Christy Farnbauch

A couple of years ago the makers of Gain laundry detergent, Proctor & Gamble (P&G), were looking for a way to better engage and win customers. They used web and social media tools to launch a “Sniff Contest."

They invited current and new Gain customers to purchase a bottle of detergent, open the cap, and sniff the scent. Then, customers were to visit the company’s website or Facebook page and write a brief story or upload a video about their experience with that bottle of detergent.

When I first heard about this request, I found it hard to believe that anyone would take the time to do this…for laundry detergent?

As it turns out, the campaign was wildly successful, resulting in over 300,000 stories, videos, and fans. P&G dubbed these people the “Gainiacs” and continues to engage them in a variety of ways to increase product sales.

Everybody loves to hear a good story. A powerful story is a critical tool for engaging and winning audiences – current and potential ticket buyers, class participants, board members, artists, and donors.

I’ve attended many workshops where presenters tell nonprofits to develop clear, persuasive, and compelling stories about their work. However, few offer specific steps for doing so. My goal for this post is to provide a few tips to help you begin your journey of collecting and telling stories about your value.

Just like P &G, you can and must collect and create different stories for different listeners. One story will not resonate the same with everyone you want to communicate with. For example, parents will be motivated by different stories than senior citizens; and corporate donors may be motivated by different stories than individual donors.

Willie Pietersen, former CEO of Tropicana, says in his book, Strategic Learning, “Winning in business means winning in value. And, you can’t cure a value problem with cost reductions.”

For me, this quote describes the current state many nonprofit arts organizations face. We’re so busy looking for ways to cut costs and programming, that we’ve stopped working to define and communicate value. The overwhelming response to shrinking revenues is cost cutting.

While this strategy works for a while and keeps organizations in the black, what happens when there are no more funds to cut? What if we could get more proficient at communicating the value of what we do by collecting and creating stories about the personally meaningful engagement of ticket buyers, class participants, board members, artists and donors?

Here is a basic framework to get you started:

Compelling and persuasive stories must:
•    Be Specific, but Universal – Identify a challenge or person that is widely identifiable.
•    Name a Protagonist – Use a proper name when you can. Provide as many details about this person as possible.
•    Provide Context – Describe the circumstances or facts that surround a particular event, situation, or challenge.
•    Identify a Challenge – What is the situation to be overcome? In what ways did your organization help?
•    Describe the Action - Describe what action took place. How did the protagonist interact with your organization in valuable ways?
•    Share the Results – What happened? How was the protagonist’s life changed by your organization? What do you want the listener to do?
•    Document – Use photos, video and comments to demonstrate value for the protagonist. Share widely in print and electronic communication materials.

Margaret Martin of Harmony Project in Los Angeles crafted a compelling story about her organization for the 2009 Social Innovation Fast Pitch Contest. This is my favorite recent example of how to tell a compelling story about the value of an arts organization. Watch her story here:

I’m convinced that if over 300,000 people will share stories about laundry detergent, your audiences will gladly tell stories about their experience with your arts programming.

You just need to make it easy for them to tell you.