Supporter Acquisition: Marketing to New Nonprofit Audiences
The more donors your nonprofit earns and retains, the more reliable your revenue will be, and the better your nonprofit will be able to fulfill its mission. However, reaching out to new supporters and persuading them to give your cause a chance can be one of the most challenging aspects of donor management.
When it comes to nonprofit advertising strategies, there are two main methods of marketing to consider: direct marketing and general marketing. Direct marketing includes any message meant for just one recipient, like an email or letter. General marketing, in contrast, refers to messages your nonprofit puts out into the wild in hopes of reaching new audiences.
To help your nonprofit attract new supporters, this guide will explore three general marketing strategies and how your nonprofit can make the most of them.
Social media marketing
For modern nonprofits, when you want to get your message out to new audiences, social media is one of the first places you turn to. Platforms like Facebook, Instagram, and TikTok see millions of users each day, and marketing-savvy nonprofits have the opportunity to grab a fraction of this audience.
Of course, with millions of users, your nonprofit is competing with millions of others to get noticed. A few ways you can make your social media content stand out include:
Following platform expectations. Before marketing on a platform, do your research. Look at the type of content organizations similar to yours are posting and consider the format, messaging style, and production values. Additionally, look at their content engagement rates, such as likes, views, and shares, to see what types of messages find the most success.
Using storytelling. Content that tells a story is more likely to stick with viewers and get shared. Consider how your promotional materials can share the stories of your beneficiaries, staff, volunteers, and other constituents. Pairing stories with visual content can be especially effective for creating an emotional connection with audiences. For example, during an awareness campaign, you might post video interviews with beneficiaries facing your target issue. Or, for a fundraiser, you might share progress photos of work your volunteers have done.
Branding your content. Everything your nonprofit posts to an external audience should be branded to your organization. This way, if your content gets shared to another site, new audiences can easily connect it back to your nonprofit. Plus, the more that people see your logo, colors, and brand visuals, the more you’ll increase brand recognition, which can lead to future support.
When creating your promotional materials, look for free marketing tools that can help you create professional-looking content. Some popular marketing tools, like Canva and Grammarly, offer their services for free to nonprofits.
Search ads
With approximately 66% of web traffic referrals coming from Google, it’s hard to argue with the search engine giant’s place as one of the most important channels for reaching new audiences. Google search ads are promotions for your website that appear at the top of the search results page for relevant queries. For instance, if someone searches “food banks,” Google will display search ads from local food banks.
Nonprofits have an edge over other organizations using Google search ads thanks to the Google Ad Grant. This grant program provides eligible nonprofits with $10,000 in monthly free ad credits, allowing participating organizations to promote their fundraisers, events, services, and educational content at no cost.
Getting Attention’s guide to Google Ad Grants walks through how to apply for this impactful opportunity:
Sign up for Google for Nonprofits. Check if your nonprofit is eligible for Google for Nonprofits and apply if it is. To qualify, your organization must be a registered nonprofit in your country. Additionally, healthcare organizations, educational institutions, and government agencies are not eligible to apply.
Install Google Analytics on your website. Google Analytics allows you to track website users to determine how they found your site and what actions they take during their visits. Even if you choose not to pursue search ads, Google Analytics is a helpful tool for measuring your nonprofit’s discoverability and the usefulness of your website.
Apply for the Google Ad Grant. To apply for the Google Ad Grant, make sure your website has original content you can promote through your search ads, a Secure Socket Layer (SSL) certificate, and no broken links. This will help you prove to Google that you have a high-quality website that users will find helpful.
Once you’re approved, you can begin researching keywords that are likely to bring in new audiences, such as “animal nonprofits near me.” Remember that while some brand new supporters might use Google to find nonprofits to give to, most potential donors will start out searching general questions about your cause. Then, once they discover your nonprofit and the valuable work you do, they may decide to become a donor later on.
Word-of-mouth marketing
Word-of-mouth marketing is the most difficult to control but also the most effective advertising method. You can harness the power of this method by leveraging a few advertising strategies that allow you to directly tap into word-of-mouth marketing.
Encourage your existing supporters to say positive things about your nonprofit and recommend it to friends and families through structured activities like:
Peer-to-peer campaigns. Ask passionate supporters to go the extra mile and fundraise on your behalf through a peer-to-peer campaign. Peer-to-peer fundraisers are campaigns in which dedicated supporters promote your nonprofit to their personal networks. Then, their friends and family members will donate to a campaign page customized to the supporter fundraising for your nonprofit. By providing access to new networks, peer-to-peer campaigns bring in new donors and can also strengthen your connection to existing supporters who participate.
eCards. When supporters donate, give them the opportunity to share their gift with friends and family through eCards. eCardWidget’s guide to charity eCards discusses numerous strategies for using eCards, including marketing and advertising. Essentially, when a donor makes a gift, let them send an eCard to friends, family, colleagues, or anyone else. This eCard promotes your nonprofit and comes from a trusted source, making recipients who were previously unfamiliar with your nonprofit more likely to check out your organization.
Corporate partnerships. Businesses partner with nonprofits that have supporters with similar characteristics to their customer base. By doing so, they can promote their products to new audiences who are likely to think positively of them because of the connection to your nonprofit. Your nonprofit can do the same thing with corporate sponsors. Look for businesses that have customer bases that match the profile of your average supporter. Then, pitch a sponsorship that includes a marketing component to access their audience.
For these or any word-of-mouth marketing strategy to work, your nonprofit needs to create a positive experience for donors. After all, when donors feel appreciated, know your nonprofit is doing good work, and feel secure making donations to your nonprofit, they’re more likely to recommend your nonprofit to others naturally.
The more supporters your nonprofit acquires, the more you’ll be able to grow your organization and do more to further your mission. Discover ways to earn more donors by incorporating channels you can use to access new audiences into all of your fundraising strategies. Then, assess the audience you currently have to craft messages likely to appeal to new supporters.