Content marketing is an inexpensive way to reach your target audience, educate them about your mission, and encourage them to give to your cause. It might take you some time to get the hang of it, but if done well content marketing can lead to more donations and awareness. According to the Content Marketing Institute:
“Content marketing is the marketing and business process for creating and distributing relevant and valuable content to attract, acquire, and engage a clearly defined and understood target audience – with the objective of driving profitable customer action.”
If you want to get your organization started with content marketing or you want to improve your content marketing strategy, check out these tips:
I’ve put together a new GUIDE that’s packed with science-backed nonprofit fundraising methods, resources, strategies, and killer marketing methods.
You should check it out if you want to get more donations and you want to fast-track the entire process.
1. Know what you want your content to do
One thing that good content marketing does is guide customers through your buying cycle. When you’re creating content you should know what effect you want it to have on the reader.
Are you expecting your readers to already know a lot about your organization? Are you trying to reach out to new audiences and educate them about what your nonprofit does?
Answering these questions will make your task a lot more straightforward, and help you plan content more effectively.
2. Focus on human interest
There are a lot of different ways that you can bring a human element to your content. You can share anecdotes involving yourself or members of your team, feature active community members, or include quotes from industry leaders and other influencers in your content.
An easy way to do this without overthinking it is to try and share stories, not just information. Explain why the information you’re sharing in a piece is relevant to the reader, or the people effected by your cause. Make sure you are clear on why this content you are sharing should matter to people.
3. Go for longer, higher quality content
Try to avoid rushing to publish short pieces just to put content out there. Instead, aim for longer, in-depth content that will improve your SEO ranking and bring more value to your readers (who you want to turn into donors!).
If you are creating an informational piece, whatever your topic is, try to make it the most comprehensive and complete explanation of that topic that you can. That will help your content compete with other organizations and make it easier to find on search engines.
4. Create a series of pieces
Instead of writing a bunch of one-off pieces that generate some traffic, increase your repeat visits by putting together a series surrounding a specific topic. These pieces will bring in new views each time as well as repeat views from readers of the last parts.
This type of content marketing creates a narrative for your customers to follow and provides added value over time.
5. Use different types of content
Remember that content marketing covers just about any type of content, not just blog posts! You can share videos, live broadcasts, infographics, podcasts, eBooks, just about anything you can think of.
In fact, it’s recommended that you go with different types of media also, including things like pictures and video in your blog posts and other content to maximize interest. Be creative!
6. Look to your community for things to write about
If you find yourself running low on ideas or you aren’t finding your content very effective at bringing in sales, you might want to change your perception. Instead of brainstorming ideas yourself, brainstorm with your community.
You can ask them what they want to learn more about, look at frequently asked questions in your area of expertise, or find out current trending topics for your target audience using tools like Buzzsumo.
7. Be honest and opinionated
People like to read content from writers who are straightforward and knowledgeable. Be confident in your writing and avoid sounding uncertain about things. Of course, you want to make sure that what you’re saying is true and believable otherwise you might lose some readers.
Basically, know what you want to say and don’t be afraid to say it. Try not to waste your readers’ time by taking too long to get to the point and they’ll appreciate your content even more.
8. Your content should affect your reader
When putting together content, think about what you want your reader to feel. Do you want them to feel sad, so they will want to help you raise money for a tragic cause? Do you want them to feel happy, because you’re showing them the good that you are doing with the donations your nonprofit is getting?
Figure out what you want your readers to be feeling when they are reading each piece you write and try to stick with that theme. Include elements of it in your title, images, video, and text to make sure that you are eliciting the right emotions and reactions to your content.
9. Repurpose content
Repurposing content is a great way to share more without spending extra time creating something totally new. For example, we recently conducted an hour long webinar on #GivingTuesday and then broke that content up into bite-sized chunks, like the video below.
As a non-profit, you can do the same with pieces you publish by tweaking them for different audiences, industries, etc.
10. Write like you talk
This one can be a little bit hard at times, but try to sound conversational in your content marketing. It makes your writing more interesting to the average reader and comes across as more friendly. Try to avoid using too much jargon or long sentences. It’s all about connecting with your readers on their level and making them feel like they are getting to know you at the same time.
11. Work with influencers
The beauty of the internet is that you’re a couple clicks away from meeting influencers that are passionate about your cause and willing to help you spread your message to others. You can use tools like Klout to find influencers who are passionate about your cause.
Once you find influencers to partner with you can share each other’s content, have them guest write for you, guest write for them, and more. There are quite a few ways you can work together with influencers to create great content that both of your audiences will love!
As a non-profit, you want donors and your target audience to trust you and turn to you for information related to your cause. In order to earn their respect, you need to give them valuable information and become a leader alongside other experts in your area.
Ways you can do this are through guest blogging, sharing relevant information on social media and spreading knowledge through webinars.
You should continuously be working to share content and always ask yourself if your content is doing its job. If not, you need to be willing to change your strategy a little bit to get the results you need.
14. Have a strategy in place
It really helps to put a content marketing strategy down on paper, so you know exactly where your efforts should be focused and why. It is also an easy way to keep all of the members of your team on the same page, since there is a document to refer to if anyone has any questions about your content marketing strategy.
Here you can put down things like your target audience, where you are sharing your content, what times of content you will and won’t publish, etc. Feel free to make changes if needed though! It just helps to have some general guidelines.
15. Use conversion optimization
When putting together any content or marketing materials, be sure to use conversion optimization techniques in order to turn as many readers into donors as possible.
Conversion optimization includes little things like adding a call to action with a link to where readers can donate at the end of a post, using visuals in your content, making your contact information easy to find, and more. For a list of more conversion optimization tips, check out this post.
Conclusion
If you want to give content marketing a try or you’re looking to make some changes to your current strategy, this post should give you plenty of ways to get started. Content marketing is all about establishing yourself as a leader in your area of expertise and keeping your nonprofit in the minds of your audience.
Most of the time, your audience doesn’t donate to your cause the first time they come across your nonprofit. After a few views of different content, maybe a couple of emails, many will be a lot more likely to give to your cause. That’s because this content helps them get to know you, your values, and what you stand for.
If your nonprofit is considering crowdfunding as a way to raise more donations, find out more about the top nonprofit crowdfunding platforms here.
I’ve put together a new GUIDE that’s packed with science-backed nonprofit fundraising methods, resources, strategies, and killer marketing methods.
You should check it out if you want to get more donations and you want to fast-track the entire process.
Feel free to leave any questions or comments below!
