Nonprofits are a diverse group of organizations with a wide range of missions and goals in mind. That’s why it’s important to take help from a nonprofit marketing communications consultant that fits your organization and its goals. If you’re looking for help developing your plan, the first question to consider is who needs to be involved in the process. Typically, this will include senior leadership such as executive directors or board members as well as staff members who oversee communications initiatives such as graphic designers or social media managers. Once everyone has been brought on board, it’s time to define what makes your organization unique and how others can learn more about what you do through marketing messages that have been carefully crafted over time by an expert marketing consultant working with an expert nonprofit strategist so they know exactly what they’re doing when putting their money into something like this:
Define your mission.
Once you’ve decided to hire a marketing communications consultant, the first step is to define your mission. A clear understanding of your nonprofit’s purpose will guide the consultant in developing a strategic plan that helps you achieve your goals.
Your mission statement should be short and concise–less than 100 words–and should clearly communicate what makes your organization unique. It can be a single sentence or several paragraphs long; either way, it needs to describe what motivates you as an organization and why people should donate their time or money.
For example: Our mission is to improve literacy rates among children by providing books at no cost through our library program.”
Identify your target audience.
Once you’ve identified your target audience, it’s time to start thinking about the ways in which they can be reached. This means identifying their demographics and interests, their buying power and their problems, needs and wants. The more specific you are with this information the better–so don’t just say “women” or “people who like dogs.” Instead say “single mothers between 25-35 years old who own dogs that live in urban areas with a population of 50K+.”
You’ll also want to consider how much money they have available for spending on products/services similar to yours (this is called an individual’s “purchasing power”). In addition to knowing how much money someone has at their disposal on average over time (their lifetime income), it’s helpful if we know what percentage of that income is being spent on our type of product or service during any given period (like monthly).
Set goals and objectives.
Before you start working on your marketing communications plan, it’s important to define the problem. This means defining what you want to achieve and why it’s important for your nonprofit organization.
For example: “We need a stronger brand identity in order to attract new donors.” Or “We want our donors’ experiences with us to feel more personal.” Or “Our donors are giving less than they used to, which will make it harder for us to fulfill our mission if we don’t address this trend soon.”
Once you’ve defined the problem(s), then define your goals and objectives based on those problems. For example: “By December 31st 2020 (or whatever date works best for your organization), we will have 10% more people who identify themselves as ‘fans’ of our Facebook page than we did at this time last year.”
What is the primary message you want to communicate?
Before you start your marketing communications plan, it’s important to define the problem you’re trying to solve.
- What is the primary message that you want to communicate? Consider whether it’s something like: “We are helping people in need,” or “Our organization exists because of [specific issue].” You may also want to consider why someone should support your cause and how they can do so.
- How much money do I have available for this project? This will help determine what type of resources are available for developing content or hiring an agency or consultant. You might also want to think about how much time will be required from members of staff who are already working on other projects within the organization (such as fundraising).
How do you want your staff and volunteers to react to your communications?
Now that you know what your communications should accomplish and how they will be received, it’s time to think about how they are delivered.
The first question to ask yourself is: What do I want my staff and volunteers to think when they see our communication? You want them to be engaged, understanding and inspired by the content of what you are sending out into the world. Your communications should also be easy for them (and anyone else) to read and understand without requiring much effort on their part. Finally, your organization needs something positive in its messaging so that people don’t feel discouraged from working with or donating money/time/etc., which can happen if everything seems like doom-and-gloom all the time!
Create a strategy and action plan that aligns with your goals and objectives.
The first step to creating a marketing communications plan is defining the problem. Before you start on a solution, you have to know what it is that you’re trying to solve. This can be as simple as identifying your organization’s goals and objectives, or it could involve more complex questions like “how can we increase our audience engagement?”
Once you’ve identified the specific problems within your organization, create an action plan that aligns with those goals and objectives. The next step is prioritizing these tasks based on their importance (and urgency) so that no one area gets overlooked in favor of another. Finally, make sure everyone involved understands how their role fits into this larger picture–this will help ensure everything stays on track throughout the entire process!
The most important part of any long-term goal setting process is making sure those goals are achievable within reasonable timeframes; otherwise they might become dishearteningly unattainable over time if nothing changes along the way!
Design a marketing plan around your strategies and action plan.
The first step to creating a marketing plan is to make sure you have an actionable strategy and an accompanying action plan. An effective marketing consultant will help your nonprofit determine what it wants its audiences to do (such as donate, volunteer, or attend an event) and then design a communications program that will guide people toward those outcomes.
A good way to approach this process is by first identifying your goals: What do you want from your communications? Are there specific metrics that matter most? Do they include things like number of donors per month or percentage increase in monthly giving? Once those are determined, it’s time for the fun part–developing tactics!
The next step is determining which channels are best suited for reaching these goals. For example, if one goal is increasing awareness about an upcoming fundraising campaign among young professionals living on the Upper West Side who work in banking/finance jobs at companies worth more than $50 billion annually but don’t yet know much about our organization or mission statement despite having heard positive things about us through word-of-mouth referrals from friends who work here too…”
Conclusion
If you’re ready to commit to a marketing communications consultant, we can help. At Elevate Your Nonprofit we work with nonprofits of all sizes and budgets. We understand that every organization has unique needs and goals, so we customize our approach accordingly. Contact us today and let’s start working together!