The Power of the Podcast: Unlock Your Brand's Marketing Potential

Creative Marketing Strategies for Nonprofits

• Pedal Stomper Productions • Season 2 • Episode 1

Share episode

Nonprofits face unique challenges when it comes to marketing, from breaking stigmas to staying compliant with restrictions. In this interview, Jessica Yeager from Ohio Guidestone shares creative solutions and strategies that make an impact.

🌟 Key Topics Covered:

  • Overcoming challenges in healthcare advertising and certifications.
  • How intentional language can break stigmas and build trust.
  • The role of storytelling in connecting with diverse audiences.
  • Using collaboration and creativity to amplify nonprofit impact.

Discover how to market with empathy, engage your community, and tell stories that inspire action.

If you're looking to talk podcasting and get more information on how to make your podcast shine, our 30-minute "no pitch" podcast consultation is right for you!  Click the link to sign up for a time. 
https://pedalstomperproductions.as.me/no-pitch

Staying up to date on the latest podcasting news and trends doesn't have to be difficult. We can deliver them right to your inbox. 
https://www.pedalstomperproductions.com/

Want to start your own podcast? https://www.pedalstomperproductions.com/contact-bedford

Book your time in our state of the art studios: https://www.pedalstomperproductions.com/podcast

Join our Discord Server and let's chat about your podcast https://discord.gg/CWk9aUuNtM

Want to read about this? Check the blog!
https://www.pedalstomperproductions.com/blog


