\u201cMarketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nonprofits certainly fit this description, having many offerings of value to partners and society at large. Marketing is simply how we communicate those offerings. We engage donors<\/a> and supporters by telling stories about the work we do, and how we\u2019re changing the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Before I dive into the ins and outs of crafting a nonprofit marketing plan, let\u2019s take a look at the two camps of marketing techniques – inbound<\/em> and outbound<\/em> marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Inbound marketing revolves around creating targeted content that organically attracts people to your organization. Simply put, inbound marketing is when people come to you first. It\u2019s passive marketing with the goal of pulling in traffic to your website and converting visitors to donors, volunteers, and more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n When it comes to inbound marketing techniques, search engine optimization (SEO) and content writing is usually the first thing that comes to mind. It\u2019s a way to build sustainable traffic to your website and promote brand visibility in search engine results. SEO is an ongoing task – there\u2019s a lot that goes into creating an organic search footprint – but when properly optimized<\/a>, your content will be more attractive to a search engine, making it more likely that your page will rank higher for terms and phrases related to your cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another popular inbound marketing tactic is email marketing<\/a>. Email marketing is a great way to communicate with existing supporters, connect with new ones, and drive donations. When built in as part of your overall nonprofit marketing plan, email marketing is extremely effective at reaching new audiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With the world shifting rapidly towards digital, nonprofits should look at spreading their message online through targeted ad spend. As an inexpensive and versatile medium, social media ads can help you connect with your target audience by delivering highly personalized ad campaigns across various social platforms such as Facebook, Instagram, X, and more.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n Alternatively, you can use social media groups to help you engage with like-minded individuals and build relationships. By searching for and joining groups relevant to your nonprofit, you can connect with others who are also passionate about your cause. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In contrast to inbound marketing, outbound marketing centers on proactively reaching out to a broad audience who may not already know who you are. Also known as push-marketing, outbound marketing leverages traditional methods to push your message out to people in hopes of getting them interested in your cause.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cold calling is a prime example of outbound marketing. This technique focuses on reaching out to individuals you don\u2019t yet already have an existing relationship with. While some may consider cold calling a relic of the past, when used as part of a larger nonprofit marketing plan, cold calling can be effective for reaching new supporters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Another way to source new prospects is to ask your existing donors for referrals. Have a one-on-one conversation with an existing donor and see who else might be interested in your cause. It\u2019s a great way for an existing donor to do a warm introduction for their friends and coworkers to your organization. After all, warm handoffs are always easier and less awkward than a cold reach.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Sometimes to make new connections, you have to put on your hard pants and get out of the office. Seek out conferences and events that are within your nonprofit\u2019s field and put yourself in the same room as people who care about your cause. Come prepared with your elevator pitch and be prepared to network like a pro. Be sure to follow-up with every new lead and add them to your CRM<\/a> after the event is over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Press releases are an important and inexpensive media tool for increasing exposure and knowledge of your nonprofit to the wider community. They are used to communicate updates and information about your nonprofit and ideally further prompt media outlets and individuals to reach out to learn more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Giving yourself a road map for your marketing efforts helps ensure you\u2019re connecting with the right people and communicating the message you want to. At its simplest, a nonprofit marketing plan is a guide to the messages you want to share and the way you intend to share them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While you will often be marketing your fundraising efforts, your nonprofit marketing plan is distinct from your fundraising plan<\/a>. Your marketing plan encompasses all the stories you\u2019ll need to tell your audiences, and in addition to fundraising, can include:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Even when your marketing efforts are not fundraising directly, they still have an impact on your bottom line. People can\u2019t donate to something they don\u2019t know exists.<\/p>\n\n\n\n So you need a plan, but it doesn\u2019t need to be fancy. You don\u2019t necessarily need to conduct a bunch of market research or spell out every minute detail. Your plan can be as flexible or as in-depth as you want it to be. It is meant to be a working document.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To make your nonprofit marketing plan complete, include these five elements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n At the crux of your nonprofit marketing plan, you need to determine what your goals are. Without a goal, your marketing plan is like a ship without a rudder. Whether you\u2019re promoting general brand awareness, raising funds, or engaging volunteers, every nonprofit marketing plan needs a concrete target to be successful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n As a nonprofit, you\u2019re likely targeting and communicating with different groups: donors, volunteers, staff, etc. It\u2019s crucial to define and understand each of these audiences and adjust your messaging based on who you\u2019re talking to. To truly get a sense of who your audience is and make informed marketing decisions, you may want to dig beyond the basics and learn about their preferences and interests. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Crafting key messages ensures that no matter who is marketing, the overall messaging will stay consistent. Pulling from the different aforementioned audiences, here\u2019s an example of a key message for different audiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Key Message<\/strong>: We are committed to making sure that families in our community have adequate access to healthy, nutritious meals through advocacy, education, and programming. <\/p>\n\n\n\n When it comes to key messages, it\u2019s all about how<\/em> you say it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Now that you\u2019ve taken the time to define your goals, understand your audience, and craft your key messages, it\u2019s time to choose, plan, and create your marketing strategies. What medium are you going to use to get your message out? What content format do you want to use? Do you have a preference between traditional vs digital?<\/p>\n\n\n\n An effective nonprofit marketing plan requires you to try different things until you find what works best for you. It\u2019s extremely rare that you\u2019ll hit the nail on the head on the first try. Regularly analyzing your marketing performance will help you determine what\u2019s working and what\u2019s not. If this is your first time dabbling in nonprofit marketing, use this as an opportunity to establish a baseline for future comparison. