Author: seclerx

Categories
Blog

Successful Facebook Marketing Campaigns for Non-Profits Do Happen!

Making your non-profit marketing campaign a success on Facebook means you need to put a lot of hard work into making friends. It has not been this difficult to make friends since you were in elementary school, trying to get people to like you then. Just as you competed with the other kids on the playground to have the best idea, on Facebook, your nonprofit organization needs to create enough buzz to get attention. It is not easy but with the right resources and tips, you can be the most popular organization on the block and we all know that’s the ultimate goal.

Tips for Facebook Marketing Success for Non-Profits

To make a Facebook marketing campaign a success, consider the following. These tips can help you to regroup or to just get started.

Define Your Goals

First, you need to know what your goals of this campaign are. In short, what do you want to accomplish with it? Build brand awareness? Educate the public? Get donations? Create an easy way for consumers to donate to you? Reach a larger audience

It’s Not a Sales Pitch – Have Something Unique to Say

Be sure you have something to say. This is not a sales pitch site. In other words, not every post should be a method of begging for money. Rather, ensure each post offers something interesting and unique.

Organic Following

Build your following organically. There is very little benefit to paying for followers. Rather, build your brand and educate offline contributors to your efforts online. This can help you to get started. Then, work to offer helpful information and resources to the public. Ultimately, people will share your information with others and that will grow your bottom line. You just need to make sure whatever you are placing on the site is worth sharing.

Ensure Your Site Is Usable

A mistake some organizations make is not ensuring there is a simple way for a visitor to go from your Facebook page to your website. You may even be able to link your site directly to a donation page. If you do not make moving from Facebook to your website seamless, people will not take the steps you want them to. You may also want to ensure your site is capable with mobile marketing methods, too.

Get People Talking

Perhaps the hidden gem in marketing with Facebook is to create enough of a stir that people start talking. You do not want to blend into the crowd but you do need to stand out. To do that, discuss controversial topics as they relate to your cause. Offer valuable information that will get an emotional reaction from your readers. Give them steps to take to fix the problem or to get involved, too. Be the voice of your cause.

Facebook is a powerful resource and it is a nearly free method of getting attention to your organization. You simply cannot overlook the importance of it. It is so critical to put together a campaign that can get your organization the attention it needs. You are not the only one struggling with a Facebook campaign for a nonprofit organization, but you can make stellar improvements in a short time with the right tools.

Categories
Blog

Marketing Trends in the Nonprofit Sector

Marketing Trends in the Nonprofit Sector

As a nonprofit organization, it is up to you to tell people about your product or service and why it should matter to them. That’s easier said than done in today’s society. One way to bound ahead of the competition is to simply look at what they are doing and do it better. Do you know the latest trends in marketing in the nonprofit sector?

A Shift to Volunteerism

One thing we are seeing is a significant change in is volunteerism. People want to offer what they can to help out the person suffering. Those organizations able to market themselves in such a way as to attract volunteers, rather than just asking for money, may get more interest than those that want to help.

Technological Advances

From texting donations through smartphone applications to managing social networks, the world of technology is aiding nonprofit organizations in achieving big things. Today’s consumer wants to donate and get involved, but they want to do it in a way that’s easier for them. That means being accessible through the iPad and the Internet with ease.

People Want to Know Why?

Why are these people suffering? What will the money be used for? What will the money achieve? Why should I get involved? These are the questions many are asking in the hopes of engaging in the charity or organization. People are not blindly writing checks. They are becoming increasingly interested in engaging in the industry and learning about it first. By educating your potential donor, you enable that type of engagement to occur.

Everyone Is Participating

There is a lot of talk about how reduced economic conditions throughout the United States and globally is affecting the way that people give. People are still generous, but their pockets may not be as deep. In short, nonprofit agencies that make it possible to give in a smaller way or even to just allow volunteer work, are going to get attention. Engaging every demographic is a key factor here. Everyone wants to help. Offer ways to allow every demographic to participate.

