Before I joined the amazing Firebelly, I spent about a year and a half as a volunteer in the world of fundraising for a local nonprofit, ELI. I took classes and sat through seminars offered through IU’s School of Philanthropy. I wrote grants and solicited foundations and corporations to help ELI expand their capacity. I learned a lot about raising money the hard way, by begging for it! I learned how competitive the nonprofit world is and how hard it is for young organizations to differentiate themselves from their, dare I say, competition. I know that ELI was way ahead of the pack in their use of social media, but I came away from my whole experience with a sense that the nonprofit world is behind, way behind, on this whole internet marketing strategy thing.
The fine folks at Getting Attention Blog understand that nonprofit organizations are no different than any other company or corporation. They need to get themselves in front of their constituents, the same way that traditional businesses need to get their customers’ attention. I would recommend that NP’s take a convergence-based approach in marketing. Really, a nonprofit’s marketing shouldn’t look a lot different for a not-for-profit as it should for a traditional business. It should have room for emerging media: social media, blogs, seo, analytics, rss feeds, and even twitter.
My recommendations are simple:
- Use traditional media to drive people online
- build emotional relationships online
- Use a variety of tools to develop content, communicate regularly, collaborate, and use a rich media approach (photos, video, audio).
Plus, most local organizations that I’ve worked with are driven by passion and passionate people. What a better marketing tool than harnessing passion and good work? George Wilhelm says, and I agree, “Nothing great in the world has been accomplished without passion.”
-Ben
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