Live United: Rebranding the World’s Largest Nonprofit

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Last week, the day before I graduated college- like the smart little networker that I am, I chose to attend the North Florida Public Relations Society of America luncheon to hear Del Galloway, Vice President of PR at United Way, speak about his experience recreating the international brand.

Galloway began his presentation by asking the room, “What does United Way do?”

Del Galloway and John Felton, both former national presidents at the PRSA luncheon. *Photo courtesy of Sarah Brown

The response he got was,”They raise funds for nonprofits and charities.”

Galloway nodded in agreement and explained the reason behind the rebranding of United Way was to shift the focus from purely fundraising to community impact. United Way had been known as a purely fundraising organization, where a speaker would come to your corporate office and you’d sign up to have x amount of money withheld from paychecks and donated to the local United Way. While this type of fundraising works when the economy is doing well, the recession forced the United Way to find a new way to reach out to people and get them involved.

The new slogan, “Live United“, is much more about being connected and inclusive and less about charity. Galloway explained that charities can become divisive, labeling people as those who have and those who have not.

“We’re about inspiration, not desperation,” he said.

They chose to focus on three areas of improvement: Education, income and health.

Galloway explained to us the bold goals United Way set for themselves:

  • Cut the number of people dropping out of high school in half.
  • Help people become financially stable and get working families on the road to financial independence.
  • Increase by 1/3 youth and young adults who are healthy and avoid risky behaviors.

In order to accomplish these goals, the United Way had to invite people to become a part of this movement. They chose three calls to action:

Give. Advocate. Volunteer.

There are more than 1,800 local United Ways. To rebrand such a large organization was a huge undertaking, but also resulted in an enormous amount of media coverage.

Through this media coverage, United Way sought to position themselves as the experts and thought leaders on volunteerism. Gaining positive media coverage about United Way’s new slogan was relatively easy due to having a media savvy CEO, Brian Gallagher and more than 2.5 million volunteers to share the message.

United Way had a huge increase in volunteers and a 35 percent increase in awareness. The most interesting evaluation was that they saw an increase in trust from 75 to 81 percent. I asked Galloway just how he measured trust, since it’s an intangible quality. He told me that they have a research team that conducts surveys designed to measure trust.

At this point of the presentation, former national PRSA president, John Felton (who was sitting next to me!) grabbed my pad and pen and wrote down a study done by Dr. Linda Hon, of the University of Florida, that examined relationships, influence and trust. I’ve looked the study up, but haven’t gotten around to reading it just yet.  Be on the lookout for my review in the coming weeks.

Galloway couldn’t end the presentation without talking about the infamous shirt.

“The shirt took on a life of its own. It got to where people would say, ‘I don’t just wear the shirt. I live it.'”

He said they had to let people own the campaign and put their unique thumbprint on it as he showed us a photo of a barn in the Midwest with “LIVE UNITED” painted across its roof. He also said another rule of thumb among the more than 1,800 United Ways is “no silos!” meaning they share all their information with one another.

And then he gave the best advice I’ve ever heard. Galloway said that all of the employees of United Way live by this mantra:

Be. Do. Say.

And in that order.

How can you apply this mantra to your work and everyday life?

Want to Live United? Get involved with the local United Way here in Northeast Florida.

Five Things I Would Tell My Freshman Self

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I’m officially done with my undergraduate career as of Friday, August 5. I walked across the stage, got handed an empty leather folder with a letter inside thanking me for four years of hard work and lots of money. Having graduated college, I was thinking back to my freshman year and the advice I wish I could have gotten and actually listened to. Here goes:

