Data-Driven Marketing for Non-Profits

Is being frugal with your marketing budget costing your non-profit more money?

Let’s set the scene: you’re a non-profit or charitable organization, and marketing has always been a challenge for you – whether it be limited time or resources. You’ve poured time in and rely on digital channels, such as social media and other free services because marketing is perceived as a luxury at your organization. You’re running out of options, and your disparate processes are hindering donations and leads. Upon further investigation, you will find out that your frugality with the marketing budget is actually going to end up costing you more in the long run.

For non-profit or charitable organizations, marketing defines the success of their organization, the overall impact, generating value for stakeholders, and getting their mission to the masses to achieve their goals. The biggest pain point non-profits face in their marketing efforts is their budget, as most of their profit goes towards their mission. So, how can you market a non-profit without breaking the budget?

Data-Driven Marketing.

Non-profits and charitable organizations can leverage their data to optimize their upcoming marketing strategy. Data allows non-profits to make marketing decisions with confidence, knowing that their spending will provide the highest return. Still not sure about data-driven marketing for your non-profit? Let’s look at a few key statistics from SalesForce’s Non-Profit Trends Report:

  • 55% of high digital maturity non-profits said they were likely to be able to nurture and strengthen relationships with supporters digitally, versus 31% of low digital maturity non-profits.
  • 81% of leading non-profits said they met or exceeded their goals in marketing and communications, compared to 62% of low digital maturity non-profits.
  • 85% of high digital maturity non-profits were more likely to have met or exceeded their fundraising goals, compared to 66% of low digital maturity non-profits.

Your biggest challenge can essentially become your most significant opportunity. Are you interested in getting started with data-driven marketing, but you don’t know how? See below for our actionable first steps:

  • Establish your goals. Whether it be to increase donations, gain more volunteers, drive more traffic to your website, or spread awareness, your goal will be your benchmark for success.
  • Define your target audience. To reach your goals, you will have to determine whom you need to target in order to complete your goals. Build personas to represent the type of people you want to target, and define their demographics, behaviors, motivations, spending behavior, etc.
  • Gather your first-party data. Starting a campaign begins with gathering all the data you have on your current target audience. This means reviewing all website behavior, surveys, previous campaigns, etc. This will help you define your target audience and optimize your customer journey map.
  • Define your channels. Whether you choose ads, social media, blogs, or direct mail, define the vehicles in which your campaign will carry out based on the preferences of your audience.
  • Build relevant content. Design the content that aligns with your target audience to deploy across your pre-determined channels. Pro tip: currently, video content is the most preferred type of content by consumers and can be incredibly effective in non-profit campaigns.
  • Focus on actionable metrics. Set KPIs so you can determine how successful your campaign is. KPIs will help you confidently decide if it needs to be revised and optimized. KPIs include email engagement, average gift, social media activity, direct mail response rate, etc.

All non-profits and charitable organizations want to achieve their goals, but without breaking their budgets. At ENPOINTE, we encourage our non-profit friends to face the question: is being frugal with your marketing budget costing your non-profit more money? More often than not, the answer is yes. Invest in your mission – data shows us that it will pay off in the long run.

Let’s connect.

Sources: SalesForce, HubSpot