A previous guest that was Ned Parks. If you want to look back to that episode, he said, profit is a tax status, not a goal. And I absolutely love that because as a nonprofit, you realize you still need to market. There's challenges. You need to communicate your mission to people. Often times as a nonprofit, though, there's other things that kind of go in the way or make it more difficult. So you have to be more creative in how you reach out to people. That is exactly why I have Jessica Yeager on today. She is the communications operations manager. I had to read that for Ohio Guide. Stone, if you want to learn how to get some creative solutions for your marketing. Stay tuned. Oh, thank you for coming on. I really appreciate it. So Ohio Guidestones. You guys work with all sorts of like, mental health. Other items. Correct? Correct. You've got to comply with like Google meta restrictions because there's a bunch of people out there trying to do a lot of outside promises and stuff like that. So you guys need to make sure that you stay kind of within these guardrails, because there's people out there that abuse, that type of stuff when it comes to stuff like that. What are some of the challenges that that makes where you can't be like this free for all? You've got to stay focused and like this needs to fit in this. I mean, it's not necessarily round round pegs, square hole, but how does that kind of fit in there? I think there are two very good examples I can give to you. One of those being from the Google side and advertising addiction services. You have to have a certification in order to do that, to advertise any type of actual medical service. So we had to actually get a legit script certification. There are a third party from Google, and they act as the source to verify the legitimacy of a health care provider. So that was quite a hurdle for us to even go through and and get that, because we had to license all of our locations. So we have over 30 locations across the state, so each location had to be certified. So that's something that we've done, and was a huge piece for me to be able to get that done for our agency as well. So that is just one thing that lets us get over the hurdle to say, yes, we can advertise on Google. And have those addiction services advertised, but it's also unnecessary evil as well. Right. Because. Right. You can't just have anybody, you know, offering health care services or. We don't want. This, you know, pharmaceutical things. It should not be the Wild West, right? So it's an it's a necessary thing to have, but definitely a difficult thing. For those of us working in the healthcare space. Wow. Yeah. So okay, so there's that challenge with that. Another challenges. And you mentioned you guys do you do a lot of staged photo shoots because you work with mental health substance abuse, things of that nature. It's not something where you can be like, hey, do you care if we take your picture on the way out? It's not something where people typically want that. When you've got to do stuff like that. What it what are you looking for when you're looking to say, look, we need to have a successful photo shoot here. What are you trying to convey? What's the how do you make sure your message is coming out in that? I guess it's really the environment and the emotion of the people, that warmth, that comfort. I always say our services are not provided by somebody in a white coat. They're not coming out in this white coat. And if you look up stock photos for health services or behavioral health care, that's what you will find and see. So you really have to be creative and work around those things. Our clinicians work with people in the field. And so they go and meet people where they are. So we meet kids in the school. We go out to people's homes. So that's what we want to be able to represent is the breadth of our services and how they are provided. So honestly, sometimes, we will use our own selves, and our staff and sometimes, just up here, as a, as the client. And it's a good way to get around things, but also still be in the environment if we are in the office or providing a service or what have you. So that's something that we do. And, we also just look for other, other ways that might be representative of a service. Maybe it's just two people talking in a library, you know, something like that where they can be more reflective. It's more about the energy behind it and the passion and care and concern of making someone feel comfortable. So when they see an image, we want them to see comfort and make them not that like sterile environment that like you might see as a hospital or something like that. Okay. And it's funny you mention the stock photos because, yeah, if you search something like that, you're going to get that sterile environment. The I mean, it's stuffy. It's it's not welcoming. And you guys are trying to I mean, definitely play off or play in the opposite direction of that stigma that, hey, look, this is welcoming. This is warm. We're here to talk to you. So you guys have to be very, very intentional about that. And that's that's a tough thing to pull off. It can be. I think we communicate with our offices as well. So we never want to just walk into an office one day and say, we're here to take pictures. You know, we can't. That would be, not a great thing for our clients who their little, Yeah. So and if we do have a client that is willing to share their story or be photographed, we always work very closely with our clinicians and providers ahead of time, to make sure that those things are taken care of and that they're comfortable and working in that way. So we're never just barging in and someone's, you know, counseling sessions. Yes, exactly. With that, you've mentioned that I mean, before we hit record, a lot of employees are really passionate about what you guys do, and that, to me is amazing. I mean, that makes it a I don't want to say easier to market, but that makes it so much easier to come to work when people love what they do. How do you get those employees to tell their stories? Because in so many cases, I mean, I we I've talked about it just because someone's passionate about what they do doesn't mean they can convey that message. Well, do you guys work with people on how to convey the message and how to, like, push that message out? We do. I mean, we have our agency branding. And so we're always pushing those just general points, like our mission, talking points, all of those things. The other piece that we do is we really have a lot of communication with our regional areas as well. So we know what's going on, and they feel that we have a two way street of feedback and conversation. So if they have a client that is doing really well or is really proud and they think would want to share their story, that's really the relationship building that's going on behind the scenes within our organization so that we're able to share those amazing success stories. The clinician or whoever is working with the client can make them comfortable as well. And then it's very nice. Warm handoff, To you guys to to. Our team. I love that. I want to talk language. Language is something