We’ve been receiving a number of inquiries about our content creation process at Nonprofit Hub, so we thought we’d share some of our expertise. Nowadays, content—stories, pictures, graphics, even music—is at the center of nearly every organization’s marketing strategy, so it’s important that you do it right.
Nonprofit Hub’s content team is small but mighty—just a handful of writers and designers are in charge of all the content you see throughout our website and print publications. We’re able to accomplish so much with so little because of the creative process we’ve put in place. Here’s how we do it.
No idea is a bad idea
The brainstorming process is the most important stage of creating great content. During it, it’s important to bring up any and all ideas that come to mind. That way, you can get the bad ones out early and bounce ideas off of other ideas. Make sure you’re writing down your ideas and saving them in a commonplace, too. You should always have an extensive bank of topics to pull from before you start creating. If you’re struggling to come up with ideas, the internet is always there for you!
Write what you know (and what you love)
If you’ve ever taken a creative writing course, you’ve probably heard the same piece of advice on repeat: “Write what you know.” And what they mean by that is to tell stories that you’re familiar with; have a personal understanding of the characters, the setting, the plot. We approach writing nonprofit content the same way. If you’re writing an article about fundraising strategy, you’d better know a thing or two about fundraising strategy. And if you don’t, you need to do your research.
Along the same vein, we make sure our writers and designers are enjoying what they’re doing. If you’re annoyed, frustrated or downright bored with a project, it will show. So before you even start creating, make sure it’s something you’re going to enjoy. If you find yourself unsatisfied with what you’re doing halfway through, scrap it—trust me.
Repurpose, reuse, recycle
If you’re a regular consumer of Nonprofit Hub’s content, you’ve probably noticed that we repurpose a lot of our stuff. That is, when we write a magazine article, we make minor adjustments and create a blog post out of it. And there’s no reason why a blog post can’t also serve as the basis for a podcast episode or webinar presentation. The point is: no single piece of content should have a singular purpose. Get the most out of content ideas by changing their size, shape and scope. Not everybody consumes content the same way, so make yours available to all types of consumers.