Companies Need the Good Image Benefit

Companies that donate to nonprofit organizations get a bit of PR from it. Many companies are looking for ways to donate and get big results. Therefore, those organizations that can effectively market themselves as being problem solvers, aid givers and emotionally strong organizations are going to get donations. For example, instead of giving millions to big name charities, some companies are looking for smaller organizations built on individual stories of suffering. This gets attention today, not big donations to big charity organizations.

Overall, marketing is a key component to any type of nonprofit activity, but doing it in the right way can make all of the difference. Ultimately, it takes knowing who your audience is and engaging those people in the right way to get results. The audience has changed, though. The marketing methods are increasingly becoming digital. Yet, the willingness to give remains the same in nearly all demographics.

 

Categories
Blog

Mobile Marketing for Non-Profits – Is Your Organization Engaged Yet?

Mobile marketing is the method of using consumers’ desire to use their mobile phones for everything to your best interest. As a nonprofit organization, it is up to you to find ways to engage your audience. By making the process of getting involved or donating simplistic for them, you increase the chances that you will get a donation. Ultimately, if a potential volunteer or donor visits your site through their phone and they cannot connect, they are unlikely to come back to it later. You cannot afford that loss.

Make Your Site Mobile

The first step in any mobile marketing campaign is to make your website or blog easy to navigate with a smartphone, iPad or other type of Internet-access tool. This means that the display needs to fit into the smaller screen size. While you may not need a total redesign, you should invest the time in having a mobile site or app created for your organization.

Are Donations Possible?

When an earthquake hit Haiti, people learned of a new way to donate to their favorite charity. With a simple text message sent to a specific phone number, they could easily donate anywhere from $1 to $10 or more to a cause they supported. This method raised millions for the victims. The same can happen for your organization. By making it possible to give with ease, more people will do so. They do not want to go through a dozen steps to get to where they need to be to donate. Apps can help, but so can just having a simplistic method available on your mobile site.

Apps Are Learning Tools

Are you an organization supporting an illness or disease? Ensure you have an app that teaches prospective site visitors about the condition and the symptoms to watch for. Is your organization one that provides support to children in impoverished areas? Ensure your app teaches people about the area and the reasons for the problem. Apps are easily to design and they can be one of the best resources for accessing your team.

Advertise It Too

Whatever you do, be sure to tell people about your app or the fact that they can easily log into your site from their mobile phone. For example, if an ad is playing on a local commercial for your organization, include information about your app. People watching it, no matter if they are in a restaurant or at home, always have a phone near them. They can tap into the Internet in moments and get to your site to learn more. They do not have to remember it. That is a key component to nonprofit marketing today.

As a nonprofit organization, a lot is at stake if you cannot communicate with your prospective buyers about the options available to you. Luckily, this may be easier to do than you realize. Mobile app creation, mobile website development, and effective mobile marketing methods are within reach of many organizations. You should take the steps to implement this method and you could see a significant improvement in your bottom line.

Categories
Blog

What to Share in Your Nonprofit Social Marketing Messages

What is there to talk about and share on your social media? One of the biggest problems nonprofit organizations have is finding a way to keep up the social media marketing they are doing. What is there to say? Just how many times can you ask people to donate? What else can you tell them to get them to take the next step and to click into your website? From Facebook to Twitter to Pinterest and numerous other sites, it is up to the marketing pro to know what to say to get the click. It may not be as hard as you think to find the right things to say to attract the right type of attraction.

Top Messages to Share on Your Social Media Marketing

The following are some helpful tips that can help you to build your brand and create interest in your organization through social media. The key is to communicate authentically and without a sales pitch.

  • Talk about a success of your organization. What good has it done recently? Share that with the public.
  • Are you doing work onsite? Perhaps you are overseas. Share photos and messages about the good work you are doing.
  • Release a “Did you know” message that provides an interesting, shocking or even over the top fact about the organization. Ensure it is authentic and it is backed by facts you and prove.
  • Provide a sneak peek into an event you are launching or a program you are hosting in the local area.
  • Provide information and a photo of a star employee or member of the organization. Rotate your staff through this to ensure each gets ample time. Include a fun fact that gets people’s attention in the social media message.
  • Share a testimonial or a comment made by someone who your organization has helped. You may even want to celebrate a success with your following in which you provide a quote from someone you’ve helped.
  • Share photos of the volunteers helping your cause. Be sure to show what good the cause was, too. For example, an organization working to establish a water source in Central America can create an impressive photo of the volunteers working in this way.
  • Keep things lighthearted, too. Did you sponsor a thank you dinner or perhaps want to honor someone that has put a lot of hard work into the organization? If so, use that as a method of sharing if your followers.

