The Resource Center for Nonprofit Management, a Riverside, CA, agency that works with nonprofit agencies to improve their operations, asked me to conduct a marketing seminar for non-profit managers. We had 90 minutes yesterday to learn how to develop a marketing strategy, how to apply the various components of marketing to that strategy, how those components work, and how to use them together. 
By definition, nonprofit agencies have no budget for marketing, or very little. So our last exercise was coming up with a list of ten things these managers could do that afternoon when they went back to the office.
Here is the list:
- A press release on your new website. One manager realized they could send a press release to the local newspaper about their website.
- Call a local college or university and see about getting a marketing intern.
- Incorporate links into your website to other sources (by the way, this will increase the SEO of your website).
- Launch an email marketing campaign with Constant Contact or one of the other email marketing programs on the web.
- Start a branding campaign, staring with something as simple as developing a standard for how the phone is answered in the office or a standard way your staff signs their emails.
- Plan an event, and leverage PR for the event.
- Start the process to develop a strategic marketing plan.
- Plan a word-of-mouth campaign.
- Talk to local media about what sorts of discounts they can offer nonprofits for display advertising.
- Launch a public relations campaign.
These are things you can do today to jump start your marketing program. But I emphasize #7, because truly effective marketing starts with a strategy.
Good words.
Posted by: Ariella | October 29, 2008 at 03:35 AM