I wanted to name this piece, “Why You Should Listen to Nick Kristof  if You’re a Social Entrepreneur”.

I recently read an article by Nick Kristof that was as brutal as it was immensely important.  In short, nonprofits are not effectively communicating to their donors and consituents about their cause.

In the article, he talks about the difficulties faced in his career with effectively communicating the horrors and atrocities about which he is so passionate.  He also calls for a rethinking of the way we market social change.  More Madison Avenue.  And in particular, less statistics.  Please God, less statistics.

You can read the entire post here; I encourage you to do so:  http://outside.away.com/outside/culture/200912/nicholas-kristof-philanthropy-advice-1.html

Below, I have synthesized what I believe to be his most pertinent points.  I then offer my analysis on how these findings can be relevent to social enterprises of all kinds (including the for-profit variety).

His argument’s central focus is this:  if you want to logically convince someone that you’re right, use statistics.  And if you want to completely turn someone off from supporting your cause. . . use statistics.

Now I personally connect with statistics.  They make sense to me.  It was learning that over a billion people lack clean drinking water that got me so passionate about Charity: Water.

But your audience isn’t just me.  It’s everyone else, and their interest levels run the gamut.  So if you want someone to take action on your cause or social business, you have to find a way to make your social enterprise relevant in their life.  If you want someone to engage emotionally with your cause in the same way you do, and feel the outrage that you feel, and the passion with which you work, then you have to SHOW them the new reality you are trying to create.  YOU MUST CONNECT!  So as your thoughts turn to your marketing strategy, I ask you.  Are you connecting with your customers?

Kristof highlighted some perfect examples of how this ISN’T happening.  A case in point is iodine.   According to Kristof, “studies have suggested that iodizing salt brings real economic returns of nine times the cost—and yet we don’t do it. The reason is, I think, that the results are statistical, not visible.”  It costs 2 cents per person per year to get sufficient iodine levels.  But we haven’t done it.  And why not?  Well I only speak for myself, but I certainly don’t connect emotionally to iodine.  Do you?

But what people do connect to are faces.  When you see the face of a little girl struggling to learn math because the lack of proper iodine levels left her with an IQ 15 points lower than previously, you want to make the situation better.

So how do you, as a social entrepreneur, do this?  Kristof highlights specific instances and studies that showcase the most effective ways to connect.  And I’ve highlighted these passages for you below.  If you read only one part of this article, read this:

• “one experiment found that people are quite willing to pay for a water-treatment facility to save 4,500 lives in a refugee camp with 11,000 people in it, but they are much less willing to pay for the same facility to save 4,500 lives when the refugee camp is said to have 250,000 inhabitants. In effect, what matters is saving a high proportion of people, not just a large number of lives.“
• “storytelling needs to focus on an individual, not a group. A classic experiment involved asking people to donate to help hungry children in West Africa. One group was asked to help a seven-year-old girl named Rokia, in the country of Mali. A second was asked to donate to help millions of hungry children. A third was asked to help Rokia but was provided with statistical information that gave them a larger context for her hunger. Not surprisingly, people donated more than twice as much to help Rokia as to help millions of children. But it turned out that even providing background information on African hunger diminished empathy, so people were much less willing to help Rokia when she represented a broader problem. Donors didn’t want to help ease a crisis personified by a child; they just wanted to help one person—and to hell with the crisis”
• “But when people were asked to donate to Rokia and Moussa together, with their photographs side by side, donations decreased. Slovic found that our empathy begins to fade when the number of victims reaches just two.”
• “all the psychological research shows that we are moved not by statistics but by fresh, wet tears, with a bit of hope glistening below.”

IN SHORT:

Donors can’t connect with statistics.

Donors want to help a person – not a cause in the abstract.

Donors want to feel that the help is meaningful and impactful.

SO HOW TO TAILOR YOUR MESSAGE?

Show individual stories.  As hard as it may be, you don’t want to emphasize the problem over the person that benefits from the donor’s or buyer’s support.  It’s who do they want to help?  Not what do they want to fix.  And again, and I will repeat it over and over – you must show them how their donation or purchase makes a real impact.  How a life will be changed by virtue of their action.

Here’s some of my analysis of these findings:  Coming from the perspective of marketing a social enterprise, the Kristof article is deeply salient.  While he tailored this article to non-profits, social enterprises often engage in the same critical issues, and are driven by the same desire to effect change.  As a person interested in creating social change, I have statistics in mind all the time.  I care about the severity of the problem.  And ultimately, a large percentage of workers in the non-profit and social enterprise space think the same way as well.  We already care deeply.  We know the problems are exorbitant, and we want to help.

But when you are thinking about a marketing strategy, you must keep in mind that you are trying to sell to people that don’t necessarily share the same level of passionate interest as you.  This is not to say that they aren’t interested in supporting the cause.  But TOMS Shoe buyer X in Lincoln, NE may not share the same passion for ending podoconiosis as Blake Mycoskie in Venice, CA.  And that’s okay.  But if their awareness is increase just a bit more, and they can be connected emotionally to the issue, then they will buy.  Perhaps I’m partial to the TOMS Shoes mission, but it certainly seems relevant that nearly all of their public relations campaign videos show children in poor areas running around in brand new TOMS shoes.  The connection is as visceral and overt as any I’ve seen.

So as you craft your marketing strategies, keep this in mind.  People are moved by images, and videos, and above all compelling stories.  Show people how their action with your social enterprise makes a truly impactful difference in someone’s life.  Because remember.  You don’t want them just to make a purchase.  You want them to spread the word.  If someone feels that the cause is worthy, then they’ll do both, and they’ll do so often.

Did you find this article helpful?  Did you want more clarity?  Less personability?  Less CAPSLOCK?  Please respond with any comments regarding the format of this article.  I would be most grateful for your feedback.