  1. Go to class.  Looking back over my transcripts, I realized I could have made all A’s my entire freshman and sophomore year if I had just only missed class when I was actually sick. My course load at that time was not overwhelming but still required time and effort. If I had only not been lazy and gone to every class, my GPA would be in much better shape.
  2. Not everyone is going to like you. and that’s totally okay. You can please some of the people some of the time, but you can’t please all of the people all of the time. If people don’t like you, it is really their loss. Move on to people who appreciate your honest awesomeness.
  3. Ask for help sometimes. There will be times when you simply cannot do it all. You are not actually super woman and you might need help every now and then. It doesn’t always have to be help from your parents. Friends are there for a purpose too.
  4. Exercise more often. Not only is it super healthy and will keep you from getting a beer belly, it will de-stress you. And de-stressing is a vital skill to surviving the next insanely busy four years of your life. Why didn’t you figure this out before your senior year? Running and yoga are God’s way of chilling you out. Take advantage.
  5. Don’t be afraid of failure. Cause it’s gonna happen, no matter how much you plan. It’s better to make mistakes in college and learn from them, rather than at your first job. It’s from failing that you learn the most, not from success.

The One App Every PR/Marketing Person Needs

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Every public relations or marketing professional reads and follows blogs within the industry (or they should). It can get pretty tedious to have a running bookmark list to go through every day/week to stay up-to-date. As a busy professional with a never-ending to-do list, finding time to sit down and read industry publications can be a challenge, particularly when they’re scattered all over the web. An easy solution to this is Google Reader, which constantly checks your  favorite websites and blogs through their RSS feeds for new content and then displays it all in one space. It’s a great service, but the display is clunky and reminiscent of most email providers.

Snorefest, right? Well, there is an app out there to save us from this ugly RSS display.

Check it out:

I give you Feedly! It runs via your Google Reader account but displays it in a much more friendly format. You can divvy up the sites/blogs that you follow into their respective categories. For example, I have a social media tab, which includes Inside Facebook and Social Media Graphics, along with other tabs, including public relations, small business advice, book clubs, fashion and food. Be on the lookout for a post on my favorite blogs in the near future.

The best thing about Feedly besides its clean, minimal design and easy organization is the Feedly toolbar, which really looks nothing like the toolbars we’re used to. It’s a transparent Feedly logo in the bottom right corner of every browser screen, which when clicked allows you to add that site to your Feedly account or share the site via almost every popular form of social media. You can also disable the transparent logo if it bugs you, and just have one up above next to the URL bar.

Don’t know where to begin? Fear not, for Feedly has awesome search capability. Type in your interests and Feedly spits out a list of popular blogs on the topic. Or type in .bookmarks into the explore search box and Feedly will pull the sites from your already bookmarked lists for you to add in one fell swoop instead of page by page.

If you’re a public relations person, or really any person, who likes to read blogs and wants a one-stop beautiful shop to do it in, download Feedly now! The only drawback is that it only runs in Firefox, Chrome or Safari (beta). Happy reading. 🙂

Summer Reading

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Summertime. No school means I can finally get back to reading for my own enjoyment again.

So far I’ve read:

Geek Love by Katherine Dunn

This was quite possibly the most odd novel I’ve ever read. It’s about a carnival family and their ‘oddities’. Dunn takes the reader into the carnival world and introduces them to the complexities of a family that prides itself on being weird and not normal. Overall, enjoyable.

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

This book was absolutely amazing. It takes a look at the relationships between African American maids and their White employers in Jackson, Mississippi during the civil rights movement. The characters are written so real, you really think you know them. It’s being adapted for the big screen this summer and I can’t wait to see if they do the book justice.

Now I’m reading Ape House by Sara Gruen, since all copies of Water for Elephants are currently checked out. So far, it’s absolutely riveting. The Poisonwood Bible is next on my list. Any summer reading suggestions?

Politicians on Facebook?

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On a national level many politicians have embraced social media. The White House and several Congressman have Twitter accounts.  Now George W. Bush is on Facebook according to BBC News. Check it out http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_and_canada/10221253.stm

There is some debate on allowing politicians to manage their own online identities. Bush has received some criticism (what else is new?) about allowing his persona via Internet to be managed by a media representative. Bush did ask, “Are is our children learning?”. I don’t blame his manager for not giving him the reigns to his social media accounts. I think that for a national politician it is acceptable to allow your online presence to be handled by someone other then yourself.  Obama’s first tweet wasn’t even from his “personal account” but from the Red Cross account when he and the First Lady took a visit to the Disaster Operation Center in D.C.  in an effort to raise money for the people of Haiti. He says that he doesn’t know how to use Twitter. Personally, I don’t expect my President nor my state representatives or Senators to manage their own social media presences. Their responsibilities lie beyond updating Twitter. After all, that’s what they have staffers for.

