Hello, Changemaker!

Karen Nilsen

Hi I’m Karen. I want to share with you the tactics I’ve used to build digital power and engage a supporter base of millions. Are you ready? Let’s get started!

This Is What Happens When You Address Your Reader as a ‘Group’

SPOILER: it’s not good. Sure—you know you’re writing an email to 5,000 people. But your task is to make your reader feel like you’re writing only to them. When ‘broadcasting’ language slips into our writing,...

4 minute read

SPOILER: it’s not good. Sure—you know you’re writing an email to 5,000 people. But your task is to make your reader feel like...

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Formatting for Skim Readers: Essential Tips

Here’s an important piece of digital communication that you’ve probably never read: Few of us pay attention to stuff like this. And not because it doesn’t contain important information. It does. You’ve probably never...

5 minute read

Here’s an important piece of digital communication that you’ve probably never read: Few of us pay attention to stuff like...

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Has Social Media Dethroned Email?

Is email dead? Here’s what the data says... Some people question the relevance of emails in 2026. They ask, “Can’t we just rely on social media to communicate with supporters?” To which my instinct is to rush...

6 minute read

Is email dead? Here’s what the data says... Some people question the relevance of emails in 2026. They ask, “Can’t we just rely...

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What You Need to Know about ‘Deliverability’

Not every email you send will find its way into an inbox. Optimal deliverability is needed to give your emails a fighting chance of being opened. Poor deliverability will send many of your messages into spam...

6 minute read

Not every email you send will find its way into an inbox. Optimal deliverability is needed to give your emails a fighting...

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Give Your Headline ‘Consequence’

Of all the ‘rules’ out there for writing page headlines, this is the most transformative. If your headline sits on a petition or advocacy page, use it to communicate the ‘pain or consequence’ that follows from...

2 minute read

Of all the ‘rules’ out there for writing page headlines, this is the most transformative. If your headline sits on a petition...

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Should You Send Emails from Your ‘Organization’ or an Actual Person?

Here’s how the internal dialog usually goes: “We’re torn. We see other organizations sending from individual people but how do we know if that would work for us?” ... “What about our organizational ‘voice’?” .....

5 minute read

Here’s how the internal dialog usually goes: “We’re torn. We see other organizations sending from individual people but how do we know if...

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