that many people I feel miss in their marketing. And you've been very I mean, in some of the questions I sent you at a time, you talked about non stigmatizing language. That has to be, I'm assuming, very intentional in how you word those things. How do you make sure that the right language is being used in so many of these things? Is it like, is there a list of No-No words? Is there a, is there a list of yes words? What brings that intention along, and how do you make sure that's executed? I guess the non stigmatizing language is something we've really worked on, with our team over the past two plus years, just with the shift and making sure I think a really great example of non stigmatizing language would be like to say a diabetic. You actually should not say this person is a diabetic. It's a person with diabetes, you know, condition or disorder. So the same thing goes for suicide. A person died by suicide. So it's removing this person being inflicted and it's just a symptom of the person. That's interesting. But it's very hard to get started and wrap your head around it. And it becomes because it's it's not how we've traditionally spoken. But it's very important to be able to make that shift. And that way we're being very careful and mindful of who we are speaking to as well. So you're not going to call somebody an addict, you know, it's a person with an addiction. And that just sounds a lot nicer if you really sit down and think about it. So it does. It's interesting from a couple of perspectives, perspectives on that because first off is it's it makes it so it is like you said, it's a symptom. It's not the, the overall thing. It's it's not them as a whole. It's not the it's not defining that. That's exactly right. It's a symptom of a condition which to me, the, the two things that I see in that, that are kind of brilliant is one is it makes it easier for someone to say, look, I need help for this. And two, it makes it so it is not the person, it is what's going on with them in that current time. Yeah, I, I love that. So it's that intentional language helps in both the marketing and in the care then. Yes. Oh I love that. You've talked about how storytelling is huge. There's all sorts of wonderful stories because you said you guys work with addiction, mental health, things of that nature. How do you pick some of the stories that get told? We definitely try to make sure that we're touching all of the regions that we provide services in as well. So we're not just focusing on, like our northwest area for one, that we're really making the rounds and sharing all the different areas because some areas are more rural, some areas are more urban. So naturally just the culture and environment can be very different for those people as well and what their daily life and experience is. So we're always meeting with our regional, vice presidents, talking about what's going on there. And then really thinking about every service that we provide. We do a lot at Ohio Guide. Stone, I know you helped us with a video for a client that we did a success story on, and they were a substance use client. But we also have workforce clients. And so we're helping people with job readiness. We have mental health now. We run the gamut of services. And so the point of the success story is to help someone else. And it's like that extending hand. Right. So they're sharing their story so that someone else can relate to that and understand and and ask and receive help. So one that we're working on now is really for a parent mentoring client. So they can talk about their experience and what it was like to be able to be reunified with their child. So all kinds of different perspectives, and I think just we understand our services as well. And so I think having the integration, of our communications team and understanding what we do at Ohio Guidestones is also very helpful as well for us. That that brings up an interesting question for me, because in so many cases, like, I mean, for us as a company, we're marketing to businesses to bring in to, to help them do marketing. It's it's a niche. I know who I'm aimed at. You're very broad in what you guys cover. I'm a big one that says, okay, if you're marketing to everyone, you're marketing to no one. You're marketing to a wide, wide, wide, very wide group of people. I mean, anyone from teenagers, up to, I mean, adults up to even late adults. I'm assuming. How do you get that message to all those people? I have this conversation when we go through for our Google ads and going back to that, and, you know, you're picking your target audience and you're selecting the demographics and you you have to choose someone. You know, we were talking about this earlier as well. You do have to choose someone. But it is hard when we're talking about who we are as a whole because we provide services to everyone. And so from age six to the end of life, we're there to help meet your needs. But then you know who who's reaching out to receive the services. It's probably not the six year old, you know? So, I don't know, the market. But. Yeah, and I think that's where we can run into some other issues as well with job readiness. And you're showing those types of advertisements you can run into trouble. You can't, put age ranges. Or if we're showing a job readiness program for 18 to 22, we can't target that age group because it's, you know, there's the classifications on that because it's job related. Right. So I think the benefit for that, that if it reaches other people that are outside of that, they're still learning who we are. And maybe there's another service. I think we're very fortunate on that side that, yes, we offer so many services. So maybe there's something else that's relatable there for them. But, trying to narrow it down and pick one person when we have so many things, it's it is a really a huge challenge. Our Ccbc, certified community Behavioral Health clinic is one where we're marketing and trying to reach many different people. And we've just had a sit down and say, like, these are our three audiences. This is who we're talking to, this is who we're trying to reach. And what those main things are. Again, I think if you're trying to cast the wide net, right, you might not find anybody. So like, make the message very tailored to those specific people. And I think that is, again, through storytelling as well, and telling the story to that very specific person. So you still in that group, you've decided to pick like three main audiences. So that way there and it is three specific people. So it's not you don't need to pick one person necessarily. You can pick three people. And I'm assuming are those three different programs. Then it's one program. No kidding. But it reaches such a wide swath. So you're using three different you're hitting three different segments for one program by doing is it three separate campaigns then? They'll be different campaigns, sometimes different messaging. So again, if we're trying to reach, the decision maker in the household, sometimes, we have to think outside the box there. Like who who is reaching out for a referral. So who what does that person look like? We always have to