nonprofit leaders working on a nonprofit marketing plan

There is no one-size-fits-all answer to creating a successful digital marketing plan for nonprofits. Unfortunately, there are as many models as there are organizations, along with plenty of bad advice to go with them. From "experts" telling you to just "show up" on social media to others telling you "write content every day," it's no wonder our nonprofit leaders are exhausted.

While there are no right or wrong rules for digital marketing for nonprofits, there are best practices that can help nearly any organization stay relevant in their community and have an engaging and effective online presence.

Let's look at the following five best practices for creating a digital marketing strategy that keeps your name and the solution you offer in front of your ideal audience.

Define Your Goals And Objectives

The first step to achieving marketing success is to define your goals and objectives. What do you want to accomplish with your marketing? Are you looking to increase brand awareness, drive traffic to your website, generate online giving revenue, or all three?

Once you know what you want to achieve, you can create a plan of action that will help you reach those goals.

If you're unsure what your goals should be, start by looking at your organization's vision and mission. What are your long-term goals for the organization?

Your marketing efforts should be aligned with these objectives. For example, suppose one element of your core mission is to increase the number of local residents who know about your services and provide more programming to those in need. In that case, your marketing goals should include tactics to build brand recognition and have components that you can measure.

Another important consideration when setting your goals is to make sure they are SMART goals. SMART stands for Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Based. In other words, your goals should be clear and specific, you should be able to measure your progress, they should be achievable within the time frame you set, they should be relevant to your business, and you should have a deadline for reaching them.

Create Buyer or Donor Personas

In the business world, buyer personas help businesses understand their target market when creating new products or marketing existing products. This concept applies to nonprofits as well.

Buyer or donor personas are essentially fictional characters that represent your ideal customer or donor. When creating personas, it is essential to consider factors such as age, gender, interests, and the challenges they experience where your solution can improve their quality of life. Once you create your donor personas, you can begin to tailor your marketing strategy to appeal to them.

For example, suppose your organization provides housing for aging seniors. In that case, your audience is likely not the seniors who would live in the home but their caretakers, such as children, close family members, or friends. So, inside your marketing strategy, you want to target your ads, website content, and outreach efforts to places where this type of audience spends their time online.

This approach will make you much more likely to reach your target market and convert them into program participants.

If you're not sure how to create buyer personas, don't worry! There are plenty of resources out there that can help you. By understanding who your target market is, you'll be able to market your services better.

Document your nonprofit's brand standards

Just as new business owners must understand how to name a corporation for the best possible branding experience, nonprofits must all pay close attention to the branding. As you plan marketing tactics like social media advertising, press releases, or traditional advertising, your brand must accurately represent who you are.

And remember, nonprofit branding goes far beyond your logo. Your brand encompasses your logo, your color palette, the types of content and visual imagery you share, and your overall messaging.

Your branding should be consistent across all platforms, from your website to your social media accounts to any print materials you use. Keep the colors and fonts the same so that people will begin to associate those with your organization. Finally, and most importantly, make sure your branding reflects your organization; if you're a fun and quirky type of charity, your branding should reflect that!

Understand the importance of content marketing

If you think content marketing is just for businesses, it's time to reconsider. Nearly 40% of marketers say content marketing is a very important part of their overall marketing strategy. (HubSpot, 2020) (Source: https://www.hubspot.com/marketing-statistics)

Many nonprofits make the mistake of creating a digital marketing strategy without giving adequate thought and preparation to how they'll plan and execute a content marketing strategy. Unfortunately, these organizations often fail to achieve their marketing goals because content is an essential element of nearly every marketing tactic out there.

However, it's not enough to simply start a nonprofit blog or write a bunch of potential social media captions without thinking about how it will resonate with your readers.

Take the time to think about what kinds of things your target reader would be interested in, what problems they might be facing, and what kind of information they would find helpful. Then, create content that addresses those needs and provides value.

Key Takeaways

Your nonprofit's digital marketing strategy serves as a blueprint for how you'll market your organization's value to your ideal audience. While your charity might be well-known in the community or even a national affiliate with excellent brand awareness, what matters most is that those who need your programs and services find them when they need them.

A solid marketing strategy helps you plan for how you'll keep your nonprofit's solutions in the forefront all year long, not just when you're fundraising or launching a new program.

So before you make your first (or next) marketing plan, tackle these four areas first: