That Second Day of School Magic
What it means for your nonprofit messaging and communications
The first day of school gets all the attention:
The photo
The new outfit
The excitement
The second day of school is just...school.
This year, my daughter picked out two outfits before school started. One for the first day, and one for the second.
I applaud her efforts to keep the magic alive, because in a lot of ways the second day of school is more important than the first.
Second-day magic means:
Familiarization with new spaces and routines
Relationships with new teachers and friends
Learning and growing begins to take root
The first day is the big event, the second day is when it becomes real.
Nonprofit leader, this time of year has me thinking a lot about messaging and communications between major events and campaigns, which is our opportunity for second-day magic.
We put our all into the big moments, but what happens when it's over?
Are we sharing our impact stories throughout the year?
Are we keeping in touch with our audiences between major milestones on our calendar?
Are we putting out consistent communications that keep us top of mind to our supporters?
This is where we go from first day excitement to second day routines and relationship-building.
It's why our second-day outfit matters just as much as our first. They're different, but each has its own importance.
And clear messaging is what holds it all together.
Your events and campaigns, and your regular communications in between, all land better when they reflect a clear and consistent message about who you are as an organization, what you do, and why it matters.
Building a strong bedrock to successfully raise awareness and funds depends on your people having a clear understanding of what you do.
It depends on telling your stories in a way that reflects your values and signals to the right people that you want to solve the same problems in the world.
It depends on the words that connect to the right people and drive them to take action.
Clear messaging is what makes your organization trustworthy, noteworthy, and memorable.
Clear, consistent, and cohesive messaging and communications elevate second-days to first-day energy, all year long.
After a decade as an in-house nonprofit marketer, Jordana Merkin founded Voice for Good to bring her insider knowledge and outsider perspective to help leaders of growing nonprofits like yours clarify their messaging to raise awareness and funds for their missions.
Her work with nonprofit leaders includes messaging guides, communication strategy, and copywriting. (Learn more here!)
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