Posts
I'm sure you have already ordered your copy of "How to Form Your Own NGO and Become a Millionaire in a Week", and put up the initial blue print for your profit making NGO. However the recent global recession has hit the western countries so badly, and the donor organizations are reluctant to throw money at your profit making NGO as they used to be in the past. To add fuel to the fire; the war is over and Prabhakaran is dead. KP decided to pocket all the funds he raised for the LTTE, and you are not likely to get any incentives from them. All in all the NGO industry is in chaos! The revenues are coming down and reasons to request for funds from donors are rapidly declining. How can a profitable NGO survive in such a turbulent economic condition?
The answer lie in marketing! Here's your silver bullet marketing strategy for regaining the cash cow hidden in your NGO.
Step1: Go to the nearest bar with the most confident activists of your NGO, and take a couple of gal arrack shots. Take a piece of paper and a pen. Think of the disgusting dirty work you have done with your NGO, to earn few dollars from western donors. Now imagine that you are a normal citizen of this country. Write a letter to yourself, threatening to shut down your NGO. Here is a sample copy for your letter.
Step 2: Great! Now that you have a masterpiece of a threatening letter, go to your Flower road office (BTW, if you don't have an office in Flower road don't worry. This is the "Silicon Valley of NGO's". You can move to a block there, once you get stable in your profits). Put on the Sinhala Siyabas package on your computer and start typing the threatening letter. Take a print out of A4 size; put it in an envelope, write your own address there, put a 5/- stamp and give it to your office assistance and ask him to go and post it from the other side of the city.
The answer lie in marketing! Here's your silver bullet marketing strategy for regaining the cash cow hidden in your NGO.
Step1: Go to the nearest bar with the most confident activists of your NGO, and take a couple of gal arrack shots. Take a piece of paper and a pen. Think of the disgusting dirty work you have done with your NGO, to earn few dollars from western donors. Now imagine that you are a normal citizen of this country. Write a letter to yourself, threatening to shut down your NGO. Here is a sample copy for your letter.
Step 2: Great! Now that you have a masterpiece of a threatening letter, go to your Flower road office (BTW, if you don't have an office in Flower road don't worry. This is the "Silicon Valley of NGO's". You can move to a block there, once you get stable in your profits). Put on the Sinhala Siyabas package on your computer and start typing the threatening letter. Take a print out of A4 size; put it in an envelope, write your own address there, put a 5/- stamp and give it to your office assistance and ask him to go and post it from the other side of the city.
Step 3: Now don't waste your time until you receive the letter back at your office. Start re-designing your website to announce the story of the threatening letter. Here's a usability tested sample layout.
Google eye tracker confirms that this is the area where you can get the highest attention from your website visitors. Upload the new site CSS to the server but don't hit "publish" until you get that letter in the snail mail.
Step 4: Once you get the letter by post, hit the publish button and call for an immediate press conference. (BTW, it is recommended to have the English and French translations of the letter. Most donors can't read Sinhala).
How to get publicity for the threatening letter?
Step 5: Hire some Johnny boy bloggers. Kottu is a great source! You can hire a range of different bloggers from British tax payer drummers to newly elected opposition provincial councilors to school boy bloggers from all over Sri Lanka for as little as five dollars per post! Ask them to give a good blogvertising of the story.
Step 6: Now that you have done the basic ground work, you can invite your donors to visit your website and check the backlinks from thee blogs. This is "Buzz Marketing" at work, for all practical purposes!
Step 7: If you think, the Buzz is not enough; hire few thugs from Wanathamulla. Give them a white van and a target journalist. Ask them to abduct the guy and deliver some "goodies". But leave the guy alive to tell the story! The blindfolded "so called" free media will catch the story and spread it all over. Bankrupted politicians will join the bandwagon and give your "street promotion" a much more publicity.
See how easy it is to make money out of an NGO, even after the war is over? You can design many more of your own marketing plans for your NGO. But remember this basic principle.
"Donors will fund you for a story. If you don't have a story; create a one. As long as you have compelling enough stories to tell, donors will continue funding you. This apply in FMCG industry as well. You sell a "Unique Selling Proposition" to your customers. If you don't have a proposition to sell; create a one!"
Step 4: Once you get the letter by post, hit the publish button and call for an immediate press conference. (BTW, it is recommended to have the English and French translations of the letter. Most donors can't read Sinhala).
How to get publicity for the threatening letter?
Step 5: Hire some Johnny boy bloggers. Kottu is a great source! You can hire a range of different bloggers from British tax payer drummers to newly elected opposition provincial councilors to school boy bloggers from all over Sri Lanka for as little as five dollars per post! Ask them to give a good blogvertising of the story.
Step 6: Now that you have done the basic ground work, you can invite your donors to visit your website and check the backlinks from thee blogs. This is "Buzz Marketing" at work, for all practical purposes!
Step 7: If you think, the Buzz is not enough; hire few thugs from Wanathamulla. Give them a white van and a target journalist. Ask them to abduct the guy and deliver some "goodies". But leave the guy alive to tell the story! The blindfolded "so called" free media will catch the story and spread it all over. Bankrupted politicians will join the bandwagon and give your "street promotion" a much more publicity.
See how easy it is to make money out of an NGO, even after the war is over? You can design many more of your own marketing plans for your NGO. But remember this basic principle.
"Donors will fund you for a story. If you don't have a story; create a one. As long as you have compelling enough stories to tell, donors will continue funding you. This apply in FMCG industry as well. You sell a "Unique Selling Proposition" to your customers. If you don't have a proposition to sell; create a one!"
