9 Easy Inbound Marketing Tips That Benefit Not-For-Profits

When running a not for profit it can feel like you’re being pulled in a hundred different directions each day. Which is why so many get stuck in a loop of to best scale finances. Even this loop has a long list of never-ending tasks - but an inbound marketing strategy generally isn’t one of them. 

Yet, HubSpot reports that inbound marketing solutions provide great ROI growth to many business shapes and sizes. By using the following 9 inbound marketing tips for NFPs, your task list will shrink while your organisation reaps the benefits of: 

• Raised awareness of your organisation and cause.
• Higher rates of volunteer, sponsor, partnership and investor interest.
• Increased event attendance, funds raised and ongoing donations.

So what are these magical tips?

9 Inbound Marketing Tips for NFPs

1. Know Your Audience

The biggest audience doesn’t create the loudest applause. Determining a target audience will save you time, funding and effort by excluding people who don’t suit or prioritise your cause. Understanding your audience’s (donors, partners, customers and supporters) mindset, motivations and goals can help you strengthen your connection with them. In turn, allowing you to target people who share your values and are more likely to act as desired.

2. Set Financial Metrics

Like all businesses, your NFP needs to generate revenue in order to keep functioning and make a difference. 

Business metrics are vital to ensure you’re hitting your targets, can continue to further your mission and afford business costs. Setting these metrics will stop any second guessing of funding by highlighting areas of over or under-spending to help you allocate the right finances to the correct areas for success. Financial metrics can include revenue, costs, gross sales, COGS, event sales, partnership donations and more.

3. Map Out A Funnel

It’s pretty stressful when you don’t know where you’re heading, what metrics to measure or how to qualify your supporters. Which is why having a marketing funnel is so essential and beneficial for NFPs. 

Marketing funnels allow you to analyse where in the funnel you might be “leaking” leads, marketing efforts, funding and revenue. They can also be a great way to take your members on a journey, like a love story, bringing prospects together en masse through shared meaning, understanding and care.

• Unaware: Person doesn't know about their pain points and not searching for information or solutions. They could potentially just have an interest in the topic.
• Pain point: Person knows they have a problem but don't know which pathway to head towards.
• Solution: Person starts searching for information, asking around for ideas and solutions and identifying what their ideal outcome looks like.
• Product or service: Person narrows down their search to a handful of favourite products or services that they believe suits their needs but haven't decided on one yet.
• Loyalty: Person's problem has been solved and if experience, outcome and engagement with product was excellent, loyalty should follow.

4. Create and Utilise A Simple Website

Breathe easy. Websites don’t have to be fancy or complex. For NFPs they’re simply a place to share information about your organisation, cause, stories and progress. A website saves you so much time and resources too by answering basic questions and building connections with your existing and potential donors. 

Best of all, building a simple website where people can easily purchase products and services, and donate to your cause can become a 24/7 sales person and great revenue driver.

5. Grow a Social Following

Given today’s activists are getting younger and younger, it’s paramount to stay up-to-date with online trends and platforms to stay relevant. Social media is not only the perfect place to let your organisation’s vision, mission and personality shine, but to grow your volunteer base by letting younger generations help out with social media tasks.

Eye-catching visuals and ongoing engagement are vital for online exposure, but luckily, social media communities can take care of this for you. They come with many low cost benefits including word of mouth advertising can extend worldwide with a couple clicks. 

6. Maintain Strong Partnerships

Strong partnerships are the same as relationships; they deserve work and are vital to both parties ongoing success. Keep track of your partnerships’ endeavours, policies and social branding to make sure they still support your own. 

If any partners do change over time, make sure you have new potential partners in your pipeline. Research who they are, what they stand for and devise a pitch to them about why you’d make a beneficial match.

7. Write Content That Serves Your Audience

Once you know your audience, you can create content that serves them. After all, if they’re not into cars... they’re not going to care about vehicle industry right?

Giving your audience content that directly feeds their interests and goals will build their trust and goodwill toward your organisation and cause.

8. Leverage on Video

Video is a fantastic way to raise brand awareness and engagement through storytelling. But remember, it’s about the big picture that relates to your product and cause theme, not the sale itself. 

Transparency is also a key value for audiences today. Add real human elements like vulnerability to create content that is relatable and influential. And don’t worry, you don’t have to be a pro movie director - Google for Nonprofits offer resources about how to unlock the power of video storytelling for ultimate reach and success.

9. Nurture Your Prospects

Prospects are like incubating eggs. You need to care for them correctly to help them hatch and build a long-term relationship. This means nurturing them through every stage of your funnel.

Whether informing them of the latest events using automated emails or thanking them for their latest donation, nurturing your prospects are where marketing and communication meet. 

It’s easy too. Nurture them best by listening to their needs and providing the information and answers they require.

By following these 9 inbound marketing tips you’ll be able to help your NFP grow it’s audience, funding, engagement and stakeholders in a more sustainable way than you ever imagined.

Chat to us about how we can help you bring all these tips together with low fuss and kickstart your inbound marketing journey today.