Your Ultimate Guide To Nonprofit Marketing And Strategies

Table of Contents

Why is nonprofit marketing essential? Let’s set the stage here.

You’ve done your research—your nonprofit is viable. You follow all the rules and regulations and register your nonprofit. You begin your initiatives—what’s next?

How do supporters find you?
How do donors donate to your cause?
How do you involve partners and board members?

A nonprofit marketing plan helps promote your organization, build credibility, and attract donors.

This is an all-you-need guide to learn everything about cause-based marketing.

What is nonprofit marketing?

Nonprofit marketing means creating marketing campaigns and materials that help a nonprofit or advocacy organization spread its message. It could be developing your:

Brand identity
Mission and vision statement
Advertisement campaigns
Outreach campaigns
Donor relations strategy and more.

But why is nonprofit marketing important?

A cause-based marketing effort can help a nonprofit in multiple ways, including:

Spreading awareness: Lets more people know about your nonprofit and its activities.
Fundraising: Helps you raise funds by popularizing your fundraising campaigns.
Recruiting volunteers: Nonprofit initiatives need volunteers on a cyclical, short-term, and long-term basis. Marketing helps you recruit volunteers.
Managing donor relations: Donor relations are tricky to maintain, but having a nonprofit marketing plan that addresses them can boost your goodwill.
Selling services or merchandise: Nonprofit marketing helps you sell your merchandise and other services by setting up ad campaigns or optimizing its visibility on your website.

Nonprofit marketing has more upsides, but before we get into it, let’s learn about the two marketing strategies you can implement.

Inbound vs. outbound nonprofit marketing

The best nonprofit marketing campaigns involve a blend of inbound and outbound marketing strategies. But how do they differ?

Inbound marketing	Outbound marketing
Inbound marketing refers to attracting potential supporters to your cause organically.	Outbound marketing is a marketing strategy that pushes your message to supporters, donors, and volunteers.
Typically involves creating blog posts and videos, using social media, and SEO.	Typically done using phone calls, text messages, direct mail, email, and paid advertising.

Components of an effective nonprofit marketing plan

Any good outcome requires great planning. Let’s dive into how you can create a marketing plan for your nonprofit.

Stay goal-oriented

Your entire marketing strategy hinges on the goals you want to achieve ultimately. These goals determine the kind of campaigns you run and the results you expect.

A nonprofit’s marketing goals could include spreading awareness about an issue, raising funds, acquiring new donors, and attracting major donors.

Once you are clear on your goals, you are ready to move to the next step.

Know your audience

With your goals in mind, you need to figure out the ideal audience who will connect to your message and help you achieve them.

For example, if your goal is to increase the number of major donors to your organization, your audience will be older millennials or Gen X with disposable income. They might be college-educated real estate owners with a history of giving to charitable organizations.

Identifying your audience makes it easier to understand how to communicate with them.

Highlight your mission and key messaging

The more precise your messaging and the action you want your audience to take, the better your campaign will be. A clear message is essential for improving the ROI and effectiveness of your nonprofit marketing campaign.

Board member and supporter buy-in

Board members are critical partners in a nonprofit’s mission. When developing a marketing strategy, you must have the consent of your board members. You would not want to invest your resources heavily into a project that will offend your board members.

Keep an eye on the metrics

Keeping an eye on your nonprofit marketing campaign’s performance indicates your nonprofit’s overall success. Here are some key metrics you must consider–

Website traffic: How many people visit your website on average each month?
Website conversion rates: Does your website convert visitors into donors, volunteers, etc?
Social media channel growth: You can track this metric by increasing your social media account’s reach and followers.
Social media channel engagement: Do people like, comment, and share your content?
Email metrics: These can be open rates, click-through rates, and conversions through your email campaigns.
Email list growth: Are more people subscribing to your emails and newsletters?
Email list health: The number of unsubscribed people, wrong email IDs, etc.
Earned media: Any publicity or mention you receive through non-paid channels.
Paid advertising: The return on your investments for every dollar you spend on paid ads. You can also track your ads’ reach, engagement, and conversions.
SEO success: When your website ranks well on search engines, you know your SEO strategies work.

Invest in tools

The most successful marketers are 72% more likely to invest in quality data tools. In fact, tools and software for nonprofit marketing can truly transform your campaign.

Whether it is communications and outreach tools to reach volunteers and donors, analytics tools, email marketing, or social media tracking tools – they’re a good investment for your nonprofit.

Nonprofit marketing strategies to implement today

Now that you have all the essential components of a nonprofit marketing plan, it is time to develop your strategy.

We go through different marketing avenues that you can explore.

SEO (Search Engine Optimization)

Your nonprofit’s website is its digital office. It showcases all the work you do, the initiatives you pursue, and the grassroots mobilization you strive for.

Focus on search engine optimization (SEO) to ensure that donors and future loyal supporters can find you.

