Why Your Missing Marketing Strategy Matters
We love working to strengthen organizations committed to hope, generosity and justice. The leaders of these organizations (let’s call them Kim and Paul), don’t just love what they do - they love who they serve, and they love how they get to serve.
Kim and Paul don’t necessarily love having to think about marketing or brand strategy, though. Marketing, honestly, can feel icky to their mission-driven hearts. But, that marketing is actually critical to their mission - and making sure more people know about it, and can participate in it.
When we ask them about their marketing strategy, we hear, “I think we might have one…”. But, often they and their team don’t have a robust or integrated marketing strategy to carry them through a few years, and tie together their ministry goals and fundraising goals.
Too often, communications teams start with tactics instead of strategy - meaning teams are busy, but not sure how to measure success.
Even in non-profit organizations conscious of budgets, we’re not immune to “shiny object syndrome.” It’s easy to do whatever it takes to find new donors or partners - building out tactics, like a resource offer and ad campaign to find new donors or a webinar to engage new church leaders. It’s more challenging to think through and plan an overarching marketing and communications strategy to decide which tactics (or shiny object) we should chase, how to measure the success of those tactics, or make those tactics cohesive - and easily repurposed for other things.
What’s the result? Kim and Paul are frustrated with the amount of work they personally have to do around communications and marketing - and how much it ends up costing, with no measurable return on investment.
Turning this on its head to lead with a marketing strategy that drives key implementation areas and tactics ensures we’re doing the work that matters most, and being good stewards of time, opportunity and long-term growth.
And the good news is, that while it’s more challenging to start with strategy - it’s actually not that hard (we promise.)
Start with Strategy
We know to start with why - and that’s exactly what we do. We take a clear look at the organization’s mission, the organization’s priorities, and clarify goals.
A clear, simple marketing and communications strategy moves your brand into action, with simple, measurable targets, clear strategic focus, and ties your charitable or ministry goals to tangible activities. It’s how you intentionally move people toward your organization - with a plan!
We identify the who - who we’re trying to reach, who we’re trying to engage, and who we’re trying to retain.
Too often, we hear organizations say they are the best kept secret, and that should never be the case! Instead, connecting with the right people, in the right way, at the right time means we find our people, and our people find us. That’s strategy.
We identify the what - what we’re measuring, what our baselines are, and when we’ll measure.
Often, for Kim and Paul, the only way they’re measuring communications or marketing success is through the number of donors they have or the number of gifts that come in, and while that’s a critical measure, it’s not the only measure. That’s why a Marketing & Communications Strategy (and a coordinating Marketing Dashboard) is a foundational tool.
We identify the where - three strategic areas where we’ll focus for the next 1 - 3 years, to help us say yes to the right things, and no to the not-yet things.
And then we move on to the how & when - how we’ll make this strategy come to life.
Do you need publicity? Church engagement? A new monthly donor program? Different appeals? Events? Digital advertising? Radio spots? A podcast? A clear strategy makes a strong (repeatable) tactical plan possible - and empowers the team to do the things that matter most, and measure their success.
Ultimately, Kim and Paul get to do more of what they love to do, and the mission moves forward.
Think you’re too small? Often, a smaller team (even a team made up of just one or two people) can benefit in a huge way from having a stated, agreed-upon plan, spending less time spinning their wheels and making the most of a limited communications budget.
So:
Do you have a clearly defined Marketing Strategy, tied to your Strategic Plan and your Brand Strategy?
How’s your Marketing Strategy? Are you reviewing it regularly and tracking results?
Is your Marketing Strategy tied to your fundraising goals? Do you review it with your fundraising team?
Do you know who, exactly, your Marketing Plan and Strategy is focused on?
Do you have three, clearly identified areas of Marketing initiatives that your team can focus on?
Have you identified all the ways you’ll measure success?
And…if you come to your team with a Marketing or Communications idea outside of your strategic initiatives in that plan, are you okay if they defer that idea for the agreed-upon plan for this year?
Need to brush up (or start from scratch) your Marketing Strategy? Set up a free 20-minute consultation to see if we’re the right fit to help strengthen your team and move your mission forward!
