Your Nonprofit Marketing Plan:

A Roadmap to Building Support for Your Organization

Kivi Leroux MillerNonprofit Marketing Guide

Flickr: jurvetson

The Agenda

• Marketing goals, strategies and tactics

• Defining your audience

• Crafting and delivering your messages

• Staff and budget• Measuring success

You’re Talking Too – Yes, YOU!F

lickr

: B T

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Creating a New Handout, Together

This will be a very rough outline of a marketing plan based on today’s discussions.

I’ll upload it here:nonprofitmarketingguide.com/resources/mowaa-plan/

Flickr: jurvetson

No Matter Where You Are Heading . . .

• Changing Behavior• Changing Attitudes• Changing Policy• Motivating Action• Raising Money• Raising Awareness

Most Marketing Goals are Related to

1. Making it easy for people to find you

2. Welcoming them into the community you are building

3. Keeping them engaged with you and your mission

Flickr: Mike Rosati Photography

Yes, You Do Need a Written Strategy

Flickr: Joyseph

But We Don’t Want This

Or This.

What Does a Complete Plan Look Like?

Marketing GoalsEnvironmental Analysis

Audience & SegmentationMessaging

Marketing TacticsShort-Term StepsLong-Term Steps

Budget & StaffingMetrics

Three Essential Questions

1.

What are you trying to do?

(or who are you trying to reach?)

Three Essential Questions

1.

What are you trying to do?

to get someone else

(or who are you trying to reach?)

Three Essential Questions

2.

Why shouldthey care?

(or what should you say?)

Three Essential Questions

3.

What’s the best way to reach them?

(or how should you say it?)

Another Approach: The Marketing Mix

1. Product2. Price3. Place4. Promotion5. Policy

1. Product

• The change or behavior you want to bring about and any items needed to support that behavior

2. Price

• What’s the cost to make this behavior change (money, time, status, social disapproval, inconvenience, etc. = treasures)

3. Place

• Can this change happen where the people are now? How do the surroundings help or hurt?

4. Promotion

• What messages will make sense and how should they be delivered?

5. Policy

• How can rules and requirements help or hurt when trying to change behaviors?

Marketing Goals

What you needto accomplish through your communications

Your Goals = Their Behavior

• What changes are you trying to bring about?

The Installment Plan

• What baby steps can people take to get there?

Flickr: Andydr

People Adopt New Ideas That . . .

• Have advantages over what exists now

• Are compatible with social norms

• Aren’t too complex• Can be tried out• You can see someone

doing or using

Source: “The Basics of Social Marketing” by Turning Point

Let’s Get Specific to MOW

Two Marketing Goals:1. Make potential recipients feel more comfortable about receiving assistance2. Convince more corporations to offer financial and staff support

Environmental Analysis

The conditions under which you are operating

What’s the Competition?

• What other choices or actions are we up against?

What’s the Competition?

• What myths must be overcome?

MOW’s Competition

1. With participants: Other feeding agencies, frozen meals at store, stigma about accepting help2. With corporations: other “feel good” opportunities with other nonprofits, other demands on money or time within company

Audience and Segmentation

Who specifically you need to communicate with, and their interests and needs

Everyone Should Care About . . .

Child abuseGlobal warmingHomeless petsHungry seniors

But not everyone does, and youcan’t change that.

What Should We Do?

What should our website look like?

What kinds of articles should we put in our newsletter?

What should we emphasize in our fundraising?

The Answer to Both Problems

Forget about the “General Public.”

In marketing, there is

no such thing!

Focus on the People Who Matter

You’ll reach people who really are interested in what you have to say.

Your decisions about language, imagery, format, etc. will be much easier.

Know Your Audience

• Who are these people?

• What’s important to them?

Ways to Group People Together

DemographicsBehaviorsStages of Change

Think about Relevant Demographics

GenderAgeEthnicityIncomeEducationHobbiesEmployment

Family StatusAffiliationsReligionOwnership (home, cars, etc.)LocationHealth StatusLikes/Dislikes

Target Audience Demographics

1. Younger seniors versus older seniors2. Why they need assistance (homebound v. income)3. Location (far away from other sources of assistance/only lifeline)

Think about Behaviors

What do they do now?What don’t they do?Are they doing the

right thing, but not regularly or in the right place?

