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For years, nonprofits have relied on traditional audience personas to shape their marketing and fundraising efforts. These personasoften based on broad demographics like age, income, or giving historycan be useful, but they fail to capture the deeper motivations behind why people engage with a cause. Journeys and empathy maps can help, but often they don’t give you enough guidance on messaging either.
Why Identifying Your Nonprofit Target Audience Matters Too many nonprofits fall into the trap of broadcasting messages to bystanders instead of strategically engaging the right people. Traditional audience personas can be helpful, but they often dont capture the true motivations behind why people engage with your cause. Thats where Engagement Mindsets come ina research-backed framework created by Nonprofit Marketing Guide (NPMG) that helps nonprofits move beyond surface-level demographics and in
Hows 2025 treating you so far? Feeling good? A little overwhelmed? If youre like most nonprofit communicators, youre probably juggling excitement about the new year with the same overloaded to-do list. But heres the thingwhat if I told you there are 12 things you can stop doing this year? Yep, the stuff thats unnecessary, outdated, or just done out of habityou can let it go.
Whatever the end of your year looks like, I encourage you to set aside some time to do some prep work to set yourself up for success in 2025. Here are 15 things you can do to get ready for a great 2025 at your nonprofit: Clean off your desk/straighten your office Unsubscribe from emails you don’t need to get anymore Delete files you don’t need on your hard drive Do this exercise to reduce burnout and more Review your workflows and other processes to see what works and what doesnt Set
You are already working in nonprofit communications and marketing. How do you move up in your nonprofit marketing career? Below, we outline the nonprofit communications and marketing training plans we recommend here at Nonprofit Marketing Guide (NPMG). The Beginner Training Plan At the Beginner level, we recommend that you focus on implementing the following skills and actions: “Quick and dirty” marketing plans Getting away from marketing to everyone or the general public Using clear and specifi
In the ever-changing world of nonprofit marketing, transitions are a given—and with them comes a unique set of marketing-only pain points. From juggling vendor contacts (wait, who did the last annual report print?) to struggling to access that one social media account your former colleague set up, there’s no shortage of moments that make you want to throw your computer out the window.
Can you fundraise during or after a disaster that doesn’t affect you? The answer, I believe, is yes, with humility. I live in North Carolina, about two hours away from some absolutely horrible devastation in the western part of the state due to massive mudslides and flash floods from Hurricane Helene. Most of us think about hurricanes as a lowland coastal disaster.
Content curation should be an important part of your content creation strategy as it can save you time, improve engagement, establish you as a helpful source of information, and can even improve your SEO. Nonprofits can curate content lots of different ways, but let’s talk about some basics first for those of you who have never curated content before.
Welcome to the world of nonprofit marketing, where your mission is to make the world a better place by spreading your organization’s message far and wide. And guess what? We do it all on a shoestring budget, with tight deadlines, and too often, with only a handful of resources. Quite often, being a nonprofit marketer means juggling a million things at once.
Nonprofits need people to do things. That’s the only way we can achieve our mission of changing the world. And if you need someone to do something, you need a good call to action (or CTA). Calls to action are our instructions for what we want people to do. And yet, nonprofits sometimes make what should be simple, clear instructions too complicated and vague.
As we enter the fall season, many nonprofits are starting their annual planning processes. With that comes the need to set communications goals for the coming year. And with that comes the need to work with the programmatic teams in your organization and how you will collaborate. (Note that the annual goals we are discussing here are actually what we would call objectives in a larger communications strategy.
Earlier today I presented a brand new webinar Easier Content Creation for Nonprofits: Mastering AI, Repurposing and Curation. In addition to tips on repurposing and curating content, I included a whole section on writing better AI prompts for your communications. Want to watch the recording of this webinar? Become an All-Access Pass Holder! You can watch this webinar and hours of other recorded webinars, PLUS attend as many live webinars as you want for 365 days.
We love to see nonprofit communications teams grow! I always do a little dance in my chair when someone in our community says they’ve been approved to hire a new comms team member. But then the question becomes, what should that new communications hire do? How should we write that job description? In other words, what’s the vision for how your nonprofit communications team should grow?
If there’s one thing nonprofit marketers could use more of, it is likely time and resources. Working with multiple social impact organizations, I constantly search for ways to optimize both and increase overall nonprofit productivity. During my journey, I have discovered the benefits of systematizing processes. Words like these are not naturally attractive to us right-brained thinkers.