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Note: <\/strong>Just because something didn\u2019t work doesn\u2019t mean you have to bin it outright. Instead, you might only need to edit certain components to get better results. If you\u2019re tweaking your marketing plan, we recommend focusing on changing one thing at a time to avoid getting overwhelmed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Too often, we market without a specific goal. What do you want your marketing to accomplish? Is it increasing overall traffic on your website? Gaining more followers on social media? An uptick in donations<\/a>? A certain number of new volunteers recruited? <\/p>\n\n\n\n Whatever your goal, we recommend you follow the SMART<\/a> approach \u2013 strategic, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound. <\/p>\n\n\n\n In addition to a goal, you\u2019ll need a way to measure if you\u2019re hitting it. This may be as simple as, \u201cI will record the number of Facebook followers we have on the first day of each month for four months,\u201d or an involved process of surveying new donors, or creating \u201chow\u2019d you hear about us?\u201d options for all your sign-up pages.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Who are you trying to reach? It\u2019s tempting to say, \u201ceveryone,\u201d but the more specific you can be about your audiences, the better. You will probably find you have a few target audiences; potential donors, existing donors, and prospective volunteers are distinct audiences that you\u2019ll want to approach differently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just like you wouldn\u2019t explain something in the exact same way to your best friend, your six year-old nephew, and your grandfather, you aren\u2019t going to communicate your message in the exact same way to each of your audiences.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To figure out how to approach your different audiences, start thinking about what you already know about them. (This is where market research <\/a>would come in, if we wanted to get deeply into it, but you probably already know enough about these audiences to get started.) Consider what:<\/p>\n\n\n\n It\u2019s often useful to create a persona for each audience, so you can picture your marketing landing on a real human. For example, let\u2019s say I\u2019ve identified prospective volunteers as a distinct audience. I\u2019ll write up a description of \u201cJessica,\u201d my imaginary prospective volunteer:<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jessica is in her late twenties, college-educated. She was probably involved in volunteering in high school and college, but fell out of the habit while she was establishing her career. Now that she feels more like a stable adult, she\u2019s looking for opportunities to give back. She wants to feel like she\u2019s contributing to something bigger and make a personal connection to the cause. <\/em> As you think about these audiences, you may identify that some may be itching to get more involved with your cause. For these folks, you\u2019ll want to provide opportunities for them to do something. Peer-to-peer fundraising<\/a> isn\u2019t just a great way to expand your network and raise funds, it\u2019s a good way to give supporters a concrete, hands-on way to help.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We know \u201ccreate a bunch of peer-to-peer fundraising tools\u201d isn\u2019t exactly at the top of your marketing priorities, so at CauseVox, we take care of this for you. We build peer-to-peer fundraising tools<\/a> your supporters can easily use to share your cause with their community or facilitate fundraising events<\/a> like races or challenge fundraisers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n In the nonprofit world, we\u2019re generally averse to the idea that we\u2019re \u201cselling\u201d anything, but in a sense that\u2019s exactly what we\u2019re doing. In nonprofit marketing terms, the product you\u2019re offering your audience is a story<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n This is actually pretty cool, because unlike widgets, stories<\/a> can change the world. Storytelling<\/a> is an essential human behavior that connects us to each other and engages us with ideas. Stories are where it\u2019s at, and nonprofits are uniquely positioned to tell great ones. With some time and creativity, every nonprofit can make genuine human connections through the power of storytelling. <\/p>\n\n\n\n That\u2019s why CauseVox has built our fundraising platform to be centered on telling stories and connecting with your supporters. We want to put your stories at the heart of your marketing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Just like your audience can\u2019t be \u201ceveryone\u201d your story can\u2019t be \u201ceverything.\u201d While your overarching narrative will remain the same, you must tailor your individual messages to your audiences, emphasizing the things that will mean the most to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n These days, visual storytelling<\/a> is one of the most effective tools for rallying support. When it comes to fundraising, on CauseVox<\/a> alone, 80% of the highest-grossing campaigns have used video as part of their fundraising campaign. In fact, 57% of people who watch nonprofit videos go on to make a donation<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\nInbound Marketing Techniques for Nonprofits<\/h2>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/causevox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-1-2.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nSEO and Content Writing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Email Marketing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Social Media Ads and Groups<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Outbound Marketing Techniques for Nonprofits<\/h2>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/causevox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-16.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\nCold Calling<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Asking Donors for Referrals<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Attending Conferences & Events<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Press Releases<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
How to Create a Nonprofit Marketing Plan<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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1. Define Your Nonprofit Marketing Plan Goals<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
2. Understand Your Audiences<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
3. Craft Key Messages for Your Nonprofit Marketing Plan<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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4. Choose, Plan, and Create Your Nonprofit Marketing Plan Strategies<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
5. Analyze Your Nonprofit Marketing Plan Performance<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Nonprofit Marketing Plan Best Practices<\/h2>\n\n\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/causevox.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/image-2-2.png\")
<\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n1. Determine Your Goal<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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2. Determine Your Audience<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
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Create an Audience Persona<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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<\/em>Jessica is hesitant to make a monthly or weekly commitment. She values flexibility, and would like to meet other people her age while volunteering.<\/em>
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<\/em>Now, when I\u2019m crafting messages to prospective volunteers, I\u2019m not aiming at \u201canyone,\u201d I\u2019m thinking about Jessica<\/a>. I\u2019m going to highlight flexible volunteering opportunities with the potential for group work with people her age, and I\u2019m going to focus on \u201cmaking a difference and giving back\u201d in my language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n3. Determine Messages To Be Communicated<\/h3>\n\n\n\n