Smart marketing for nonprofits and tribal communities. Located in the heart of beautiful Pacific Northwest, Numa Marketing is a purposely small firm serving the strategic marketing needs of nonprofit organizations and tribal communities throughout the country.

To us, smart marketing means making every dollar count because your stakeholders, voters and donors want to know you’ve invested wisely. It means a results-driven, strategic approach that maximizes every dollar and leverages volunteer and free resources wherever possible. And, it is exemplified by well-designed publications that garner measurable results and a minimal carbon footprint.

Visit our service page now to learn more about our affordable, strategic marketing services designed specifically for the nonprofit.

AMA Conference Report, continued:

#1: Program/product development and marketing must be linked
It used to be that marketing was just about creating a jazzy advertising campaign — it was rare that marketers were remotely involved in the actual development of the product, service or program they were promoting.

But the face of marketing has changed, primarily because it’s become very difficult to get people’s attention anymore, not to mention we’ve all become service quality snobs. As Seth Godin describes in his book, The Purple Cow, to get our customer’s attention, the product or service itself must be remarkable. Accordingly, successful marketers are fully involved in the development of the product/service itself.

When it comes to organizations focused on advocacy or behavior change, the link between marketing and program design couldn't be more crtiical. As AMA presenter Bill Smith described, social marketers who are influencing a change in behavior — such as “exercise more” — need to drive their audience to viable programs that are audience-oriented, offer services that make it easier for the individual to change their behavior, AND integrate a compelling message of the benefits of the change. In othe words, the marketing message — absent of a service or program that gives them the opportunity and ability to change their behavior — simply isn’t enough.

#2: Drive marketing to achieve your mission, rather than to sell
Marketing is still a dirty word to many nonprofit leaders, conjuring up images of in-your-face sales tactics, or getting people to buy something they simply don’t need.

Your marketing efforts should be driven toward achieving your mission, rather than solely to boost profits. Why? Because it’s far easier to obtain buy-in (and funding) to support a mission-driven marketing program than one focused entirely on increasing revenue. While increasing revenue is most definitely a great objective to have, the difference is really in your approach to marketing, as well as in how you report your results to your executives.

For instance, if your mission is to support school readiness in kids, and the primary service you provide is childcare, a mission-driven marketing program would focus on more than maximizing enrollment. It may also focus on educating parents on the importance of school readiness, as well as things they can do to help, such as reading with their child every day.  When it comes to reporting your results, go beyond just sharing statistics. Yes, enrollment in 4 childcare centers is up 30%, but this also means that 200 more kids will be school-ready by 2009.

#3: Start with a marketing mindset, organization-wide
It’s important to get all players in agreement with the role marketing plays in helping you fulfill your mission long before you dive into creating a campaign, or even before you attempt to fund the implementation of your marketing plan. Buy-in is key, including the development director, volunteer manager, executive team, board members, and front line staff like the receptionist.

When you start with a marketing mindset, you’re sure to be infinitely more successful. Why? Because every point of contact with a customer (or potential customer), donor, or partner should consistently relay your message AND the experience of your organization’s brand. When you’re all on the same page, this is much, much easier to accomplish.

#4: Use the web as a community-building platform
One of the biggest trends in nonprofit marketing is leveraging the latest tools of social media and web design to create a community-building user experience on your site. Out goes “Web 1.0” — the internet as we used to know it — and in comes “Web 2.0” with social media tools like blogs, forums, easy-to-download video and audio, and more.

Nonprofits can’t ignore the Web 2.0 transformation any longer. With a minimal investment, your organization can actually fully leverage social media, and an interactive “enrollment” experience (such as video or audio) to fully engage site visitors in your organization’s mission. Social media is also now being widely used as part of an overall fundraising campaign, advocacy campaigns, and more. Watch for the October issue of The Smart Nonprofit where we’ll unmask Web 2.0 transformation and explore how you can leverage the latest social marketing tools in your fundraising, membership drives, event promotion, and more.

#5: Gather data at every turn
Gone are the days when a website served as a mere billboard of information. With just a little work it can now serve as an information gathering hub, helping you collect critical information about the needs of your customers, donors and partners. And with free resources like Google analytics — where you can examine a wealth of data about site visitors — it’s never been easier to analyze your visitor’s interests,

By adding a simple lead-capture form to your website, you can offer visitors something of high value (such as a white paper), in exchange for their contact information and answers to 1-2 key questions about their specific needs. You can then use this data to drive your product/program development, and ultimately your marketing campaigns. Watch for the September issue of The Smart Nonprofit where we’ll expand on the art (and science) of lead capture.

#6: Leverage volunteers as your ambassadors
Your volunteers are the marketing and brand “arms” of your organization, typically the most passionate devotees to your mission. So what messages are they giving out to your public — your potential customers, donors, and partners? Are they all giving a different message? Getting volunteers on board with a consistent brand message should be a core component of your overall marketing startegy.

Numa Marketing is now creating a 2nd Edition of our comprehensive train-the-trainer toolkit, Turning Volunteers into Ambassadors. Watch this fall for more information on how you can access it. The complete toolkit includes sample volunteer training sessions, and a step-by-step guide for creating an Ambassador Toolkit filled with everything your volunteers, board members, and even front-line staff, need to consistently build your brand.

#7: Collaborate, collaborate, collaborate
Perhaps the message that I heard repeated the most at the AMA conference was the critical role that collaboration plays in the success of nonprofit organizations. There are nearly 1,500 new nonprofits formed each day, and currently about 48,000 nonprofits of varying sizes now in existence in the U.S., with thousands serving the same audience or industry. It’s almost impossible to go it alone — and quite frankly, it’s simply unnecessary.

Today’s most successful nonprofits understand how to create, leverage and sustain partnerships that maximize both organization’s strongest assets. Equally important, they are focused — committed to their mission and aware of their distinctive competence, putting personal agendas aside, and never trying to be every thing to every body. They realize that we’re all out there to make the world a better place, and every organization plays a critical role.