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Dec 30

Stand Out and Attract Attention: the importance of marketing a non-profit organization

Posted on December 30, 2016 at 9:46 AM by Josh Yaworski

How does your non-profit organization publicize itself? 
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What sets your organization apart from all of the other non-profits? If you’d like to create public interest in your organization, then you ought to craft your messages with a marketing strategy.

Marketing is how you can shape people to perceive your organization in a certain way. It is how you will grab their attention with key messages. A marketing plan will help to identify your goals, target your audience, and the polish the information that you’d like to convey to them. Understand why you want to communicate with the public. For example, are you recruiting volunteers, seeking donations, promoting services, highlighting an event, or advertising your organization’s touch points?

Raise the profile of your non-profit organization through intentional marketing. There are numerous communication methods to accomplish this. Typically, a blend of traditional and non-traditional mediums will work well. The goal is to connect on an ongoing basis. Make people want to know more about your organization with flyers, information booths, social media, posters, radio, newsletters,elevator speeches, websites, email, or telephone. Think of other ways to market your non-profit organization and add them to the mix!

Fully comprehend “who you are” and “what you stand for” before you begin. Your organization’s
authenticity should shine. What is your history, mission, values, image, or successes? Be clear about what you do, because sometimes a non-profit’s name does not clearly identify what it does.

So, you want to communicate the value of your organization, but who will do the work? Support
whoever will market your organization. Help them to be focused, consistent, effective, warm, friendly, positive, and catchy. Encourage them to use ordinary language that is clear, concise, and compelling. Is there a marketing professional that would do this pro bono? 

Who will receive people who respond your marketing efforts? For example, who will handle incoming phone calls and emails? A non-profit is affected by its reputation, so be sure to have someone responsible for answering public inquiries.

Include a few human interest stories with images, because stories help us to remember. Always use your organization’s name in the headline, and try to keep your paragraphs short. Be literacy friendly. 

Evaluate your marketing plan after it’s been implemented. Establish benchmarks as points of reference to compare against. Show the impact that your organization is making in the community with strong direct evidence. 

A marketing tactic will help to attract attention for your non-profit organization. Stand out among the company that you keep. If people aren’t fully aware of what you do and why you do it, then how can they support your efforts? Promoting the value of your organization could be the most impactful thing your organization does. Prepare to stand out!