Nonprofit Messaging Matters—Here’s How You Can Do It On a Budget

NEW YORK CITY — In the nonprofit world, there are over 1.5 million charitable organizations, many of them fighting for the same donors, the same dollars. That’s why having the right nonprofit messaging for your organization should sit at the top of your priority list; without it, your nonprofit messaging is in danger of getting lost or, even worse, ignored.

The luxury that the nonprofit industry doesn’t have, and, perhaps, the biggest challenge majority of nonprofits are facing, is resources—and that accounts for money and time. Here, at Growth for Good NYC Digital Nonprofit Fundraising Conference, Michael Yuasa, founder and creative director of Antarctic Agency, talked about creative ways to get your nonprofit’s message seen in a busy world… on a budget and with limited time.

With digital marketing, it enables all players to get their message seen easily by targeting people’s interests. An important step that nonprofits need to take is making sure you have fundamental benchmarking (M+R Benchmarks Study, anyone?) and analytics set up. Google Analytics is a free tool, allowing you to track your website’s traffic.

For new donors coming onto your website, acquisition is greater than the initial donation, donor nurturing is important at this stage and these donors want to see the impact of their donation. As for returning donors, these are your best customers, and they want to see the impact of their donation.

It’s good to keep in mind The Rule of 7, which states that your prospects need to come across your offer at least seven times before they actually notice it. Launching a retargeting campaign is a great strategy to get your nonprofit noticed.

Here’s a simple guideline for a retargeting campaign, as presented by Yuasa.

1. Create a set of five ads, plus one Facebook ad.
2. Sync your mailing list to your retargeting program.
3. Run an ad on Facebook/Instagram for new acquisition.
4. Send out a newsletter and announcement to existing audience.

With digital retargeting, Yuasa said that this serves ads to people who care about your cause. It’s also a really cost-effective way to deliver your message, as it costs approximately $50 a week. And retargeting is easy—it uploads five ads, and then you let your campaign run.

Email newsletter programs are the best way to get your message our in front of a warm audience, and it syncs with Facebook and the Google Display Network to target your existing audience.

Yuasa encourages nonprofits to use Facebook and Instagram (both free tools) for new donor acquisition. It’s easy to find new donors and measure results and returns. It also delivers your message to a built-in audience who cares about your cause.