Communicate to Connect

Month: April 2025

  • Why an Online Presence is Important to Reach People

    Online Presence is Important

    Having an online presence is important because it’s often how your future audience will find you.

    So, it’s a great way to communicate with potential customers or new members.

    Online is where many customers are. That’s where they’re looking for you.

    As a result, an online presence is important to increase overall awareness of your organisation and your brand. At the very least having a website is essential, as it presents your image as professional.

    Your website is what people will search for to find you, to learn more about you.

    Building trust with your audience

    The more visible you are online, the more people will trust you. And building trust is how you foster loyal supporters.

    It shows you care enough to make the effort to communicate with a wider audience. That’s one way your organisation can grow.

    Further, engaging with your audience through social media keeps you relevant. It lets them know you are looking to connect with them. That it’s a priority for you.

    An online presence helps you find those who are interested in what you do. It’s a great place to grow your audience by interacting with them. The more you learn about the people who like what you do, the more you’ll learn how to better serve them.

    Communicate easily and effectively

    An online presence also allows you to engage more easily and efficiently with your audience. It’s a good place where people will reach out to ask questions. Being prompt with your responses, especially to email inquiries from new individuals, can make all the difference.

    An organisation that is growing, is an organisation that engages efficiently and effectively with new interest. They also follow up later.

    For quality communication, it’s about consistency, not perfection. Your response doesn’t need to be perfect, but there does need to be one. People need to feel heard. Especially if they’re new, they need to feel that responding to them is a priority for you.

    The communication systems you have in place, or don’t, will determine whether you retain that new customer and have them grow into a loyal supporter. Or whether you lose them.

    Don’t let them fall through the cracks

    When interested parties ask about your organisation, but they don’t get a response, that potential support ends up slipping through the cracks. You lose a possible new member and the people they could have shared your message with.

    Online responses can be so much more efficient than waiting and trying to catch up with them at your next event. Plus, if they don’t hear back, they may not be there next time.

    You certainly don’t need to focus all of your day on answering questions. But you never know when that one email or that one message could have led to a dedicated supporter, or a regular and reliable volunteer.

    Reach more people in less time

    Having an online presence is also a cost-effective way to reach more people in less time.

    Plus, online is where you can bring people along with you as you build up to your next big event or sale. Invite them in, and show them what they’ll be missing if they don’t take part!

    Social media, in particular, can help you create intrigue and increase the interest in the event you’re planning or service you’re offering. Or it can be where you let people know you’re looking for volunteers. You can even show them what they’d be doing or where to sign up.

    An online presence can be one of the most significant, and affordable, investments your organisation makes to grow your community.

    Online is where you can communicate your message to an audience that may not otherwise find out about you.  

  • Struggling for New Members? You’re Not Alone

    Struggling for New Members

    Religious communities, small businesses, charities, and non-profits are all struggling for new members.

    People have wandered away is larger numbers over the past few years and haven’t returned.

    How do you bring them back? Or how do you attract the interest of others who may be looking for you and looking to be a part of what you do?

    What are you doing to let the outside world know what you’re doing?

    How are you communicating with more than just those who know all about you?

    Energy and Sharing the Message

    Maybe you rely on members of your community to spread the word. Is that working? Or is that working enough?

    Word of mouth is, for sure, the best way to share the message. It’s the best way to stop feeling like you’re struggling for new members.

    But even once people have learned about you, how do they learn more? Where do they start? How do they join in, donate, or support you?

    Ideally your marketing strategy will ensure the systems within your organisation are supporting your goals, your mission.

    If your community has an energy about it, and you’re letting the world know about it, there will be interest. People will want to know what to do next.

    Maybe they’ll visit your website or social media account. Maybe they’ll wander through the door. They may take a second look at the sale flyer you sent out and put it on their calendar.

    Now What?

    Most importantly, once people find out about you, they’ll have questions.

    Who do they speak with, how do they learn more about you, where should they go?

    Are you ready for that?

