When it comes to marketing, nonprofit brands have a tough road to hoe: they desperately need it, but resources are usually strapped. Add to that a rapidly-changing social media landscape and it’s easy to fall back on those tried but maybe no-longer-true methods – direct mail and generic email campaigns. Here’s the rub: not only are your current donors making the shift to a digital landscape, your future ones are already advanced users. How do you make the jump? Check out these seven points to consider and get ready for a whole new audience.
To have a better understanding of your future donors, conduct a survey of your current ones. Find out what makes them tick, what inspired to open their wallets, and how often they contribute. You can also glean basic demographics like age, income, education levels, and where they spend their time on social media. Once armed with this information, you’ll be able to construct a positioning statement that will inform your overall campaign. You’ll also be in a far better position to create personas and start finding new, lookalike donors.
Now that you know who you’re already reaching, it’s time to learn about your desired audience. If your goal is to target millennials, first understand their value. Are you looking for big-ticket donations or smaller one-time sums? Do you want money only, or would you like to promote brand-awareness and recruit volunteers? To figure this out, it’s time for survey number two. With this one, you should to determine which goals are realistic for different audiences, how to craft your introductory message, and what media channels to send it on.
If you’re looking for donations from a 60-something retired executive as well as a 30-something stay-at-home mom, your message shouldn’t be the same. Using the information gathered in your survey results, craft separate campaigns that hit on the concerns and emotions of each group. These tailored campaigns can spread across both email and social landscape, and inspire each audience with a targeted, actionable message.
Donors should know the mission of your nonprofit without a shadow of a doubt. On top of that, they also need to know that their money is being used to directly advance that mission – and not someone’s salary. Being upfront in your messaging about your mission and where the funds go builds a legacy of trust and respectability that will carry over through all your campaigns.
Nonprofits are often in an advantageous position when it comes to social content. Much of the work being done is inspiring, emotional, and urgent. Directly showing the positive impact of your brand will further build trust to boot. Keep your audience informed of your work and accomplishments with well-crafted, eye-catching social content. Blog posts, pictures, videos, and infographics can tell your story beautifully, keep you relevant in social feeds, and are infinitely shareable.
We’ve discussed this before, but it bears repeating: your website needs to be optimized for mobile usage. Your donors are increasingly found on smartphones and tablets. If your website isn’t optimized for viewing on these devices, you’ll drive your visitors to click away. What’s more, you may be inadvertently driving your search rankings down as well.
Technology and social media are constantly in flux. We can tell you from personal experience that what’s true today might not be true tomorrow. We can also tell you that staying current is extremely important – especially to nonprofits. According to Michael Priem in The New York Times, “There is definitely a risk for nonprofits that don’t morph with the changing consumer psyche. They run the risk of losing their member base because they don’t feel as relevant to the consumer.” Consider bringing in a social media specialist or hiring an outside vendor to keep you from falling behind.
Getting off the ground with a digital donor marketing campaign can seem daunting. But with the tide sweeping away from traditional fundraising, the time to get on board is now. Direct mail, an older website, and generic emails may not speak the language of the donors you’re after. The good news is, once you get started, your reach is limitless. Need help with your nonprofit donor marketing? Drop us a line.