Print is on the decline, and digital media has now risen to the pre-eminent position in modern communication. Yet many charities today are still obstinately refusing to embrace the change, preferring instead to stick with the traditional fundraising techniques they have perfected over time.

Unfortunately, this attitude is a major detriment to charitable organizations, and reflects a lamentable tendency of charities to lag behind the fast-evolving realities of the modern world. So it is important for charities to embrace mobile fundraising, not only because it holds the potential to attract substantial support for their missions, but also because it inspires a progressive attitude throughout the organization, which inevitably resounds at all levels of the philanthropic project and motivates innovation.

What is Mobile Fundraising? To put it simply: mobile fundraising is any app-based, cell phone-based, or web-based platform for generating interest in an organization or charitable cause. There are different types of mobile fundraising and here we provide you with a guide on the best methods to use for mobile fundraising and how.

Apps

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There are several basic types of mobile fundraising, and countless creative variants amongst them, which can be tailored to meet the specific needs of each organization. Perhaps the most obvious type involves app-based fundraising. The most basic apps are little more than a source of information, a method for circulating relevant organizational news, and a platform for collecting online donations.

Yet while these apps can be effective in their own way, and are helpful for keeping already-established supporters involved, they ultimately make little impact when it comes to generating new interest in the charity.

Far more effective are apps like CharityMiles, which connects charities with corporate sponsors and individual supporters. Anyone interested in participating simply downloads the app, activates the GPS tracking function, and goes for a jog or bike ride. Sponsors then donate up to 25¢ per mile, creating a sort of ëMarathon for Charityí without a course or a finish line. Not only does the charity gain, but the app also promotes healthy living and eco-friendly commuting. Incorporating charity cash into your exercise routine is the way forward in the digital world we live in.

How to Use Mobile Fundraising for Your Non-Profit. If you are a new charity and are looking to branch out through mobile app fundraising then devise the right strategy for you through an analysis of these important issues below and take action:

1- Time frame. Think about how the app will function. Will people be donating daily, weekly or monthly through the app? Can people set timelines on the app, to beat the running time for example and then hit donate to charity? Always think innovation and time and combine the two accurately.

2- Recurring payments. Do think about how the app will take payments and the process you want it to follow. Consider the option for the person to pay automatically a specific amount of cash each time through the app or maybe a subscription service that takes a percentage of payment to donate to the charity cause. What is important to consider is the consumer in this instance, make sure that payment is set up correctly so that the app does not take out money when it should not be as this can cause some riots if set incorrectly and damage your brand.

3- Keep the human interaction. Remember it may be great to be interactive but charities need that human interaction still. Think about how you can combine mobile use with human interaction. For example, you could reward people with a gift program through the app. Encourage people to get involved but get interactive at the same time.

Websites

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The web is crucial to spreading the word, there is hardly a person out there who has not heard of the World Wide Web. It is important for any charity or soon to be charity to set up fundraising page. On your fundraising page there are a few points that should be made:

1- Why people should fundraise for your cause

2- The inspiration behind the cause

3- How to get started. Remember having a fundraising pack downloadable online is essential to providing quality information and procedures to people

4- How peopleís money helps you, examples of where their money has gone, why this happened and the result

5- How people can get involved in your other charity events

6- The type of charity fundraising jobs you have available. Cancer Research UK for example, have shown on their jobs page that you can help beat breast cancer through a button that you click to donate, fundraise or volunteer and this works well from one page to another.

Another inspiring example of mobile fundraising can be seen in the web-based crowd-sourced fundraising initiative called Milaap. This non-profit business functions under the belief that a “hand up is better than a handout.”

Donors provide zero-interest microloans to impoverished communities in India, to be used for improving sanitation, sustainable farming, electric, or healthcare infrastructures. When recipients pay back the loan (at .6% interest), users can reinvest their money into a new project or withdraw the funds if they so choose.

Thus far, the program has been an enormous success, helping impoverished communities throughout the country. The charitable model is both self-sustaining and technologically innovative with its unique crowd-sourced strategy. If you are looking for inspiration in developing an online platform for fundraising then Milaap may be one to follow as it works well.

Social Media

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Social media is also an invaluable tool for charities today. It is a quick, inexpensive, and easy way to inform supporters and friends about organizational events, keep donors updated with relevant news, and connect with potential donors who share common goals. Social media also allows for more intimate and personal connections than many other types of mobile fundraising, and is therefore a unique and essential strategy for every organization.

