Attention Nonprofits! It (Still) Pays to Advertise

The 2008 Report on Nonprofit Marketing (The State of Nonprofit Marketing: A Report On Priorities, Spending, Measurement, and The Challenges Ahead) produced jointly by the American Marketing Association and Lipman Hearne, surveyed leading nonprofit organizations.  The number one finding of the report indicates that building awareness is overwhelmingly the leading priority, regardless of size or subsector.  Smart nonprofit organizations know that they need to advertise, in both good times and bad. 

We know that times are hard and budgets are tight.  We know that your board and your staff might be stretched thin and worried about your budget.  We offer these words of encouragement:

Don’t give up…  Rethink!

Advertising and marketing that supports your fund-raising and development efforts, advertising that creates revenue for your earned income initiatives, advertising that projects your brand presence across a wide range of media — these activities are not optional in an increasingly competitive and challenging era.  Smart money, applied to supporting your revenue streams—both earned and contributed revenue—through high value marketing campaigns is your best hope for maintaining—and advancing—your mission in times like these.

You may have no choice but to operate with reduced funding for marketing
and advertising. Doing the same things but smaller is not the answer.  Strategically rethinking where and how to direct those limited resources requires awareness of the cost-effective options available now. Find businesses that offer cost effective services such as non profit printing and online print ordering services.

Statistics show that even in a downturn, giving to nonprofits does not dry up, but that focused messaging to your core segment of givers may be the cost-effective way to maintain your mission in tough times. 

Overall giving usually declines during a recession or economic crisis. However, experts point out that most households still donate to charity in times of financial insecurity.

From The Buffalo News | November 30, 2008

"It goes down a little bit, adjusted for inflation," said Melissa S. Brown, associate director of research at the Center of Philanthropy at Indiana University, which conducts a variety of research initiatives on charitable giving.

A Giving USA Foundation study that analyzed trends over the past four decades showed that, adjusted for inflation, giving fell by an average of 1 percent in recession years. "That's not bad," Brown said. "Recessions don't cripple giving in total. Certainly there are always organizations that feel the pain, but frankly that's true every year."

Building awareness is the number one priority for a nonprofit.  However, today nonprofit leaders are faced with a multitude of advertising choices, choices which seem to be in a constant state of flux.  Is email still effective?  What about social networking?  Personal URLs?  How about traditional advertising like print, radio, TV? Public Relations?  What is viral marketing and how do we make it work for us?