Connection Café: Online Marketing and Outreach, how Freud and Buddha can enlighten your nonprofit

	Online Marketing and Outreach, how Freud and Buddha can enlighten your nonprofit
	Posted by at Apr 24, 2008 10:44 PM CDT Categories: Social Media, Technology

Enlightenment This week, the NTEN Connect Blog posted an article by Katya Andresen of Network for Good and Mark Rovner- of Sea Change Strategies summarizing their NTC presentation: The Seven Things Everyone Wants: What Freud and Buddha Understood (and We're Forgetting) about Online Outreach.

If you weren't able to attend the 2008 NTC or missed the presentation, you should really take a minute to read the article about online outreach. After a month and numerous blogs postings about the original presentation, like those from Beth Kanter and Britt Bravo, the material here is still fresh and enlightening for anyone using nonprofit technology.

The central point made by Andresen and Rovner is that "what makes technology tools great is not the technology. It's the people behind them." Technology can be a very powerful instrument in outreach efforts but it won't magically accomplish your online outreach goals. This simply means that to achieve true "marketing enlightenment" technology should draw upon human connections and social needs which, according to the authors, include:

1.  To be seen and heard
2.  To be connected to someone or something
3.  To be part of something greater than themselves
4.  To have hope for the future
5.  To have the security of trust
6.  To be of service
7.  To want happiness for self and others
*As a follow-up bonus, humor and simplicity were also added to the list.

The best part about the article and Britt Bravo's original post is that both include long lists of relevant examples of nonprofits and organizations who have done this well (check them out for yourself and see what you might learn).

It's easy to get caught up in the awesome power of technology and lose site of this handful of fundamental needs. So, the next time you create a new online campaign, revamp your Web site or consider implementing a new social media tool as part of your outreach effort, ask yourself – what would Freud and Buddha do?

Any examples of how you've integrated some of these needs with your online outreach? Share with us!