Content marketing is essential to the success of every business. It is a long-term way of ensuring consistent traffic to your website, and to attract as many visitors as possible.
In terms of the above, nonprofit organizations are no different, despite their different structure, and goals.
The real question is not whether to utilize content marketing, but how to make it work? Join us as we find the answer to that question, and more.
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Nonprofit Content Marketing: Is It Any Different?
Content marketing is more or less the same regardless of the industry. There is one huge difference when it comes to nonprofit organizations, thoughts.
That is that NPOs are, you got it, nonprofit, therefore your mission is not sales or growth, but to find new and retain existing supporters.
This means that you cannot offer any benefits or the usual products/services in return for the support that your donors are giving. All you can rely on is the warm feeling that doing good creates.
Of course, your nonprofit needs all kinds of support: volunteers, donors, brand ambassadors, and so forth.
Generally, nonprofits have to achieve their goals with less resources, so your marketing tactics really need to be effectively planned and executed.
Without further ado, let us take a look at what a content strategy for nonprofits should include.
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Content Marketing for Nonprofits: 7 Strategies to Grow
- Set Goals
- Tell Real Stories
- Enhance Your Storytelling with Visuals
- Trust SEO
- Be Active on Social Media
- Share the Impact of Your Organization
- Use Your Imagination and Creativity
1. Set Goals
Having no predefined goals means that you will not be able to judge the success of your marketing efforts. That is why, the first important step is to sit down with your team, and think about what you want to achieve with your content.
Is it to bring more traffic to your website, or something else? Perhaps you want to spread the word about your organization? Whatever you wish to accomplish, do take the time to outline it. It will really help you later on.
Again, how would you, otherwise, know if you were successful or not, if you do not really know what you are looking for?
Also: whenever possible, you should think about setting smart goals. In short, these are goals that are specific, measurable, attainable, realistic, and time-bound.
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2. Tell Real Stories
Storytelling is great. Sharing real-world stories can really motivate people to donate to your cause. As far as a nonprofit content strategy goes, nothing beats telling the story that drives everyone in your project forward.
What is more, you should focus on individuals, and how your nonprofit is looking to improve their daily lives, and their entire fate. Let us say that your NPO is fighting against hunger in the Third World.
To start, you can talk to some people that you have helped, or want to help, and share their story with the world. Publishing such interviews and feature stories could be really motivating for those that are curious about supporting your charity.
On top of that, you can also conduct interviews, or make videos, with your existing supporters, or volunteers, in order to let others know how it feels like to work for your cause.
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3. Enhance Your Storytelling with Visuals
What can be better than telling a story? Using visuals to strengthen its power. As the popular saying goes: a picture is worth a thousand words.
Taking our example from above, adding some photos or videos you took, will encourage even more people to contribute to your cause.
It is one thing to talk about certain topics and issues, and to describe how bad people are living, but when you add visuals to your statements, words become, as Depeche Mode put it: “meaningless, and forgettable”.
Here is a great example of this from UNICEF:
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4. Trust SEO
Search engine optimization is at the heart of content marketing. The value of SEO comes from the fact that it can help your content rank higher in search engine results pages.
This is not something that you should easily ignore, since your nonprofit will need as much exposure as possible, if you want to reach more people.
After all, 77% of all internet users read blogs, and that speaks for itself. Naturally, if you want online readers to discover your blog, you must invest in optimizing it for search engines.
Of course, search engine optimization is a very competitive field, and one that requires many skills, and knowledge. There are so many ranking factors that come to play, when determining which pages will be displayed on the top of search results.
In order to start doing SEO, you need to research keywords for the content you want to create, as well as, to think about things like user search intent, topic clusters, and defining your target audience.
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5. Be Active on Social Media
Social media is typically the place where trends are born. Not only that, it’s also a great medium to raise awareness, and share fundraising campaigns.
Facebook, in particular, inspires 48% of social media platform donors to give. Next is Instagram, with 24%, while all other social media platforms are at less than 10%.
On top of that, you can use social media to start a discussion about important global issues like climate change, world hunger, sustainable environments, etc.
However, there is one major difference between social media and your website’s blog. While the latter allows you to write long content, social media is strictly a short-form content medium.
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6. Share the Impact of Your Organization
No non-profit content strategy can be complete without sharing what you have achieved. This gives your organization credibility, and can further encourage people to donate to your cause by showing them the results of your efforts.
Furthermore, sharing what you have achieved will let your current donors know that their donations were not in vain.
In fact, 75% of regular donors are looking to find out about the impact of the nonprofit they put their trust in. They are also crucial for NPOs. Monthly donors, for example, tend to give 42% more compared to one-time donors.
What is more, seeing positive results could also be an additional motivation for them to talk about your nonprofit with their friends and family.
In all cases, showing what you have done so far, will fortify the value of your mission, and encourage others to participate in it. Last but not least, this can also give you more confidence in your own abilities.
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7. Use Your Imagination and Creativity
Content should never be boring. You are trying to communicate with real human beings, after all, and the best way to capture their attention is to be creative, use your imagination, and add some gamification to the mix, maybe?
Just because you are a nonprofit does not mean that your content marketing should be dull, and uninspiring. Quite the contrary, you need to inspire potential donors, and make sure that consumers notice you.
Interactive content, for instance, is a trend that has gained popularity recently, and it is working great for nonprofits.
Interactive maps (heatmaps, map markers, and others) display various geospecific information that allows users to observe the activities of nonprofits in real time.
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Wrap Up
There are many great reasons to do content marketing for nonprofits. Having an active online presence will help to increase the awareness of your campaigns, and attract more supporters to your causes.
What about your nonprofit? Tell us about your experience with content marketing, and how it went for you.
What’s more, you can always talk to us, especially if you need any help with building or scaling the marketing aspect of your nonprofit.
DevriX is a full-service WordPress agency that works with all types of businesses, including nonprofits. Do not hesitate to contact us.
We can work together to grow your NPO, while helping to change the lives of thousands of people, and making the world a better place.
Team DevriX
This article is crafted by DevriX's seasoned marketing team, boasting over four decades of collective expertise in crafting sophisticated marketing funnels, devising comprehensive content frameworks and pillars, implementing engaging email campaigns, and creating impactful social media content designed for scalability.
Our marketing experts specialize in the complete spectrum of inbound marketing strategies. As an accredited HubSpot Agency Partner and a Semrush Partner, we engage in meticulous research, blending our extensive experience with the unique insights of our highly skilled team.
We set benchmarks in content creation by incorporating cutting-edge marketing trends, leveraging in-depth industry research, and utilizing state-of-the-art AI tools for data segmentation and captivating content hooks. Our proficiency extends across a diverse range of sectors, including working with SMEs, Fortune 1000 companies, global B2B brands, major publishing entities, WooCommerce platforms, business directories, and affiliate networks.
