Thursday, Nov 16, 2006

5 Nonprofit Marketing Challenges and Insights

By Marla E. Nobles

It is imperative - and a challenge - to unite and mobilize the nonprofit sector in ways that strengthen its voice for positive change.  Today, that can mean utilizing the newest tools on the Internet, broadening your organization's reach, and modeling after the best practices of for profits.

Speaking at the 2006 American Marketing Association Nonprofit Marketing conference in Washington, D.C., Patrick Dominguez, senior marketing manager for TechSoup Stock, underscored the importance of nonprofits implementing marketing strategies. 

Dominguez listed the following five challenges and insights for effective marketing:

1. Brand. Sending out mass emails about products or services can backfire for a nonprofit, said Dominguez, especially those that "express the belief that they don't have the capacity to develop their brands."
   
   Rhetorically, Dominguez asked the audience, "How many of you get SPAM saying the same things?" So as not to confuse potential donors, it's imperative that your organization focuses on building its brand, "so that it's recognizable." This way, when prospects receive an email featuring your organizations' logo, they won't toss it, he said.
   
   One approach for smaller nonprofits seeking brand-building, said Dominguez, is to recruit a pro bono marketing or advertising professional with the expertise to help boost your branding efforts. Dominguez advised focusing on two areas: (1) a strong visual identity. If there were 10 pieces of marketing collateral on a table, would your constituents be able to immediately pick out yours?; and, (2) clear brand positioning. Is it clear to your organization's audiences what your brand stands for and how it differs from other organizations in your field?
   
   
2. Putting marketing collateral into perspective. Marketing collateral is defined in terms of sales as the collection of media used to support the sale of a product or service (e.g. Web content, brochures, posters). Often times, said Dominguez, much of the marketing collateral amounts to a boring description of an organization's history, mission, and programs. Dominguez offered the following ways to make your collateral more relevant:
   
   • Create a marketing piece for each of your target audiences (e.g. donors, volunteers, clients) and paint a picture of the compelling benefits or you organization's work for each audience. If a reader can't answer the "What's in it for me?" question in less than a minute or two, the collateral isn't working.
     
   • Have a prominent call-to-action. Make it clear what the reader is supposed to do next (e.g. sign up online to volunteer).
   • Have you ever ended up with a large box of collateral in your storage room instead of in your constituents' hands? Make sure to have a plan for distributing your marketing collateral and choose the most efficient channel, which can include email, referrals, word-of-mouth, and/or postal mail.
     
     
3. Managing proliferation of channels. Dominguez said TechSoup addresses this issue by being cognizant of the impact of each channel for getting out your organization's message, including advertising, direct mail, word-of-mouth, blogs, podcasts, etc., involving both online and offline media.
   
   "If you think of your communications channels as an investment portfolio, the key here is to allocate your resources to the channels yielding the greatest ROI for your organization," said Dominguez.
   
   "Of course, the ROI may include both financial and social/environmental returns." Measuring the return generated by a channel is often times challenging, he added, but even rough estimates are useful for understanding which channels are generating the best results.
   
   
4. Advocating for disciplined marketing approaches. "Many marketing (or communications) staff are bombarded with requests from colleagues eager for marketing support, often ASAP," said Dominguez, who said that sometimes the most valuable service a marketing person can provide is to bring a disciplined marketing approach to a colleague's request.
   
   For example, ask questions such as: What results do you hope to achieve? Who is your audience? What is the best way to reach them? What's your call-to-action? What is your budget and timeframe?
   
   Or, try filling out a creative brief together. Added Dominguez, "Often by stepping back and thinking through such fundamental marketing questions, a more effective marketing solution to the request emerges."
   
   
5. Sustainability. Financial sustainability is perhaps the number one objective for a nonprofit organization. Dominguez advised considering whether your marketing program supports your organization's financial sustainability. To ensure that it does, "link your marketing goals to you organization's strategic goals."
   
   For example, is your organization trying to increase the number of donors? Or launch a new earned-income generating program? Marketing communications is needed to support such key goals, said Dominguez, who said that when your marketing program clearly contributes to your organization's goals and to its financial sustainability, you will be more likely to get more resources for your marketing program from your organization as well as from donors, partners and volunteers.
   
