Connect Your Cause to Your Audience: Digital Marketing Strategies for Nonprofits

Nonprofits are the real MVP’s of working with a limited budget. In order to operate and raise awareness for their cause, nonprofits are fighting an uphill marketing battle: competing for attention with bigger, more financially backed online advertisers. However, we are here to provide suggestions to alleviate some of the pressure. This post will go over four strategies nonprofits can utilize to connect their cause to their online audience while staying within budget. Read on to learn more! 

Introducing…Google Ad Grants!

If you’ve never heard of Google’s Adwords Grants, I am about to rock your digital marketing world. Many nonprofits rule out PPC (pay-per-click) marketing simply because it starts with the word “pay.” However, it also shows that you likely don’t know about Google’s Ad Grants program. The program is basically free money given to nonprofits to advertise on the world’s largest and most effective search engine, Google.

However, this strategy does come with a caveat – there are limitations in terms of bids and budgets. Advertisers can’t exceed a $2.00 Cost per click bid, and you can’t use more than $10,000 per month.  To be considered for Google ad grants, you need an AdWords account, a Google nonprofit account, and the customer ID from your AdWords account. Start the application process and get advertising for free so you can spread your cause to a much larger audience!

Strategic Partnerships

Pay Per Click (PPC) is complicated for any organization, and many will find the budget restrictions Google Grant implements very difficult to maneuver. Luckily, agencies such as Intuitive Digital have the expertise to take you through the application process and optimize Google Grants successfully. Whether your nonprofit’s goal is to want increase membership, volunteers, or donations, we can help.

Because you’re advertising free of charge, your budget would be allocated to improving the performance of your account.  It’s worth noting, that the best performing Adwords campaigns are strategically structured and optimized weekly (some accounts need daily optimizations). Agencies will prevent unnecessary spend and be able be able to provide high-level strategies that will elevate your account.

Promote Content on Social Media

Your content has little chance of gaining visibility beyond your friends and family on social media if you don’t put money behind it. Unfortunately, none of the social media platforms have joined Google’s crusade in helping nonprofits but if you’re partnering with an agency there’s no reason you would ever spend beyond your means.

Agencies have the expertise to utilize the granular targeting options on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Agencies are able to strategically place your content in front of people that are most likely to care about your cause. We can structure audiences based on interests (like education, animals, environmental, and more) and show personalized content to users across the country that will entice them to learn more or donate their time or money to your cause.

Facebook’s Donate Now Button

In August of 2015, Facebook announced that they’re allowing selected nonprofits to add a “Donate Now” call-to-action button to their Facebook page encouraging users to act right on Facebook. The button does require a small fee, but it if you’re a donation dependent organization (like most nonprofits are), this button promotes immediate action. To get this functionality on your page, make sure you have a verified Facebook page, hold verified 501(c)(3) status, and have agreed to Facebook’s terms and conditions. You can learn more about the process here.

The Benefits Outweigh the Cost

The benefits of implementing digital marketing into the marketing efforts for your nonprofit far outweigh the cost especially when you partner with an agency. With the strategies listed above you can grow your nonprofit’s brand awareness, donations, volunteers and more.It’s just about being strategic and taking the first step. To learn more about what digital marketing can do for your organization send us a note at [email protected], we’d love to hear from you.