Text Initiatives

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Anyone who has ever received one probably understands how bothersome it is to get mass texts. But charities that can find creative ways to implement this tool are proving that it can and does work, when done correctly. Txtlocal, for example, recently teamed up with Marie Curie to launch a text-based fundraiser directed at their supporters. One idea they came up with was to text everyone who completed their Cure Cancer Marathon, with directions to the tent where they could receive a free massage.

Like all forms of fundraising, old and new, the most effective strategies are the ones that grab attention by providing something new and unexpected. Today’s powerful communication technologies provide an invaluable resource for connecting charities with potential donors throughout the world. It is no longer a question of whether charities should start using mobile fundraising, but rather, how.

Author: Jen Beswick is a freelance writer, and passionate about helping charity events. Jen has project managed charity fundraising events, developed awareness on charities and supported Cancer Research jobs in fundraising in the UK. Fundraising can help not only causes but people and businesses too and mobile fundraising is certainly making its mark.

Most of what we talk about on the 60 Second Marketer involves social media and mobile marketing. But social and mobile have to integrate with other marketing programs in order to work effectively. So when I sat down with Andy Goldsmith who is the Director of Brand Strategy at the American Cancer Society to discuss marketing, I was glad we discussed the broad range of topics including integrated marketing.

In this latest episode of On Air with Jamie Turner, you’ll find out how the American Cancer Society develops marketing strategies that can be used across a wide range of media. The result is that their target market receives a consistent message, whether they’re watching TV, receiving a direct mail letter or visiting their Facebook page.

Check out the short episode below. You’ll find out how Andy and his team have worked hard to help the American Cancer Society become the Official Sponsor of Birthdays.

Special thanks to ARKE+threesquared marketing communications for graciously providing the video production on this episode of On Air with Jamie Turner.

Okay, let’s be painfully honest here. South by Southwest just isn’t what it used to be. Oh, sure, for a while it was amazing, but over the past few years, it’s been the victim of its own success.

Gone are the days when you could uncover the newest digital marketing technology in a hands-on, roll-up-your-shirtsleeves environment. Today, SXSW is a cattle call with too many people, too many corporate sponsorships and too many roped-off parties for the digital technorati.

The bottom line is that, for most people, SXSW is a waste of time and money. (Unless you have so much cash that spending it on a tequila-infused lost weekend is an acceptable way to blow a few grand.)

The World Needs an Alternative to SXSW. Wouldn’t it be great if there were an alternative to SXSW where you could mingle with social media rock stars like Mari Smith, Amy Porterfield, Sally Hogshead, Jon Loomis, Dave Kerpen, Lee Odden, Melanie Duncan and Guy Kawasaki. (Not to mention Jay Baer, Joe Pulizzi, Chris Brogan, Andrea Vahl, Jeff Bullas, John Jantz, Brain Carter, Ekaterina Walter and Mitch Joel.)

And wouldn’t it be great if there were an alternative to SXSW that emphasized connecting, collaboration and community rather than party after party after party. (Admittedly, the parties at SXSW are pretty good, but after the first two, I always feel like it’s time to go home.)

The bottom line is that SXSW has reached its peak and is on its way out. And it’s time for someone to come up with a replacement.

Good news. There is an alternative and it’s called Social Media Marketing World. It’s run and organized by the team at Social Media Examiner and their founder Mike Stelzner. (If you were watching Google Trends yesterday, you may have noticed that the hashtag for the event — #SMMW13 — was trending towards the top.)

What makes Social Media Marketing World so good? For starters, it’s really well-organized. And I mean organized down to the last detail. I speak at events around the globe and can say without question that Social Media Marketing World is the best run conference out of them all.

But to focus on the organization of the event wouldn’t do justice to the best aspect of it, which is the connecting, collaboration and community. The Social Media Examiner team didn’t cram the event with wall-to-wall meetings. Instead, they set it up with plenty of time to mingle and get to know other like-minded people in the spaces between the meetings.

At the end of the conference, I came up with several reasons why Social Media Marketing World will replace South by Southwest as the new “must attend” event for the digital marketing world. I thought I’d share them with you in the hopes that they’d give you a sense of what makes this event so special.

