A Recipe for Failure

It’s annual report season, and I’ve seen a handful of alarming discussions in several nonprofit online groups I follow on social media. 

There’s something I see too often that makes me cringe. It’s this:

“We’re going to do our full report online but send out a postcard notification.” 

Or “We’re going to send a short version in print with links to the full articles online.”

No. No. No. No. No. Please.

I have seen this repeatedly NOT work for:

• annual reports

• newsletters

• alumni magazines

When you use a print piece to entice someone to go online to get content, it’s usually a recipe for failure.

The vast majority of your audience is simply not going to take the time to do it.

If a story is worth telling, tell it fully.

Put it in front of the people you most want to read it.

Don’t make them work for it.