Strategic Online Communication for Nonprofits

Strategic Communications

Many nonprofits are using email marketing tools and diligently sending e-newsletters, event notices, and donation requests online– and increasing their revenues as a result.

Overall these strategies are generally quite effective, but it not done carefully they can actually turn potential supporters or volunteers away.

So how do your efforts measure up?

One of the best ways to get a feel for how you’re doing is to compare with others in the sector.  According to a recent report from MailChimp based on the 273+ million emails delivered by their system, the average email “open” rate for a nonprofit is around 28% and the average click-through rate is 4%.

(This is not by the way a stat representing large and well-financed nonprofits, rather the bulk of the emails included in the analysis were sent by small, “do-it-yourself” organizations).

Take a look at your own stats and see how they compare with MailChimp’s nonprofit averages:

To read the report and view tips for improving email messaging success rates, click here.

The Cone Nonprofit Power Brand 100 report recently published by Cone and Intangible Business, analyzes the top 100 nonprofit brands in the U.S.  The most powerful brands were selected based on a combination of overall revenue and brand image, the latter determined by a consumer survey.

While most of us won’t be found among the top 100, the analysis is useful for every nonprofit:  Does your brand image correspond to your mission and institutional objectives?  Is your online presence enhancing your brand image?  Does the general public have mainly positive, negative or indifferent associations with your organization?

To get a feel for how the public perceives your brand, there are a few low-cost steps you can take: 1) conduct a random informal survey at a place your constituents might frequent; 2) do extensive Internet searches of both blogs and news to see where your organization is coming up, who is talking about you and what they are saying; and 3) send out a quick survey to your email list and ask your stakeholders for some honest feedback.

Whether you need to do some serious work to strengthen your brand or simply maintain your current image, the report offers 10 excellent tips on how to enhance your brand power:

1.  Engage fresh constituencies. Segment your communications and activities to appeal to people beyond your traditional constituents, and use sub-brands to tailor your message to new groups.

2.  Adopt new currencies. Expand the scope of sponsorships, volunteer opportunities, merchandise, or other in-kind products and services so that you can continue to engage constituents even as giving power decreases.

3.  Modernize fundraising. Donor behavior is shifting, and younger demographics are increasingly involved in giving online.  Tap into these potential donors, and streamline your fundraising efforts with new tools.

4.  Deliver crisp communications. Clearly state what you do in either your name or a prominent tagline.  This significantly enhances brand recognition.

5.  Establish (and adhere to) brand guidelines. Protect your brand’s equity by establishing clear guidelines for consistent use by staff, volunteers, media partners, and other entities.  All institutional communication (online, print, audiovisual) must adhere to these guidelines.

6.  Build brand stewards. Your employees, volunteers, and board members are all extensions of your brand.  As such you should encourage and empower them to clearly express (in both words and actions) the organization’s mission and values.

7.  Develop quick reflexes. Be fluid, give people an opportunity to engage with your brand around current events or new trends.

8.  Build corporate partnerships. Identify companies who share your values and have appealing relationships and resources, then recruit them to serve as catalysts to broaden your mission and as stewards to your brand.

9.  Create dialogue with brand ambassadors. Participate in social media venues to not only increase visibility, but to connect with a broad base of supporters and engage in a dialogue to let them know you are an active member of their community. Listen to and participate in the conversations where they are happening, don’t just push information.

10.  Issue a rallying cry. Shift your approach from that of a recipient of funds to a driver of engagement, inspiration and action. Move from a focus on giving discrete donations to joining together in pursuit of a bigger purpose, and help evolve your contributors’ perceptions of their role as donors to that of a community of supporters.  Mobilize your constituents around a common cause, which can energize your brand and strengthen loyalty.

Download full report

Email marketing can be one of the most cost-effective ways to reach constituents, raise money, and keep stakeholders engaged.  But it has to be done carefully– otherwise it can actually turn constituents away.

A new global consumer email study from direct marketing agency Epsilon reveals valuable insights into what keeps North American consumers reading and what makes them unsubscribe to email lists.

A clear majority — 55% — of North American consumers report occasionally unsubscribing from email lists, while a full 14% admit to frequently unsubscribing, according to Epsilon.

The two main reasons for unsubscribing to Email lists across the globe are 1) irrelevant content and 2) high frequency of messages. Another common concern is that email addresses are being sold or shared, which also drives rates of unsubscribing.

So how to manage email marketing effectively? Do some research with your constituents.

It’s important to understand what drives your constituents, what interests them, and with what frequency they prefer to receive messages from you.  There are several ways to do this:

1.  Track constituent responses. If you’re not doing so already, start using an email application or service that allows you to track responses to your e-mailings. Many applications allow you to track click-through rates, how long constituents spend on each article, rates of deletion without reading, etc, and deliver that information to you in quick and user-friendly reports.  Track every communication you send out, and begin taking notes on which topics are most interesting to your constituents.

2.  Test your hypotheses. Once you start noticing trends in what type of articles and issues most interest your constituents, start looking at tone.  Are there ways you can better “package” your information to make it more appealing?  It’s easy to test– send the same email to all of your constituents and just change the title or subject line.  If you send the message to half your list with one title, and to the rest of your list with another “spin” in the subject line, does one significantly improve the click-through rates?  If so, bingo!  You’re learning how to better package your communications for success.

3.  Conduct surveys. Some constituent management tools or email services allow you to send out periodic surveys to your constituents and offer you quick interpretations of results.  This is one of the best ways to get honest feedback.  Are your messages being sent too frequently, too infrequently, or is your frequency right on?  Which topics most interest your constituents?  Once results come in, take a look at whether there are ways you can further segregate your email lists to better target your messages?

By using these three strategies, you will get to know your constituents and can significantly decrease ‘unsubscribe’ rates.

The Future of Email Marketing

The vast majority of North American consumers — 87% — report that they still use email as their primary online communications tool, according to the Epsilon survey.  And only 6% of North Americans (compared to a whopping 28% of consumers in Asia) think of instant messaging as their primary communications tool.  Surprisingly just 4% of North Americans listed social networks as their primary communication tool.

While trends seem to be moving toward increased reliance on social networks and instant messaging, it appears that email marketing still has several years left as the most effective form of communication in North America.  So nonprofits, let’s make the most of it!

By Elizabeth Beachy, Upleaf Co-founder