Making the Most of Your Limited Marketing Resources
By Tiffany Meyer, president, Numa Marketing
One of the biggest misperceptions about marketing is that it has to be expensive to be effective. Simply not true. Even the smallest of nonprofit organizations - and even those that are entirely volunteer-run - can create and manage a results-driven marketing plan that uses a variety of low- or no-cost tactics. Try these 5 proven steps to make the most out of your limited marketing resources. Read Full Article >
COMING NEXT MONTH!
Writing a Results-Driven Marketing Plan
The Nonprofit's Guide to
Making Every Dollar Count
by Tiffany A. Meyer
Format: Paper
Size: 8x10, 192pp
List Price: $24.95
SEARCH INSIDE THE BOOK:
Table of Contents (PDF)
Introduction (PDF)
The Board of Certified Safety Professionals (BCSP), an international provider of high-quality credentialing for safety, health, and environmental practitioners, hired Numa this month to take their marketing a strategic leap forward. Numa will support the organization in defining their distinctive competence, and how best to position themselves to boost revenue and brand awareness.
Northwest Maritime Industrial, a new economic development venture of the Siletz Tribal Business Corporation on the Oregon coast, hired Numa this month to create a compre-hensive marketing strategy aimed to boost their presence and lauch the organization's brand. Support will include market positioning, graphic identity, marketing plan development, and design of strategic marketing collateral including a comprehensive Web site.
PRODUCT DESCRIPTION:
With this comprehensive, nonprofit-focused handbook you’ll give your marketing the direction, focus, and efficiency you need to maximize the smallest of budgets for optimum results. Each section uses narrative and worksheets to walk you step-by-step to position your organization, develop a simple, results-driven plan, obtain buy-in from administrators and board members, report your progress, and continually improve your program for maximum results.
WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING:
"The chapter on Getting Past the No-Budget Myth alone is worth the price of this book."
- Peg Giffles, NPower Seattle
“If you are like me, you’re an accidental marketer without the benefit of extensive marketing training. Writing a Results-Driven Marketing Plan is a very practical, hands-on guide that every overwhelmed nonprofit manager can use to build their marketing plan, and integrate it into every aspect of their organization.”
- Jono Smith, Senior Manager, Network for Good
“Writing a Results Driven Marketing Plan provides busy nonprofit staff with a veritable cookbook to create satisfying communications. The templates simplify (but not dumb down) the process for novice marketers. Those with more experience will find the book brimming with useful tools for working with committees.”
- Jeanne Kojis, Executive Director, Nonprofit Network
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.
If your administrators or board members are weary about investing in marketing, consider making a cost comparison between the tactics you are recommending and the tactics used by your top competitors. With a little marketing savvy, you can make an educated guess about the top 3-4 tactics the competition employs - leverage this information to help your board understand how your investment ranks against the competition.
Be sure to integrate the estimated value of in-kind gifts like printing expenses or pro bono consultant support into your marketing budget to give administrators and board members a clear sense of their investment compared to the actual cost of your program.
As you move forward on developing your marketing plan, consider some of the following ideas to keep costs in check:
Our article, Leveraging the Valued Volunteer provides a wealth of ideas to turn volunteers into marketing ambassadors. Use these ideas to leverage their passion and support for your organization for optimum promotion power.
Many nonprofits recruit volunteers to provide core marketing support, such as fundraising, managing their marketing program, graphic design, website development, and more. This strategy can be very cost-effective in the short term. However, remember the challenges of relying on volunteers to handle these core areas, such as potential burn-out, possible lack of availability, or simply a lack of professional skills. Simply go into the arrangement aware of these potential challenges, and try to be proactive in exploring ideas with the volunteer to avoid them.
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If you haven’t already done so, consider creating a marketing or communications committee represented by 3-6 board members (depending on the size of your board and your organization). While it’s not necessary that all committee members have professional background in marketing or communications, such a background can certainly help you stay efficient and effective.
Determine the purpose and function of the marketing committee up front. Typically, the committee’s job is to provide feedback and approval for any major marketing-related decisions (such as a new logo design, collateral materials, your marketing plan, or an overall theme or strategy for an upcoming event). When items require board approval, their job is take specific recommendations to the larger board.