On a local level, however, I think social media can be a huge benefit for politicians.

As the loss of traditional journalism increases and smaller newspapers close down, local politicians can and should utilize social media in their campaigns. Fewer and fewer people are reading the paper and news reports last a minute or two if you’re lucky. Adapting to today’s technology means cranking up a facebook page or twitter account.

This doesn’t mean uploading a picture and some information and calling it a day. Social media is like a toddler. It requires near constant attention. Update religiously and respond to what people are saying. Social media is not advertising. It’s a conversation. Twitter and Facebook are the perfect platforms for local and state politicians to speak directly with their constituents. Once a community is built it can run on it’s own but still needs supervision. Virtual town hall meetings, debates and rallies are all possibilities. It is also important not to flood your viewers with legal jargon. Speak in layman’s terms so the average Facebook user can understand.

And one more thing. Keep it consistent. The biggest mistake made when creating a social media campaign is not keeping it consistent with their non-social media messages. Put the same slogan/message/information on your roadside posters and flyers as your web site, Facebook and Twitter. Obviously, the conversation can be more in depth in your online communities but the basis of your message should be homogeneous.

I don’t know about you but I’m ready for a #jaxtownhall. 🙂

Food Service Skills That Transpose

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We all have bills to pay. In college it can be difficult finding a job in your field that isn’t nine to five and is willing to work around your class schedule. The majority of college students find part-time jobs working in either the retail or food industry.

I worked at an American Eagle for two days. I couldn’t take refolding the same shirts and jeans a hundred times a day. Thus, I’ve been working in the food service industry for the past three years. It isn’t always easy and it certainly isn’t always fun. Many students think that since their bill-paying job isn’t in their desired field that it becomes irrevelant in an interview.

FALSE.  These slightly higher then minimum wage jobs teach the following skills that are actually essential in the office:

Patience. It’s a virtue that doesn’t come easy to most people. Wikipedia defines it as,“the state of endurance under difficult circumstances, which can mean persevering in the face of delay or provocation without acting on annoyance/anger in a negative way”.  Dealing with customers and restaurant guests is the ultimate test of one’s patience. You learn to bite your tongue, grin and smile. This comes in handy when dealing with a pushy or nosy coworker or waiting for your very busy boss’ feedback on a project.

Multi-tasking. The capability to do many things at once. The key to really making this skill useful is to not only complete tasks, but do them above and beyond expectations.  While you won’t be memorizing orders and refilling drinks in the office, the ability to take on more than one project at a time is priceless.

Organization. As Ben Franklin wisely said, “A place for everything, and everything in its place.” Most (good) restaurants or retail stores have a specific place for things. Dirty dishes go in the back, personal belongings go in a closet etc. Take this same idea to your cubicle and you’ll save a lot of time looking through papers/notes/business cards.

Customer Service. Last but most certainly not least. Knowing how to treat people in a kind manner, no matter the circumstances is not only vital in the work environment, I’d argue, it’s vital for life in general. The ability to calm someone down, make small talk, rub their egos and knowing when to do all that is invaluable.

Don’t think that your work experience can’t carry over into another field.

In a recent interview I was asked, “What skills can you bring to this company?” I talked about the basic knowledge I have of my field through school courses and extracurriculars. I also mentioned that I’d been working in a restaurant for over three years. I know how to deal with people and have exceptional customer service skills.

She was very impressed by this second point and remarked that customer service can make or break any company. Working retail/restaurant is the best job college students can have because it teaches them that very vital skill, she said.

In case you were wondering, I got the job. 😉