The rays dance through your window and glide onto your bed, waking you for a new day of adventure ahead. You breathe deep the crisp morning air and begin your day refreshed and renewed.
How many of you actually read that whole paragraph? How many of you scrolled on down to here? Don’t be shy, you’re not alone. First off, no one’s morning begins like that. Morning always comes too early and we’re more likely to shove a pillow over our heads to block the sun than to feel refreshed by the rays. Second off, none of us has the time to read fluff, no matter how well-written it is.
So what does this have to do with you and your nonprofit? That wasn’t just the ramblings of a frustrated cubicle dweller; it was an attempt to show you just how short your audience’s attention span is. You’re not in the Victorian era with Charles Dickens where you get paid per word; verbosity is gone and she ain’t coming back. Today’s audience needs news short and sweet, something they can skim on their Blackberries on the elevator.
When you’re working on your next project, keep all that in mind. How can you get your message across completely and yet keep it brief? Here are some great ideas that I have seen work quite well.
Never Doubt the Power of a Picture
It’s an old adage that a picture is worth a thousand words, but it’s still true today. Imagine being stuck in morning traffic and you see a billboard above you advertising a Tahitian vacation. It shows nothing more than a picture of white sand, clear blue water, and a laptop left behind in the sand with the word “Escape” in bright colors in the sky. You can feel yourself on that beach just as well with one picture and one word as you could with a full page text heavy ad in the newspaper.
Just Ride the Wave
This wave of new technology can be frustrating to deal with. Not many people actually sit down with a fresh newspaper in the morning to cap off their cup of joe anymore. Most would rather scroll the Internet before work or hop on their Blackberries. Embrace this new technology and investigate MP3 ads or audio newsletters; don’t see that as an obstacle though, but rather an opportunity. In the nonprofit sector, ample funds aren’t exactly knocking at your door, so you have to find low cost alternatives and this new technology might be just what you need. It saves on the printing cost, it could reach a wider audience, and they’re getting cheaper and cheaper to produce. Ride the wave, don’t swim against the current.
There are countless more ways to pack a punch without all the words, but I’ll leave that up to you to figure out. Plus, you’re probably too busy to read any more of this anyway.
“If it takes a lot of words to say what you have in mind, give it more thought.” ~Dennis Roth