In addition to using effective social media marketing messages, be sure you have a website or blog to support the process. This means having something for your prospective donors to visit to learn more, to see pictures and to interact with you. It is also helpful for individuals to receive a response. If people are re-Tweeting your messages, for example, acknowledge this. It helps to build the type of repoire you need with your followers to get more people to following you and, ultimately, to get the results you need during this process of marketing.

Categories
Blog

Pinterest – Pinning with a Nonprofit Interest

Pinterest may be the newest of the social media marketing methods but it is anything but the least important to your nonprofit marketing campaign. In fact, it may be one of the most interesting of marketing methods you use. The results could be fantastic. The company behind it states that Pinterest is a virtual pinboard. It allows users to pin anything and everything they want to a virtual corkboard. It allows users to then share these images and sites with other people following them on the site. If you do not think it belongs in your social media marketing campaign, think again.

How Can You Make It Work?

To make this social media site work for you, you will need to connect with and interact with other users similar to any other social media site. There are three ways to do this. You can repin, make comments, and follow others. For example, when a user repins another user’s pinned pictures, a notification is sent. That drives people back to the site pinned.

Comments Shared

Another strategy to consider is to make comments. If you say something insightful and useful in the comments of a pinned picture, others reading it can click on it and be taken to the website you have selected. In short, it can drive website traffic to your site.

Minimize the Social Media Self Promotion

Like other sites, it is not a good idea to invest in a lot of self-promotion on the site. Therefore, what you want to do is to build a relationship of trust with those people who follow your nonprofit organization. For example, you may want to showcase the work you’ve done to help someone with a helpful picture. Pin this and share it with those following you. If the story is real and pulls at the strings of others, it will be shared and that means more interest in your organization. No self-promotional content is going to do well on social media.

Follow Others

With social media, what you do to market yourself is minimal compared to your ability to follow the right people. Using the tools provided network through the site to ensure you are building a strong following. Follow others and engage with them. The more you use the site, the more likely your follower base will grow. Of course, in order for this to happen, you need to engage people in an interesting manner.

Social media sites like Pinterest work well in several ways. They can help your organization to get attention and even donations. They work to build a brand image, too. Use them wisely and they can help your no-name organization to become one with far more power and prominence in the world. Ultimately, the success you have with this social media site depends on your skill, knowledge, and consistency in using it. It is just one part, though, of the larger marketing campaign of any organization. As a nonprofit, embracing social media is necessary for you to grow and expand your reach.

 

Categories
Blog

Non Profit Holiday Marketing Campaign – Start It Today!

Non Profit Holiday Marketing Campaign – Start It Today!

According to some surveys, the average American donates 24 percent of her annual donations during the period between Thanksgiving and New Year’s.  Every non-profit with the hopes of creating a non profit holiday marketing campaign will need to get into the groove now. Planning your non profit holiday marketing campaign sooner rather than later can help you to ensure creativity, effectiveness, and originality are a part of the process. And, you’ll need to do more than just ask for donations.

Develop a Fundraising Plan

As the holiday season approaches, it is critical to think about how you will tap into this reserve of giving that people do at the end of the year. Here are some questions to ask first:

  • What amount of giving comes from this time of year annually for your organization? What percentage of increase is realistic and necessary to sustain your organization next year?
  • Who are the most likely givers during the season? Corporations, individuals, big money spenders, or everyday Americans?
  • What marketing method is ideal for you to achieve your goals? It could be the use of direct mail, social media, public relations, online and offline advertising plans and special events.