look at zip codes. And how far are people traveling to receive services, or how far are we reaching people? But we also provide telehealth services. So technically our reach is within the entire state of Ohio. So, it's it's really a learning process for us as well. And I think as the way people receive services change, we're learning and trying to adapt to those, you know, different populations and demographics. Do when it has there ever been a campaign where you're like, okay, these are the people that we're talking to. And then you look at the lyrics later and you're like, we're talking to someone else, but it's working. Has that ever happened, or is it typically been pretty, pretty successful in targeting the one group? I think even if we don't reach the intended audience, we're still reaching someone and the result is positive. So I think that it's been overall successful. One of our areas is the, households that we're trying to reach. Many of our clients are Medicaid recipients or Medicare recipient. And so sometimes we'll hit, more of these, private insurance clients, which we're able to take. But that's not really our intent of who we are trying to reach. So that's also, you know, the struggle of the income limitations and things like that. So I think that's one where, again, in our northwest area, we've done a lot of different marketing and reached a lot of different people, and we've seen an influx of people needing services there, which is great. I mean, that's ultimately we want to help people. Yeah. But then sometimes that can have the consequence of, you know, not reaching the exact right person. So it is very important to know who, what, when and where your audience is. How do you figure out that audience? Is it looking at who's walking through the front door? Typically? I think so. We can work with our intake team as well to see, where people are hearing about us. We also on the back end are trying to use things, like through our website to see where are people coming from. I think that's the benefit of social media is seeing where the clicks came from. So being able to use those digital tools is very helpful. You've mentioned the and I got to read this Ada mh boards, you've collaborate with them. What does an add a MH for. Their, Mental Health and Addiction Services board. So every county has one. Awesome. They provide grant funding to agencies just like us to be able to provide the services to the community. How does the collaboration work with them? Is this is a, like, marketing thing or is it mainly through the grants or how what is what are those collaborations typically look like. From from my experience, it's a communications piece. But then we also are linking in the community as well to provide services and programs. Essentially all of the providers under the Adams boards are trying to meet the same needs. We're trying to improve the outcomes in the community and be available for individuals. So from the communication side, I think it's really wonderful. As I mentioned to you, both in Summit County and Franklin County, we have a great, communication provider network. And so all of the organizations with the marketing and communications teams come together and we meet collectively, which is kind of unusual if you think about it. But it's really helpful to see what other people are doing, what's going on. And then we're accomplishing. We all have the same goal, right? So, it's really nice to be able to do that and know what's going on in the different communities. With that, you guys aren't necessarily in competition with each other. You are to an extent, but it's there's a collaborative nature to of like, we're here to help people. Yeah. And there's definitely competitors that are within those pieces. But I think, you know, we can support each other, and still be a competitor. And I think that's really the great thing. And shift, in looking at it that way, is really hearing other people's voices, too. I mean, we really can help each other. I love that, there is a misconception that someone needs to be in crisis to seek mental health services. It to me, from a marketing standpoint, when when I heard that, I started thinking about this as like, okay, is this a marketing thing? Is this a PR thing? Is this, how do you manage that image to reach people, to say, look, we're here to help you before it's an emergency. How does the how do you make it so the message is strong enough that it reaches people? I guess I would say before it's an emergency. It's definitely part of the stigma fighting piece for mental health as well. Don't be afraid to ask for help. We're here. A lot of what we use in our messaging is we're we're ready whenever you are. And so whenever that person may be ready, we're available and ready to meet you. And we we mean that from literally wherever you're able to meet to. You don't have to walk into our office. We can come to you. You can call us. We have crisis lines as well. So I think that that's really important is people's comfort level, too. Because it is a hard thing for people to reach out and ask for help for just about anything in life, not just, you know, mental health services or, substance use services. So like providing, educational pieces and data points and things like that. And that's really able to help people relate and understand and that they're not the only one. They are not alone. There are other people experiencing this, and it's kind of a whole circle of everything else we've talked about as well with the storytelling and making it relatable. And we can help people if they're in a crisis, too. But we we really would like people to get the help before they're in a crisis situation so that they can really lead a healthy life with great outcomes. So it really through the marketing, it's kind of like lowering that threshold for when someone says, I need to make a phone call rather than saying, okay, this is an emergency. I guess I would say it's almost like anything else medical. Go before it's an emergency. And, and, you know, people wait there too, right? I mean, people, you know, you're waiting until you have a heart attack to receive any, you know, health care or anything like that. So, I think in everything we do, it's reaching out to people and letting them know and just continuing to help provide information and help fight the stigma as as much work as we can do and and just be creative with how we do it. It's that creativity because there's so many things that, in marketing are loud. Yeah. Everyone thinks of the used car salesman where they're screaming into the microphone Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. You can't really be loud. I don't think about mental health. What are some of the things that you use to make sure that you're getting in front of people, but not in a way that's in their face or intimidating or whatever? Again, the success stories are great. People being able to share their own lived experience is huge. I think we do things from a multitude of different ways. So the educational data that we're sharing, the other pieces of things we do are really working from an advocacy level, and working with, state and federal