One Year Anniversary of the Pandemic: Reflections from Communicators

 

A year after the pandemic was declared, how are some Christian communicators doing? 

That was the subject of a recent water cooler webinar sponsored by the Canadian Christian Communicators Association. 

“The workload ramped up significantly,” said one person, who works for a denomination. “Suddenly, everyone wanted to put things online.” 

That was the right thing to do, he said, but the communications department was not staffed to accommodate all of those urgent requests. 

Another communicator said he got “roped in” to helping colleagues at his office with their Zoom needs—setting up and managing webinars and meetings. He was happy to help, but it was not in his job description. 

Another person echoed those sentiments, noting that at her office there was a sudden upswell in online meetings. Of course, everyone looked to communications for help, but nobody suggested taking other things off her desk.

“I felt really burned out by December,” she said. “I needed a mental health break.” 

2020, she added, “was one long scramble. I was always flying by the seat of my pants.” 

With everything across the country online, the editor of a national denominational publication noted she couldn’t use the usual response for why she couldn’t attend them all—she didn’t have the time or budget. 

But with the travel costs now zero, she found herself struggling to say no to everything the denomination wanted her to cover. 

“There were so many Zoom meetings I could have been going to all of them all the time,” she said. 

Worse, attending online meant not being able to take advantage of those important serendipitous hallway conversations that not only provide precious breaks in day-long meetings, but often provide interesting story opportunities. 

A concern for another editor is what will happen to legacy—print—media when the pandemic is over. 

Everyone knows print has a short shelf life, he said, but the pandemic may have accelerated its demise. He added so far nobody seems to be giving that much thought. 

For a couple of communicators, the pandemic shut down all of their projects. This gave them a chance to review communications and come up with new plans to be more strategic. 

“The pandemic gave us time for some conversations about what content we wanted to make,” said one. They could ask questions like “What do we pull back on? What can we do better? What content is most highly valued?” 

Another editor noted the pandemic made her think more intentionally about the needs of her staff. This included being deliberate about checking in to see how everyone was doing. 

Her magazine also instituted “no meetings Fridays,” so people could get a break from Zoom. 

Another organization mandated that nobody needed to reply to e-mails on Friday afternoons if they didn’t want to; at the same organization staff were encouraged to build in periods of “unavailable time.” 

One editor said a positive of the pandemic was she was getting more thank-you notes from readers. 

Near the end of the watercooler, someone wondered if everyone’s job descriptions will be changed post-COVID—so much has changed. 

So there you have it—a few thoughts from communicators after a year of lockdown. What was your experience?

Hey Communicators—Keep Your Problems to Yourself

Maybe you’ve seen this poem by Donna Ashworth, which has gone viral during the pandemic:

You’re not imagining it, nobody seems to want to talk right now.

Messages are brief and replies late.

Talk of catch ups on zoom are perpetually put on hold.

Group chats are no longer pinging all night long.

It’s not you.

It’s everyone.

We are spent.

We have nothing left to say.

We are tired of saying ‘I miss you’ and ‘I cant wait for this to end’.

So we mostly say nothing, put our heads down and get through each day.

You’re not imagining it.

This is a state of being like no other we have ever known because we are all going through it together but so very far apart.

Hang in there my friend.

When the mood strikes, send out all those messages and don’t feel you have to apologise for being quiet.

This is hard.

No one is judging.

*       *       *

I don’t know about you, but that poem rings true for me. 

The pandemic drones drearily on, day after day, week after week, month after month. Some days it’s hard to get up the motivation to do much of anything at all. 

All too true, you say. But what does that mean for communicators, and especially for those involved in communicating about hard issues like international relief and development or justice issues? 

At a time when everyone is stressed, the people you are trying to reach aren’t terribly interested in having you add to their problems. They have enough problems of their own, already. 

That truth was brought home to me recently in an interview with communications researcher and campaign adviser Anat Shenker-Osorio in Slate magazine.

In the article, titled The Theory That Explains How Senate Republicans Justify Acquitting Trump, Shenker-Osorio was asked what advice he would give progressives who are having such a hard time trying to get Americans to pay attention to the importance of the impeachment decision.

Or, as the interviewer Dahlia Lithwick put it, why are progressives “generally suck-ish” at things like this?

“If you look at progressive messaging, one hallmark of it across issues is that we like to begin with some permutation of, ‘Boy, have I got a problem for you,’” said Shenker-Osorio.