Stephanie Mlot I am so excited to bring you a brand new submission for our Day in the Life of a Nonprofit Communicator series! This series lets you describe your workday in your own words. I would love to start sharing your days again so submit your day by filling out the form at the end of this post. Stephanie’s Bio After 15 years working as a journalist, I joined the third-sector marketing world in 2023 and haven’t looked back since.
It’s a top goal for people who sign up for the Communications Director Mentoring Program and probably for most nonprofit communicators: How do I make time to be more strategic? How do I make time to plan? What they are really asking is, how do I make time to think? Thinking , problem-solving, and strategizing are called deep work. They go hand in hand with finding more peace at work.
Is it time to refresh your nonprofit’s email newsletter? We recently shared our seven tips for modern nonprofit email newsletter designs. Today, let’s look at five email newsletter trends that will influence the way your nonprofit’s e-newsletter looks in the future. 1. Movement at the Top We all know the power of video and animated content.
We recently presented a new webinar on modern nonprofit email newsletter designs. If you missed it, All-Access Pass holders can watch the recording in our private community. We looked at more than a decade of nonprofit email newsletter designs and compared those to best practices today, which was very eye-opening for many participants. Are you still emailing like it’s 2020, 2017, or even 2012?
Ever thought about how we, as communicators, can build deeper, long-lasting relationships with our stakeholders, especially our donors? It’s crucial because donors are emotionally connected to our mission. Plus, it’s more cost-efficient to retain a donor than to find a new one. We should honor their commitment by viewing them as long-term relationships rather than transactional interactions.
Here at Nonprofit Marketing Guide, we specialize in nonprofit marketing training. We do this in our quest to help you learn your job, love your work, and lead your team. But we know everyone learns differently. Everyone has a different amount of time to devote to professional development. Everyone is at a different level of experience and learning on the job.
As nonprofit communications has evolved over the years, we started exploring the concept of brand archetypes and how nonprofits can use them. While there are 12 brand archetypes, we think some of them make more sense for nonprofits than others. Today we’ll share the ones we think work best for nonprofits and which archetypes are the most popular for nonprofits.
Let’s tackle the appropriate reaction for nonprofit communications pros to this situation: Your executive director or other senior managers may have just hired a marketing consultant without previously talking to you. They are excited about a meeting they just had — again without you. They think it’s going to be great and are so excited!
Are you looking for a basic template or pattern to follow when creating a nonprofit marketing strategy? When creating your nonprofit marketing strategy, we recommend that you choose from these 12 marketing goals , 12 marketing strategies , 12 marketing objectives , and scores of tactics , including both types of content and the channels through which you’ll distribute that content.
Endless revisions? Missed deadlines? Going over budget? Oh my! Making pretty things isn’t always fun and games. These are common issues many of us have faced while producing creative projects for our organizations. Whether you’re a seasoned professional or just starting out, understanding how to collaborate effectively with graphic designers is number one in elevating your organization’s visual presence.
How do you create great content as a nonprofit communicator? Or, more specifically, what should you put on your website , in your emails or newsletter , and on social media? You should put content in those places that’s “ PUT” — Personal, Useful, and Timely. This has always been true — we first blogged about PUT as an email newsletter content strategy in 2016.
Should nonprofits disclose when they incorporate AI (artificial intelligence) into their content creation for communications, marketing, and fundraising? When is AI a simple tool you don’t disclose, like using spelling and grammar checkers? When is it an original content creator whose “authorship” should be documented? As of today (in May 2024), we at Nonprofit Marketing Guide believe nonprofits should disclose when they use AI to create photographic images by placing a custom
Working in nonprofit marketing and communication teaches us many things, but perhaps most importantly, that we’re all in this together. No matter the size or type of our organizations, we face similar challenges every day. We strive to advance our missions with limited budgets and manpower, juggling multiple priorities and often battling misconceptions about the value of good marketing.
Nonprofit email marketing is still a great way for nonprofits to reach the right people with the right message at the right time. It’s a great tool especially when you connect your email engagement work to your nonprofit’s big mission goals. Ultimately, the most strategic way to use email is to work towards good email metrics. But nonprofit email marketing can be complicated!
Kristina and I are about to make one of those big switches that all nonprofit communicators will likely make at some point in their careers: moving an email list to a new email service provider. That means we will need to warm up a new IP address and rebuild our sender reputation. Shaky on the vocabulary? Email service providers (ESP) include companies like MailChimp , Constant Contact , ActiveCampaign , etc.
Like Herding Cats I can recall a few times in my nonprofit journey when coordinating a new marketing campaign across departments felt more like herding cats than orchestrating a symphony. Each team was on its own wavelength, doing its own thing, focused on their own mission-driven priorities. This situation created silos and missed deadlines, hindering our progress.
