One year ago, I took a leap of faith. After more than 25 years serving nonprofits, higher education institutions and newspapers as a communications director and journalist, I realized it was time for something new. I had been writing other people’s stories for years. It was time to write my own. And that’s how Relatable Communications Group was born.
Every charity understands the importance of thanking donors. But often nonprofits fail to take the step beyond that, which is to make donors the heroes in the story they are telling about the work they do. One simple way to do this is through a donor profile on your website or in your newsletter.
I feel proud of the fact that my dad – and my mother’s father before him – were legal pioneers in Florida. While I didn’t become a lawyer, I did inherit my dad’s gift for storytelling, a talent that has been critical to my success as a professional communicator. For that, I’m extremely grateful.
As politics have become increasingly polarized, companies like Publix are having to learn where government relations end and public relations begin, and it’s a blurred line if not an ever-changing continuum. Research by global communications marketing firm Edelman found that 57 percent of consumers will buy or boycott a brand because of its position on an issue.
The other day, I went to get a haircut. I have been going to the same stylist for almost 10 years. I knew she was from Cambodia, but I had never asked her about her life before coming to America. I don’t remember what prompted her to start talking about it. But she offered me an insight into her childhood that forever changed the way I relate to her.