| Marketing is a way of determining a particular need of | | | | 1. Position your organization. What is the thing you hang |
| a particular group of people and solving that need. It | | | | your hat on or differentiate yourself from other similar |
| isn't sales. Sales is a component of marketing. | | | | organizations? Are you the only one providing the |
| Marketing for nonprofits presents a special challenge | | | | service you provide? Have you been around the |
| because you typically have no tangible product. You | | | | longest? Are you the best? Once you figure this out, |
| are "selling" a warm fuzzy. So how do you market for | | | | you can use it in reaching out to your target audience. |
| nonprofits? | | | | 2. Develop and implement a communications plan. How |
| To effectively market your organization, you must first | | | | will you communicate with your target audience? What |
| know a few things about yourself. | | | | techniques will you use? How often will you |
| 1. Determine what business you are in. Can you boil | | | | communicate with them? These are questions you |
| your mission statement down to something really short | | | | must wrestle with. Your newsletter, website, brochure, |
| and sweet? For example, Habitat for Humanity is in | | | | and annual report are all tools you can use for |
| the business of building decent, affordable homes for | | | | communicating with your target audiences. |
| families in need. | | | | Consider how you will work with the media as part of |
| 2. Determine the key message(s) you want to get out. | | | | your communications plan. Think about the target |
| There's probably one or two things that you really | | | | audiences you want to reach and develop a list of |
| want to say to the public and to your target audience. | | | | appropriate media contacts. For example, you don't |
| Habitat may have a key message of "Everyone | | | | need every reporter at the News Sentinel on your |
| should have access to a decent, affordable home." | | | | media list. You may only need the food section editor |
| 3. Identify your target audience(s). There are probably | | | | or the health section editor. |
| a few specific groups of people that you want to | | | | 3. Determine how you will measure success. Are you |
| reach with your key messages. For Habitat, churches | | | | looking for an increase in donors? An increase in |
| are a target audience because they provide a lot of | | | | donations? Being able to measure success will help |
| financial support and volunteers. And there may be | | | | you know when your marketing efforts are working. |
| other great target audiences for Habitat, too. | | | | Marketing isn't something you can do once and forget |
| Once you are clear about yourself, your messages | | | | about, so be prepared to work on your marketing and |
| and your audience, you can put together a plan for | | | | communications activities year-round. |
| marketing. | | | | |