Nonprofit Marketing Strategies

Developing a clear-cut plan for your marketing strategy can help you accomplish your fundraising goals.

According to Sarah Durham, author of "Brandraising: How Nonprofits Raise Visibility and Money Through Smart Communications," a clear marketing strategy is a vital component of every successful nonprofit fundraising plan. Although there is no single marketing strategy that works for all nonprofits, there are several types that you can experiment with to track and measure what works best.

Social Media Marketing

Use social media websites like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube as part of your marketing strategy. Post a video on YouTube about your nonprofit organization. Create a fan page on Facebook so your volunteers and donors can stay updated about current and future events. You can also ask fans of your page to help you spread the word about your nonprofit by asking their network of contacts to become a fan of your page. Create a Twitter account to send daily messages to "followers" of your organization.

Mobile Marketing

Create a mobile game that educates people about your cause. For example, if your nonprofit is related to cancer research, develop a trivia game that tests users' knowledge of interesting cancer-related facts. Another way to use mobile marketing is to ask your network of contacts to opt into a text-messaging program. Send periodic text messages to update your contacts about volunteer opportunities and funding needs.

Word-of-Mouth Marketing

Word of mouth is tapping into your existing network of donors, volunteers, friends and family members to spread the word about your nonprofit. Best of all, it is a simple-to-use and free marketing strategy. One strategy is to ask all your contacts to "tell three friends" about an important need of your organization. You can do this in person, on the phone and via email. For example, if you are trying to raise $1 million for breast cancer research, post a link on your site that says: "Help us raise $1 million for breast cancer research ... please forward this message to three or more friends by typing in their email addresses below."

Paid Search

Paid search, also known as search engine marketing or search engine advertising, is a strategy that brings customers directly to your website. It costs money to implement a paid search campaign, but may provide a significant return on your investment. First, do some research by simply asking donors what types of words they use to find your nonprofit organization online. Place a bid on several of these key words with one or more search engines. The bid is how much you will pay when someone clicks on the link to your website once they have seen your ad. Then create a brief ad for your nonprofit. An ad might read: "ABC Foundation --100 percent of your tax deductible donation goes to Crohn's research -- click here to learn more." When potential donors use the key words you identified in your search engine, they will see your ad appear on the right side of the page. You only pay for the ad when people click on the link to your website.

References

• "Brandraising: How Nonprofits Raise Visibility and Money Through Smart Communications"; Sarah Durham; 2009.
• Nonprofit Marketing Guide: Three Essential Nonprofit Marketing Paths for 2011