GUEST POST: The Quick & Easy Guide For Developing Non-Profit Online Marketing Strategies

This is the first in a series of blogs on Online Marketing.

We live in a digital age. According to a survey conducted by emarketer.com, the average adult spends five hours a day on the internet. Between being at work, surfing the web on a desktop or searching on a mobile device, a very large chunk of time is spent online. Therefore, by not promoting your non-profit organization online, you are missing out on some serious exposure and tremendous opportunities.

What is Your WHY?

Before exploring whether SEO (Search Engine Optimization – See KEY below), PPC (pay per click SEO), Conversion Optimization or Social Media is the right medium to boost your organization’s marketing, you must first answer the fundamental underlying question behind it all: Why are you marketing your organization?  Here are a few reasons WHY you should market your non-profit organization:

• Motivate people to donate.

• Spread the word about your cause.

• Promote your organization’s content.

• Publicize events and programs.

What is Your WHO?

One of the most basic elements of any good marketing strategy is identifying your target audience. Knowing WHO you are marketing to allows you to promote your cause in a way that they are familiar with. This will cause your audience to be more responsive to your content and your organization as a whole. Some important targeting demographics to consider are:

• Geography

• Age

• Gender

• INCOME (Capitalized intentionally)

• Their knowledge about your cause

• Education

• Occupation/Job title

• Religious affiliation

To see a broader list of demographics to consider when marketing your non-profit, check this out!

What is Your WHERE?

Now that you have defined your target audience, knowing where they live on the internet is the next obvious step. Understanding how your specific demographic engages with the internet will give you clarity as to which online strategy to choose. Here is a table with examples of possible online strategies that you can utilize for different goals and demographics.

Key

• SEO – Search Engine Optimization- Optimizing your website to rank first in the search engines for search queries related to your organization.

• PPC– Pay Per Click – Paying for clicks to your website when the search engine shows your ad for specific search queries.

• Email Marketing – Building email lists and engaging subscribers with content.

• Social Media/Paid Advertising – Each social media platform collects data on individuals. Depending on data collected, the advertiser has the ability to target specific demographic. Example:

  • Facebook – You can choose the location, gender, age, likes and interests, relationship status, workplace and education of your target audience. If you are the admin of a Facebook Page, event or app, you can also target your ad to people who are already connected to you.

  • LinkedIn – You can target by location, industry, company, job title, number of employees.

In the above table we mentioned various forms of online marketing such as SEO, PPC, etc. However, within each form of marketing there are numerous strategies that can be taken depending on your WHY.

In the next post, I will provide you with actionable and scaleable  steps that anyone can do right now to improve SEO and crank up their traffic.

Shlomo Trachtenberg is a Digital Marketing Strategist whose specialty and passion is targeted SEO and Conversion Optimization.  He not only drastically increases traffic to your website, but also gets your visitors to CONVERT into leads. He makes himself available for free consultations for Jewish Non-Profits. Shlomo can be reached via email at strachtenberg@digital-trax.com. Read more about online marketing on Shlomo’s digital marketing blog. Although originally from Brooklyn, Shlomo somehow ended up in Baltimore where he lives with his wife and three adorable, yet feisty, little kids.