Shockingly, he said, people already have “99 problems and they don’t want ours. They’re generally not shopping for new things to worry about. They have plenty on their plates, especially right now.” 

That idea stopped me in my tracks. 

Intuitively, I know it to be true. Especially now, during the pandemic, when many are just barely getting by. I know I don’t need more problems, more bad news, more information about things going wrong.

So why would I think the people I am trying to communicate with need more problems, too? 

What I want are solutions. I want some good news. Tell me something that’s going right for a change. Something that makes me feel a bit better about this sorry old world. 

Don’t add to my list of problems, in other words. I've got enough already, thank-you very much.

For communicators—especially those involved in hard issues international relief and development or justice, climate change, natural disasters and the environment—this is a challenge.

We know only too well about all the things going wrong in the world. How can we communicate about those things without making people turn the page or leave the page?

People are looking for hope. For themselves and for others. Fortunately, we are also in the hope business, not just the problem business.

Maybe now is the time to focus on hope, even just little bits of it. Especially now when, as the poem says, we all are spent, just putting our heads down to get through each day.

Donna Ashworth’s poem, Ladies, Pass It On, is from her book To The Women: Words To Live By. Photo by Getty Images via the BBC.

Challenges & Opportunities Facing Communicators Today

Earlier this summer, I surveyed communicators working for Mennonite church-related organizations. I wanted to know their thoughts on the challenges and opportunities facing communicators today. 

Below find their responses. 

Challenges 

Amount of information. This is one thing everyone agreed about. People are overwhelmed with information. 

“The volume of news and information is staggering, and the speed with which it just keeps arriving can be overwhelming,” said one. “The communicator somehow needs to find a way to gain the attention, hopefully the sustained attention, of an audience ready to interact.” “We are living in a data smog today,” added another. 

Declining budgets. Although communication is more important than ever, it’s hard for communicators to get the resources they need to do all the things management and boards want them to do. The pandemic has only made it harder as donations decline. 

As one person put it: “An ongoing, and now amplified, challenge is to produce quality content that is relevant to our audience with next to no budget. 

“There is a need for increased and varied communication in a time when financial situations would suggest cutting expenses—but communication is disproportionately important right now,” added another. 

Denominational loyalty. There once was a time when groups could appeal for money and attention on the basis of group identity. No longer. People have choices, and just being a Mennonite (or Baptist, Catholic, Pentecostal, Anglican or whatever) organization or school isn’t going to cut it for many. It’s all about the offer; what difference are you making in the world? 

Diverse audiences. At one time, audiences were more homogenous. Not now. “The diversity of our audience is both a challenge and an opportunity,” said one. 

“With Mennonites worshipping in so many languages today, we need to think more about translating materials,” added another. “We need to do a better job creating connections with different racial and ethnic groups.” 

“There aren't many resources out there for connecting in the ways that we need to connect—across geography, culture, language, generation, etc.,” said another. “It feels like we make our way by walking, but it can be exhausting to try to figure it all out.” 

Competition. Most of the groups the communicators work for are small and stretched. “We lack the ability to produce the quality of larger, more well-funded Christian groups,” said one. “Often their materials give our constituents the tools they need that we can’t produce.” 

Multiplicity of platforms. Once upon a time, groups could get by with a magazine, newsletter and direct mail. Things are different today. 

“Different demographic groups use a variety of social media, so how do we choose which ones to engage with?” asked one person. 

“Do we have the staff time to learn and use them all effectively?  How do we engage with them, knowing that each social media platform is a culture in itself, but also that those using the sites have different cultures (so it's not about just copying and pasting what you do on one platform to another).” 

“The platforms are fragmented. Facebook for Boomers and Xers. Twitter and LinkedIn for business and news, Reddit and TikTok for younger folks,” said another. 

“We hired a full-time digital communications specialist to keep up. That’s where we have to put our energy,” offered a third. 

But not all are willing to do that. “Organizations are unwilling to pay what is required to hire expert communication professionals,” stated a fourth person. 

Youth. What about engaging youth? That’s a question on everyone’s mind. “Ask them. I ask my daughters all the time to suggest pieces that I should read or listen to or watch. I ask them to describe their media diet and how it is changing,” said one. 

“Experiment. Keep exploring ways to connect with folks under 40; they are your future,” said another. 

Involve them, said a third. “Organizations need to make space for younger voices in leadership and at board tables.” 

The growing edges of the Mennonite church are not represented in leadership in many organizations,” said a fourth.

“Be open to harnessing the knowledge they have, while offering mentoring at the same time,” added a fifth. 