   "In our organization, we think about marketing and development as being one thing," said Dominguez, who said both are efforts to raise funds.

Tips Section ...

Grants ...
7 ways not to deal with grants

There is a direct relationship between an organization's internal proposal development process and its success at securing grant funding, according to Alexis Carter-Black in the book "Getting Grants: The Complete Manual of Proposal Development and Administration."

Carter-Black presents anecdotes to illustrate a number of scenarios to avoid, most of which resulted in not getting grant, not submitting grant, or not having a successful experience with the grant.

• Ignoring the rules of the funder. Funding sources establish criteria for a reason. If you have doubts about whether your proposal is within the rules, ask questions.
• Attempts to circumvent the internal grants process. All organizations soliciting grant funding should implement checks and balances to ensure that all requirements, both internal and external, are being met.
• Building health relationships with grant partners. Do not write a partnership into a grant without the knowledge and consent of the partners. Give organizations the opportunity to decline participation in a proposal.
• Making promises you can't or don't keep. When dealing with grant partners, it's dangerous to make a promise that you can't or don't keep. Don't commit to a project unless you have the authority and until you know that your organization can fulfill all of its necessary obligations. It's important to maintain a good relationship with current and future grant partners.
• The 11th-hour grant proposal. Things can go wrong when a proposal is rushed at the last minute to meet a deadline. Things that get overlooked can affect the fundability of a grant proposal or place the organization winning the grant in a less-desirable position.
• Failing to fulfill obligations. One of the cardinal rules of grantsmanship is to finish what you start. If you are unwilling to do the work, don't accept the grant. Funders look for proof, through outcomes and evaluations, that the money was well spent.
• Letting an outside organization talk you into submitting a grant proposal. When another organization approaches yours about partnering on a grant, be clear on what's meant by "partner."

Database ...
Best ethical practices for donor research

It's been said that information is power. It most certainly is, but information also is about people. That's why when nonprofits conduct research for fundraising, Jeff Gignac offers seven rules to follow for best practices in research.

The rules are outlined in "Using the Database to Understand, Secure and Keep Future Donors," from Michael Johnston's book, "Direct Response Fund Raising: Mastering New Trends for Results:"

• You will come across some very personal information.
• Be wary as some of it will be gossip; don't add to it or spread it further.
• Make sure that you're accountable, ethical and moral about what you learn and know about your donors and prospects.
• Respect the privilege of what information brings.
• Abide by relevant laws and regulations regarding privacy and information.
• Set up your own "best practices" -- don't' record in any format, whether on paper or computers, any information that might be considered libelous or detrimental to these laws and regulations.
• Be aware in most countries, people have a right to see all that you have recorded about them.

Gignac said organizations such as the National Society of Fund Raising Executives (www.nsfre.org), the Institute of Charity Fundraising Managers, and the Association of Professional Researchers for Advancement (www.apra.org) all play a role in the area of ethics.

Planned Giving ...
Remembering details for efficient gift transactions

Planned gifts can be an abundant source of funding for many organizations, but efficient utilization of planned gifts requires care and knowledge.

As attendees at a recent conference on planned giving learned, there are certain points that must be remembered about planned gifts.
They are:

• Most planned gifts are restricted, now and forever.
• Ongoing education and awareness, repeatedly repeating, about planned giving options is essential.
• The board has a key role in planned giving success, as donors, overseers of the program, volunteers, lead gatherers and promotes of the organization and its mission.
• Planned gifts often have a deferred impact on the organization: It may cost to raise them now, and it can be years before the organization sees spendable dollars from planned gifts.
• Planned giving programs are more likely to succeed if the organization has staff and financial resources dedicated to proactive planned giving promotion and activity.
• The organization can encourage some planned gift activity without much responsibility, but it will have to gear up, technically and administratively, to handle life income arrangements like charitable gift annuities and charitable remainder trusts. Outsourcing may be needed for this.
• Even the longest journey begins with a single step. Start now, and continue to promote and market in every publication and in any way you can.

Copyright © 2006The NonProfit Times.