    Maybe they have visited your website or social media accounts. By doing so, are they going to be learning what you most want them to know?

    If they attend your sale, will they be motivated to return for the next one? Why?

    If you’d like people to come back, you’ll need to earn their repeat business and loyalty.

    What are you doing to support people who are interested? Does your organisation have systems in place to ensure new people stick around? If not, figure out how you can do to change that.

    Have people been showing interest? Ask them what brought them your way.

    You don’t want to expend too much energy on people who aren’t going to stick around. But, if they seem keen, follow up with them. Don’t let those newbies fall through the cracks.

    Find out what they’re looking for. What they want, feel they need, and if they’re finding it.

    Then apply what you’ve learned. If you show them you care, you never know how many more people they may help you share the message with as a result.

  • Together Not Separate: How to Grow Sustainably

    Together Not Separate

    To grow, you want to work with your community. Especially if you have a volunteer-based community, you want to work together, not separate.

    You may want to lead your community in a new direction, offer a new service, or share a new idea. But to shift their trajectory, you’re going to have to work with them.

    Merge in and subtly influence where they’re going, working with their momentum – and support.  

    Grow with your community

    Spend time getting to know what the interests of your audience are. What they’re motivated by. Get to know them and where they want to go. What they are looking for. Then join them.

    Maybe that will lead you to focus on developing a more efficient way of communicating with them. Maybe it’ll mean you offer a new service to accommodate their needs.

    If you plan to grow with your community, you’ll grow a lot larger and a lot more sustainably if you work together, not separate.

    You can’t do everything yourself, so you’re going to need your community on-board with you. You’ll need a shared vision and trajectory.

    If you’re not on the same page, you may end up moving in all sorts of directions, but not really going very far in any one. And that can be exhausting.

    Work together to avoid burn out

    In volunteer-based communities, in particular, the same people tend to donate their time routinely. They become your regulars.

    They want to help, and they enjoy it. But burn out is a thing. For you and them.

    Not feeling your motivations match the work you’re doing as well as a lack of support are two of the main causes of burn out.

    So, make sure your organisation has systems in place to work with your volunteers. To value their interests and support their effort.

    Make sure you feel supported to.

    If you feel like you’re moving faster than your community can keep up, it’s often for one of two reasons.

    Either you’re simply moving too fast. Or you’re moving in a direction they’re not interested in.

    In both cases, to avoid burn out, you’ll need to reassess. Re-evaluate where you’re going, how you’re getting there, and if that matches your community’s needs. Is it something they want? How will it benefit them? Is it something they can handle right now?

    Growing community works best when it’s together, not separate. So, get to know your community and where their energy is. Then work with them.

  • It’s about energy: Growing Community

    It's about energy

    People like being a part of something. They like to be where things are happening, growing, and looking to the future. It’s about energy.

    How quickly a community grows is about its energy. The momentum it has, the direction it’s heading in.

    What is happening in your community? What’s changing? How are you looking to the future?

    Knowing where the energy of your community is shows you what they’re interested in. It also shows you who your community is interested in connecting with. And who they’re looking to serve. It shows you who your target market. It also shows others outside the community where you’re going.

    It’s about energy because what your community puts out into the universe determines who will be attracted to it. Who will be drawn in and interested in joining with you.

    What’s your community’s energy?

    If you would like to change who you appeal to, then you’ll have to change the energy within your community. You’ll need to change the things you focus on.

    But one community can only do so much at one time. So, where is the energy in yours? What are their interests? And where do they enjoy spending their time?

    When new people do start walking through the door, who do you have the capacity to serve, to support? For now, focus there. You can grow wider later.

    For now, though, start small. Concentrate where you have the resources. Work on building resiliency and support systems for people already a part of your community. Then grow out from there.

    Focus on today and make sure you’re moving in the direction your community is on board with. Then, take it one step at a time.

    When growing your community, it’s about energy. So, let your community’s energy determine your direction. Let them fuel your momentum. Work with them. So much more is possible when a community is working together.