Be bold, said a sixth. “Groups need to be less worried about offending older people and more concerned they are repelling younger people by not changing.” 

“Don’t be fake,” offered a seventh. “The threshold for B.S. by young people is zero. Messaging needs to be real and honest.” 

Opportunities 

Yet all is not lost; there are opportunities today, too. 

More platforms are a challenge, but also offer opportunities to share stories in new ways. Social media is challenging, yet many people are on it—all the time. 

And unlike any other time, there are new opportunities for segmenting and targeting audiences. 

People saw opportunities with videos, but cautioned each video needs a plan. 

“I think it's important to start by asking very basic questions: Why do we want to share a message or content through a video? How often will the video be shared? Will the video have a long life?” asked one person. 

Also, “keep videos short,” said another. “Brevity matters. A short slide show on a topic is often as good as live action.” 

Formats and platforms have changed, but one thing that hasn’t is the need to tell good stories. 

“Telling stories disarms people and opens us up to the world of the Other,” said one. “Stories can be effectively told in words, photos, videos, tweets, poetry, and artwork. Focusing on the storytelling will take us far.” 

Then there’s all the data that can be collected. “Use data to drive storytelling,” said one person. “What are people interested in reading or watching?” 

Advice for Non-profit Organizations 

I asked them what advice they’d give an organization that wanted to reach them. Here’s what they said. 

Tell stories. “What I'd like to hear are stories from people who have been touched by an organization. I'd like to get to know the people who have benefited from it. How are their lives different because of its work?” 

“Storytelling all the way,” said another. “But pay attention to whose voices are being featured and who the heroes of the stories are. Watch out for paternalism or romanticism.”

Testimonials. “I'd welcome hearing from government officials or NGO officials about their high regard for the organization as a hard-working, faith-based organization,” said one. 

Tell us what we can do. “How can more of us get involved? Is there work for people who are ready to show up and contribute?” asked a third.

Find new ways to connect. A younger person noted that many groups she donates to only send her things in the mail. “As a younger, primarily digitally-based person, most of the time I didn't even open them,” she said. “Diversifying communication channels would go a long way.” 

Challenges and opportunities; what do you think?

Many of the people I interviewed are members of Anabaptist Communicators, a networking and support group for communicators working for Anabaptist-Mennonite organizations. 

Frustrated by your non-Communication Colleagues? Think of Them as Toddlers

Over my 36 years of doing communications for non-profits, I have come to respect and admire my colleagues who manage and implement various programs.

They are smart and amazing people who find creative solutions to challenging issues such as poverty, hunger and the effects of natural disasters.

And yet, they often drove me crazy.

No matter how many times I’d tell some of them, they would still forget to let me know when they needed help with communications—a press release, poster, graphics, website change or whatever.

More than once someone would rush in apologetically to say they meant to let me know sooner, but they need it tomorrow. Could we bail them out?

(Sometimes they never told us at all; we’d find out about it after the program was launched, sometimes through the media.)

Some of my communications staff became really annoyed and aggravated by their repeated shortcomings. But it never got me down.

The secret? I learned to think of my program colleagues as toddlers.

That sounds disrespectful. I don’t mean it to be.

What I mean is like toddlers, my program colleagues couldn't help themselves. 

They promise to let you know in plenty of time about their communication needs, but they just can't remember.

Like toddlers, they were self-centred.

Not in a bad way; their world simply revolved around the important task occupying their attention. It's was hard for them to think about other things, like communications and fundraising.

Like toddlers, they lived in the moment.

They couldn't help it; they were so busy sometimes they could barely breathe.

Like toddlers, they weren't malicious.

They didn't intend to make my life miserable. Stuff just happened. Time got away on them. Plus, they are really, really sorry.

By thinking of them as toddlers, I could avoid becoming angry and frustrated.

It provided a calming effect: They really couldn't help themselves! That’s just the way toddlers are.

I’m not knocking people who work in other departments at non-profits. They do amazing things in their areas of specialization. I was in awe of their abilities.

But they weren't trained to think like communicators or fundraisers. That wasn't their skill or interest.

And it didn't apply to everyone. Some followed guidelines about timelines and deadlines scrupulously.

They did everything correctly when it came to getting the support they needed from communications and fundraising staff.

Those people were special, angels sent from above, and we did everything on heaven and earth to assist them—even if they occasionally forgot.

But the others? Toddlers. Cute as a button sometimes, but still prone to disappoint us.

