Marketing Profs

Are you working for a nonprofit or promoting a social cause? Many of the for-profit rules about marketing strategy apply there, too.

Recently, I did some consulting work for a high-profile nonprofit client in Silicon Valley. A casualty of the times, the organization has suffered extreme cutbacks in funding. Because of this, the CEO felt that strategic planning and marketing development were not priorities.

This attitude is ultimately dangerous. During these tough economic times, nonprofits are under the gun to craft and articulate a strategic vision. If you cannot convey your mission and successes, be assured: some organization competing for the same funds will.

Are you evolving your market strategy with these changing times? If not, be prepared to lose your raison d'être and your funding.

Here are some important things to remember about cause-related marketing strategy:

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  Market your mission, not your services. Services may come and go, but it is your charter that you need to “sell.” You must champion your mission; programs that do not fit or advance the mission are ultimately distracting from your focus.

  Sometimes an organization needs to reinvent itself. Is the reason behind the mission no longer relevant? If the answer is yes, you may have already missed a strategic window. It is important to anticipate environmental changes that alter the viability of your mission and to adjust accordingly. Strategic planning is a must.

  Remember, these are tough times for cause marketers. To survive, many will have to consolidate as well as trim programs. Now is the time to leverage synergies, and the longevity of your mission may well depend on an organizational merger.

• Communicate your ROI or successes consistently and regularly. Your constituents do not always know your successes. It is your job to communicate them. Though your ROI may not be in monetary terms, you need to communicate and quantify the “economic good” delivered to the market: how many people received care, how many entities, families, etc. benefited from your services, etc.? Treat your constituents as shareholders. You are accountable to them in the same way a for-profit enterprise must exhibit transparency to its shareholders. Waiting until fundraising time to communicate your efforts may be too late.

  Additionally, like for-profit companies, nonprofits often have multiple target markets (constituent bases) with different needs. Your positioning to these audiences must appeal to THEIR needs, not yours. How does your mission affect them?

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