I’m a huge Bob Dylan fan. There’s a man with a knack for words. So I’m flattered that he likes the water words that work, too.

If you don’t believe me, click here!

The good folks at Fundraising Success published an article I wrote about listservs and environment in their September issue.

Click here to read it!

Here are two more brochures. I picked these up in West Virginia when my wife and I slipped away to celebrate our 7th anniversary. Take a look:

On the outside of the brochure, the Friends of the Cacapon River tell you first about themselves — what kind of organization they are (using puzzling insider vocabulary like “watershed,” too) and what their mission is. Although the Friends’ mission will certainly appeal to most people, you have to actually pick up the brochure, open it, and read it before you learn that you have an opportunity to contribute to this organization’s success. The Friends just aren’t acting like they need your help.

The Western Maryland Rail Trail Supporters aren’t nearly as bashful or proud. Check out their brochure:

“We need strong citizen support,” they proclaim right out in front. The casual person browsing the rack knows right away what to expect inside that brochure. Research suggests that about 10% of the population is predisposed to enjoy civic behavior, and the Rail Trail Supporters are much more likely to get those people’s attention because they come right out and say that’s what they want.

Both organizations made the same glaring mistake, though. No pictures of people on the front. And neither of them have closeups of people faces anywhere in the brochure. It’s another accidental confirmation of some bad stereotypes about what environmentalists care about. Oops.

Let’s compare and contrast a pair of ads that want to persuade consumers to do basically the same thing. Nevertheless, one appeals to a narrow group of discriminating insiders, while the other appeals to a broader and more casually interested audience.

Outdoor industry leaders have invested a lot of money exploring how to recruit a new generation of hunters, anglers, and boaters in suburban America. One of the things they have discovered is that product specs matter to avid outdoors enthusiasts. Repeat customers. Knowledgeable customers. For example, a discriminating customer in the market for their second or third boat would find this literal and fact-heavy advertisement below to be quite helpful:

Source: Gilman Yachts, ad appeared in Chesapeake Bay Magazine.

But what these industry leaders have also discovered is that these specs and details just don’t mean much to less informed customers — novices, first-time buyers, newbies, call them what you want. Instead, those individuals respond more to a more abstract and emotional pitch, like the one in this advertisement:

Ad by Discover Boating, appeared in Outdoor Life magazine.

I have never done a presentation for the outdoor industry (although I’d be happy to, hint hint), but I think this second ad is just great. I’m struck how their ad uses the same words that I want you to use — and makes the same emotional connections that I want you to make.

If the boating, fishing, and fishing geeks can start to move past their fixation on horsepower, bullet caliber, line weight, etc… and appeal to a broader audience by evoking family experiences, surely we can move past our focus on watersheds, impervious surfaces, dissolved oxygen levels, etc… and do the same in our public-facing writing speaking.

Can’t we?

Can’t we?

If you want to explore what lead to this change of approach by the outdoor industry, check out the following reports from the research firm Responsive Management:

Factors Related to Hunting and Fishing Participation Among Today’s Youth

Factors Related to Boating Participation in the United States

Women’s, Hispanics’, and African-Americans’ Participation in and Attitudes Toward Boating and Fishing