Newsletter: Pumpkin Spice Makes Partnerships Nice 🎃 ; Order Taker vs. Salesperson: What’s the Difference? 🤔 ; Boston Subway System Launches ‘Spilling the T” Podcast 🚇

I'm talking about nostalgia with some nostalgia of my own today. This post was a big hit last fall. I've updated it with some new pumpkin spice!

🎃 🍂 ☕️

Have you noticed that pumpkin spice is like...EVERYWHERE.

Candles, coffees, teas, chips, vodka, donuts, Twinkies, and PEEPS (my favorite!).

👉🏻👉🏻 So, if everything has pumpkin spice in it this fall, shouldn't your partnership strategy also have a little pumpkin spice mixed in??

Before you stop reading and conclude that the pumpkin has finally slid off Joe's pumpkin-flavored cracker, hear me out...

This fall, tap into the sweet pumpkin spice nostalgia of your brand.

Pumpkin spice is all about the smells of fall that transport people back to a sweeter, kinder time (that really didn't exist, but whatever).

Think of the relative normalcy of life before the pandemic, before war, before the general chaos that exists today.

Trick-or-treating with your kids. 👻

Baking pies with grandma. 🥧

Apple picking with friends. 🍎

Enjoying a pumpkin spice drink that has over ​900 calories and 46 teaspoons of sugar​. ☕️

This fall, make a point to communicate with your partnership prospects about the positive, memorable, and possibly cloyingly sappy things from your nonprofit's past.

🎤 If you work at the Muscular Dystrophy Association, talk about the Labor Day Telethon and what a successful, fantastic event it was back in the day.

🎃 If you're a fundraiser with UNICEF, highlight the history of Trick-or-Treat for UNICEF.

💝 If you manage partnerships for Komen, share some of the signature campaigns from the early years of Pinktober.

Of course, "nostalgia" is relative to the person. Pick an appropriate example for the generation (Baby Boomer, Gen X, etc.) you want to target. You can tell from my examples that I'm an old, old, old Gen Xer.

The key is to whip up a bygone emotional connection with the prospect. It's not enough to make them THINK a partnership with your organization is the right thing; you want them to FEEL IT.😭

No, the prospect won't smell pumpkin spice when you share that right thing with them. But they sure as hell will feel it. And that warm, sentimental feeling might be the stirred-in goodness you need to seal a deal.

Sugar and spice and everything nice. That's what partnerships are made of!

✍️ Partnership Notes

1. How to do cause marketing with a ​drive-thru coffee company​.

2. Does your partnership team have ​order takers AND salespeople?​ It would be best if you had both. Good explanation here of the difference.

3. This is interesting and is equally applicable to nonprofits. Research shows that when it comes to sponsorship, ​stop focusing on eyeballs​ and adopt a "fit comes first" approach.

“It’s got to be about fit and the alignment of the brand values of both the sponsored entity and the organisation.”

🤑 Marketing Your Cause

1. The folks who run the subway system in Boston, the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA), have launched plan to ​launch a podcast to update listeners on improvements​ to the system. It's a good idea, but the podcast is off to a rough start. I hope they get it back on track!

I love the name: Spilling the T.

2. The case for ​slowing down a bit in your interactions with supporters​, according to Chick-fil-A.

3. Many nonprofits are facing this same challenge. How to ​attract younger supporters without alienating confusing longtime (and older) supporters​.🎁 (🎁 = I'm a subscriber and am "gifting" you the article)

😎 Cool Jobs in Cause

1. Director of Major Corporate Donations, U.S., ​Operation Smile​, Los Angeles

🧠🍌 Brain Food

1. According to this writer, this ​"is one of the OGs of nonprofit email newsletters."​

2. At 20, the ​Pumpkin Spice Latte​ is still influencing brand calendars.

“More than anything else, it plays into nostalgic or seasonal feelings, and I think [Starbucks] has done a really good job linking with that and associating new flavors with different seasons.”

3. The reason ​why Americans refer to Autumn as ‘Fall’?​ Is it because of what they are adding to their pumpkin spice drinks? 🥴