Marketing communications

Editor’s note: Earlier this year, I met Julia Howell, Vice President, Community Engagement at the Toronto Foundation, and our conversation found its way to the importance of focusing in on a specific audience. I see many nonprofits struggling with decisions about tactics, channels and creative while skipping the step of identifying their audiences. For this… Read More »

Every morning we decide what we’re going to do that day. At work, we have more or less a billion projects on the go and our to do list never gets shorter. The only way nonprofits, and staff, don’t implode from the workload is by setting and staying focused on priorities. There will always be… Read More »

Ahhh, the start of summer. Going to the beach, dining al fresco, applying sunscreen, the buzz of mosquitoes, and thinking about your organization’s end-of-the-calendar-year annual report. You are planning on pulling one together soon… right? Annual reports can be a great marcom tool to: Highlight accomplishments made using funds that were contributed Reiterate your mission… Read More »

What would you say is the purpose of your nonprofit organization’s marketing communications efforts? Is it to support fundraising, to provide advice as an internal consultant, or to create strategic initiatives at the leadership level? According to Dr. Ajay Sirsi in this blog post about assessing and improving the role of nonprofit marcom, asking this… Read More »

You already know better than to design communications for the general public, right? So, how do you prioritize your nonprofit’s many audiences – and understand them? This is what we’ll discuss at the May 2016 #NPMC Twitter chat for nonprofit communicators. Why prioritizing audiences is important No nonprofit has the resources to actually reach “everyone” and if… Read More »

Nonprofits are continually discovering the importance of marketing and communications as it relates to their success. A Guardian article from 2014 looking at marcom 10 years into the future highlights, “The most successful charities already understand that communications is anything but peripheral… More and more charities will come to understand that when communications is made… Read More »

In this day of digital marketing and easy to measure analytics, print marketing is often overlooked when it comes to quantitative measurement. However, since many nonprofits still use a wide variety of print materials, knowing the ROI of a printed piece is important as you strategize for an upcoming campaign. Here’s help with measuring the… Read More »

With twenty years of experience, six nonprofit gigs, one blog, 1,500 posts,  two books, hundreds of presentations and 140 podcasts, you could call me the Pied Piper of cause marketing. For the record, I define cause marketing as a partnership between a nonprofit and for-profit for mutual profit. Here are a few other things you… Read More »

It usually starts with a brief conversation in the hallway – or a short email: “I’d like you to design a quick brochure for my program. I have an important meeting next week and would like to have something to share and leave behind.” Great. You bring together your team (if you’re lucky enough to… Read More »

Who, what, where, when and why are questions to ask with any type of information gathering task – writing a news story, researching an issue, or conducting a communications audit. It’s an effective way to get a better understanding of any subject. For anyone who has put off conducting a communications audit for your nonprofit… Read More »