Once you have established your non profit holiday marketing goals for the season, a fundraising campaign can begin to take structure. Hire an agency or a team of professionals to manage the process for you. Ultimately, if you hire correctly, the results will be worth your investment.  Your holiday campaign may include:

  • Holiday-specific slogan, logo and marketing message creation
  • Social media campaigns (Facebook and Twitter are excellent platforms for this)
  • Redesign or update to the organization’s blog or website to include this new campaign focus
  • A call-to-action – why should consumers donate now?
  • Offline marketing methods including television, radio, in-person events, spokespersons.  Seek local media for no/low cost public relations and press release publications.
  • Create a detailed plan to identify and target your likely donors.  Who are the sources of your funds? Where are they, what are they giving and what do plan to do to get their attention?

Remember that any non profit holiday marketing campaign also needs to fit within your long-term strategic goals. This includes managing each aspect of the process of growing your brand and developing the funds necessary to achieve your goals.

Holidays bring out the best in people, but you still have to compete with thousands of other organizations for your prospective donors’ attention and dollars.  Nevertheless, now is the time to turn your focus on the holiday season and to ensure your team is beginning their focus on your holiday campaign to raise funds.

Categories
Blog

Non-Profit Fundraising Online

Non-Profit Fundraising Online – Effective Solutions for Internet-Based Fundraising

Non-profit fundraising online can be one of the most successful methods for raising revenue for your organization. In many situations, the Internet is the ideal resource for finding volunteers, too. However, its main benefit to the non-profit organization is providing a resource for connecting with various donors. The goal is the same.

Know What the Internet Can Offer

For those who are interested in non-profit fundraising online, the first step is to understand the goal of using it. In short, the Internet provides an expansive way of connecting with people. It is not a sales-market, though. In other words, to draw in investors and donors, you need to communicate through sharing knowledge and resources rather than trying to sell your organization. Social media is all about successful sharing of information that is interesting to others.

Using Funding Programs

An outstanding number of non-profit fundraising online programs out there can help you to raise the funds you need. In short, these websites allow individuals to visit and donate to your organization. They often help with marketing, but not always. What they do is provide a platform to allow your potential donors to learn about your organization and to fund it in the way that works for them – how much they can donate. Using these programs makes sense, but it is critical to factor in the costs of such programs before you invest in them. Some can charge a big fee.

Using Free Tools

Non-profit organizations can use the various free tools available online to help get the word out and to attract potential investors. This includes all of the social media sites. Here are some tips to keep in mind.

  • Use Facebook pages to educate the public on what your organization is and what it does. This is a great way to encourage others to come to your website to make a donation. Encourage your Facebook page subscribers to join your event.
  • Twitter is a good way to get attention on large numbers. To get the best results on a site like this, though, you need to communicate something that is unique, outrageous even. The goal is to get people to share it with others.
  • LinkedIn is often thought of as a professional site for professionals to connect. However, a great way to connect with others who may wish to participate in your event is this. Develop a network here to see lasting results for years to come.

Non-profit fundraising online can seem complex, but you do not have to do all of the work on your own. Rather, hire a professional to manage the process for you. From developing your website to enabling newsletters and email feeds, there are countless tools available to enable people to get to know your organization. Beyond a doubt, you need to use the Internet to help you to find potential donors. Do not put off finding the right professionals to help you to do this well.

Categories
Blog

Websites for Non-profit Organizations

Principles and Best Practices of Websites for Non-Profit Organizations

Websites for non-profit organizations have several key tasks. They must educate the public about the organization. They may be able to collect donations for the organization. They must serve to educate about a problem, too. These diverse tools are key components to any marketing plan as well. Without a well-thought out plan, your organization could be struggling. What goes into a successful website?

Content Is First

The most important element of websites for non-profit organizations is content. The content of the site needs to deliver information and provide a strong presence for the website. Though search engine optimization is a part of it, there’s much more to it. You will need to do a fantastic job of telling your story in a way that will pull at the heart strings of those who you want to donate.

Easy to Use and Good Looking

Ensure your website is well designed. This includes an attractive layout that is easy to navigate to. Avoid complex designs with too many pages and various flash presentations. Your goal is not to be flashy, but attractive in a simple manner. You also want to make sure that your site’s navigation allows your users easily to find what they need to find whether that is information about your organization or the donation page.

