Digital Marketing for Nonprofits: 5 Proven Strategies

As a marketer at a nonprofit organization, you have to be smart with your spending. Let’s face it – you don’t have all the money in the world to allocate to digital marketing, right? As such, you need to prioritize marketing activities that are both effective and affordable.

What tools, tips, and tactics can your nonprofit leverage right now to achieve rapid digital marketing success? As an experienced leader in digital marketing for nonprofits, we're well-equipped to point your organization towards marketing stardom. Are you up to the task?

Digital Marketing for Nonprofits: 5 Effective and Affordable Strategies

Check out our comprehensive list of proven and affordable digital marketing tips for nonprofit organizations just like yours. Use our expertise in digital marketing for nonprofits to guide your own marketing journey.

1. Record Videos From the Field

For many nonprofits, video marketing can feel like a massive undertaking. It’s time- consuming and much too expensive to put together quality videos, right? Wrong.

It’s important to realize how much of an asset video marketing can be. 57% of people who watch nonprofit-produced video go on to make a donation. You have to conquer your fears about video and give it a try. If you do, you’ll quickly realize that the benefits outweigh the challenges.

If you're involved in a fundraising campaign, encourage participating members to record quick videos of their work from the field. These videos give other potential members a taste of what your organization is all about.

You don’t need fancy or expensive equipment to make a video. Most mobile phones have cameras that are perfectly suited for producing quick and easy videos. You also might think that it’s going to take multiple takes, tons of editing, and hours pouring over a script to produce a quality video, but it doesn’t need to be that complicated.

In fact, Wild Apricot created a self-made video which garnered more than 10,000 views on Facebook. It only took one person and a day of scripting, filming, and editing to pull it all together.

2. Try Episodic Blogging on Instagram

Instagram is a powerful platform to let people “peek behind the curtain” and get to know your organization. Since Instagram Stories debuted in August 2016, many brands and organizations have used it to share episodic content.

Hannah Caldwell, Social Editor at Bustle, explained the value of episodic content in an interview with Buffer:

“From the start, we’ve seen high performance from Instagram Stories. We’ve seen completion rates as high as 92% for shorter stories and 60-70 percent for longer episodic content.”

Stories give you the ability to quickly upload engaging snapshots of your organization. Your stories are added to your profile, and Instagram features them in the story highlights section of your profile.

3. Promote Upcoming Events via Text Message Marketing

Did you know that more than 90% of text messages are opened and read within minutes of receipt? The effectiveness of texting makes text marketing a powerful channel for getting the word out about your events.

You can ask people to opt-in to your messaging service to receive information about the event.

• Volunteers can sign up to receive information about setup dates and times, directions, schedules, floorplans, or other relevant information.
• Attendees can receive reminders leading up to the event, important announcements during your event, and even receive follow-up communications after it’s ended.

When Water is Basic implemented text message marketing, they saw amazing results. Steve Harrell, the US Coordinator for WiB said:

“Thanks to EZ Texting, our supporters know exactly where their money is going in real time. Within 4 months, approximately 150 donors have signed up for WiB’s text messaging list. For a non-profit in its early stages with about 600 donors and counting, this is an amazing response rate of 25%.”

4. Add "Donate Now" Buttons on Your Facebook Page

Facebook makes it easy for you to connect with your community and raise money. In fact, many leading nonprofit organizations rely on these social tools as a primary fundraising tool.

To make it even better, Facebook doesn’t charge a fee for donations made to nonprofits through their platform.

The fastest way to get started with Facebook’s Charitable Giving Tools is to enable the “Donate Now” button on your page. It’s a quick and easy way for people to donate to you without even having to leave Facebook. Supporters also have the option to choose to make a one-time donation or set up a monthly recurring donation.

5. Leverage Google Ad Grants

When you sign up for Google for Nonprofits, you have access to additional bonuses that allow you to run ads on their platform to help you recruit volunteers, attract more donations, and share your story with a bigger audience.

Each time someone views your ad, they are becoming aware of your cause. Google Ad Grants allow you to purchase Google Ads online advertising, and if you qualify, you can receive $10,000 in grants every month.

Google Ad Grants give you the ability to show your search ads to people anywhere in the world. You can focus on your local area or send your message across the globe and reach people that are looking for nonprofits just like yours. Through the power of Google Advertising, you are able to make new people aware of you and how they can help.

Google’s Ad platform lets you see which ads are driving donations, recruiting volunteers, and building awareness.

Develop a Nonprofit Digital Marketing Playbook

Take action today. Put some of these ideas into practice for digital marketing for nonprofits. You have an important mission and need to allocate funds wisely by focusing on marketing activities that are effective and affordable.

We can help.

We’ve helped over 210,000 customers get amazing results with text message marketing over the last decade. All of those insights were gathered together into a powerful Playbook for Text Message Marketing for Nonprofits.

Inside, you’ll find proven, ready-made campaigns that you can use to start your text message marketing tactics.

Photo: Getty Images/PeopleImages