Boost Your Google Ranking with this SEO Starter Kit | Nonprofit Marketing

SEO involves using the right keywords your target audience is searching for and using them in your website.

For example, if you run an animal shelter, you can look up trending keywords such as “animal rescue,” “animal rescue near me,” “dog shelter in Ohio,” etc., and use them to rank higher in Google.

Use tools like Google Analytics and Ahrefs to track what keywords bring people to your site and tweak your content accordingly. A strong SEO strategy will help your nonprofit marketing efforts reach a wider audience organically.

Content marketing

They say ‘Content is King’ for a reason. Content helps you share your nonprofit’s story – use it to share a story that everyone can resonate with.

Whether it is your social media post, blog, or video, content can help you spread awareness about your mission.

One of our favorite ways to use content for nonprofit marketing is Habitat for Humanity’s “Before and After” videos. These showcase how Habitat for Humanity transforms lives by revamping the most important need of a person—good housing.

Your nonprofit can share guides and stories about making an impact in your community. You can also create social media posts and videos highlighting your work.

Creating content and sharing your story improves your nonprofit marketing efficacy and inspires action.

Read Also:

Emails for nonprofit marketing

Emails for nonprofit marketing, believe it or not, are still one of the most effective ways to reach out to your community. 68% of nonprofits use email marketing to communicate with their audiences.

Emails can help you send out-

Fundraising appeals
Donor thank you emails
Updates on your nonprofit initiatives
Welcome message for new donors
Surveys to understand your community better – and so much more.

Pro tip: Optimize your email content for mobile since 49% of emails are opened on mobile devices.

Phone calls

Phone calls are an essential part of nonprofit marketing. Nothing can replace the impact of a personal one-to-one phone conversation with supporters.

One study found that donors who received a phone call within 90 days of making a donation had a 41% retention rate compared to 33% of those who did not.

Looking for a Communication Platform for Nonprofits? We’re here to help.

You can use phone calls to thank donors, invite supporters to events, or follow up on pledges. One of CallHub’s nonprofit customers, NY Cares, used phone calls to mobilize volunteers and improve the lives of veterans. Their team volunteers called ~800 veterans every hour to ensure their well-being.

Learn how they leveraged one-to-one conversations to improve their mission: NY Cares & CallHub’s ‘Mission Vet Check’: A Lifeline for Veterans.

Social media for nonprofit marketing

Social media in today’s day and age can have a huge impact on your nonprofit marketing efforts. It can help you connect directly with your supporters and gauge their engagement and the topics that work for them.

In fact, 32% of donors were most inspired to give to a nonprofit through their social media channels.

Social media is also great for awareness campaigns. For example, the ALS Association’s #IceBucketChallenge demonstrated the power of viral campaigns.

Bill Gates ALS Ice Bucket Challenge

You can create interactive content without a big budget like polls, behind-the-scenes videos, or supporter shout-outs. Paid ads on platforms like Facebook can also target people interested in causes similar to yours, driving donations or event sign-ups.

Nonprofit website

If your supporters want to take action, your nonprofit website is the key. With “Donate now,” “Join us,” and “Come Volunteer” action buttons, your website makes it extremely easy to help your nonprofit.

For example, the American Red Cross’ website is exceptionally bold and transparent about the action it wants you to take. Right at the beginning, you have options to ‘Give Now,’ ‘Volunteer,’ and more.

nonprofit-marketing-nonprofit-website-red-cross — *Source:* *American Red Cross*

Pro tip: Ensure your site is mobile-friendly, fast-loading, and features key pages like “About Us,” “Impact Stories,” and “Get Involved.” Adding an FAQ page can address common questions and build trust.

Paid ads

Paid ads are the cherry on top of your organic nonprofit marketing cake. It is no wonder that nonprofits have spent 102% more on paid ads—they work!

Two of the most popular ad platforms for nonprofits are Google Ads and Meta Ads.

Track the performance of these ads to ensure you’re getting a solid return on investment and reaching the right audience.

Text messages for nonprofit marketing

Text messages are direct and highly engaging, perfect for time-sensitive campaigns. 70% of donors report prefer receiving text messages from nonprofits over other communication channels.

For instance, during Giving Tuesday, send a text like “We’re only $500 away from our goal—donate now to make a difference!” Keep the message concise, clear, and focused on a single call to action.

Relational organizing

Relational organizing is about empowering your supporters to spread the word through their networks.

For example, ask your donors to share your Giving Tuesday campaign with their friends or provide volunteers with pre-written messages they can send via text or email. This strategy builds trust and creates a ripple effect, helping your message reach more people through personal connections.

How do you begin with nonprofit marketing?

Now that you have gone through the best strategies for nonprofit marketing, it is time to begin your campaigns.

Here’s a comprehensive nonprofit marketing plan template for you to plan your campaigns.

Featured Image Source: Max Fischer