When working for a non-profit or charitable organization, marketing and communications managers are often asked to respond to others' demands for results. In the past, this may have meant working up an appeal letter to your donors or touting your recent successful giving campaign in a press release. In today's competitive economy, communications managers may be asked to appeal for support from politicians and others who are in a position of power.

For those in power, results are often strongly correlated with data.

"How many people did you serve?"

"How many members do you have?"

"How much money do you spend on helping people?"

These questions ultimately form one statement: "Tell me why I should support you and back it up with data."

The problem with data is that they often only tell part of the story. Sure, your organization served 500 people last year, but does that politician know about Jimmy, the little boy who was finally able to walk thanks to your funding and work? "Thanks to Organization X, I can walk up to my mom and hug her!"

In the past, these case studies and testimonials helped make an emotional connection between your actions and your results. They helped make an emotional connection with your potential donors and supporters.

Now, things have changed. Many non-profits who typically relied on state funding are facing an uphill battle in the immediate future. Quick data sets (served X people, spent $X dollars, created X jobs, etc.) are going to be plentiful. Politicians may end up making a decision to fund one organization but not another based on nothing else but data analysis. Sure, data is important. No marketing or communications manager will tell you differently.

But if decisions are made solely on data, those in power risk missing some truly great organizations doing wonderful work. Sure, they might not have the numbers that other organizations do. But their dedication to doing quality work and making sure that people in need get the help they deserve must be recognized. If we continue to only make decisions based on data (like test results) we will provide a negative incentive for doing quality work (like making sure students get the help they deserve).

Communications managers are being asked to respond to others' demands for results. But in doing so, we must tell the whole story. Not just the numbers, but the stories behind the numbers. If we define how results are communicated, than those in power must look at the whole picture in making a decision.

Let's not get obsessed with just the data.

Too often lately, I've seen organizations flick their magic wand at a Facebook page, Twitter account, or YouTube channel and say, "Yes, that's it. Abracadabra, I've finally found the solution!"

It's admirable at first: someone at the organization posts all the photos they can find, adds a bunch of links to the main website, and, if they're really ambitious that day, they add a humorous status update or an informative article link.

Then, day two happens. And that magical communications tool doesn't seem as magical.

"Now, what do I do with it?"

I think part of the flaw is in the way that we as communications and marketing professionals label these channels. "If you're a professional organization, you must have a Facebook page at minimum and you should probably create a group on LinkedIn." These channels become essential.

The simple reality is they're not essential. And they're far from magical.

To be blunt: they are an additional channel for getting your message to your consumers. And, if you monitor what people say about your organization, you can receive some truly fantastic feedback. To go one step further, if you actively use these social networks, they become an integral part of your communications and marketing package.

But they aren't essential. Really, no single tool or channel is essential.

You don't have to have a public relations campaign. You don't need to travel to every conference or dinner. And social networks are not essential.

All of these channels are tools in the belt of a good communications and marketing executive.

They should survey the organization's consumers. Find out what they are comfortable using. See if there's room for experimentation, survey the field for any early adopters. Then, with this data, they should select the tools that work best. For example:

Organization: Older audience, primarily communicates via direct mail. Some tech savvy users, reaching out for more.
Solution: Maintain direct mail program, connect print communications with a new Twitter and Facebook accounts. Survey response to these networks. Turn early adopters into fellow marketers.

But no one should walk into a room and say, "The reason why your organization isn't getting the response it wants is because it doesn't have a Facebook page. Make it so!".

Reality might be that none of the consumers want to communicate via a Facebook page. A good communications and marketing executive will find the right blend of innovation and comfort. Most importantly, if they decide to launch a Facebook page, they will know that it requires a lot of work and a good deal of interaction with consumers. They will develop it correctly and make sure that it serves a beneficial purpose.

Bottom line: there are no magical, one-size-fits-all communications tools. Instead, you need to find the right blend for your customer base and make sure that any efforts are backed by a genuine commitment to the platform. Otherwise, just saying that you have a Twitter page and Facebook account doesn't really benefit anyone.

Communications. Marketing. Public relations. Media management. Online, interactive, whosy-whatsit.

Call it what you want. The basic principles are the same.

It should be simple. Clear. Concise. Don't confuse your audience or customers with your internal language. Say what it does. Talk about benefits, not features. Your customers don't care that your new personal media player has a 200GB hard drive. They do care that it can hold 1,000,000 photos and 25,000 songs, allowing them to have access to their life story wherever they are.

