Video is magnetic.

I recently read this blog entry by Chris Brogan that explores the power of video to motivate website visitors to action. He writes about his tendency to skim past all the text on a web page and go straight to the video. I’m the same way. When I see a “play” button, I click it.

Video is personal.

I believe video is best used to personalize an organization. Video lets us hear directly from the leaders, the clients, the artists, the recipients, or whomever can best tell the story. Good text can tell us what an organization is all about, but a good video can tell us who is involved — who is being helped, who is leading the charge, who are the people behind all the plans and goals and stats.

Video is creative.

One of my favorite aspects of shooting videos for organizations is the creative element. Video is a playground that gives our creative impulses room to play! Obviously, videos should be meaningful and purposeful and clear. But when making decisions about location, b-roll, music, and script, don’t be afraid to let your creativity loose!

Surgical Specialists is a group of 19 of the best surgeons in the Philadelphia area.

This image of my friend jumping off a cliff has been used all over the web as a metaphor for marriage, financial investment, and buying a house.

Metaphors are mad scientists. At their best, they can bring dead concepts to life. But bad metaphors and cliches can make your readers want to hunt you down with torches and pitchforks.

A metaphor is a figure of speech that joins two ideas, establishing a relationship between them (ex. “My life is an open book” or “All the world’s a stage”).

Our language is bursting with metaphors. You can’t escape it. And really, you don’t want to. Metaphors can:

• quickly clarify a complex or subtle concept
• add  creativity and interest to your subject
• get your readers to think, feel, and imagine

The metaphors used by non-profit organizations are tied to their primary mission and action. One organization might connect people or ideas. Images of connection will abound (ex, “We keep you plugged in to…”). Another organization might nurture and serve a certain population. Their metaphors will spring from those actions of serving and nurturing (ex, “We are the hands of love in action”).

How can your organization harness the power of metaphor?

Here are some tips:

• Beware of cliche. In general, literary authors avoid cliches like the plague. We don’t always have to be so careful. But many cliches have simply lost their meaning. So use them sparingly. For example, try to avoid sentences like this: “We really think outside the box.” When you spot cliches, think more deeply about what you are really trying to say.
• Use photos. Full disclosure: I’m a photographer. So I’m biased. But imagery is the lifeblood of metaphor. Good photos reinforce your message and help connect it to the emotion and experience of your audience. And when you’ve connected your message with the experiences and emotions of your audience, you’ve done your job as a communicator.
• Don’t use too many. I have used way too many metaphors in this blog post. How many can you find? Too many. When you use too many metaphors, you risk muddling your message. Metaphors work best when they are grounded in concrete writing. Use metaphors thoughtfully and sparingly.
• Keep it simple. Complicated metaphors can send your reader’s mind in a hundred confusing directions (ex. “Your e-book kindled my interest in fire”). The best metaphors link your idea with an image that people can relate to from experience (ex. “Our last e-newsletter was a home run!”).

Does your organization use any interesting metaphors to communicate its mission? What are some images that lend themselves to metaphor? Here are two that I thought of.

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I Have Tons Of Great Photos. Now What?

I have way too many “favorite photos” from that trip, but this one has remained at the top for me.

This woman was a community leader in a rural village outside Durban, South Africa. She would walk many miles in the course of each day to check in on people who were sick. We were lucky enough to be invited to join her on her rounds for the day.

Our job with Congreso was to travel around to many of their different programs to get photographs of their organization in action. It was an amazing experience to see just how involved they are in the lives of Latinos in Philadelphia!

The "Don't Walk By" campaign is an outreach program to homeless folks in New York. Led by The Rescue Alliance of NYC, this month-long campaign provides food, blankets, medical care, and, for those who are ready, an opportunity to take their lives in a new direction.

Let’s say that you already have hundreds of compelling photos that tell the story of your organization. Maybe we took the photos, or maybe some photography whiz from the accounting department took them. Either way, you want to get the most out of them. But how?

1. Find multiple ways of using the same image

This might sound obvious, but many times we have a great photo and use it once in a PowerPoint presentation and then it gets pushed to the back of our computer files and lost forever.

• Put your images to work! Try to squeeze as much use from them as you can:  brochures, website, e-newsletters, annual reports, thank you cards, or prints that can be displayed in your lobby.

• Get creative! Does it makes sense for your website have a “photo album” page?  (Note: If you work with people and have donors, YES it makes sense to have this on your website!) We all know that images are powerful tools in conveying the energy and excitement of your programs, so if you have great photos, don’t let them go to waste.

2. Don’t over do it

I know, this sounds exactly opposite from what I said above, but the point is this: images have a shelf-life.

• You will want to refresh your photo stock every couple of years or more, depending on how much your programs have changed and how much you are using your existing stock. While that faded photo of smiley, big-haired, 80′s teenagers might capture the essence of your organization perfectly, it is time for a new shot!

• Don’t look at taking photos as a one-time investment. Build resources into your marketing or development budgets to allow for a regular upgrade of your image and video stock.

3. Don’t let a good photo stand alone

Every good photo has an even better story.  Who is in the photo? What is the event about? Why does the place matter?  Even a short caption can add a lot of value to the photo.

• Get the basics: names of the people, date, event, etc. If you use a photo processing program, you can add them to the meta-data of the photo. You can also change the image name to include this info. Example: JohnandJaneDoe_July2010_Soup Kitchen.jpg.

• “Life-change” captions are amazing assets. The key to making this happen is keeping it simple. A good three-sentence structure to use is this: a) Who (or what) is in the photo, and what problem was he/she/it experiencing? b) How did your organization address that problem? c) What is this person’s life like now because your program exists?  If you can get more info, great!  You can always use longer profiles for newsletters or annual reports.  But a “short and sweet” caption can be just as good and often, more usable.

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There’s A Metaphor In My Soup!

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You Can Take Great Photos! 5 Tips