For those coming into the nonprofit world from corporate communications, perhaps the most perplexing realization is that most nonprofit communications teams don’t draft and manage their own budgets. But they should! According to the 2024 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report , only 36% of nonprofit communications teams draft and manage their own budgets.
Congratulations — you found us! Nonprofit marketing and communications is all we do here at Nonprofit Marketing Guide. We focus on the needs of nonprofit marketing and communications professionals and offer community, training, coaching, and mentoring. This is your nonprofit marketing professional development home online— that’s it. We aren’t trying to upsell you on software or private consulting services.
I’m writing this post three days into Spring in North America. I love the equinoxes and solstices because they mark the passage of time in very clear and natural ways. These natural cycles or rhythms are essential to all life. Yet when we look at the nonprofit organizations we work for, we often treat them and ourselves as employees like machines, rather than living organisms.
I am working on the slide deck for Thursday’s webinar Social Media Trends for Nonprofit Communicators in 2024 and thought I would share some of the data I am finding on how people feel about using AI to generate content. One of the themes I am seeing is that AI use will skyrocket, but that is causing social medias users to be leery. Hootsuite research found that “62% of consumers say they are less likely to engage with and trust content is they know it was created by an AI applicatio
Through our All-Access Pass training program and our Communications Director Mentoring Program, I meet many nonprofit communicators in coordinator or assistant positions who want to be promoted to the manager or director level. We also work with communications directors who are working toward VP or C-Suite (“Chief of”) jobs. While many factors determine who gets those jobs, here are three tips that anyone interested in being promoted to a higher-level nonprofit communications job should consi
In the nonprofit sector, our conversations often revolve around reaching and engaging our external audience – the people we serve and our donors. This focus is undeniably important; it’s the lifeline of our work. But, there’s a critical audience we sometimes overlook: our internal staff. I recently had a chat about the return on investment (ROI) on publicity spending with a senior marketing team member.
We recently asked more than 50 nonprofit communicators about their top problems with their style guide or brand book. The first answer was that the style guide was outdated. The second answer was that the style guide was incomplete. The rest of the answers are in the graphic above, which includes the style guide being inconsistent, too complicated, and not followed.
If you have never been to a Waffle House, the title of this blog post made absolutely zero sense to you. If you have been to a Waffle House, then you know they have yummy hashbrowns. And you also know they can be ordered in a variety of delicious ways: Scattered on the grill (in other words, plain) Smothered with sauteed onions Covered with melted cheese Chunked with grilled hickory smoked ham Diced with grilled tomatoes Peppered with spicy jalapeno peppers Capped with grilled button mushrooms T
During our recent webinar on updating your nonprofit’s style guide for 2024, we addressed head-on how much of the debate around so-called “woke” language actually begins in the nonprofit sector. That’s often because our organizations’ values call on us to address people’s problems and situations rather than condemning the person experiencing the problem or situation with an unflattering label.
Not sure what to write about next month? We have ideas for newsletters, social media, blog posts, and more. These writing ideas for March come from our Monthly Nonprofit Writing Prompts email newsletter. Fill out the form below to get April’s prompts emailed to you next week. Your Writing Prompts for March 2024 On the Calendar 3/1: Employee Appreciation Day.
If you haven’t had a chance to dive into the 2024 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report yet, put in your earbuds and listen to my conversation with Farra Trompeter of Big Duck on the Smart Communications podcast. We focus primarily on AI, brand archetypes, and team structures, but there’s even more in our conversation and in the report itself.
The online search landscape is changing. A November 2023 study by HubSpot highlighted a shift towards social media over search engines for information, especially among younger audiences like Gen Z and Millennials. They go on to share that their Trends report shows 31% of consumers now use social platforms for finding information. Another report from DataReportal stated that back in 2022, 75% of internet users used social media to research products, look for reviews, and recommendations.
PLEASE NOTE: The purpose of this article is to help those who do not normally think about their mental health and remind those of us who already deal with issues to pay attention to signs we may be burning out and need a break from work. If you feel like you may be dealing with more than just stress at work, taking a mental health day away from your nonprofit won’t be enough.
“What should I post on social media?” is one of the top questions nonprofit marketers ask. To help answer that question and to see if it lines up with best practices, we asked nonprofit communicators to tell us how often you share different types of content on social media. Here are the results found in our 2024 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report : 2024 Nonprofit Communications Trends Report Highlights: 46% of survey takers said they share news or upcoming events most of the time with the sa
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