What is Nonprofit Marketing & how to make it successful!

Nonprofit Marketing is a combination of the actions and approaches that nonprofits take to spread awareness for their cause, raise money, or look for volunteers.

Nonprofit marketing will look different depending on the nonprofit, its cause, and what it is they are looking to achieve.

It is important to clearly define the goal of each marketing campaign, outlining the purpose, the plan, and the goal before any preparations are made.

Brand Awareness | Social Media is your friend!

Creating awareness around your nonprofit’s brand is pivotal to any marketing campaign. Before any preparations are made for the campaign itself, there needs to be groundwork laid on social media accounts to gain brand recognition and followers who support your nonprofit’s cause!

Be Present
- Post on social media accounts on various platforms, not just one or two. Facebook is great, but there are others! Have informational graphics? Pinterest is where you want to go!
- Respond to comments, questions, and messages, and interact with your followers. Click that ‘like’ button and acknowledge them, let them know you are there, and they are heard!
Stay Reliable & Dependable
- If your nonprofit doesn’t have a social media person, and you cannot commit to everyday posts or engagements, that’s okay! Establish a set schedule for new posts, rotating schedules with volunteers to engage followers, and keep those schedules as closely as you can.
- Remember, your goal is to build trust with your followers so that they will support your nonprofit!
- When offering webinars or live Q&As, keep them on the same day (i.e., the first Tuesday of every month) so that your followers have that consistency with you.
Honesty is Always the Best Policy
- Be clear about your objectives and remain transparent.
- Short staffed? Webinar guest fall through? Just say that.
Be Inclusive
- Do not exclude a group of individuals because you are targeting a different group. Accidentally or with intent, you could be missing out on an amazing volunteer or a huge donation.
- Consider the wording of everything you share and ask yourself, “Does this include everyone, or can I do better?”.

Nonprofit Marketing Campaign | What type is best for your nonprofit?

As your nonprofit considers what the goal is of the marketing campaign, it is important to look at the different types of campaigns and look at the cost of the campaign versus the end goal(s).

As a nonprofit, you may not have a significant amount of funds, if any, to build a marketing campaign on, so it is imperative to weigh the risk of any out-of-pocket expenses.

The most common types of marketing campaigns are:

Point-of-Sale – When a request is made to donate to a cause at the end of a transaction, either in-store or online.
Message-Focused – Traditionally accompanying a well-known event, requiring some type of action by the community, awareness focused or focus around behavior changes (ex. 1000 squats in a month to raise awareness).
Transactional Campaign – A donor partners with your nonprofit agreeing to donate a specified amount with each purchase, donation, or other interaction (ex. For every $10 donated, the donor will donate $2).

Marketing Campaign | Nonprofit and Go!

Now that the groundwork has been set and the campaign chosen, it is time to make the community aware of the event!

Knowing your community base is going to be important because you don’t want to use limited resources on printing flyers when most of your community base is on social media or can be reached in an email.

Do not hesitate to reach out to social media influencers, TikTok has a massive following, for example. Pay attention to who is following you and reach out to influencers to help spread awareness about your campaign!

Remember, the more people you reach, the better the outcome for your nonprofit!

Need help or have questions about how your nonprofit campaign can be successful, let us at Puzzle Pieces Marketing help!