level to make sure that policymakers and lawmakers know the importance of the services and mental health. So working there as well, we have an institute that does different things. One of their main focus is currently is working with fathers. And there's another stigma of fathers feelings. And, you know, we often talk about mothers with depression or maternal depression, but dads can experience those things as well. So there's a different focus there in education. And so, they work a lot with people in the community, and they do like dads days. And so we're also trying to meet people, as well, and just be available and just continue to show up for people, and be there and be a support. You've expressed some optimism about the future of digital communication and mental health advocacy. There's a lot of stuff out there on some of the social media platforms of it varying degrees of accuracy and or help. We've all seen it. I mean, social media gets blamed for a lot of the mental health issues. How do you see it helping and supporting mental health awareness moving forward? I think everyone has an opinion and many of us are not afraid to share it. So I, I think we have to take advantage of that. Truly. We're able to have conversations with people, and have that dialect and talk about what is going on in the climate of the world. So let's say something happens out there, that affects, you know, people's mental health and people want to respond in a certain way or they feel a certain way. We can actually communicate with those individuals and share information if, something is incorrect as well, and give them real factual data. So I think just continuing to be optimistic about all of the opportunities there is a really good thing, we're able to share more digestible things for people that then they're able to share, so we can get people behind our advocacy, too, which I think is, just really big. I see a lot more on social media. It's like it's okay to ask for help and everything's not always okay. And just accepting that life is not always perfect. Two, I think, is, also part of that. So it all works together. I think it's just, nice to see, so having conversations, using it as a positive tool, and, you know, stepping away from the negativity where we can or addressing it sure is, is, I think, a good thing. Is it? I've heard you mentioned education a multiple times through this. Do you think that is a big piece that's missing from what a lot of people are receiving in their mental health? I guess I would say. I think so, people sometimes might not even know what help they need. You know, maybe I'm just not feeling great today or just the statistics behind things. How many people suffer from a mental health disorder? How many people struggle with depression? What those things can be? We talked a little bit about maternal depression. That's a huge one where I think that could be brushed off to the side as well and just say, oh, I'm just not feeling great. It's just the baby blues. Like there are many different forms that can take place there. So there's all kinds of different ways. Yeah, yeah. Getting that education piece in front of them, it's a big help then that makes sense. If someone's, if someone, I worry about this one a lot. Someone wants to share some of their mental health journey. I see there's a line here where some people are either oversharing or some people are under sharing. Do you feel that like having someone like an Ohio guide stone is a key to that in terms of like the the guidance is like what is okay and what isn't okay for them to share? I think. So I think every person's story is unique. And so if they feel compelled to share their story, share it. Where we need to be careful is that we're doing more good than harm. And I think, you know, and sharing people's own personal stories, they need to consider to be careful of who else is involved in their story as well. So, if we're talking with a person and their family history is a huge piece of their story, but it might not be appropriate to share that with everyone else. We have to be creative about how can we get the impact of that, but then not really expose those family members, while they're sharing their story to. Sure, that's a fine line to walk. That requires that I believe we talked about creativity before. So we have Dan Crandall in before he runs very far. You run kind of far also. Depends on your perspective. Of what is a parallel that you can make between running and marketing. Oh, I was like asking some weird question like that. I think it's the mental headspace. And so I, I, in marketing have to step outside of who I am and what I know. And I when I'm running a training for a couple miles, How many is a couple? Well, when I was training for 100 mile races, you know, I'd be out there for 30, 35 back to back days. You guys are all crazy, so. But you you do have to step outside of of who you are. And so I think those are the two parallels for me, is really stepping outside of yourself and putting on somebody else's, hat and, and thinking about that. You have to meet people where they are instead of where you are for that. That is always a tough thing. What is a key takeaway that you feel that you've gotten from working at Ohio Guide? Guidestones? I would say our community of employees really is just something special and empowering. We have even people that have, struggled with substance use but have become peer recovery supporters that have gone on to get more education that's been provided to them by Ohio Guide Stone and then they're now helping people from, you know, it's it's full circle. So I think just for us to be able to share those stories too, I have never met anyone that I've worked with that has had anything bad to say or negative to say. And I'll say just from our communications team to like, we all work very well together. We all have different perspectives and backgrounds, and we come together and collaborate. And we love sharing everyone's stories too. So, it's really humbling and really, just a happy thing to really reflect on and see someone's journey in their path grow to a greater place. That feels like that's a good way to go home at the end of the day and be like, I did something good today. Yeah, I mean, we aren't providers, right? So we're not directly impacting someone's life. So to be able to know that, you know, we're loosely connected to that is, a really nice feeling. That's very cool. I really appreciate you coming on the day. Thank you for having me. This was a good conversation. I I'm, a lot of really cool things that came out of this to me. It's funny, there's been themes about educating your clients, getting out in front of people. And then those collaborative things that the last 4 or 5 guests have all said. And to me, it's something that we're definitely going to be working on, you should probably be working on to, do me a favor, as always, push all the buttons, do all the things, take care of yourself, and if you can take care of someone else too, I will see you all very soon. Oh, yeah. Oh, hey! Everybody go!

People on this episode

Head Shot

Josh Troche

Host
Head Shot

Jessica Yeager

Guest