The Internet revolution has made online marketing an integral part of any marketing campaign. Nonprofit organizations also cannot afford to ignore this form of marketing any longer. The following is a basic guide to online marketing campaigns for your nonprofit:
Know your target audience for online marketing
The reach and penetration of computer and Internet cut across all generations
today. However, almost half of the total online donations are made by the Baby
Boomers generation, which includes those born between 1946 and 1962. The senior
citizens over the age of 65 also account for about 13% of all online giving.
The young generation, those born between 1963 and 1980 are the keenest followers
of online communication. (Source: http://www.blackbaud.com/targetanalytics/benchmarking/dcinternet.aspx)
Create an effective and SEO content-rich website
A powerful website is at the heart of your nonprofit’s online marketing
strategy. The web design must be user-friendly, and the web content must be
useful and strongly appealing to your target audience. At the same time, the
website should have dynamic, keyword-oriented content to ensure that it gets
good exposure from the search engines. Even the best web content will be futile
if nobody is going to read it.
Use search engine optimization strategies
Write articles for various websites that allow you a link to your website through
the article. Prepare newsworthy and attractive Press Releases about your non-profit
and send them to various websites, as well as post them on your own site. Make
use of blogging to promote your website. Create an e-newsletter and build a
network of followers and donors who are regularly connected through your newsletter.
Also, build an archive of the newsletters on your website.
Check out the Google and YouTube nonprofit programs
“YouTube Nonprofit Program” and “Google Grant” are
two powerful avenues that you must explore for promoting your non-profit without
incurring any advertising cost.
Develop a focused email database
Email addresses of interested people and potential donors are a crucial asset
for your nonprofit. Keep a provision on your website for the visitors to leave
their contact details or comments. Be conscious about collecting every valuable
email address for your nonprofit from all possible sources. These email addresses
can be eventually leveraged to create a focused email marketing campaign.
Create a provision for online donations through your website
The final stage of marketing is to induce the potential donor into action. Therefore,
it is important for your website to have a “Donate” button displayed
prominently at every webpage. Your website should be able to allow the potential
donors to pay through all commonly used means such as credit cards or online
bank transfers.
Integrate your online marketing campaign with social media
No organization can afford to ignore the growing importance of online social
media channels such as Blogs, Facebook, and Twitter. You can expand the reach
of your nonprofit if you can leverage these highly popular new social media
in a creative and innovative manner.
If your nonprofit is big enough to afford a larger online marketing campaign,
you may also hire a professional SEO marketer to run the entire campaign effectively
on your behalf. Online marketing is much cheaper and has the potential to produce
much greater value for your marketing dollar compared to the conventional forms
of marketing.
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