Robin Hood Marketing: Stealing Corporate Savvy to Sell Just Causes

by Katya Andresen

Book Overview

Katya Andresen, a veteran marketer and nonprofit professional, demystifies winning marketing campaigns by reducing them to ten essential rules and provides entertaining examples and simple steps for applying the rules ethically and effectively to good causes of all kinds. The Robin Hood rules steal from the winning formulas for selling socks, cigarettes, and even mattresses, with good advice for appealing to your audiences' values, not your own; developing...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0787981486
• ISBN13: 9780787981488
• Release Date: April 2006
• Publisher: Jossey-Bass
• Length: 271 Pages
• Weight: 1.10 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.1" x 6.4" x 9.2"

Customer Reviews

A Must Read for any non-profits that want to get it right

Robin Hood Marketing is a real asset to any non-profit (or for profit business) that wants to be armed with a great model and plan to be successful. Well written and easy to follow, Katya Andresen has really followed her own advice and written a book that is engaging and meaningful to her audience.

Wow!

This is an excellent resource for individuals working in the field of public service. Andresen does a remarkable job of teaching organizations how to find their "sweet spot" and how to convey complex messages in simple terms that compel audiences to take action. Her writing style is fun and engaging. I used this book for a graduate project at NYU and will be sure to refer to it regularly when I jumpstart my career. I highly recommend this essential tool. Thanks again!

Excellent resource

I am new to the field of marketing and _Robin Hood Marketing_ gave great handles for me to "dig right in." I recommend it to anyone working to improve the profile of an organization -- from those in established (and entrenched) non-profits to those just getting their bearings as they move forward with a new idea to change the world.

A lifesaver for nonprofit professionals!

All of us who work in fundraising and marketing in the nonprofit sector struggle with how to sell our cause and win support for it. I started my career in a meals program for people with AIDS - an easy sell - but since then I have moved on to nonprofits with missions that are much more complicated and harder to describe. An outdoor education program that unites people with and without disabilities? An international nonprofit that is helping Ukrainians better advocate for themselves? It gets harder and harder to briefly, concisely, and compellingly describe what we do. Enter Robin Hood Marketing, which helps you let go of the urge to describe every nuance of every project in painful to your constituents and instead helps you focus on creating clear, concise messages that will compel your donors to give, your volunteers to get involved, your champions to go to bat for you. The book guides you step-by-step through the message development process, how to make a compelling case for your organization - and encouraging you not to worry about whether your constituents understand all the various nuances of what you do, but instead to sell the soul of the cause itself. Best of all, it is a great, interesting read that I literally could not put down - it was riveting, both for the style of writing and the content, and for the fact that it carries the solution to problems I have struggled with for years. I can't recommend it enough for anyone involved in fundraising, marketing, or proposal writing of any kind.

Essential part of your toolkit

If you wanted to take over the world MacGyver-style you would need several critical items: bailing wire, electrician's tape, a sharpie and Leatherman. Katya has pulled together several key concepts and strategies into a simple guide to getting your message across and as a result Robin Hood Marketing is the Leatherman of marketing tools. Katya goes beyond the simple `ten steps to get to know your audience' or `qualitative/quantitative research 101' to alerting readers (and nonprofits) about the power of partnerships, messaging and branding. Working with community organizations has made me realize that the keys to their communication success are literally in their backyard and office. We are purchasing this book for each of our grantees to assist in their communication efforts. Robin Hood Marketing will allow the reader to understand simple low cost steps they can take to bring their cause the recognition or action it needs.