60 Minute Marketing

By Kim Ellsworth, Marketing & Communications Director, Idaho Nonprofit Center

​​​"Marketing and communications within nonprofits – especially at smaller organizations–  always seem to take a backseat. This makes sense as the priority should go to achieving individual missions. However, investing even a little time and money into marketing will make a big difference and will ultimately help your bottom line."

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Graphics & Images

• 15 minutes – Using photos from your programs and events will always be more effective than a stock photo or a generic graphic. Invite board members, partners, volunteers, and your staff to take pictures at your events. A calendar invite can be used as an easy reminder for them and for you when you are busy running the program.
  

• 30 minutes – When you need a flyer, poster, or website banner, Canva templates are an easy tool to use. Nonprofits are able to sign up for a free pro account with access to many more options. If you are new to graphic design, please remember that negative/white space is your BEST friend!
  

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• 60 minutes – Give yourself extra time to create your own Canva templates. This is a wonderful tool to stay consistent when a diverse team of board members, volunteers, and student interns are creating graphics for your organization. A regular brand and style for your nonprofit helps with efficiency and audience recognition.

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• Time Saver Tip – Because a nonprofit brand is important for building trust and relationships, it may be a good investment to hire a design studio or freelancer to create a library of graphics, images, and documents for you. Sticker shock will most likely happen but this saves you more time in the long run and takes the stress out of creating it yourself.
  

Emails & Newsletters

• 15 minutes – An easy task that can increase your open and click rates with little effort is an A/B test. This is usually an automatic feature your email software provides to help discern the best strategies. It’s great at answering these questions: What time of day is best to send? What is the best subject line? What type of content are folks looking for?
  

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• 30 minutes – Always keep it short. Don’t spend too much time crafting the perfect email or newsletter because the shorter it is, the more engagement you’ll get.
  

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• 60 minutes – Give yourself extra time to segment your donor and email lists. Customizing content to your “small” donors and “major” donors will help retention and event participation. The Center consistently holds fundraising and development workshops. Check out our calendar to see what’s up next.
  

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• Time Saver Tip – Collect content throughout the year to share during your newsletter schedule. Ask your clients and program participants for quotes, stories, and pictures every chance you get. This will help when you finally have time to sit down to write. 
  

Social Media

• 15 minutes – Invite your board (and staff if appropriate) via a calendar event to like, comment, or share your posts through their personal profiles to ensure more people see your work.

• 30 minutes – Create all your social media posts for the entire week in one sitting. Then go directly to your favorite scheduling tool (Hootsuite, Later, etc.) to automatically post at your desired times. Something is always better than nothing, even if it’s not perfect.

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• 60 minutes – Give yourself extra time to create “evergreen” posts that you could share no matter the time of year or what programs you are running. This will help you in the future when inspiration and creativity are at a low. Here are more post ideas to get you to the next week.

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• Time Saver Tip – C.O.P.E. Create Once. Post Everywhere (credit: GiveGab). Because most audiences are on at least two or more social media platforms, it’s sometimes suggested that you create unique content for each one. However, scrappy nonprofits with hand-me-down chairs and computer monitors can and should C.O.P.E. It also helps contribute to getting a viewer to turn into a donor because of the multiple “touches.”

Setting just one hour a day, or a week, aside for external communications will bring your organization closer to your mission in a BIG way. ​