Marketing

The very first step in any communications or marketing strategy is defining your target audience so that you can tailor your message or pitch accordingly. For businesses, this is usually your typical potential buyers of a product or service. For a nonprofit, it could be potential clients for a program, volunteers for an initiative, advocates to spread a message, or donors to support a cause. Try to keep it to one target audience per product or service whenever possible. Different products may often have different target audiences. For example, Gillette created multiple lines of razors to target different audiences based on [...]

Originally posted on the Gurus NYC Blog. Reposted with permission. Nonprofits have an extremely tough time keeping up with technology. How do we know?  Let’s take a look at some data. Last year Content Marketing Institute did a study where they surveyed over 400 nonprofit marketers: Only 26% of respondents think their organization effectively utilizes content marketing (to make things worse, a measly 1% thought their efforts were ‘very effective’). Less than half of everyone surveyed say meetings are valuable and actually improve their organization’s content marketing efforts. Respondents were also asked to rate the effectiveness of each tactic separately: These are the [...]

This post was originally published on our sister site,  Third Sector Today Feel at Home on LinkedIn LinkedIn is the nice aunt of social media–it’s more civil, professional, and informational. Its “house” is visited by influencers who bring advice, expertise, and resources like the flowers, candy, and wine you bring to your auntie’s place–all for the taking. This is a place of generosity, sharing, and (usually) professional demeanor. Job seekers and employers regard LinkedIn as a garden of leads (like your aunt’s “pick your own” kitchen garden)–in both job openings and potential employers. Everyone’s on their better behavior here. Like your [...]

Many people confuse brands for logos, icons, and marks. Your organization's true brand is actually not defined by you. It's the impression or gut reaction people have about your organization. Logos, tag lines, typefaces, imagery standards, and communicated values are all used to help shepherd this perception of your organization. Unfortunately, they can't dictate how people perceive you. No organization would intentionally communicate their brand attributes as "Desperate," "Depressing," "Manipulative," "Uncoordinated," or "Unreliable" but if you're not careful you could be communicating just this via your social media. Here are some of the most common mistakes: Making too many [...]

When I’m working with clients, I frequently get questions about how to make their nonprofit newsletters track better. Low open and engagement rates that aren’t even worth tracking can make your newsletter seem worthless. But I assure you, if it’s done correctly, it’s NOT worthless. A newsletter is your way to stay in touch with your audience. They’ve opted in to receive it, so you should most certainly give them what they want. But, like anything else, you can’t phone it in. Don’t just include information they can pull from other resources. Make your content unique and eye-catching, and I guarantee [...]

As a nonprofit leader, you should always be attempting to optimize your staff's behavior so that you can maximize your impact while keeping your costs low. However, doing so is not always easy. Although your staff is likely emotionally attached to your cause, it’s easy for them to get into the groove of their roles. If left unchecked, this can eventually alter behavior, making the person reluctant to do anything above and beyond their responsibilities and that can make garnering extra work incredibly difficult. Why Should Marketing Be Everyone's Responsibility? Depending on your organization and mission, marketing is often one of [...]

Warning: If you are a jeweler, candy maker, florist, or card company, you will probably want to stop here and use your time to prepare for the annual rush of last minute shoppers. Well, here we are, one week out from Valentine’s Day. Love is in the air! We have all selected that perfect, personal gift that only a soulmate could procure… Ha! Just kidding! For many procrastinators reading this (myself included!) there are still several days before most of us will even actually think about what to purchase for the ones we love. And then (probably) decide on one of [...]

Craig Van Korlaar (TopNonprofits): DoSomething is special. It is one of the youngest organizations in terms of age and audience in the Top 100 Nonprofits List, yet it ranks all the way up at #5. With me today is Keri Goff, the Creative Director and Producer at DoSomething.org. Preview of the Topics Covered Description of DoSomething.org's Brand Role and responsibilities of a Creative Director Keri's definition of Brand Brand Advice for Startups How DoSomething.org handles creative requests DoSomething.org's Branding Guide Q: Keri, how would you describe the DoSomething brand in 1 or 2 sentences? Keri Goff (DoSomething.org): At DoSomething.org, we pride ourselves on [...]