It should be beneficial. Practical. Useful. If it's not unique and actionable, no one cares. If you're offering a service that benefits no one, don't be surprised if there's no demand. Highlight how a product, service, or even your organization can help. Help someone make more money. Or get a job. Or write that novel.

It should be realistic. Don't invent these obscene scenarios in your mind about what people may want. Look at your friends and relatives. Take note of what they want, how they interact, how they spend their money and time. Then, make sure that your product, service, or organization can fit into that matrix. If no one you know wants what you've got, who will?

All good public relations, communications, marketing, and even social networking should be simple, useful, and reality-based. How you go after that is up to you. That's where creativity comes in. How do you make clear the usefulness of your product? Do you do it through a clever press release? A simple social networking blast? Organic search engine marketing? Go at it! That's where the fun comes in.

But if you don't pay attention to the core, basic principles, don't expect results. If you send out a direct mail donation appeal and it's confusing, impractical, or based on some made-up scenario, don't be upset when you don't raise any funds. If you send out a press release and you fail to make it clear why attending your latest event is beneficial, don't be surprised when no one attends. If you develop an advertising campaign for your brand new service and fail to connect it to real emotions or current problems, don't be surprised when no one shows any interest.

No matter what line of work you find yourself in (and, to be honest, we all find ourselves blending the lines sometimes), you've got to pay attention to these core principles.

Simple.

Beneficial.

Realistic.

Customers never forget.

Let me clarify: they might forget a great experience. But they will never forget a bad one.

Let me give you an example.

Tonight, I went to our local ice cream stand to grab a bite. We left the house a little before 10pm after checking the stand's hours to make sure they were going to be open. Thankfully, the top of the page advertised: "7 Days A Week 10am - 11pm." So, we were good to go.

When we got there, it looked pretty quiet, but another couple had arrived just before us and were heading up to the window to place their order. When we arrived at the window, I heard my wife ask, "Oh, are you closed?". "Yes, but you can still order cones," the girl at the counter replied.

<sarcasm> Well, isn't that nice! They really went out of their way to serve only one small part of the menu at a time where they publicly advertise that they're open. </sarcasm>

"But Ryan, maybe there's an extenuating circumstance that's causing them to close early," you may interject.

Nope, it's just a quiet evening and they've been told to close early on a quiet evening.

Let's review the rationale behind that decision.

The manager of the stand decided that if business is slow, staff has the power to close down the shop early. What are the problems with this setup?

1) Given the relatively low wages earned, there's pretty much no incentive to stay open late. Staff will be looking for an excuse to close.
2) Most employees are highschoolers, who may not fully appreciate the value of a good day's work.
3) You run the risk of losing business that shows up after the stand closes.
4) You save, at most, about $10 in wages and $10 for operating costs.

But most importantly:

5) Customers who do show up, expecting the stand to be open, will be disappointed to find it closed. Their evening plans, based around the assumption that your stand is open, will be negatively affected. Customers who do not want a "cone" will be angered that the staff can't be bothered to make the item they are craving.

Stepping away from this example, these sorts of poor decisions are made my companies, non-profits, and other organizations everyday. Short-term gains of money or time are prioritized over long-term gains of customer satisfaction, loyalty, and repeat business. Angry customers hold a grudge. Those grudges lead them to say bad things about your company to others.

And that short-term gain is quickly forgotten when you look at the long-term costs.

So please, remember that your customers aren't going to forget a bad experience. Not only are they going to tell a lot of people about it, but they're going to hold a grudge against you. And that grudge could last forever. That short-term gain is just not worth it.

Once again, treat your customers with respect.

To put it bluntly, all organizations should be embracing social networking. Whether it's Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Yelp, YouTube or some combination of those, you have to be on these social networks.

"But why?" you might ask.

No matter what your communications expert or marketing firm may tell you, social networking's not going away. And no, people won't just grow out of social networking and return to more traditional forms of interaction with your company. Social networking's here to say.

"But why?" you ask again, rather annoyingly.

The simple fact is that the younger generation isn't going to fall for your usual ploys. We were receiving credit card offers and invitations to join AARP while Hungry Hungry Hippos was the most complicated part of our day. Now that we've aged a bit, we really have no interest in your silly direct mail appeals and billboard advertising. Sure, it works, somewhat. But it's not the mainstay it once was. We've moved on.

"But wh--" Oh, come on! Give it a break already.

Why have we moved on? Because we want to interact with your organization. If we're going to make a donation, we want to have a conversation with you about where our money is going. We want to read about your latest attempts to help the poor and hungry. We want to understand why you're supporting a strike or why you're lobbying in DC. We don't want to find this out in some sort of pre-written direct mail appeal. We actually want to engage with you, interact with you, and find out what you're all about.

