A Guide to Marketing for Nonprofits
Whether you’re planning an event or trying to gather donations, one thing is clear. You’re a busy nonprofit with an endless to-do list, trying to enact positive change within your community. And if you have a small team or limited resources, you might wonder, is marketing worth it? In short, yes, marketing should be an important part of your fundraising strategy.
With multiple marketing channels to choose from, your organization can easily engage with all of your existing supporters while spreading awareness of your mission to other potential donors that may currently be outside of your reach. It’s beneficial to use more than one marketing channel in your strategy to expand your reach.
If you’re not sure where to start with your marketing plan, begin by identifying what your goals are and who your audience is. Are you trying to educate people about what’s going on in their community? Do you want to connect with your donors regularly with a newsletter? Do you host events frequently? Do you want to recruit volunteers? Are you trying to find loving homes for shelter pets?
Once you’ve identified your goals for your marketing plan, you can begin to decide what marketing channels you should be using.
Email marketing
Email marketing is one of the best ways to connect with your donors in a direct way. With email marketing, you can send supporters donation appeals, event invites, and fundraiser promotions straight to their email inboxes with a single click.
When you write emails, make sure you have attention-grabbing subject lines and clear CTAs. In the sea of emails that flood inboxes daily, you need to stand out. Personalization tokens are a great tool to use when you want to capture your supporters’ attention. Seeing their name in the subject line of an email will make them more likely to open your email. Once they read your email, make sure they understand exactly what you’re asking for. It’s best to stick to one big CTA in your email, and make sure it varies between emails. Constantly asking for donations can get tedious for your supporters, so mix things up by sending event invites, volunteer opportunities, or even a simple thank-you email now and then to show your appreciation for your donors’ support.
To get the most out of your email marketing strategy, it’s vital to get to know your supporters. Gather information like your donors’ age, location, employment, communication preferences, and giving histories. When you collect this information, you can then segment your donors and target groups with messaging specific to them.
Email is a great marketing avenue for events, newsletters, and any fundraising campaigns you’re running. While you’ll always want to send out emails in a timely manner when promoting events or fundraising campaigns, it’s a quick and efficient tool compared to some other marketing channels.
Text marketing
We live in a busy world, and when your supporters are out and about, a great way to reach them no matter where they are is through text marketing. Text messages have a higher open rate than any other marketing channel, making them a powerful tool for your nonprofit. If you want to promote an event, text marketing can be a great way to do that, and text-to-donate is a simple way to collect donations.
When you dive into text marketing, it’s important to keep in mind that your messages should be short, sweet, and straight to the point. Donors don’t want to receive long paragraphs of text, so make sure you’re sending them compelling messages with a link to donate or to register for an event. And while text messaging is a useful tool, it can become overwhelming for your donors if they’re being flooded with text messages from your organization all the time. Only send one or two messages at a time and send messages sparingly.
Text marketing may be a great marketing option for your organization if you have a list of highly engaged donors who have opted into receiving text messages from you. Don’t send text messages to donors who haven’t opted into receiving them as it can become intrusive and quickly turn supporters off to your nonprofit.
Direct mail marketing
Direct mail may seem like a relic of the past, but don’t overlook the effectiveness of this tried-and-true marketing avenue. According to Qgiv’s Generational Giving Report, 22% of donors look for direct mail updates like newsletters and donation appeals. Generation X is the generation with the greatest interest in direct mail marketing with 34% of donors preferring direct mail. This is a large segment of donors, so if you’re not using direct mail as part of your marketing strategy, you might be missing out.
Direct mail marketing takes more planning than many other forms of marketing. If you’re using direct mail to promote a fundraising event, make sure you’re sending out invites and fliers in a timely manner. Mail takes more time to reach your supporters than other marketing channels, so if you wait too long, you might miss your window of opportunity. Direct mail also requires resources, so make sure you’re budgeting for it correctly and using it effectively. Prioritize sending mail to your donors who regularly respond to direct mail and who are active in donating and attending events.
Pairing your direct mail marketing with other marketing channels will make it even more effective. Studies show that active direct mail responders tend to also be active on social media. Engage with your supporters on social media to build your brand awareness. Then, when they receive a postcard or letter from your organization in the mail, they’re more likely to pay attention.
Social media marketing
Social media marketing is one of the best and most widely utilized marketing channels for a reason. If you’re looking to reach your network of supporters quickly and easily, social media marketing is a great option for your nonprofit. Every generation uses social media, and with a variety of platforms, you’ll be able to reach a wide audience of existing and potential donors.
· Facebook is one of the most widely used platforms and is great for connecting with the Baby Boomer, Gen X, and Millennial generations. It offers an extensive toolset for boosting posts for better engagement.
· Instagram is a great platform if you want to target your younger supporters. It has a host of tools for nonprofits to raise money and is a great platform for sharing impactful images and graphics.
· Twitter is great for organizations that are highly active on social media. Make sure to post regularly and use hashtags to promote your organization’s events and fundraising campaigns.
Overall, social media marketing is a great tool for nonprofits that are interested in visual storytelling and have lots of pictures to share. You can also easily reach your supporters and engage with them in real time to build rapport. And to make the most out of your social media marketing, take the time to create a content calendar to better organize how and when you’ll post on social media.
Final thoughts
While it can take time and energy to build a marketing strategy, don’t overlook how important and helpful marketing can be for your organization. A multi-channel marketing strategy can help you easily connect with your supporters and raise even more for your mission.
Not sure where to start? Check out these resources to start building a marketing strategy that works for your organization:
· Get the Fundraising Fundamentals eBook from Qgiv + Donorly!
· Peer-to-Peer Fundraising Email Templates (+ Fundraiser Engagement Tips)
· 10 Donor KPIs for Evaluating Nonprofit Fundraising Campaigns
About the Author:
Tiara Stephan is a Content Marketing Specialist at Qgiv. Tiara is a writer by trade and a passionate supporter of nonprofits by nature. When she's not typing away at her keyboard for hours, you can find her dancing (if you can call it that) at concerts, drinking copious amounts of English Breakfast Tea, and daydreaming about traveling the world.
