December 2021

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 29 dec 2021

Many nonprofits had been ray of hope for people during the COVID-19. But as the sad saga continues, it keeps on bringing more challenges to the sector. On one side of the spectrum are health and welfare related organizations with high demand for their services and subsequently getting funding attention from donors but on the other side are art and culture nonprofits that had been hardly hit and continue to struggle. But overall, getting sufficient funding to fulfil the required demand is not an easy task for all nonprofits during tough times like these. Kenneth Cerini, Managing Partner at Cerini & Associates LLP, provides innovative suggestions to get ahead in the virtual funding game in COVID times - (1) Monitor messaging in funding campaigns and adapt to changing scenarios. (2) Do targeted campaigning and select audience and design campaings accordingly. (3) Videos are a great tool to reach out to audience effectively. (4) Focus on retention and convince those who gave once to give again with pursuasive messaging of how their earlier contributions were utilized. (5) Personalize and customize the communication to the donors. (6) Continue to diversify revenue streams as the pandemic changes the standard funding processes. (7) Learn from the experience gained from the challenges of the last couple of years and, elevate and improve on what worked. Read on...

Long Island Press: OpEd: Nonprofits Must Use Innovative Fundraising Methods in Covid Times
Author: Kenneth Cerini

Mohammad Anas Wahaj | 20 dec 2021

Marketing focuses on fulfilling customer needs and the process initiates leads and attracts customers. Marketing involves making a connect with prospective customers wherever they are available. According to Chartered Institute of Marketing, 'Marketing is the management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably.' Traditional marketing with outbound methodology involves various channels like newspapers, magazines, television, radio, billboards etc to reach out to prospective customers. It is static and is mainly a one-sided push communication, where these media show to the public what the brands want them to see, without any direct engagement with them. The rise of internet and consumer technologies, with large section of the public connected through computing devices, led marketing processes to evolve. Digital marketing is an evolution of traditional marketing and many foundational concepts are same. Digital marketing with inbound methodology creates brand awareness and promotes business through utilizing digital channels and internet that would include blogs, podcasts, videos, enewsletters, ebooks etc. Digital marketing process is dynamic with two-way communication and reaches out to customers where ever they are available in the digital media and serve them at different stages of their interaction and purchasing journey. Connecting and engaging with customers is not difficult in digital. What is important is how to achieve and maximize value through this engagement to better serve the customer requirements. Success of digital in marketing depends on how well marketers can understand the consumer behavior through technology-enabled interactions and analytics tools and how well they manage those interactions to fulfil consumer needs. Digital marketing channels, powered by internet, create, accelerate, and transmit product and services information and value to consumers, through digital networks. These channels include Search Engine Optimization (SEO), Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Social Media Marketing (SMM), E-mail Marketing, Content Marketing, Affiliate Marketing, Online Public Relations, Display Advertising, In-game Advertisng, Native Advertising, Video Advertising, SMS Marketing etc. Marketers of today and future have to keep pace with technological advancements, stay informed and skilled, and be innovative and creative, to connect, understand, engage, and serve the digitalized modern customer. Digital marketing will continue to evolve, but a balanced and mix approach to traditional and digital marketing would provide better results. Mobile Marketing, Internet of Things (IoT), Analytics, Big Data, 3D Printing, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence, Consumer Neuroscience/Neuro Marketing are some of the most interesting and challenging domains where the future marketers are expected to deliver. Read on...

ilmeps/read: Digital Marketing To Connect, Engage And Serve Customers - Part I
Author: Mohammad Anas Wahaj