It is crucial for marketing and communications professionals to have a marketing plan, even if the budget is low. Marketing plans set goals, develop tools for communication, define the mission, and generate an effective strategy for approaching and engaging donors.
Nonprofits often have limited marketing funds, but no matter the budget size, good and strategic marketing is the most effective way to increase awareness and raise funds.
Challenges with Nonprofit Marketing Ideas Today
The biggest hurdle for nonprofit marketing ideas today is that most believe that a large budget is necessary to be effective. While having a marketing budget is important, much can be done with a small budget.
Here are the top 6 nonprofit marketing ideas that will help boost your marketing footprint today!
Top 6 Nonprofit Marketing Ideas
A giant marketing budget is not necessary in order to be effective. For nonprofits, this concept is especially true. Here are the top 6 nonprofit marketing ideas.
1. Build a Website and Update it Weekly
Your website is your first impression to donors, volunteers, employees, and supporters. It provides information about your cause and purpose, as well as statistics and stories.
Maintaining a weekly blog on your website will help keep your audience engaged with your nonprofit’s news and success stories. Fresh weekly content also increases your relevance to search engines and brings in new visitors which is the best low cost way to increase awareness and find new donors.
2. Send Out Newsletters
Donors always like to know what’s new in your nonprofit. Thankfully, you can share nice and exciting content, your monthly successes, numbers, etc., by sending out newsletters. A very convenient way to create a newsletter is to draw much of the content from your weekly blog content.
This can be done via email, or for increased engagement, Postalgia can print and mail your newsletters directly to your donors.
3. Engage Your Audience with Video Content
Videos are visually stimulating and dynamic. They can boost your audience engagement because they can be educational, emotional, and easy to share. As a nonprofit, you can make testimonial videos. Building trust is the key to donations.
Content marketing is all about building trust and long-term relationships. Provide people with exciting and valuable information instead of selling to them.
Additionally, Google loves videos. Videos boost the time spent by site visitors. The longer the site has been online, the greater the trust it gains from search engines and the more relevant it appears to search engines. Video-embedded websites are 53 times more likely to appear first in Google searches.
A cool app to make easy videos is Vidyard.
4. Have a Social Media Marketing Budget
Promoting posts on social media is an often overlooked yet effective way to increase your views without breaking the bank. No matter the size of your organization, it can be helpful to designate a specific amount to promote your cause on social media. Your presence on the Internet will be established, and you will reach a broader audience. You can acquire 1,000 views for under $10 on most social media platforms (Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube). When a post gains a bit more traction with an account’s followers it is a good sign that it will be worthwhile to boost views with a small post promotion.
5. Post Engaging Content on Social Media
Your organization can use all its social media channels to raise awareness for upcoming events and raise funds for your cause. Increase social media shares by posting visual content such as video, images and breaking news. Posts visual representations of data tend to be more virally shared than text alone. You can also create contests or polls that allow your followers to vote.
A regular schedule of events gives supporters something to look forward to consistently, so their involvement remains high. In addition to bringing new people into your organization, events are also opportunities to introduce them to your cause.
6. Thank Your Donors in a Creative and Original Way
Thank-you mail can make or break a relationship with a donor? Writing thank-you notes to donors is a great way to show them that you appreciate them, but it can be challenging.
By using some sample thank-you donation letters or a handwritten letter service like Postalgia, you can get the job done quickly and easily. We will pen your individualized donor thank you notes on your letterhead with high quality card stock. We take care of the address verification, postage, and mailing.
Show sincere appreciation and leave a good impression next time by saying thank you to donors, volunteers, and suppliers with a thoughtful, handwritten message. Penned by robots but remarkably human, our handwritten letters, notes, or cards to your stakeholders are written using genuine ink. We’ll print and mail these personalized handwritten donor thank-you notes for you for ultimate convenience.
What’s more original than a handwritten letter? These days, a handwritten note is rare because many of us have grown accustomed to receiving countless messages by email, social media, and text every day. A handwritten thank-you card or letter not only stands out but also instantly creates a unique and personal connection with the recipient.
Show your appreciation with handwritten donor thank-you notes.
Conclusion
The best nonprofit marketing ideas boil down to having a plan in place regardless of the budget size. Getting to know your donors, what they like, and what they would like to see is key to growing your marketing reach.