Nonprofits have a guiding mission—one that involves supporting others and creating a community to do so as well. Your team likely has a lot of passion but may be short on budget. With limited means, traditional marketing is likely out of reach. However, content marketing is worth the investment. It enables nonprofits to refine their message and attract new donors. So, how can you make a statement in 2020? You can boost engagement and grow with content marketing for nonprofits.
Why Should Nonprofits Adopt Content Marketing?
Your nonprofit likely has a strategy for fundraising and operations, but do you have one for content marketing? By developing a content strategy and launching it, you can gain greater awareness without a huge investment.
- By adopting content marketing, you can:
- Deliver meaningful content about what you do and your cause
- Find new ways to raise funds
- Drive more recurring donations
- Recruit volunteers
- Share stories about how your work is making a difference
Designing and executing your content marketing plan involves lots of details, but by following the ideas from this guide on nonprofit content marketing, you can do this!
Developing Your Strategy and Plan
Your content strategy and content plan are two different components of the content marketing puzzle. Your strategy defines your vision and the purpose of content marketing for your organization. It’s the framework for every content project you develop.
Content planning is the actual blueprint for how you’ll execute that strategy. It contains the details of how to make content marketing a viable pursuit. Content planning consists of establishing processes, building a content calendar, deciding how you’ll distribute your content, and measuring performance.
With this foundation in place, you now have a clear path between content and goals. Keep in mind that your strategy and plan aren’t final. They are fluid and can be updated based on changes internally and externally.
Key Assets for Nonprofit Content Marketing
One of the most important aspects of content marketing is your content calendar. This calendar is much more than a date holder; it’s where your content projects live. A content calendar allows you to organize and prioritize pieces of content and to track their process with full transparency. It’s also a space to park ideas and discuss them before they become projects.
So, what type of content should be on your calendar? If you’re already doing some content marketing, you’ll have content analytics available that measure your efforts thus far. That can be very valuable in deciding on new topics and formats. Next, you’ll want to do some exercises to generate ideas.
Your content ideas should be influenced by:
- Existing content analytics
- Keywords your audience is likely to use
- Trending topics relating to your industry or cause as well as worldwide happenings (currently, the coronavirus pandemic is dominating the world’s perspective and creating new opportunities and challenges)
- Your events and activities (if hosting or attending, you’ll want content to promote this)
- Questions and feedback from your audience
With these parameters in mind, you can begin to determine topics, formats, and campaigns. You should keep your blog fresh, so you’ll also need to establish the frequency of blogging and other content formats.
Finally, your content needs to get out in the world. You’ll need to define distribution channels and how to amplify your content. For example, you’ll post content on social media profiles while also sharing it with your email list. Creating and publishing are just the first steps. You have to ensure it’s easy to be found by your audience.
What’s Trending in Nonprofit Content Marketing?
Content marketing is always evolving, so it’s a good idea to look at trends to expect and exploit in 2020.
- Content live streaming: Nonprofits are using this type of content to generate lots of views. It’s an intimate way to share how your organization works. There are so many opportunities for live streaming, including events, Q&A sessions, how-tos, and more. Capturing genuine moments can go a long way.
- Don’t be afraid to go long-form: Even though attention spans are short, it doesn’t mean you should shy away from long-form content. Building pillar pages of content or eBooks provides a way for you to get really granular on topics, which may be of interest to your curious audience.
- Thought leadership: Your organization should invest effort in building thought leadership. It makes you credible and reliable. Thought leadership content doesn’t exist solely on your website. Look to some of your partners for opportunities for guest blogs. Networking with journalists and publications can also help you build this by using your organization as an industry source.
- Lead with storytelling: As a nonprofit, you have some very emotional stories to tell. All these stories make up who you are as a brand. Content marketing offers you a way to take these stories and make them more powerful. You can tell the story through words or video, creating a strong bond with those you help and others sensitive to your mission.
- Connect with younger generations: To ensure the survival of your nonprofit, you need to draw in new donors, and that includes millennials and Gen Z. These generations are digital natives, and they often have highly charitable habits. The secret to engaging these groups is to be authentic in your message and find them where they are, using emerging social media channels like TikTok.
- Simplify with automation: Content marketing can be a heavy lift if everything is manual. Technology has the answer, offering ways to automate tasks throughout the process. Content automation is critical to help you do more with fewer resources. It’s one feature of a content marketing platform, which can alleviate the need to do repetitive tasks manually. Investing in this technology allows you to execute your content marketing plan with fewer roadblocks and chaos.
Your Passion Is the Driving Force of Your Nonprofit
Nonprofits are usually formed because of a need in the world or a personal experience. That’s your passion, and finding others that share it is possible with content marketing. Find ways to automate and simplify content marketing with DivvyHQ. Start a free trial now to explore how it works.