Building a Marketing Plan For Your Charity is essential
The most important part of any successful marketing plan comes in the preparation and
research that precedes it. What prep work will help you identify who it is you are trying to
reach through your marketing strategies and it will provide some insights on how to reach
them. For more about the preliminary work that should come first, have a look at our blog
entitled before You Start Your Charity’s Next Marketing Plan, Consider This.
Why Should They Choose To Support You?
There’s a marketing buzz phrase that gets thrown around frequently that may be new to
you: Unique Selling Proposition (USP). Your USP is what differentiates your organization
from the others. It is a way of staking a claim on a particular segment of the marketplace for
which that proposition is important.
What claims or benefits can be your organization make that others cannot or are not? Knowing
what you now do about your ideal donor, will that claim resonate with them? Try to approach
your USP from the donor’s perspective. Your USP could relate to the number of lives their
gift will touch or the percentage of their gift that will go directly to your mission.
Create Your Messaging
Now that you have your USP, you need to figure out how to convey that claim to all your
potential donors. Your messaging is more than the claim statement “support us because we
help more people in your community than anyone else,” although that is part of it. It is also,
how you frame every point of contact you have with a potential donor, including your printed
materials, your website, your thank you letters and your press materials.
Which Media will You Use
If you know where your potential donors spend their time, you will have insight as to how
you can reach them. Charities that are associated with a physical space where large
numbers of people visit to use their services have a clear advantage, since the greatest
source of new donors are usually those who have used your services or who are close to
those who have. If that’s the case for you, make sure you take the best advantage of that
opportunity by engaging visitors while they are in your space. his can be achieved through
posters or brochures, but of course, we think the very best and most engaging method is an
immersive & interactive donor recognition wall.
Where else might you find a large concentration of your potential donors? While V, radio
and print media are possibilities, you may find those to be cost-prohibitive. Online avenues
may prove to be far more advantageous. Consider pay-per-click campaigns, improving your
website’s search engine optimization and expanding your reach through social media.
Manage Your Resources
By now, your marketing plan should have a sturdy wish list of things you want to do to better
market your charity. It’s now time to come up with your implementation plan. To do that, you
need to manage the resources at your disposal: money, staff and time. Create a budget for
your marketing plan, assign marketing tasks to your staff or volunteers and establish a
timeline for all of this to take place.
Track, Adjust & Measure Results
As you work through your marketing plan, make sure to track your progress to ensure you
are hitting the expected milestones and adjust your plan accordingly. When everything is
said and done, measure the results to see what worked well and what underperformed so
that you can be even better prepared for your next marketing plan.