Here goes:

1. SMMW has Better Speakers. Admittedly, it’s difficult for any event to compete with the celebrities that show up for SXSW these days. But after you get past those celebrities, the quality of speakers at SXSW can get kind of sketchy. No so at Social Media Marketing World where, with very few exceptions, the speakers were top-notch and extremely engaging.
2. SMWW has a Better Hype vs. Reality Ratio. Part of the challenge with SXSW is that, well, it’s SXSW. The result is that SXSW has a huge hurdle to overcome on the hype vs. reality ratio. At Social Media Marketing World there’s very little hype because the focus is on the collaborative environment instead of who’s going to what party. The result is a roll-up-your-shirtsleeves environment that really helps people learn new tips, tools and techniques.
3. There are no Exclusive, Roped-Off Events at SMMW. Don’t you get annoyed by the exclusivity of SXSW? You don’t have to worry about that at SMMW — every event is open to the entire audience which results in a much friendlier and engaging environment.
4. You Can Have a Beer with Someone Famous at SMMW. Because SMMW has an all-access atmosphere, you can join just about any conversation or invite just about any speaker over to chat for a few moments. (For proof of this, just ask my friend Ian Cleary who, in addition to running Razor Social, became best friends with all 1,100 people at the event.)
5. There’s a Spirit of Giving at SMMW. If you know Mike Stelzner, you know he’s a fan of servant leadership. His business and life philosophy pervades the event, which is one of the things that makes it so special. It’s not about what you get, it’s about what you give, and that makes SMMW different from a wide variety of other events I’ve been to recently.

The Bottom Line About Social Media Marketing World. In the end, any good event comes down to the quality of the speakers, the quality of the organization running it and the quality of the people attending it. It’s safe to say that SMMW gets an A+ on each and every one of these criteria.

I spend much of my business life speaking at events in every corner of the world and can say without question that this event rocks and it rocks big.

Jamie Turner is the CEO of social media and mobile marketing firm 60 Second Communications and is the Founder of the 60 Second Marketer.

(Disclosure: Jamie Turner made appearances at both SXSW and SMMW. Also, the 60 Second Marketer was a winner of Social Media Examiner’s the Top 10 Social Media Blogs Award.)

60 hours of fresh content are uploaded to YouTube every minute. With that amount of information being uploaded, the likelihood of your company being the source of the next “Harlem Shake” craze is not good. However, that does not mean smart brands can’t use YouTube to garner a significant amount of views and grow engaged followers.

Video content allows companies to present their brand with a sense of passion, enabling them to give a personal look that is simply not possible with static content.

What follows are tips and techniques you can use to ensure you get the most from YouTube and your YouTube channel:

Start a Branded Channel. Creating a branded channel is essential to building a following on YouTube. You need to complete a few steps to ensure all visitors can quickly see that this is your official channel.

A first step is to be sure you change the channel’s layout to the new design. You should next add some channel art, your website, and social network links. Every channel has an “About Us” section which should be completed so visitors can learn more about your brand. If your video content will feature humorous or whimsical content, then consider inserting some fun into your company description, don’t simply user your PR boilerplate.

If you have a video that offers an introduction to your business, then set it as your Unsubscribed Trailer video, so non-subscribers will see this video upon visiting. If you have other branded channels, then go to the “About” tab to add other channels which will appear on the sidebar.

Don’t Neglect the Search Benefits. While every brand wants their video content to go viral, it’s just not going to happen. An overlooked benefit of your average video is how it can help SEO by building out a company’s organic content.

Rankings in Google can especially be improved by the presence of YouTube content because it fundamentally sees videos with a lot of views as being more important than others, and its algorithms give a higher rank to sites that contain video.

Encourage User Participation. Many companies invest an inordinate amount of time and financial resources to create professionally produced videos. While such videos might be warranted for complex and lucrative B2B initiatives they can be a waste of money when the video is intended for individual consumers. A smart approach to produce some of this content is to encourage user-generated videos.

A traditional method of attracting such content is through a contest offering with a “show the world how you use our product,” kind of pitch. Beyond contests, brands should think of other incentives that can drive users to create engaging content, such as group adulation or the enticement of building the user’s own channel.

All of this content does the best when it is driven organically, where the user really enjoys a brand and is able to make related videos without restrictions. One caveat – not all users will want to produce content that is positive towards your brand. If you encourage users to help you with YouTube marketing, then you need to actively manage the account to either remove or interact with negative content.

Unless the content is offensive, then it might be a good tactic to create a rebuttal response or at the very least create comment entries to dispel any misconceptions or incorrect statements.

Try, But Don’t Overdo It. Brands should avoid “trying too hard” to push a video towards becoming a viral hit. Unless a brand has an established YouTube channel and a built-in audience that will produce millions of views, then there is really no way to predict which videos will reach viral status.