We're not coming back to traditional forms of marketing. Sure, we'll still pay attention to those. But you need to embrace all the options and use them well. For the love of all that is good, please don't create a Twitter account and update it once a month. And don't just replicate everything over all your different channels either. If someone asks you a question on Twitter, respond to them. If someone shouts you out on Facebook, show your appreciation. If someone comments on your YouTube video, check out theirs and offer your thoughts.

See, the thing is, we're all in this together. We want to move forward and affect true change. We just don't have patience for being over-mailed or ignored. Treat us like human beings.

"Why?" you ask.

Because we're treating you like human beings as well.

As a communicator, I think it's important for us to help define the language and rhetoric used around certain issues. For example, the Republicans were able to successfully incorporate "death panels" and "big brother" into the conversation about healthcare, shaping the nature of the debate.

I think it's time to establish a new set of vocabulary and language around the term the "American Dream."

The American Dream is a story of going from rags to riches. That much I can agree with. This great country affords us the opportunity to do better for ourselves and for our family.

But somewhere along the way, "riches" became incredible, cringe-inducing wealth. Five houses and 10 cars sort of wealth. Profits beyond your wildest imagination.

In the past, the reason why the American Dream happened for so many is not because they got that sort of wealth. Instead, they achieved their "riches" by having jobs that could support their family, provide for themselves in retirement, and protect their family from costly health battles. They were truly happy.

But as we saw these dreams coming true, someone thought it was good to stretch the definition farther.

And farther.

Now, the definition of "riches" is based purely on massive profits. And how do you get those massive profits? Well, you can either increase revenue or decrease costs. If you go the latter route, that probably means cutting down retirement benefits, pay, or healthcare for workers. The same workers who have already reached their American Dream. Except now, it's being taken away from them.

The same group of people who thought they had achieved their American Dream are seeing everything stripped away from them. The same group of people who fought for us, unionized, and brought us the weekends, workplace safety, fair pay, and the 8-hour work day are now being targeted by profit-hungry monsters.

The unions are losing and, as a direct result, America's middle class is disappearing. The middle class represented those who had achieved their American Dream. Now, it's just the "haves" and the "have-nots." The haves truly do have everything they could ever wish for, but the have-nots have nothing.

We need to redefine the American Dream. Bring it back down to earth. Stress that having a nice house, a small family, and enough to comfortably get by is the American Dream. Our predecessors had nothing when they came here. For them, just living each day was the American Dream. They never wanted incredible wealth: they just wanted stability.

In this economy, that's what we should all look for: stability.

The American Dream needs to be about stability, security, and contentment. For those of you facing the nightmares of unemployment, the magnitude of debt, and the instability of our markets, isn't that enough? Isn't that what you truly dream of?

Let's bring the American Dream back to the people. Let's fight for worker rights. Let's support our unions in their battles against the profit-motived "haves." Let's pursue the common good instead of individual wealth.

Sure, the American Dream is a story of rags to riches. But let's focus "riches" on those things that would allow as many people as possible to experience the Dream. Otherwise, we will all lose. More and more of us will become the have-nots. And there will be no middle ground.

For those of us involved in progressive nonprofits and related organizations, we face an uphill battle. The opposition consistently beats us with excellent tactics: they mention high costs or government regulation and our progressive policies disappear as quickly as free donuts on National Donut Day. Wasn't it interesting the sorts of vocabulary that entered the national conversation during the healthcare debate? Before the bill passed, completely heinous terms like "death panels" were passed around as if they were factual. After the bill passed, many Americans seemed downright surprised to hear about all the benefits they were going to receive. "Wait, you're not going to kill my grandmother?", they asked, somehow sounding surprised.

It's so easy to focus on the negatives. Whip out "high costs" and people instinctively think about their own wallets, ignoring the potential betterment of society if they were willing to give up just a small portion of their income.

Mention "big brother" and you send everyone, including those who have just a faint recollection of reading 1984 in high school, into terror mode. "I don't want the government controlling every aspect of my life," they cry, as if the policy of the day really is proposing that.

See, that's the other thing that the opposition has on its side. Not only are the negatives easy, but in this day and age, it's possible to tie complete lies to progressive policies just to make it seem like there's a negative.

But we must fight.

We must move beyond fighting for healthcare to promoting the hell out of it even after it has passed. If you want healthcare to get better, then you can't settle just at critiquing what's wrong, but you must also highlight what's right.