Use Social Media

One of the best ways to utilize your non-profit website is to invest in social media. It allows your visitors to share your website with others. It also allows you to easily build a following on the social media sites. It is integrated into most types of website designs today and makes for a no-brainer when it comes to marketing online.

Engage Your Audience

What do you want your audience to do when they come to the site? Do you want them to donate, learn more, or volunteer? Be sure your website provides opportunities for them to do this.

  • Is there a signup page that gives them something for free just for signing up to receive your newsletter? 
  • Is there a way for the individual to volunteer locally for your organization? 
  • Can they make an immediate donation on the site and see it? 
  • Can they find out what projects your group is working on right now? 
  • Are they able to share information about your organization with others? 
  • Can they comment on your blog or ask your questions? 
  • Can they contact you to learn about other ways to participate or to host a fundraiser for your group? 
  • Can they buy a t-shirt as a way to help you to raise funds while also promoting your organization and brand?

The key here is to realize the power behind websites for non-profit organizations. When you do, you will have all of the resources you need to deliver exactly what your visitors want. That way, when they visit, you benefit from it every time. Do not overlook the importance of a professionally build, modernized and search engine optimized site that ranks well in the search engines either. That is a part of the process.

Categories
Blog

Non-Profit Fundraising Ideas

Non-Profit Fundraising Ideas That Work

Do you need to raise money for your organization? As non-profit, generating funds is one of the key components to success. No matter what type of project you have or how good the cause, it is not good enough without the right marketing and fundraising ideas to bring in the money you need. It does not have to be difficult to find the funds you need. You just need to be creative or hire the right people to do the work for you.

Fundraising Online

One of the key ways many non-profit organizations are turning heads and getting funds is by focusing on online efforts. Funding profitable organizations takes both social media expertise and skilled marketing plans that can connect you with the millions of people online who may be interested in your cause. Look at these ways to use the Internet to build towards your goals.

  • Build a website to educate the public about your cause and your needs. Even those who learn about your organization offline are easily able to log onto your site to gather more information. Be sure you can accept donations through it. 
  • Use Facebook to educate the masses. You can use paid advertising to do this or just network with those who contribute with you. Sponsor a Facebook sharing contest to get more attention for your cause. 
  • Twitter and tweet some more. Twitter is a fantastic tool for connecting with people. Use it to get in connection with a famous sports player or other celebrity. It could make all of the difference. 
  • Do you have a unique cause or something people do not know much about? Share it through a blog. Blogging drives traffic to websites and it can also be a great way for you to get links into your website. 
  • Get more links. The more links on blogging websites that you get, the easier it will be for you to produce the results you want. Ultimately, you’ll want to network with other bloggers and organizations to get the word out and get people to your site. 
  • Be active in the community. Are there forums, message boards, or other groups that you can belong to online? If so, get involved and always use a link to your website as help. 
  • Focus on low cost opportunities including word of mouth. Ask others to share your site. 
  • Get information to the public through YouTube. You can create videos, which are highly shareable to get attention. 
  • Network through LinkedIn and other professional organizations to get more attention to your cause. 
  • Be the go-to source for information and education on your topic. Do this through quality content on your site. 

Not Online Options

There are plenty of offline options available to help you too. Take a look at the following options that can help you to get more awareness:

  • Sponsor a walk in your neighborhood. 
  • Use car banners to let others know about your organization and cause, not to mention your website. 
  • Connect with local doctors for educational events and seminars to help with the public’s need. 
  • Turn to local schools for help raising awareness for your cause through canned food drives or printer cartridge drop offs. 
  • Turn to local companies for help. For example, ask the company to run a holiday event to benefit your organization. 
  • Get in the news. Submit press releases about the events taking place in your organizations to raise awareness. 
  • Ask local churches to sponsor an event in your organization’s name. 
  • Ask the chamber of commerce to guide you in finding the best possible organizations to network with to develop a solid foundation. 
  • Use flyers are events to provide contact information for your event to the public. 
  • Become the go-to figure in your area for this cause.

Non-profit fundraising has to be creative and complete. Invest in numerous ideas like these to get results.