So the next time a colleague forgets to give you enough lead time for a press release; or fails to invite you in early for conversations about a new program or project so you can set up a good communications and marketing plan; or applies for a large grant that requires matching funding but forgets to tell you so you can budget and plan for it; don’t think of them as fully functioning adults.

Smile, and think of them as toddlers.

From what I can tell, it’s the only way to have a long career in communications, marketing and fundraising.

Curiosity: The Most Important Thing for Communicators

A young friend—a student in a creative communications progam—recently asked me to name the one skill that has been especially useful to me in my career.

“It seems that the communications world is changing so much that some of the skills I put time into learning might not be as valuable years down the road,” he said.

“Can you think of skills that you've always improved upon that haven't gone out of style?”

What would you respond?

What I told him was that the most important thing for me in my 37 years of doing journalism, communications and marketing is not a skill at all.

It’s curiosity.

For me, if there is any one thing that separates great communicators from good or average communicators, it is being curious about the world.

Curiosity is not a skill; it is a quality of your personality, something you develop and nurture.

It is always asking: "Why?"

Fortunately, many of the people attracted to careers in journalism or communications are headed that way because they are curious—they want to know why the world works the way it does, or why people behave the way they do.

As for the skills needed to do communications, those will always be changing.

I have seen that up-close during my career.

Since I started in 1981, I've gone from the world of Gutenberg to the world of Google; from mailing press releases to fax to e-mail; from pasting up magazine pages to graphic design programs; from land lines to cell phones; from printed newspapers to social media.

It’s been an amazing and dizzying trip. So many changes! 

But one thing has always stayed the same for me: Being curious about the world, and then telling the stories I find along the way.

And when you are curious, there's no end to the stories you will find.

My friend Steve Bell put it this way, in the context of songwriting.

When people compliment him on the songs he writes, he demurs, telling them that the songs are all out there—he just bumps into them because he has his antennae up.

Similarly, good communicators are people who have their antennae up. They can’t help bumping into stories, no matter where they go—because stories are everywhere.

Of course, having good skills is also important, especially at a time when the way people receive information is changing so fast.

But just knowing how to use the latest technology isn’t enough. I have met skilled communicators who turn out pedestrian work.

The best communicators, in my opinion, are the ones who see stories that others don't. They have their antennae up all the time.

They are always alert and alive to the story ideas that are all around them; they can't stop looking for them.

After finding the stories, they need to know the best ways to tell them. That's where skill comes in.

But it all starts with curiosity, so you can use your skills to tell the stories you find. 

One of the best quotes about the role of technology versus storytelling comes from famed American journalist Edward R. Murrow.

Murrow, who died in 1965, never got to see how computers changed the way we communicate. He never knew about something called the Internet.

But he saw enough to know what they could—and couldn’t—do.

Said Murrow:

“The newest computer can merely compound, at speed, the oldest problem in the relations between human beings, and in the end the communicator will be confronted with the old problem, of what to say and how to say it.”

That, and how to be, and stay, curious. 

Image above from The Hans India. 

TOFU, MOFU, BOFU and International Development

Last February, communicators and marketers from over 40 Canadian NGOs met in Ottawa.

The subject was international development—and how we can engage more Canadians about it.

At the meeting, we heard from pollsters who told us that the majority of Canadians have no idea what international development is—what it means, why it matters, or who does it.

Kevin Chapelle, Manager of Public Opinion Research for Global Affairs Canada, noted that many Canadians know nothing about development.

“We have a huge challenge ahead of us in terms of getting the word out there,” he said.

Margo Matias-Valencia of the One Campaign noted that issues such as development and foreign aid do not rank highly with Canadians, and that most think Canada is giving too much foreign aid—although they don’t know how much that is.

Julia Anderson of CanWach noted they did two surveys about Canadians and development, in 2015 and 2017.

Their research showed no movement in understanding about international development over the two years.

“The ranking remains the same,” she said. “We haven’t moved the bar.”

She added that 64% of Canadians cannot name one NGO.

What was needed, she said, was a “national framework” for all NGOs to use to engage Canadians.

Matias-Valencia added that this framework needs to employ simple messages, noting that words like “development” and “foreign aid” don’t resonate with Canadians.

“We over-explain what we do and how we do it, we put too much into each message,” she stated. “We’re not engaging the people we need to reach. We shouldn’t be afraid to use simpler messages, not package too many things into stories.”

Later, during a break-out session about communicating with Canadians, it was agreed that NGOs need to work together to increase their effectiveness. But people also agreed it would be hard.

