What comes before 'the ask' in nonprofit marketing? Wise words from Gary Vaynerchuk

A recent blog post from marketing juggernaut, Gary Vaynerchuk, has me thinking about how to crack the nut of nonprofit marketing – specifically when it comes to fundraising and donor relations. Building trust with your donor base while still driving donations is complicated... whether it's an email or a social post, Gary reminds us all that nonprofit fundraising is about more than just "the ask."

To start, Gary points out that nonprofit marketing is not so different than for profit. You CANNOT just go for the ask. I'm sure you've heard the 80 / 20 rule when it comes to marketing content – 80% should be helpful content for the user and 20% can be more salesy or specifically about your organization. I think the same principle should be applied to nonprofit marketing.

Gary uses a boxing analogy to describe two types of user engagement with your content.

JUST BECAUSE YOU’RE A NONPROFIT, DOESN’T MEAN YOU ONLY THROW RIGHT HOOKS

 

For context if you haven’t read my books, jabs are the value you provide your customers with: the content you put out, the good things you do to convey your appreciation. And the right hook is the ask: it’s when you go in for the sale, ask for a subscribe, ask for a donation.

In the nonprofit world, you probably have a little more permission to throw more right hooks more frequently than a regular business does. However, I am reluctant to even say that statement because the biggest problem in this world is that many nonprofits are only in the right hooking business.

- Gary Vaynerchuk

Check out Gary Vaynerchuk's full post, Nonprofit Marketing: The Same Rules Apply

This strategy might seem obvious to many, but frankly most nonprofits don't effectively drive online donations. They just don't have the internal bandwidth to create and execute multiple targeted marketing campaigns. Also, this approach often does not deliver immediate results and the attribution of donations across marketing channels can be extremely difficult.

Gary mentions a few nonprofits in the post including Charity Water and Pencils of Promise. Both of those nonprofits have a lot more resources and influence so they do a lot of storytelling and marketing campaigns – often driving more donations. 

So how can your nonprofit make progress?

• Just like in for-profit companies where sales and marketing alignment is vital, marketing and development alignment is vital as well. Collaborate closely between teams to ensure your messaging is about more than the ask.
• Create audience personas, map out their journey and segment your marketing lists to reach those audiences where they are. The triggers and motivations to donate are different for each audience base.
• Use a combination of emotional audience stories (like this nonprofit did!) and impact data to create urgency and engage your audience. The goal should be to build a relationship and have your organization be top of mind when they are looking to donate. 
• Take advantage of free content management tools to ensure you stay on top of consistent social publishing. 
• Use marketing automation software to track the lifecycle and online activities of your donors. This will shine light on the effectiveness of certain types of content and make the case for why your organization needs to invest more in building these relationships.