Non-Profit Marketing: 5 Ways to Nail It in 2021

Much like all organizations, your nonprofit organization needs a marketing plan to raise brand awareness and urge more people to support your cause and help you.

You see, your nonprofit organization’s cause is only as good as the number of people your message will reach. This means that the bigger the marketing reach, the better.

More brand awareness means more funding, more donations, and even recurring donors and volunteers. Using marketing tactics as a nonprofit organization will also ensure that your message reaches those that your nonprofit aims to help.

So, let’s see what type of tips and tricks you can use so that your organization can reach more people, bring in more donations and volunteers, and increase brand awareness.

Personalization and Segmentation in Nonprofit Email Marketing

Email marketing is one of the main components of any marketing plan, and nonprofit marketing is no exception. Generally speaking, email marketing is one of the most profitable channels and one of the most affordable when done right.

Before going about picking out templates for your next email newsletter campaign, you need to invest in two tactics: audience segmentation and personalization.

Take a look at your data and invest in AI and machine learning to segment in patterns so small, your marketing message will correspond with your audience on a one-on-one basis. You can segment between donors and volunteers or between previous and new donors. All segments are valid, and they’ll help you personalize your marketing message.

Personalization is a pretty attention-grabbing tactic and can help you create an engaged audience with laser-targeted messages.

Of course, personalization doesn’t mean including the recipient’s name in the subject line of your email newsletter. Trust in your data, and, if you must, create interactive quizzes that will give you better insight into your target audience’s needs, likes, and dislikes.

A Content Calendar That Promotes Your Goals

Like any other type of marketing, nonprofit marketing needs a great marketing message and good content to work.

You can create a content calendar based on your demographics and your current needs. For example, younger generations are all for video marketing and love social media platforms that offer this type of content. So, why not utilize video when you’re looking for younger volunteers, and save research reports and email content for the older generation that could most likely be valuable donors?

Of course, the first thing you need to take into account is quality and not quantity. Whether in email newsletters or in the form of the social media tags you use, your targeted messages should resonate with the recipients. They need to understand what your value proposition is through your content.

SMART Goal Setting

You can’t create a marketing message or even know what kind of tools you’re going to use before setting goals. They’re the ones that will help you visualize where you’re going with your nonprofit marketing.

So, when setting goals, what you need is to be SMART:

• Specific
• Measurable
• Actionable
• Relevant
• Time-bound

What are you trying to do with your nonprofit marketing plan? The answer is the Specific part of the equation, and it needs to portray your goal as a whole.

What is the metric you’re going to use to measure your success? This can be clarified in the Measurable part of your goals.

The Attainable part shows how reasonable your goals are. This part will pinpoint you if you’re dealing with any obstacles or if you simply wanted to achieve too much, too soon.

Being Relevant will show you whether your aim is what needs to be a priority at that specific point in time, and if so, what you can achieve with it in the long run. If online pr is more important than your blog posts, for example, your efforts should portray it.

A Time-Bound goal will help you schedule things and know how much time you need until you reach it.

Generally speaking, using the SMART model, you can turn an idea into a tangible, actionable concept that you can analyze and measure.

Go Online

In the COVID era, it’s not unheard of for all kinds of organizations to host online events, especially since lockdowns are still taking place globally. Of course, nonprofits are part of the equation.

First of all, your audience data and make sure that an online fundraiser is something they’d like to see. You could create a poll asking that question and share it on your social media. This poll could lead to a landing page designed to convert.

Your prospects could sign up for your live streaming through that landing page. That way, you’ll manage to reach a bigger chunk of the audience, gather more leads, and still be relevant in the nonprofit niche.

Gather New and Keep the Old

Through your nonprofit marketing, you need to aim to hold onto old donors and gather new ones as well. The donors – and volunteers – who already know you are the foundation of your work.

It’s best to create content with them in mind and attempt to broaden your circle by creating a referral program. To do that, make sure to always prioritize your “repeaters” and give something back to your community. That way, they won’t hesitate to talk about your cause to their family and friends and help you have a better marketing reach and more revenue.

The Takeaway

Many might think that nonprofit organizations are not a brand and, therefore, they need to invest in the “kindness of strangers” rather than their own efforts. This assumption is incorrect and could cause harm to a nonprofit with a great cause and very targeted efforts.

The above are just some of the tips and tricks a nonprofit can utilize to get the most out of its marketing plan and stay afloat during trying times like the present.