Online Marketing: Make It Personal

Nonprofits have an amazing number of low-cost tools available to get the word out about their heart-centered missions and generate the support they need to continue to make a difference in the world. 

Need to get a message out fast? There’s a ton of email tools that don’t cost much (and often have nonprofit discounts). Want to make a splash on your website with some visual flair? Check out Canva or PicMonkey and create great imagery without a graphic arts degree. Want to target a very specific audience with an ad? Facebook lets you do that for mere dollars a day.

But there is a hidden cost to online marketing – the potential of losing “the personal touch.”

That connection is absolutely essential in the nonprofit sector.  Consumers buy goods and services in the for-profit world for a variety of reasons – it’s the latest and greatest, it’s the best price, it’s a reputable brand.

But with nonprofits, it’s all about the personal connection. Your supporters – from your board leadership to your volunteers to the person who can only afford to give you $10 a year – give you time and treasure because they believe in your mission. It calls to them, it resonates, and that is all about personal connection.

Fortunately, there are ways to keep that personal touch even when you are working with tools that are essentially automated. And there are times when you might want to mix it up, layering your digital outreach with some “old school” methods to foster that connection.

Here are a few tips to making your online marketing personal.

• Use their name. That one almost feels too obvious, but the power of using a person’s name in your e-communications is one of the easiest ways to build connection with your audience. So no general “Dear Friends” or “Dear Supporters” greetings.  Add their name and it feels like you are talking directly to them. Couple of things to remember with this, however:

·      Make sure any method you are using to collect email addresses (a digital opt-in program or even a paper form that’s filled out) has a “first name” field so you can collect their first names. Don’t just get email addresses without names.

·      Make sure that your e-communication platform’s first name field is working correctly. All your efforts will be undercut if your subscriber gets an email that greets them as “Dear [FirstName].”

• Savvy use of autoresponders. Most email platforms have the ability to create an autoresponder chain of emails, which is terrific for folks who are opting in to get your emails for the first time. You can create a series of emails that are automatically scheduled out that can introduce them to your cause and what you are trying to accomplish. Write them as a kind of “welcome wagon” message, thanking them for subscribing and caring about your mission.
  
  
•  Adopt a personal (and more casual) style. Part of making it personal is reflecting your personality, or your organizations voice in your communications. Don’t be afraid of showing your passion or your humor or telling a personal story when you reach out in the digital realm. These items shouldn’t detract from your main message, but by revealing a little of yourself, you help build a connection with your audience.
• Segmentation. The communication you send out to your veteran volunteers will probably be different to the one you send to new donors. Adjust your message accordingly and segment out your various supporters.
  
  
• Survey. Ask questions. It can be a quick survey embedded into your email or a separate campaign but find out ‘what’ about your cause resonates with your audiences. This is particularly true if you have more than one program. For example, one of my clients provides educational programs for Pre-K children and financial services for people who need help filing their taxes. There is, of course, some overlap between those two audiences but for the most part, they are looking for different things and it’s good to know that.
  
  
•  Tell Stories. We are biologically programmed to want to hear stories. You can have the most impressive statistics in the world, but if you connect those numbers to a real live person (or animal if your cause is animal-related), it’s just more powerful. Show how you are making a difference in one life by telling a story then extrapolate it by saying that story is just one of the dozens or hundreds or thousands of lives your nonprofit is impacting.
  
  
• Video and Audio. Want to change it up? Try recording a video or audio file with your smart phone and share it in addition to your text. You could even say in your text: “I know how busy you are, so I recorded this so you could play it on your commute home tonight.” Plus, it’s another way to share yourself by letting your audience hear your voice instead of just reading your message.
  
  
• Use the right words. Words matter – and using the right ones can help your cause. There are words you can use to show your competency, words that test better with men, words that cause emotional gratification. I have a guide specifically on Words that Inspire Giving that you can get here. 

When & How to Go ‘Old School.’

While I’m a firm believer that all nonprofits should take advantage of the digital opportunities available to market their mission, there’s time to layer and leverage your digital messaging with “old school” outreach efforts. A few examples could be:

• Written notes. Nothing beats snail mail when it comes to giving a heartfelt thank you.
• Events. These don’t have to be big to-do’s but small get-togethers that reinforce your digital outreach. A luncheon for loyal volunteers, a coffee klatch with new donors to tell them more about your organization can also help cement your relationships with these audiences.
• Phone calls. A simple phone call to keep in touch with important constituencies can help foster important relationships. Remember, this isn’t about asking for money, but checking in and keeping the lines of communication open.
• Open houses. Another great way to connect with your supporters face-to-face and keep them informed of the work you are doing.