And why is that? With each NGO focused on meeting its budget and attracting new donors, it would be hard to convince EDs and CEOs—not to mention fundraising colleagues—that they should collaborate as a way to lift all boats.

And that’s where TOFU, MOFU and BOFU came in.

It was Katherine Harris, who directs communications at Plan Canada, who brought it up.

TOFU, she reminded us, stands for “top  of funnel.” MOFU is “middle of funnel.” And BOFU is “bottom of funnel.”

The term comes from the world of marketing, and describes the process people go through before making a decision to buy. (Similar to the Communications Ladder.)

TOFU is where people simply become aware of a product. MOFU is where they begin to do research to find out more. And BOFU is where they decide to buy—or, in this case, to make a donation.

Since a majority of Canadians know little about development, Katherine asked: Could we work together to simply get more people into the top of the funnel?

In other words, at the top of the funnel we don’t worry about brand awareness or getting donations.

We simply want to get people to stop, even just for a moment, to think about people in the developing world, Canada's responsibility to help those who are in need—things they might not have thought much about before.

Those who want more information can follow a link (MOFU), and maybe discover an NGO they want to support and be a part of (BOFU).

It was suggested we could emulate campaigns that promote milk or eggs. They are not designed to promote a particular business, but the sector as a whole.

Can NGOs do it? Can they put aside concerns about brand awareness and getting today in order to increase the size of the donor pool over the longer term? 

Or, can they do more TOFU and worry less about BOFU?

Those are the big questions.

What Makes for a Successful Blog?

A friend stopped me recently to ask about blogs: What makes a blog successful?

As someone who has three blogs, I am more than interested in that question.

I started my first blog in 2009. Back then, it is estimated there were 127 million blogs in the world.

By 2011, there were 173 million.

Today it is estimated there are over 300 million, but nobody knows for sure. Not to mention podcasts and video blogs (vlogs).

How many of those blogs are active? That’s also hard to say. But one estimate, back in 2008, was that 95% of blogs are abandoned by their creators.

Which doesn’t surprise me. Blogging, like anything, requires work.

After the first rush of passion to start a blog passes, people soon realize that keeping a good one going requires thought, imagination, research—and just plain dogged, regular dedication and commitment.

Which leads me, in a roundabout way, back to the original question. What makes a blog successful?

Consistency, for starters. If you start it, you have to keep at it.

Not every day; few of us are so smart or inspirational that readers will hang on our every word.

Plus, who has the time?

My own commitment is to update my blogs between 2-4 times a month. That seems about right for the amount of time and energy I possess.

Another thing that makes a blog successful? Good writing.

People may not know how to explain good writing, but they know it when they see it.

This means spelling and good grammar—the basics.

Paragraph structure is also key.

Writing for the web is different from other forms of writing. It’s more like newspaper writing: Short sentences and paragraphs.

Like what you are reading now.

One sentence per paragraph makes a blog easier to read. Two to three is maximum.

This is especially true for those many people who use phones to access the web. There’s nothing like a dense screen of text to push them away.

Length is important, too. Studies suggest the best lengths are 300-500 words or 800-1,000.

The area in between is known as the “dead zone.” (Which is where this post is at—gulp!)

My own take is that if your post is interesting, and meets a need, people will read it (as long as it isn’t too long).

And, of course, you need an audience. Who would want to read your blog?

Finding focus is key. That can be your own country, province or state, or community. Even just your neighbourhood.

Next: You need a way to let people know about your blog.

Facebook and Twitter can help with that. So can e-mail lists of like-minded people who might want to read your posts.

But even if few people visit, that doesn’t mean a blog is a failure.

Which is my last point: Change the meaning of success.

I started this blog because I had a need to understand the changing world of media, marketing and communications.

Since high school, I have lived by the dictum: “How can I tell what I think until I see what I say?”

By writing this blog I am able to figure out where things are going, what’s happening and what it means for me and the non-profit sector in general.

In other words, I write like nobody is reading.

If others find it useful, too—bonus!

This has the advantage of taking the focus off the number of views. Success isn’t if a post goes viral—although that’s never a bad thing—but whether it meets my expectations for myself.

As for my other blogs, one is just for fun. It’s about my hobby. The other one is where I post the columns I write each week as Faith Page columnist for the Winnipeg Free Press.

And this one, where I try to figure out what the heck is happening in the fast-changing world I work in.

As for you, the reader, I’m glad if you find an occasional helpful nugget.

If not, I still learned something by writing—including writing this post.