Nonprofit organizations do such vital work in the communities we live and work in.
Even so, you may be surprised to learn that so many people are completely unaware of the services they offer, or that they’re available in their community.
If you operate a nonprofit organization, the amount of grant money you receive each year may depend on the number of people you serve.
If that number has been waning in recent months, it may be time for a complete marketing overhaul.
Here are some ideas to help you as you brainstorm what you can do differently.
Audit Your Website
You don’t have to be a professional digital marketer to do a website audit for your nonprofit. You don’t even need to have any special tools aside from the Internet to get a rough idea of what’s working and what’s not.
Start by Googling your services along with variations of your location (city, county, state). Then take a look at the results.
If your nonprofit is showing up on page one, that’s a good sign! If it’s further down the page than you’d like it to be, it might be time to spruce up your website content.
If your site doesn’t have the right keywords, or if the location is missing, or if there are other things that need to be fixed, making those changes can make a big difference.
(Note: Colwell Creative Content, Inc. offers FREE website audits, and we’ll be happy to offer you our recommendations to improve your Google rank at no cost to your organization.)
Blog Regularly
Does your nonprofit have a blog? If not, it’s time to start one.
Blogging is a fantastic tool that does a few different things for your organization:
Google really likes regularly updated blogs, so this is an easy way to boost your rank.
Blogging gives you an opportunity to educate, inform, and communicate with the people you serve or want to serve.
Blog posts give you great, original content to share on your social media channels.
If there are competing organizations or businesses in your area, take a look at their websites. Are they blogging regularly?
If they are, they’re probably going to be ranked higher in searches as a result.
Improving your content creation by adding a blog could just be a game-changer for your organization.
And speaking of social media...
Make Sure You’re on the Right Social Media Channels
The number of Facebook users has been creeping up and as of this writing, we’re looking at close to 3 billion.
Not only that, but about 2 billion people use Facebook every single day. That makes it - hands-down - the most popular social media network.
Most nonprofit organizations should be active on Facebook. We recommend posting once a day, but you’ll want to post at least 3 times per week.
Instagram might be a great option too, depending on the services your nonprofit offers.
It’s important to know where your clientele “hangs out” online. Once you know that, you’ll know where your nonprofit should have a solid presence.
As far as what you should be sharing...just make sure it’s engaging! Ask questions, run polls, create cool graphics, and encourage participation.
Ad Marketing
Finally, ad marketing can prove to be an incredibly effective way to market your business.
You can advertise on multiple social media channels, including Facebook, Instagram, and even TikTok.
Google offers a pay-per-click grant to nonprofit organizations that provides $10,000 in monthly Google advertising funds too.
That gives you an excellent chance of being at the very top of search results.
Other ad marketing options include:
Digital display
Geofencing
Billboards
Ad marketing has only gotten more popular over the years. It’s certainly worth considering if you have room in your budget.
We Offer Digital Marketing Services for Nonprofits
Most business owners don’t have the time or energy to spend marketing their businesses themselves. The same is often true for nonprofits.
At Colwell Creative Content, Inc., we love working with nonprofit organizations, and we even offer discounted rates.
If you’d like to talk about what our team can do to help your nonprofit, please contact us!