At the heart of every marketing campaign is the concept of reaching the right audience with the right message. At no time in history has that been easier to do.

Thanks to online marketing and data analytics, companies now can pinpoint marketing campaigns directly at the people who are most likely to become buyers.

This proves especially important for nonprofits. In order to fund ongoing operations, they must not only market what they do to the right people but also find potential supporters whose donations provide the life’s blood for a nonprofit organization.

Even small nonprofits who might have stayed away from marketing campaigns, thinking they are too expensive for their organization, can use the smart tools available to increase visibility and target the right audience.

Marketing Non-Profit Organizations Successfully

The list below includes a number of basic issues that nonprofit leaders should keep in mind as they look to market their organization. While none of it is especially complicated or difficult, it does require taking action and staying committed to achieve success.

A Strong Website

In this day and age, it’s amazing how many companies do not have a well-established, consistently maintained and updated website. In the virtual online world, a website has taken the place of a bricks-and-mortar office. It’s key to find an experienced expert with a good track record to build and maintain your website.

Social Media

To reach your audience, you have to go to where they spend time. And these days, millions spend a significant amount of time each day on social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, Google+ and Linked In. Creating ads for those sites is a powerful and relatively inexpensive way to reach a massive audience of potential consumers of your product. Social media also allows you to target a specific group of people who have a demonstrated interest in your product or service. It takes the guess work out of marketing campaigns.

Direct Mail

Because competition is stronger than ever for the attention of potential donors, it’s important to create a list of current and potential donors and contact them using a direct mail campaign. Make sure to test various types of direct mail, seeing what gets the best response. That includes changing the length of text, trying an insert or any other variable that will allow you to increase response. Make sure that the organization has a very clear picture of its mission before turning to a direct mail campaign – otherwise you run the risk of having an unfocused, muddled message. Respect the wishes of donors who ask to only get contacted once or twice a year – they will reward you with loyalty to your nonprofit cause.

Nurturing Your Database

That idea of respect toward donors carries over into the idea of nurturing a database. Retaining your current list of loyal donors is as important – if not more so – than expanding to others. The top donors to a nonprofit should get better treatment, such as higher-class mail outs, a more personal touch in any communication sent to them and, perhaps more importantly, a clear acknowledgement of their past giving and what it has meant to the nonprofit.

Set a Budget, Hire a Pro

Marketing non-profit organizations often proves difficult for some who have never done it and would rather concentrate on providing the service that the nonprofit was created to do. One solution is to determine how much can be sent on marketing, and then hiring a company that specializes in areas such as website creation, social media marketing campaigns and direct mail.

Taken together, these ideas can elevate even the smallest nonprofit to bigger success. Even if the work must be outsourced, it still provides a strong return on investment for nonprofits if handled properly.