Nonprofit marketing comes with tons of challenges. One of the most significant is competing for a share of voice in a crowded market. Profit-making organizations have the financial capacity. They can spend as much as is necessary to get to the customer’s ears.
This in itself places a considerable burden on the marketing team. Donors give money to the organization to support worthy causes. The charity cannot use such funds for marketing purposes. Even if they do, they can only take a small part of the budget for such activities.
With that said, nonprofit digital marketing teams have a lot of resources they can use. Take the example of digital marketing. The online space has opened up an even playing field. Anyone and everyone can compete.
Even without a budget, the organization can still create awareness. The trick lies in finding strategies that work. Please note that 79% of donors decided to give after watching online videos. 30% of donations come via mobile devices and 18% came through Facebook.
Our article shares salient points on nonprofit marketing in 2022.
1. Get the Basics Right
Anyone who has been in marketing can agree with one fact. Coming up with a marketing strategy is quite difficult. There is plenty of research and leg work that goes into the process. Yet it is crucial to do it if you hope to achieve good results. So what are some of the basics that need ironing out?
● Audit Your Current Marketing Activities
Don’t start on your 2022 nonprofit marketing strategy until you take stock of what you have been doing so far. The insights will help you see what is working and what needs to change. Let’s go back to the example of your nonprofit digital marketing strategy. You may notice high bounce rates on your website. That could indicate a problem with the website or content.
● Determine the Nonprofit Marketing Goals
Another critical step is to decide on the goals. Let’s take the example of nonprofit digital marketing objectives. These could include:-
- Attract donor funding
- Raise awareness of the nonprofit organization
- Create long-term relationships with members
- Attract volunteer and donor support
- Increase online visibility
- Build credibility for the organization and much more.
The goal should be clear and very specific. It also helps to have a timeline for short-term and long-term goals. But that’s not all. There must be measurable metrics from the very beginning.
If the goal is to increase online visibility, how do you measure this? It could be more people visiting the organization’s website. Another metric would be more followers on the social media platforms. Here is what you would need to write down.
Goal – increase traffic to our nonprofit website by 20% within three months.
● Identify Your Target Audience
Profit-making organizations typically target one customer. Nonprofits, on the other hand, speak to many stakeholders. These are the donors, clients, volunteers, and even governments. Whatever marketing strategy the marketing teams come up with must communicate with each specific audience. What you say to volunteers is different from what you communicate with the clients.
2. Create the Right Marketing Strategy
It is a fact that a nonprofit organization may not have the budget for analog advertising. Print and electronic media can be pretty expensive. That makes digital marketing the go-to solution for marketing and advertising purposes. But, digital marketing is an umbrella term. The teams will need to create separate strategies for:-
- Content marketing
- Social media marketing
- Link building strategies
- Email Marketing
- Search engine optimization (SEO)
- Mobile marketing
- PPC marketing, and much more.
The challenge for many organizations is twofold. The first is the lack of a proper strategy to guide your digital marketing. The second is trying to do too much at once.
We would recommend picking three or four strong ones and maximizing on that. It all goes back to what you hope to achieve.
- For awareness creation, social media marketing, content marketing, and link building should be a priority. Putting some money into PPC marketing is also a good idea.
- If the aim is to attract donor support, email marketing and link building can work. Combine this with other strategies like event marketing for face-to-face interactions with the target. Also, don’t forget a large portion of younger donors and volunteers use mobile devices. Mobile marketing must also be in the strategy.
- To build credibility for the organization, link building, SEO, social media, and content marketing are key.
Proper implementation of the strategy you decide on will have a spillover effect. Link building will increase online visibility, create credibility and attract the right people.
3. Think About Your Messaging
Coming up with the right messaging is another problematic area. Yet, it is critical to content marketing. It will determine what your audiences take away after interacting with the organization. You should aim to achieve rememberability, shareability, and relevance to the target audience.
Keep the messages simple, and ensure they align with the organization’s goals. They should also elicit a specific reaction from whoever is receiving the message.
Let’s say you’re talking to the donors. Whatever you say should provide that urge to make them reach into their pockets to give.
4. Keep Up With Analytics to Measure Performance
Coming up with the marketing strategy is just the first step. Proper implementation will determine failure or success. What you have in the interim is the ability to make changes as necessary. And that is the vital role of analytics.
We did talk about measurable metrics at the beginning. That should be a benchmark against which to measure how well your campaigns are doing. Remember, this is an ongoing process.
Do not wait until the end of the campaign window to measure performance.
Let’s go back to the example of increasing internet traffic by 20% within three months. Look up the progress after the first month. If there does not seem to be any change in the numbers, something is not working. That is the best time to return to the drawing table and take stock. Doing this will save a lot of time, headache, and money.
Final Thoughts
Marketing is no longer a choice for nonprofits. They must fight for a share of voice like any other organization.
People living in the modern world have a lot of information coming at them. Anyone who stays in the background will lose. Please use the pointers we have shared above to navigate the tricky road of nonprofit marketing in 2022.
