Do content marketing and nonprofit organizations go together? You bet.

In today’s world, nonprofit content marketing is the secret ingredient behind almost all successful social media fundraisers and other online campaigns run by nonprofits. That is why we are going to take you behind the scenes and share with you the nonprofit content marketing strategy that allowed us to raise over $28,000 in a month in 2019.

Why Content Marketing For Nonprofit Organizations is the Game Changer

Before we go into more depth about the secret strategies you can use, let’s review why content marketing is so important for nonprofit organizations.

In another post, we talked about the 4P strategy for nonprofit marketing. If you haven’t read about that, you should — because the 4P principles are one of the most fundamental marketing theories anyone wants to grow needs to know.

Now, back to our topic.

The two questions most frequently asked were:

1. As a nonprofit, is it worth to invest in content marketing?

2. And, of course, how can we make content marketing work for our organization?

Let’s look at these two questions in order.

IS NONPROFIT CONTENT MARKETING WORTH IT?

The answer to the first question is a simple yes.

Here’s a harsh truth: if your content marketing is not working, then you either got something wrong with your strategy, your process, or you haven’t been doing this consistently for long enough.

Don’t be surprised when I tell you nonprofit content marketing is far less challenging compared to what for-profit businesses need to do. The reasons are simple: nonprofits naturally earn the audience’s favor because you are not here to sell. You are here to help.

While for-profit businesses struggle to build a narrative that brings them back into the community, nonprofits can post a photo of volunteers, and that by default is telling people you are doing good.

HOW CAN WE INCREASE OUR CONTENT MARKETING ROI?

Good question — and one whose answer everybody wants to know.

In another post, we talked about how to tailor your nonprofit content marketing strategy toward corporate-level donors. That article went over some basics of using content marketing to target a specific audience.

For nonprofit content marketing to truly work, you must customize and personalize your messages to directly tie your audience into the cause you are contributing to.

Ask yourself these questions before creating anything:

Why should they care?

Let Your Audience Guide

The first secret behind successful content is letting your audience guide. This is the same for both forprofit and nonprofits, but extremely more effective when a nonprofit organization understands how to listen in to their audience.

We are not just talking about social listening here. We are talking about actually getting down into the roots.

For example, if you are a nonprofit working on reducing homelessness in the city, check out the latest news on the topics. How are people reacting to a crime committed by a homeless person? What are people saying about those near their neighborhoods or sleeping at the intersection they pass by everyday?

Prepare yourself because you may not like everything you see. However, keep an open mind and leverage that information to do good. For instance, if someone thinks homelessness is a problem, then your organization will be providing them a solution.

That is far more convincing than “doing good.”

Show Over Tell

Which one is more powerful?

A child in the immigration detention center looking outward with hopeful eyes, hands clutchign the wire mesh, or a pitchline calling for change and donation alone?

We are not saying that messages aren’t important. Often, it is necessary for you to directly speak to people, tell them information, and educate them. However, you should always have faith in your audience that they will understand what you mean when shown the right evidence.

Of course, faith alone isn’t enough.

Tap into your audience’s emotions. Think about what triggered you to feel passionate, helpful, empathetic, and made you want to help others then recreate that experience with direct evidences such as raw photos, infographics, and interviews to prompt your audience to take action.

Leverage New Content Format

Content marketing is rapidly developing and new formats and technologies are coming out everyday. A few years ago, nobody knew about Tik Tok in the United States. Today, short video are one of the most frequently consumed content format.

If you find the technological aspect of content marketing too challenging, consider investing in a good agency partner. While nonprofits grow in a differently, ultimately, it is still a “business.” Therefore, like all other businesses, you must spend money to make money.

Westerlund, Co is one of the top content marketing agencies in Kansas City and one of the top 50 B2B agencies in the state of Missouri and Iowa. We are also voted as one of the top 30 SEO firms in the United States.

Diversify Your Call-To-Action (CTA)

We get it. Fundraising is your ultimate goal. But you don’t have to shovel that down your audience’s throat everytime you make a post. No matter how big of an impact you are bringing to the community, repetitive CTAs will turn prospects away.

Therefore, create variations of your CTAs instead of calling for a donation every time. Ask your audience to follow you on different platforms, check out a new piece of content, subscribe to your mailing list, leave you a review, or even just give you some feedback on things they’ve seen in the community.

This will make it make building rapport way more easier for you and your organization.

Audit Your Content

Finally, you need a content audit system. Simply put, an audit system teaches you what is in place, what is working, and what is not. Content auditing saves you time and money and in return raises your ROI on content marketing.

A popular solution is using a content scoring system and evaluate the relevancy, performance, and future projection of each piece of your content.

Besides auditing the actual content, make sure to conduct a periodical audit on your overall nonprofit marketing strategy as well. As your organization grows, your marketing needs change. It may even change simply due to the different seasons of the year.

In other words, auditing is the only way you can make sure you are on the right track to grow. Also, you should always audit any content you plan to promote.

Final Words on Nonprofit Content Marketing

Content marketing goes back to the basics: consumer psychology, strategic planning, and marketing foundations. Invest in some good books and online courses that will show you around the marketing world. Learn how nonprofit organizational development is similar to business development.

If you want to find out how your organization can benefit from nonprofit content marketing, give us a call and ask for a free fact-finding session. That will at least set you in the right direction.