Eight Basic Steps to Marketing Your Nonprofit Organization

Marketing is an unfamiliar concept for many nonprofit organizations. It's important that these organizations understand that marketing is more than just the old sense of making a sale or obtaining a donation. Marketing is a way to satisfying the consumer and donor needs, but where does the nonprofit organization start? Below are eight steps that will get you started in brainstorming marketing ideas that could make a significant difference in the bottom-line of your organization.

1. Define your target market, research similar organizations and associations.
2. Determine the desired outcome of your marketing efforts.
3. Using the information gathered in Step 1 and 2 develop brochures and marketing materials that describe the benefits, services, donation opportunities, and values of your organization.
4. Develop a social media marketing strategy. Social media such as Twitter and Facebook can provide you with ways to reach out to those interested in your organization in a low cost and effective way. Social media works great when it comes to reaching those who are passionate about causes that individuals hold dear to their hearts.
5. Develop and maintain a professional internet marketing presence by creating a web site. You can use a web site as a great resource to display useful information, news, monthly newsletters, events, create community, share alternatives to donating money, and showcase the benefits of your organization.
6. Research and maintain your prospect and customer databases. Do not let these resources be wasted. Use them for special mailings, follow-up telephone calls, event invitations, alliance development, research profiling, and market segmentation.
7. Show and advertise the results and objectives that your organization achieves. You fill find that it is effective to showcase those that are receiving benefits, inversions, activities, and projects.
8. Always actively search for alliances with other organizations, commerce, government, advertising media, and business. This step alone often brings the most benefit to nonprofit organizations.