Marketing for non profits (NPO)

Marketing is an unfamiliar concept for many nonprofit organizations.

It's important these organizations understand that marketing is more than just the old sense of making a sale or obtaining a donation. 

Marketing is a way to satisfying the consumer and donor needs, but where does the nonprofit organization start?

Below are eight steps that will get you started in brainstorming marketing ideas that could make a significant difference in the bottom-line of your organization.

1. Define your target market, research similar organizations and associations.

2. Determine the desired outcome of your marketing efforts.

3. Using the information gathered in Step 1 and 2 develop brochures and marketing materials that describe the benefits, services, donation opportunities, and values of your organization.

4. Develop a social media marketing strategy. Social media such as Twitter and Facebook can provide you with ways to reach out to those interested in your organization in a low cost and effective way. Social media works great when it comes to reaching those who are passionate about causes that individuals hold dear to their hearts.

5. Develop and maintain a professional internet marketing presence by creating a web site. You can use a web site as a great resource to display useful information, news, monthly newsletters, events, create community, share alternatives to donating money, and showcase the benefits of your organization.

6. Research and maintain your prospect and customer databases. Do not let these resources be wasted. Use them for special mailings, follow-up telephone calls, event invitations, alliance development, research profiling, and market segmentation.

7. Show and advertise the results and objectives that your organization achieves. You fill find that it is effective to showcase those that are receiving benefits, inversions, activities, and projects.

8. Always actively search for alliances with other organizations, commerce, government, advertising media, and business. This step alone often brings the most benefit to nonprofit organizations.

USING SOCIAL MEDIA FOR NPO BRANDING

It is no surprise that in a recent study, it was shown that nonprofit organizations have been setting the pace for the use of social media in marketing since 2007.

Social media is a cost-effective option for Nonprofit organizations to market themselves without needing an exorbitant amount of funding.

The report showed that nonprofits were leading both corporations and universities in the use of social media tools, while they were more familiar with the tools and were using them significantly more often.

Nonprofits had even delved into monitoring attitudes of others with regard to the use of social mediums, which is light years ahead of even some fairly large-sized businesses.

An updated study showed that even today 89% of charitable organizations are using some form of social media in their marketing.

This includes the use of blogging, podcasting, message boards, social networking, video blogging and wikis. If this research isn't enough to convince you that social media is a viable tool for your nonprofit organization, consider that 45% of these organizations stated that social media played a very important role in their fundraising strategy.

Why does social media work for Nonprofit organizations?

Stakeholders take an interest in causes that relate to them and social mediums create an overall integrated experience with those very same stakeholders.

Additionally, social mediums enable nonprofit organizations to create relationships and engage with their constituents. This allows them to nurture their online communities which, in fact creates, a viral marketing affect with little or no effort. 

Moreover, the costs associated with this marketing effort are often less expensive with better return-on-investment than traditional marketing efforts.

The realm of social media helps equip individuals with an outlet and tool to help in growing their own nonprofit organizations, as well as enabling individuals who have a specific interest in a charitable organization and who want to share it broadly.

Social mediums provide a central place for nonprofits organizations to collaborate and connect. And, as touched on earlier, they help Nonprofits gain feedback from constituents and stakeholders in the organization.

As a nonprofit organization it's important to take the proper steps when delving into social mediums but, as you can see it, has proven to be beneficial to many organizations just like yours.

How can you get started in the social media marketing of your nonprofit organization?

It's important when entering into social media that if you decide to do it internally you'll want to create a social media policy and a marketing plan that uphold the core principles of your organization. Your policy and strategy plan should include the following:

1. Who will be your spokesperson and the voice of your organization?

2. Will the voice of that spokesperson be personal or professional - what does that split look like?

3. Who will be in charge of responding to conversation and social media buzz that is created?

4. Who will be monitoring the social media effects?

5. What, if any, monitoring tools will you or should you use?

6. How will you protect the brand of your organization?

7. Which vehicles in social media will you use? Your choices include blogging, podcasting, message boards, social networking, video blogging and wikis.

This will get you started in creating your policy as well as your strategy.

The worst thing that could happen is that you start a social media marketing campaign, but do not interact or engage with constituents and stakeholders.

Finally please find attached a BLOG DEDICATED TO NPO MARKETING by Jocelyn Harmon as a reference.