Grass Roots Marketing Strategies for Nonprofits

“Your mission is not your only message.”

Last week, Angela P. Wood, Chief Wonder Officer of Wonderfish Creative Solutions, LLC, presented a workshop at the Foundation Center-Atlanta to help nonprofit organizations market smarter, using simple, cost-effective solutions.

“Your mission is not your only message,” emphasized Angela, referring to the brand recognition all nonprofits need in order to garner support. Just as for-profit businesses must know about their customers, nonprofits need to know about their constituents as well.

While you may be knowledgeable about your audience, are they knowledgeable about you? Do they know more than your organization’s name and mission? Do they know your organization’s values as exhibited through your service? Do they know what to expect from your organization?

These are questions that must be answered internally. Once your organization has clarity about how it will function in the community, then you can deliver with excellence. How will people find out about the high-level quality service that you provide? Here are some of Angela’s grassroots marketing strategies to get the word out:

• Start a blog. There are many free sites you can use, such as Blogger and WordPress. The key is to provide useful information. If you start it, keep it updated so that your visitors will have something new to learn. Angela demonstrated just how easy it is to start a blog by creating one on the spot during the class.
• Join YouTube. Make a video, interview people and/or share your story. Use the nonprofit channel to gain visibility.
• Join Flickr. Share your photos and your stories for free! Let the world know about the wonderful work that you are doing.
• Make your web site dynamic. Keep the information fresh, not frozen. Static sites are so Web. 1.0; nevertheless, it’s a good start.
• Join social networking sites. Create a group on LinkedIn, or join Facebook or MySpace. These sites aren’t just for kids. They are rich with opportunities to market your organization.
• Word of mouth. Remember, word of mouth is still the best form of advertising. Deliver with excellence, and word will spread.

In addition to her great tips, you can learn more about Angela's presentation, even if you missed it, by visiting Wonder Marketing for Nonprofits.

To learn about upcoming classes at the Foundation Center-Atlanta, visit our Events and Webinars calendars and register today!

Asia Hadley, Training Coordinator, Atlanta office

Comments

[Grassroots Marketing]

I recently learned that an easy way to brand yourself is to use mybloglog since every page you visit that contains the bloglog widget will automatically include a link to you.

[Sandy Pon]

Here's the link for mybloglog: http://www.mybloglog.com/

The site's guidelines also are useful: http://www.mybloglog.com/buzz/help/guidelines

Grassroots Marketing -- Thanks for your comment! We really appreciate input from those who are savvy w/ Web 2.0-social networking tools.