Fostering
Fosters Our Company Culture How Giving Back Became Part of NLP’s Identity Toys for Tots, the Salvation Army, and other Christmas gift drives for underprivileged children are everywhere this time of year. With all that support, most people figure that all the in-need kids are covered, and Newsletter Pro CEO Shaun Buck was no different. But in 2014, he spoke to a social worker and discovered a gap. Kids who enter the foster care system after Thanksgiving but before Christmas are too late to receive help from traditional organizations — and as a result, they usually go without. The thought of newly uprooted children, confused and afraid, finding nothing under the Christmas tree broke his heart. Shaun resolved that he wouldn’t let any of those children in Canyon County, Idaho, go without a present that year, buying the gifts himself. His efforts were a success, and the commitment kept growing. Soon, Shaun founded Fostering Christmas, an organization that provides presents to kids who enter the foster care system during the holiday season. But the need only kept growing. Soon, the organization was also serving Ada County and helping dozens more children each year. Shaun could no longer fill all the requests alone, but fortunately, he had people ready to back him up: the staff at Newsletter Pro. Once our team caught wind of his efforts and their incredible impact on children’s lives, they were eager to get on board. Before long, everyone at NLP was contributing to the cause. They, in turn, started talking about Fostering Christmas to community members, who were also excited to help. Every year, the NLP office becomes Fostering Christmas headquarters. In 2019, we filled an entire conference room with presents, and the whole team was excited to volunteer their time sorting and organizing the gifts each year. Most of our employees are remote these days, but Fostering Christmas hasn’t slowed down. Even though we’re spread across the country, the team remains eager to make a difference for foster families in Idaho with brainstorming, social media work, and financial contributions. Fostering Christmas was proud to celebrate its biggest and most successful year in 2021, helping 324 foster children. The generosity of our Newsletter Pro staff and their work to promote the cause to others are largely to thank. We’re looking forward to another big holiday season! Connect with our efforts any time of the year at FosteringChristmas.org.
Good Marketing Requires Genuine Human Connection Getting To Know You Business leaders have a lot on their plate, so it’s no surprise that making human connections with customers often falls by the wayside. Who has the time when you’re trying to manage payroll, vendors, billing, and staff? That’s why many entrepreneurs prefer to stick to the numbers. They’re unbiased, and they’re easier to control. But you’ll never get the complete picture if you exclusively focus on your ROI and retention levels. In fact, you’ll miss important clues about why your business is (or isn’t) succeeding. The best marketers understand customers don’t want to be seen as data points. They want a genuine human connection — and they’ll go to your competitors to find it. Think about some of your own experiences. Have you ever dealt with an aggressive mattress salesperson? How about a used car dealer who used every transparent trick in the book to close a sale? Or maybe you dread calling the phone company because they always try to sell you additional services you don’t need. Most likely, none of those experiences made you feel like a valued customer or want to interact with the business again. Where you might see helpful information about your product or service, others will often see a hard sell and tune out the rest of what you have to say. Of course, we’re not recommending you abandon telling people what you have to offer. But before you share that information, give your audience a reason to care. Be Genuine It all starts with being a little vulnerable. We know it can be scary. But marketing research consistently shows people don’t buy things; they buy emotions. How a product makes someone feel is at least as significant as how well it performs. And you can build that connection by sharing your story with your potential customers. That’s why we encourage our newsletter clients to provide personal stories for their cover articles. Those personal details and seemingly silly anecdotes aren’t all
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