{"id":126388,"date":"2018-10-24T15:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-10-24T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/?p=126388"},"modified":"2018-10-24T15:35:23","modified_gmt":"2018-10-24T14:35:23","slug":"3-effective-strategies-non-profits-charities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smartinsights.com\/content-management\/content-marketing-creative-and-formats\/3-effective-strategies-non-profits-charities\/","title":{"rendered":"3 effective strategies for non-profits and charities"},"content":{"rendered":"

Marketing your non-profit is essential to the success of your cause and luckily, the internet offers numerous possibilities \u2013 you just need to make the most of these opportunities<\/h2>\n

Non-profits and charities often have small budgets and few people to help with their marketing strategies. But without a good marketing strategy in place, how do you raise awareness of your cause? How do you attract more supporters and donors to help support your cause? Marketing your non-profit is essential to the success of your cause and luckily, the internet offers numerous possibilities \u2013 you just need to make the most of these opportunities.<\/p>\n

In this blog post, I\u2019m going to share 3 effective strategies for non-profits and charities.<\/p>\n

Advertise online\u2026for free?<\/h3>\n

Google Ads can be extremely successful; they appear right at the top of search results so they\u2019re the first result people see when doing a Google search.<\/p>\n

\"Google<\/p>\n

The issue with that, of course, is that it costs money. And although it might not be a lot, many non-profits and charities simply can\u2019t afford this kind of investment.<\/p>\n

That said\u2026you might be able to advertise for free with the Google Ad Grants program<\/a>. They give you the budget to advertise and all you need to do is set up your campaign and measure your results to track your keywords and your conversions\u00a0and find out with Google Analytics<\/a> which ads and keywords are driving the best results so you can then improve your advertising strategy accordingly.<\/p>\n

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\n \n Social media communications for not-for-profit organizations\n <\/a>\n <\/div>\n
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Download our Business Resource \u2013 Social media communications for not-for-profit organizations guide<\/strong><\/p>\n

This guide aims to give a clear structure to help you grow internal confidence and buy-in so that the benefits of social media can become visible and it becomes more accountable, serving the long-term strategic aims of charities.<\/p>\n

Access the Social media communications for not-for-profit organizations<\/a><\/p>\n <\/div>\n <\/div><\/p>\n

Go to the link mentioned earlier to apply for the ad grant; first, though, you\u2019ll have to check whether you are eligible for a grant \u2013 it\u2019s not too complicated and you can check what exactly it entails here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

If you are eligible and you\u2019re given the grant, make sure to do everything possible to follow Google\u2019s instructions so that you can remain eligible.<\/p>\n

Invest in visual content<\/h3>\n

There is nothing more powerful than visual content<\/a> \u2013 particularly images and videos. They can say so much in just a few seconds and most importantly, they can have a big emotional impact on the viewer. So whether it\u2019s your website, your blog, your social media, or any other digital channel, try to use as much visual content as possible to help attract a wider audience and most importantly, get them to take action (share your updates with your friends, make a donation, buy something from you to help promote the cause, and so on).<\/p>\n

Here are a few useful ideas of what types of visual content you can create:<\/p>\n

Tell a story with a video<\/h4>\n

Videos are incredibly powerful \u2013 especially when they tell a story that people can empathize with. As a charity or non-profit, you can use video to show how you\u2019re making an impact on the world; for example, Charity: Water often publishes videos of success stories, including a little backstory to paint a full picture.<\/p>\n

\"Tell<\/p>\n

Motivational images<\/h4>\n

These super easy to create (just use something like Canva<\/a>, Crello<\/a>, or Pablo<\/a>) and they\u2019re highly shareable because social media users love them. One way to use these types of images is to grab quotes not only from known personalities\u00a0but even from the people you\u2019ve worked with or helped \u2013 and to make them even more impactful, include a short story or link to a blog post\/video\/etc. where you tell a story, like TWLOHA<\/a> do in this post:<\/p>\n

\"TWLOHA<\/p>\n

Behind the scenes photos and videos<\/h4>\n

Candid and behind the scenes visuals can help generate good engagement on social media and they help show the human side of your organization; even though your organization might be there to help people or make a real change in the world, you\u2019re still, in effect, a brand. Here\u2019s how UNICEF share selfies from their campaigns.<\/p>\n

\"UNICEF<\/p>\n

The power of storytelling<\/h3>\n

Previously, we\u2019ve touched a bit on storytelling when we talked about videos and motivational quotes, and we\u2019ve seen some examples of storytelling from charities and non-profits marketing<\/a> strategies.<\/p>\n

Storytelling is incredibly important on social media (and with all content in general, in fact), especially for non-profits, because it doesn\u2019t just help inform them, but it pulls at people\u2019s emotions. And when you can impact people\u2019s emotions, you make them want to take action: to share your posts and help spread the word or your organization, to donate their time and\/or money, and to help support you in your cause.<\/p>\n

Stories can be told in a variety of mediums and channels; for example:<\/p>\n