Some company-produced videos push comedic elements too hard or include nonsensical elements in order to attract attention. The trick is to create videos that will be embraced by the community, where your own passion for your brand comes through.

It’s hard to produce the qualities of a video that will make it appeal to a broad audience. You need some humor, but capturing a certain spark requires some luck and the ability to capture the essence of what the viewing public currently desires. And remember there are hundreds of millions of YouTube users, so appealing to a niche audience can still represent a massive amount of individuals.

Produce Quality Content Regularly. Mastering YouTube marketing takes time and regularity. It really is a marketing strategy that deserves attention from marketing in order for it to be successful.

Companies should formalize their plans for YouTube, with a schedule for the creation of content, distribution methods, and eventual comparisons of ROI. Building a group of channel followers can require a considerable amount of work, but the payoffs can be immense once a critical mass is reached.

Brands should not put all of their work and finances in one video with high production values, but focus on producing multiple pieces of content released over time that look presentable but don’t have the expense of commercial-quality productions.

For companies that are just starting out, a good first step is to simply share other popular videos in order to gain some channel followers. It’s important to only share content that depicts what you want and still has some sort of value for your brand presence. Sharing other’s content does not carry the same weight as your own productions, but it does begin to set the stage for your brand’s characteristics and gives a glimpse into the style of your upcoming proprietary content.

Keeping an Eye on Your Channel. Using analytics and testing videos against each other can bring formal marketing tactics to your YouTube channel. As testing sheds light on trends and the types of content with the best ROI, then you can adjust your tactics to invest more time and resources in the top performers. You should attach a real budget to YouTube marketing efforts so it can be included in broader marketing channel comparisons and become another metric for management.

There are a variety of tools marketers can use in order to track and analyze data from YouTube and other channels, including my company, SumAll. By using data and analytics tools, users can look at their YouTube and other channel analytics all in one place, so traffic and social data can be compared to revenue.

These sort of tools give marketers insights into what’s working, why it’s successful, and why is it out-performing or under-performing other data sets. They can help you to lay over data on a time basis to see what is happening within different parts of the business so correlations can be uncovered. For example, a company might have five YouTube channels and can use a service to look at all of them in relation to each other to spot any seasonal or other reasons for differences in performance.

The Bottom Line. YouTube can be a very powerful tool to help build awareness for your company. That said, the odds of having a viral video on YouTube about your brand are very, very slim. A better approach is to use YouTube the way you’d use any other platform — set objectives, develop a strategy and execute the tactics. By using this approach, you have a much better chance of success than by simply uploading a video in the hopes it goes viral.

About the Author: Dane Atkinson is the CEO of SumAll.com, a company that helps businesses track and analyze online data so that they can improve the ROI of their marketing campaigns.

Yesterday, I had a breakthrough breakfast with my friend Rich Goidel.

Rich runs a company called Dangerous Kitchen that helps businesses improve their ROI through visual thinking and goal-setting. Over breakfast, Rich explained something to me that I thought was very powerful, so I wanted to share it with you.

Using a Journal to Solve Business Problems. Just about every morning, I write in my business journal. I’ve found it’s a great way to collect my thoughts and frame my thinking for the day.

But Rich pointed out that when you write in a journal, you’re primarily engaging the left hemisphere of your brain (the logical side). A better method is to draw a picture of your business challenge, which engages both the left and right hemispheres of your brain.

The result is that your entire brain works to solve the problem, instead of just half of it.

How I Used Rich’s Method. As many of you know, I’ve just launched a social media and mobile marketing firm called 60 Second Communications. In the two weeks since we opened, we already have two national accounts (and a possible third on its way).

It’s a good problem to have.

But this morning, my waking thoughts were, “How am I going to get all this work done?” Here’s how I visualized the solution in my journal:

Using Your Whole Brain to Solve Problems. Rich’s solution to use visualization to solve problems is a great concept. He’s written a blog post about this called The Ten Benefits of a Visual Journal. Check it out. It’s packed with great tips and ideas about visual journaling.

In the meantime, you might also download the Paper App, which Rich also turned me on to. It’s the tool I used to create the sketch above and I love it. (Evernote Fans might also like Penultimate, which is another good drawing tool for tablet computers.)

How do You Solve Business Problems? What are some creative techniques you use to solve business problems? We’re having a discussion about that on our LinkedIn Group here. Let us know your thoughts!

Jamie Turner is the CEO of social media and mobile marketing firm 60 Second Communications and is the Founder of the 60 Second Marketer.