If you are involved in the nonprofit sector in any way, then you understand that traditional nonprofit marketing and fundraising efforts are no longer enough to attract and retain support.  We live in a world where engagement is everything, and so we must engage in the places and platforms where our community of supporters are already interacting.  These platforms are meaningful to them, and so they should be meaningful to us.  

Why Is Online Marketing Important for Nonprofits?

You’re already aware that there are more tools out there than ever before.  The key, now, is understanding why you should be using these tools.  So, how do you use these tools to start implementing a digital marketing strategy that will help elevate your nonprofit?  

Online marketing is incredibly important for nonprofits to establish and nurture invaluable relationships with supporters at every level.  After all, these relationships aren’t built on transactions; they are built on shared, mission-driven interests and emotions.  They are relationships that must be continually developed through engagement, and digital marketing allows you to do just that.  The tools at your disposal allow you to have a conversation (rather than just talking at your supporters) so that you can gain a better understanding of who your community is, what matters to them, and most importantly, how you can work together to reach your common goal.  

So, let’s take a closer look at some of these online marketing tools that you can employ to help your nonprofit reach a wider audience:

 

SEO for Nonprofits

We talk so much about SEO, because it is so critical to the success of any organization with an online presence, but do you know specifically how these practices can benefit nonprofits?

SEO, or Search Engine Optimization, has become a popular topic among marketing directors at nonprofit organizations, as it can greatly benefit your organization by driving search results that can and will give you an outstanding competitive ranking among search engines, like Google.  SEO is essentially a strategy for making your organization’s presence easier to find when conducting online searches.  It is the process of optimizing the code and content of a website so that it is perceived by search engines to be highly relevant for certain search terms (or keywords).

It is for this reason that a well-executed SEO strategy can boost your overall exposure by achieving higher search rankings through targeted keywords.  Thus, more user traffic and better quality traffic is driven to your nonprofit website.  The ultimate goal here is to get your website to appear on the first page of search results.  So, for example, if a user goes online and searches for “Chicago Soup Kitchen,” with proper execution of your SEO strategy and keywords, your “Chicago Soup Kitchen” will come up at the top of the results list.  

SEO is important for nonprofits because, depending on your cause, having a website that ranks well (for certain keywords) in your area will dramatically improve your mission and fundraising efforts.  Essentially, it gives you a fighting chance to fulfill your cause or mission.  

 

Online Advertising for Nonprofits

Nonprofits should also consider using pay-per-click, or PPC advertising. This is often referred to simply as “paid search”, but it’s not quite as straightforward as that anymore. Many social media channels, like Facebook, are becoming pay-to-play platforms in the same way that search engines have been for years.   

This model allows advertisers to bid for ad placement that will appear every time someone searches a keyword (or keywords) related to their specific offering or agenda.  Simply put, it’s a way to ensure that your nonprofit is seen at the top of search results pages to garner name recognition and user conversion.  

Nonprofit Social Media Marketing

Social media is an online marketing tool that nonprofits can no longer ignore.  It is an essential means to drive engagement with, not only your already established community, but has the potential to reach entirely new audiences.  Take the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, for example.  With the understanding that supporters’ needs and expectations are changing, this nonprofit took to their digital platforms to raise awareness and spread their cause via “social” word-of-mouth.  The results – their campaign to raise awareness went viral!  

Social media allows audiences and supporters to instantly share and post their experiences, interests and engage in real-time. These platforms allow nonprofits to leverage the potential of social media, its users and each and every individual’s network to channel positive change and awareness.  It’s all about creating quality, shareable, user-friendly content that will strike a chord with your audience.  

If you’re interested in learning more about SEO, social media marketing, or speaking with one of our Adwords-certified team members about your company’s online advertising practices, call us today at 773.631.6851.