This type of functionality keeps projects moving along without getting stopped up in the board approval cycle. In addition, you’re able to capitalize on the strengths of your marketing committee members and the power of creative collaboration.
Depending on your board governance structure, you can also consider making certain marketing or fundraising tasks a mandatory component of your board member’s responsibilities. For instance, some nonprofits require all board members to generate a minimum amount of donations or sponsorships over the course of the year. If you take this route, be sure your board members have the tools they need to be effective - such as key messages and marketing or fundraising materials.
Every year, for-profit companies and marketing associations (such as the American Marketing Association’s local chapters) donate millions of dollars in donated time and in-kind support to nonprofit organizations.
Check in with your local chapter of the American Marketing Association or Public Relations Society of America. Ask if they have an application process for awarding pro bono support to local nonprofits. Typically the association helps recruit pro bono professionals from their membership pool to take on your project. Since these associations usually award support only once or twice each year, try to contact them well in advance of when you need your project completed.
Remember, competition for such awards can be stiff - your proposal should aim to intrigue the professionals as much as possible. What makes the project creatively or intellectually attractive to the pros? What kind of exposure can this project give them?
You may also consider solicitingproposals directly from qualified marketing firms, or even for-profit companies with an established marketing department, to provide pro bono support for larger projects like branding, identity design, a large campaign or event, or a website redesign. Be sure your Request for Proposals (RFP) clearly outlines all of the support you need and identifies methods you can offer to acknowledge the organization’s donated time.
Finally, if you don't have luck soliciting pro bono support for the entire project, consider requesting a partial donation of time from the consultant.
For some nonprofits, one of the most costly marketing expenses is printing of their collateral materials. In fact, if you’re distributing materials in mass (such as for promotion for a large national event), printing and postage expenses can become a significant hindrance.
Consider soliciting printing donations from local printers to offset these expenses while also offering the print shop a great advertising opportunity (such as the inclusion of their logo and donation acknowledgment on all printed pieces). If the printer cannot provide in-kind support for the entire print job, ask them to match your contribution. For instance, if you can afford to print 50 outreach posters, but you really could use 100, ask the printer to match your payment.
In-kind donations are really some of the easiest, low-risk methods for-profit organizations have to contribute to your organization financially. Solicit in-kind donations using a formal solicitation letter. Your letter should highlight the contribution you make to the community, how their donation will help you serve the community (or make a more significant impact than you could have alone), and how you will acknowledge their donation (e.g. placement of a logo, verbal announcements, name on press releases, etc.)
When considering what to ask for, think beyond printing donations - what other materials or giveaways do you need for your marketing to be successful? Ideas can include: Fundraising door prizes or auction items, outreach campaign giveaways, space or facility use for an event or training, gift incentives for memberships (make them as relevant to your organization as possible), use of audio-visual equipment for an event, etc.
Remember, acknowledgment of in-kind donations is critical component of effective fundraising, particularly if you hope to receive the support again in the future. Be sure to fulfill on any agreements you’ve made with the donor to acknowledge their gift. And, be sure to submit a personalized thank you letter or card after the donation has been received.
Many states have a nonprofit association or regional nonprofit network (or both) that gives access to a wealth of collaborative services at low- or no-cost to their members. From technology and computer support, to fundraising and inexpensive website design, your state association may help you offset some major marketing-related expenses.
To find out if your state has a nonprofit association, visit the National Council of Nonprofit Associations (NCNA) website at http://www.ncna.org
Even with all of these great ideas to run with, the best way to keep costs down is keep your marketing program efficient and focused. Watch our next issue of The Smart Nonprofit for are provocative article, "Is Reactive Marketing Costing You More than You Think?" Creating a results-driven marketing plan is the best step you can take to keep costs in check. It will help you simplify your tactics to only those you can successfully manage and track, while eliminating those tactics that simply are not working. Our next issue will launch our new, affordable e-Courses as well, providing sound bytes of marketing training on your schedule.