With a limited budget, it can be easy for your nonprofit to invest little-to-no money when it comes to marketing. Fortunately, you don’t have to spend a lot of money to create decent marketing content. And since marketing helps you expand your reach, it can very much be worth the investment. Here are 5 tips you can use to effectively market your nonprofit without breaking the bank.
1. Get on social media (but limit your platforms)
It’s no secret that social media can be a powerful tool. Be careful of getting stretched too thin by joining too many platforms. We recommend sticking to the big four—Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Instagram—and tailoring your approach accordingly. Save even more time by using a social media scheduling service like Hootsuite to make updates all at once.
2. Tell stories
Perhaps the best asset in your marketing toolbox is the power of a good story. It brings the end result of your work to life for donors, volunteers, and the public alike. A simple photo with a short text write-up will do the trick, but you can also take a video, post it to YouTube, and put the link on your site and/or social media account(s).
3. Create a simple website
A good site doesn’t need to be complex. While you’ll need to tell a good story, include quality images, provide opportunities for connection, and have regularly updated content to keep people coming back, you may not need to do much beyond that. Having new content on a regular basis doesn’t necessarily mean putting new things up daily. We recommend you have new content at least once a month to give people more of a reason to keep coming back.
If you don’t have a site yet, consider some of these options to get started:
4. Automate emails
Email automation refers to setting up specific, personalized emails to automatically go out when something happens (also referred to as a trigger) that involves an individual user. For instance, suppose you had a donor who gave monthly for years, but she has not donated in the past six months. In this case, you could set up a trigger that automatically sends her an email about why it’s a great time to donate to your organization.
There are many email automation platforms available, such as:
5. Identify staff members to contribute to a blog
Do you have staff members who are incredibly knowledgeable and passionate about an aspect of your nonprofit, such as one of the services you provide? Consider offering them the chance to write a blog post about it. The posts don’t have to be long—250 to 500 words should suffice. Giving your staff the opportunity to discuss their passion not only provides more relevant content to your site, it allows that staff member to discuss something he or she loves.