Online Marketing Wisdom from the Pros— Bite-sized!
Ever wish you could take all those “top 10” nonprofit online marketing articles you’ve read, remove the fluff and combine them into one? Well, our friends at Care2 compiled a great list of tips, each from a different leading expert in the industry— including one of our own! Here are 15 of Care2’s “30 Brilliant Bits of Fundraising Wisdom,” simplified for your viewing pleasure:
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Set yourself up for success. Don’t begin without a strategy for cultivating and converting donors, as well as tracking the results.
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Discipline is key. For a well-executed multi-channel campaign, organizations must carefully map out a look, tone and feel that is consistent across all channels.
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Get your back end in shape! Devote more attention to your tactics in building contacts, capturing the right information and listening to supporters.
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Create an editorial calendar for the year. It’s important to have consistency of tone and relevance in everything you do, and a little more planning will go a long way in making that a reality.
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Get them online, convert them everywhere. With the increasing cost of acquiring new donor, nonprofits are looking online with petitions, newsletters, third-party sources and more.
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Boost your traffic from search engines. Effective SEO and SEM practices are key in making sure supporters find you.
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Treat your donors right. Donors are not ATM machines. Not every appeal has to be an ask. Engage them. Thank them.
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Build long-term relationships. Most nonprofits will only keep 1/5 of their donors next year. Make retention a major priority through engagement.
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Communication is key. The best way to learn about your donors – and keep them – is communication. The more you know, the better you can tailor your marketing in a way that won’t turn them off.
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Find your super users. Segment your list and look for those who have gone above and beyond. Then shower them with love and praise. The better they feel, the more likely they are to give again.
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Tell your story, and know your audience. Stories bring causes to life, not data. Let donors see where their money is going and make them the heroes of the story, because they are.
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It’s all about mobile. 30% of messages are now read on a tablet or smartphone, and the number is quickly rising. Keep up or you’ll be left behind.
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Optimize your emails. Do your emails look like a dissertation? They shouldn’t. Make them intuitive and short, with hyperlinked asks.
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Guerilla test your website. Before launching your website, test it for any usability issues before it goes live. This will save you a lot of trouble in the long run.
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Embrace responsive web design. Responsive web design is a streamlined solution to making sure your website looks perfect on any type of device. No more struggling to read content on smartphones. ~ SankyNet EVP/Creative Director Paul Habig
For the full, detailed list, click here.