Flickr: vieux bandit

Target Audience Behaviors

1. Corporations: Employees already volunteering, so get HQ involved; those who need a PR boost; those who are not currently engaged with any nonprofits; those who sell related products or services

Now, what do these people value?

• Time• Sleep• Convenience• Adventure• Public recognition• Good karma• Control• Love• Status• Power

• Safety• Money• Efficiency• Challenge• Privacy• Connecting• Independence• Teamwork• Predictability• Fun

• Fitting In• Change• Self-Help• Competition• Action• Formality• Openness• Pragmatism• Cooperation• Idealism

Target Audience Values

1. Recipients: convenience, independence, self-help2. Corporations: public recognition, teamwork, money, competition

Where Do They Get News & Info?

Mainstream Media (radio, tv, papers)

FriendsCo-WorkersChurchFamilyOnline / Social Media

Target Audience Info Sources

1. Recipients: Family members, health care providers, clergy, TV2. Corporations: Business associations and CEO personal networks

What Else Do We Know about Them?

What do they respond well to?

What annoys them?What do they think is

cool or lame?What language do they

use?

More about Target Audiences

1. “Big Wheels Deliver Meals” – showcasing CEOs as volunteers2. Competition among companies for how many routes are covered by company employees

What’s in It for Them?

• What BENEFIT EXCHANGE is going to work with this group?

Target Audience Benefit Exchange

1. Recipients: Get to stay in own home; get a daily visitor (not usually about the nutrition)2. Corporation: Be seen as a good citizen; increase employee satisfaction

Watch for Bouncers

• Look for who controls the flow of info or who is really making the decisions

Listening and Watching Are Essential

• YOU arenot the audience!

• Listen to and watch REAL people.

Messaging

I don’t care if it’s good for

me!

Messaging

What specific messages are

likely to motivate your

target audiences

to act

Using Emotion in Messaging

The Epic Battle Between

FEAR

Using Emotion in Messaging

The Epic Battle Between

FEAR HOPEand

Using Reason in Messaging

When facts and statistics work, and when they don’t.

Messaging Ideas

1. How many days one donation will feed one senior2. By accepting MOW you stay independent longer

Marketing Tactics

How to deliver the messages to the your audiences

Delivering the Message

What’s the best way to reach them?

When to Deliver?

• When are they most likely to be receptive to the message?

Now, Delivering the Message

In print?Over the air?Email?Word of mouth?Social networking?Up or down the

chain?Where are they now?

Guess Who’s Online

Who Delivers the Message?

• Who will they listen to?

• Are there Gatekeepers?

Whose Help Makes This Easier?

• Which partners can help deliver the right message at the right time and place in the right way?

How Often?

• How long do they need to hear it before it’s accepted?

Delivery Ideas

1. Word-of-mouth: employees who volunteer talking to corporate bosses; high power board members talking to their peers 2. Family members and health care providers both talking to recipients

Short-term Steps

What you should do relatively soon

Short-Term Tasks

1. Learn more about your audience’s “prices” – what barriers are in the way now and what they value2. Find out corporate budget cycles3. See if current messages and channels match audiences well or not

Long-term Steps

What you should do later (but plan for now)

Long-Term Tasks

1. Recipient and volunteer satisfaction surveys2. Training for volunteers on how to share the MOW story

Budgeting and Staffing

Estimates for what it will take to implement the strategy

Budget and Staffing

1. Focusing first on free tactics like word-of-mouth marketing2. Writing marketing into all grant applications as a vital component of service delivery

Metrics

How to measure the impact of strategy implementation

Flickr: *~Uplifting Arts~*

Metrics

1. How many new clients from target population2. What clients say about how they decided to sign up, who influenced them3. Number of corporate sponsors or depth of involvement of sponsors

Ideas That “Stick” Are

• Simple – stripped to the core• Unexpected – capture people’s

attention• Concrete – people can understand and

remember• Credible – it’s believable• Emotional – people care about it• Stories – show people what to do

Source: “Made to Stick” by Chip Heath and Dan Heath

This Afternoon

How to define and research

your target audience

Telling Your Story to the Media and Your Supporters

Let’s keep in touch!

Blog: NonprofitMarketingGuide.com/blogE-News: NonprofitMarketingGuide.comTwitter: kivilmFacebook.com/nonprofitmarketingguideLinkedIn: Kivi Leroux MillerSlideshare: kivilmEmail: kivi@ecoscribe.comOffice: (336) 499-5816