6 Free Ways To Promote Your Charity!

Posted by Jordan Morris on 14 June 2019

Creating a marketing strategy for your nonprofit can be a daunting and time consuming task, especially if marketing isn’t your sole responsibility. The tips below will give you a jump start! Get your charity’s name and message out in the world without having to part with loads of cash.

Social Media

We all know social media can be an extremely powerful tool for any nonprofit (large or small) to propel your organisation into the world. However, you do have to nurture your account and your followers, just signing up to a social media platform will not, alone, help your charity reap the benefits available.

Analyse your demographic and sign up to the platform(s) that they use on a regular basis. So, how do you create a presence that attracts new donors, retains old ones and adds value to the community you’ve created? The content you post on your social media platforms is key in achieving all of the above, it needs to be consistant, customer-centric, relevant and helpful. Posting daily updates with information on your charity or industry news, campaigns and events is a great way to make supporters feel connected and educated on what you’re trying to achieve. Each post should incorporate appropriate hashtags, this will help people interested to find your post and ensure visibility of your brand is maximised.

Follow donors you want to attract, you can then use content to persuade them to support your cause! It’s also important you follow key figures in the industry, industry bodies, your peers, and organisations you aspire to be like. Now that you have followed all the relevant people it’s time get their attention. Its paramount that you actively engage your followers, comment, like and share their posts on a regular basis. Taking interest in their content will go a long way in intriguing them about your organisation! Employees should also be encouraged to like, comment and share posts from your nonprofit’s channel to help spread the reach of your posts.

Email Campaigns

Email is another great way to market your nonprofit, but in order for it to be effective it requires some planning. Here are our top do’s and don’ts.

Do:

• Use compelling images

• Create an exciting subject line and preview text, encouraging readers to actually open the email is a strong place to start!

• Educate your readers on who you are, what your cause is trying to achieve and naturally they will want to play a part in your fundraising journey

• Keep the design of the email user friendly and adapt it for smart phones

• Segment your data and target them with tailored content, for instance thanking donors for a previous donation and giving them information on how their donation has made a difference

• Use personalisation tokens to humanise the email

• Include one or more call-to-actions (CTA), this will help direct the reader and give your email a purpose

Don’t:

• Don’t bombard readers with too many emails, you want to educate and intrigue them, not annoy them

• Don’t always ask for donations, provide an array of content so they remain engaged and responsive

• Buying an email list, although easy and therefore tempting, can seriously damage your reputation as a nonprofit and turn your emails into spam

• Don’t send the email until you have tested and previewed all the copy and links, issues with the email could make your organisation look unprofessional

Timing as well as content is key, to ensure as many people as possible open your emails think about when your demographic will have the time to browse your email, their commute home? Or lunch time? Keep in mind convenience as well as time zones for different donors! Finally, its important to keep an eye on how your emails are performing and make adjustments to your next email campaign as a result of the statistics you discover.

Influencers

Influencer marketing is a game changer for the nonprofit industry. Using influencers to promote your cause will help you reach a wider audience, build awareness for your organisation and prove the legitimacy of your charity to the public.

Choosing the right influential person to promote your organisation is vital, research is key! It’s important to consider if the influencer you choose to work with has access to people that are likely to take interest in your cause, if they’re aiming their content at an audience that is unlikely to connect with your cause then the partnership won’t be beneficial. However, if your target audience matches with theirs, this could help attract in new donors.

Blog

Blogs are an effective way to get your voice heard in this noisy industry, stand out as an expert in your field, help your organisation build a trustworthy reputation and of course boost your SEO strategy!

Content shared on your blog should be relevant and tailored to the needs of your audience, this will help attract new donors and retain current ones. The content in your blog should differ from social media, this content should aim to inform and educate your audience. Keywords related to your charity or industry should be used throughout the post to improve visibility of your cause in google, giving you a better chance of being discovered organically by new donors.

A strong CTA will help to increase donations, these can be hyperlinked in the text throughout the blog and/or one at the end of the blog to encourage action. Linking to other reliable sources will help boost your ranking in google.

Logo and brand colours

Use your logo and brand colours across all your marketing initiatives, this will help you to build a strong brand identity. Consistent logo placement and branding emits confidence and reliability. After all, youre asking people to part with their hard earned cash who will no doubt want confirmation that your cause is going to use it to make a difference in the world, your brand can help you do that.

Partnerships

Lastly, find organisations that compliment your charity to partner up with, they will be able to fulfill their corporate social responsibility (CSR) obligation and you can increase exposure of your charity and donations through their marketing initiatives!

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Jordan Morris

Givergy

Jordan joined Givergy after studying Politics with International Relations at the University of York. He has over two years experience within the charity sector working as a face-to-face fundraiser and as a constituency campaigner. After experiencing the sector from within and knowing first-hand the impact digital solutions can make to fundraising strategies, Jordan is now dedicated to innovating the way charities fundraise to ensure they maximise returns from every fundraising campaign.