What Does Marketing Mean to my Nonprofit?

What does marketing mean to my Nonprofit organization? Well, that’s a question only you can answer.  Marketing is often overseen by organizations as a non-essential expense. Meaning, either you don't have a budget, the budget you have is barely anything or it's a “take as needed” budget. Meaning, you don't have a defined budget, but there is some money for you to take as needed. 

We, however, know marketing is one of the most useful tools to a Nonprofit. Marketing helps to raise funds for your organization, brings in volunteers, creates awareness about your cause and promotes your services. The more you put into your marketing, the more you will get out of it.  Some organizations have switched to solely digital marketing, while others split their marketing between digital and direct. Depending on your organization's goals, some may need to still use direct marketing to help support their digital marketing.

Here are a few examples where we suggest direct marketing, in addition to digital marketing:

• Your organization's main fundraiser
• A ceremony honoring a member of your community
• Flyers/Brochures to set out at local businesses

Your organization's marketing strategy, is just as important as the marketing itself. Below, are ways to make a plan that really works to raise funds, bring in volunteers, create awareness and promote your services.

Define your goals: What do you want to get out of your marketing? Do you want to raise $50,000 by the end of your year? Do you want to bring in 50 new volunteers by the end of the month? Or do you simply want to create awareness around your organization? Remember, just because you made your marketing plan, doesn't mean you can't adjust your goals in the future. Goals shift. 

Understand your audience: Speak in the language of the person you are trying to reach. Use different platforms to connect with different audience members. 

Donors: “$10 can feed 53 families.”
Volunteers: “Just this morning, we were able to feed 53 families with your help.” 

Create your strategies: What marketing platforms will your organization be focusing on? What are your deadlines for each step, and who is in charge of what? How much will this cost? If you have legitimate concerns, check out our Google Ad Grant page and how we can help your organization get up to $10,000 a month in marketing grants.  Be sure to write down everything throughout this step in a clear and organized fashion, you can re-use/alter anything you need to.

Analyze: This is the most important step. You get to see what worked and what didn't. This step is all about helping to better plans in the future. You now know your goals, understand your audience, and have good strategies to work off of. Here are some key pieces to analyze:

Open Rates: Did my open rates increase? What messages received the highest open rates?

Likes, Comments, Shares: What posts created the most attention? Were the people liking my social media campaigns involved in my organization? Were any of those interactions converted?

Events: How was the attendance at the event I was promoting? What was the ratio between new people and those already involved? Did any attendees become involved with my organization after?

Website: How were my clicks? Did my SEO improve?

You now have the tools to make your marketing successful. Figure out what you want marketing to do for your organization and make a plan to achieve those goals!