We must learn to focus on the positives, highlighting benefits throughout a process. If you run a successful program at work, make sure that everyone knows how many lives you affect and share their stories.

We must copy the tactics of the opposition. Use their own fears for our benefit. Use their own concerns about money into a convincing longterm argument for why many progressive policies will end up saving people money, not costing them anything. Give them real data, not just fancy speeches. Give them something to sink their teeth into.

Most of all, work together in this battle. The opposition is united behind a front of lies, negatives, and fear. We must take up the arms of progress, equality, freedom, and fairness and do battle. The time for lying back and waiting for others to make things happen is over. We must become more active and more engaged. The future is ours, but unless we start making some gigantic leaps forward, no one is going to want to have ownership rights to that future.

You needn't look any further than today's announcement that the data rates for both the iPad and iPhone are getting capped for examples of very poor customer service. In fact, it's a very good example of the third simple rule of good customer service:

3) The customer is king.

Listen to what your customers are saying. Take notes and consider possible solutions. In AT&T's case, they listened to their customers' complaints about poor service and decided that they would just change the rate structure, lock people into long-term contracts, and force people to stay around.

For government agencies, non-profits, and other service-oriented organizations, it's very important that we ensure that the customer gets the answer they are looking for. Sometimes, that means an answer that is not their preferable answer, but an answer nonetheless.

If you don't have the answer, make sure the person to whom you transfer the customer knows everything that you now know. The customer should never have to repeat themselves.

Remember! The typical person tells 20 people about a negative experience and tells only 5 people about a positive experience. Let's make sure they are having positive experiences!

4) Every call or interaction is an opportunity to enhance customer relations and improve your organization's reputation.

Clearly, AT&T does not get this. They would rather publicly have a horrible interaction with their customer base than have a positive one. That's just strange.

For the rest of us, it's important to remember to always be professional; provide speedy responses and accurate information; show genuine concern; and always give reliable follow-up. It's up to YOU to fix the problem.

If you follow these simple interactions, your customers will have a better impression of your organization, they'll be able to find the information they are looking for, and, most importantly, you will be providing a better service and advance the public good.

First, welcome to my new blog. In addition to my personal blog and the occasional special blog (see iPad Life), Advancing Media is the blog I've always wanted to have. For those of you who remember my short-lived Advancing Media website (before it was overtaken by hackers), the idea is to promote communications-driven ideas that can benefit all of us who are involved in helping advance the public good. Today's topic? Customer service.

Whether you are a non-profit or a government agency, you have customers. Citizens are customers, your website visitors are customers, your program consumers are customers, and even your employees are customers. Like any good business, you should offer good customer service. But what is good customer service?

For those employed in customer service departments, it's absolutely imperative that you recognize that for your customers, you are the organization. Yes, you have a boss and, yes, your organization has a president/CEO/director and other key staff members, but if you are the main person people call, email, or write, you are your organization. With that in mind, there are some simple rules to follow.

1) Treat each customer who calls or writes as if he or she is the first customer of the day, and as if you've never heard their situation before.

At Walt Disney World, employees are put through a comprehensive training program before they begin their job. The employees are expected to see themselves as being "on stage." Their job is to make their guests happy when they are in Disney World. Even though jobs rotate from day to day, it has always been one person's task to stand inside Cinderella's Castle to answer questions. One employee counted the number of times she answered "Where's the restroom?" and it came to 85 times per day! By the end of the day, she wanted to say, "Can't you see the sign, dummy?!?" But she remembered her training: while it may be the millionth time you've heard the question, it is the first time the customer has asked it.

For non-profits, government agencies, and other organizations, we have a lot of people who ask us the same question everyday. Especially in our field, these questions are very important. If we blow off the importance of the question, our customers are going to feel discouraged, angry, and disillusioned with the process. We have to treat customers as unique interactions. If we don't, we're going to minimize the impact we are trying to have.

2) Customers are human! Do not ignore their emotions when you are addressing their problems.

We are all humans. As such, we are all emotional beings. We get angry, we get happy, we are sad, and we are discouraged. When interacting with your customers, keep it impersonal to avoid causing defensiveness. Use "I" instead of "you" and avoid giving orders. More importantly, if the problem is something your organization has caused (or at least is connected to), take ownership in solving the problem.

Remember, our customers want to be taken seriously, be treated with respect, get immediate action, and get their problems cleared up so that they never happen again.

Check back in tomorrow for the rest of the simple rules for using good customer service to advance the public good.