Australia is no different than anywhere else in the world. We wake up, make tea or coffee, and get to work earning a living so we can enjoy all the free time possible with friends and family. However, the cultural nuances and unique needs of the audiences we serve make all the difference in the world when it comes to marketing.
Your nonprofit doesn’t exist in a fishbowl. It doesn’t matter if you’re providing prosthetics to recent military veterans or offering literacy services to older adults. You need a way to capture as much of an online audience as possible without sacrificing your core messaging.
Operating your marketing strategies online is in much the same vein as any other business, but you must make little changes here and there to cater to your audience and support your underlying mission.
Our team at Web 105 wants to be sure you have a more holistic view of your marketing efforts so that when we upgrade your existing site or build a new website, all your channels can be included. Here are some ways to create that strategy.
What is Holistic Marketing?
Let’s not get confused. Holistic marketing is not the same as omnichannel marketing. Both these terms get thrown around quite a bit, so let’s keep it simple. Omnichannel refers to all the different platforms you use (email, social media, website, text messages, etc.). We’ll cover these below, but the more critical factor is holistic. This means everyone – all departments, stakeholders, team members, and clients – are on the same page when it comes to your marketing strategy.
Why this matters is to ensure your primary message resonates. Let’s use an example. If you have a team member in charge of your social media pushing a message about how your Braille education for the blind NDIS-approved nonprofit is transforming lives, and your email campaigns all talk about an upcoming winter gala aimed at fundraising efforts, you have a mixed message.
What should happen is one needs to play off the other. All your marketing strategy needs to complement the rest of your efforts. You should be combining these pathways, so your messaging is about your mission of Braille education, and then support that message with a CTA (call to action) toward gaining volunteers, donations, or, in this case, interest in your annual gala.
How to Achieve Holistic Marketing for Your Nonprofit
Understand Your Audience
Before you dive into changing your ad spend on Facebook or organic reach on TikTok, look at your audience. Good marketing comes from a deep understanding of what makes them tick, how your nonprofit organisation solves their problems and the demographics that resonate most with their interests.
Don’t know where to start? Check out your current supporters. Ask yourself:
- What are their demographics (age, location, background, etc.)?
- What interests them about your shared mission?
- How do they engage with your nonprofit (email, text, social media, etc.)?
You can use surveys, website/social analytics, and overall traffic to help. The goal is to tailor your messaging to fit these supporters and then use that to grow organically.
Set Clear Objectives
Your nonprofit must have a mission. Don’t kid yourself. You are selling a product just like Woolworths, Coles Supermarkets, or the Australia Zoo. In your case, that product is the service you provide.
The only way to know if you’re being successful is to see if you are meeting your sales goals. So, if you offer a literacy program to recently released incarcerated people, how many reach a specific literacy level marks your ability to sell. Maybe you track how many books they read, how many people you service, or the funding you receive to pioneer new programs.
You must have a clear goal that can be easily communicated throughout your organisation (externally and internally), so everyone remains on board. That way, no matter your marketing pathway, it all serves the same purpose.
Develop Your Brand Identity
A nonprofit is a brand. Just because you have volunteers doing the dishes at your soup kitchen doesn’t mean you don’t have a brand. You are not “corporate.” You are identifying your mission and vision through the scope of words, visuals, and colours.
Think about it this way. Everyone knows what they get with Bunnings. Anytime you want to purchase a DIY garden product for a weekend of relaxing outdoors, you go to Bunnings because you know what to expect.
The same needs to be true for your online branding. Whenever people land on your nonprofit’s organisation, they should see the same logo, colour scheme, content voice, and theming they would in person, across social media, or in emails. That builds trust and ensures that any touchpoint with your brand is, once again, holistic.
Have an Effective Website
We can help you with this step. Holistic marketing needs a centralised location where all traffic is funnelled. The best version of this online is a website. Tossing up a single page and hoping for the best is not going to be enough in today’s age. Your marketing strategy requires a website that is:
- SEO focused
- Mobile responsive
- Cultivate a straightforward user journey and experience
- Clearly outlines your contact information
- Represents your mission and the people you serve
Not only does this create a centralised location where you can drive traffic from all your marketing channels, but it also creates a universal theme on which everything else can be based. That way, when the PR intern writing an article on your recent achievements does the research, they can pull up an easy-to-read website that maintains your marketing strategy – even when they aren’t associated with your brand.
Content Marketing Strategy
Okay, here’s that crossover with omnichannel marketing. A holistic strategy ensures everyone is on board. The best way to achieve this is with an omnichannel goal. Confusing right?
Put it like this. You are running a nonprofit organisation like the humane society in the States. This means you receive donated pets people do not want, help animal control with strays, and partner with local veterinarians, zoos, and rehabilitation centres to ensure quality of life for these animals.
This nonprofit organisation’s scope has a lot of loopholes where people can get confused really quickly with your “purpose.” You need all your marketing channels to show the same message to ensure you have a universally accepted mission, vision, and function. Keep in mind that this must relate to your location and audience.
So, your messaging might always relate to: We are dedicated to ensuring the well-being and quality of life for animals, pets, and rescue in Darwin through humane partnerships and comprehensive animal care programs.
All your various channels need to reinforce this ideal. That would include a universal content marketing strategy for:
- Blog Posts
- Video Content
- Infographics
- Social Media Content
- Emails/Newsletters
- Webinars
- Podcasts
- Ads/PPC
- eBooks/Guides/Case Studies
- Interactive Content
- User Generated Content
When you build a calendar for any information you put out in the world (i.e., Content), it should reflect your core mission, and everyone should be on board (hence omnichannel balancing with holistic marketing).
Where to Leverage Your Holistic Online Marketing Strategy
You are a nonprofit organisation. Odds are, you have government funding through the NDIS or receive enough contributions from donors to keep the lights on. It is only logical that you want to keep expenses down as much as possible.
Luckily, the online marketplace is perfect for budget-friendly communication. You can develop a holistic marketing strategy where everyone agrees by leveraging:
- Social Media: cheap, organic, and easy to build an audience through research.
- Email Marketing: the most cost-effective way to reach target clients.
- Website Blogging: cultivate readership through focused articles.
- Influencer Partnerships: as a nonprofit, think of endorsements, personal stories, and other heart wrenching influencers within your niche.
- Online Public Relations: don’t be afraid to put out press releases about your progress, upcoming events, and client spotlights.
This list goes on and on. You can do everything from hosting an online game night for your teen drug awareness program to digital newsletters with tips on lowering cholesterol at home. Once all your team and stakeholders are focused on a single marketing strategy, the online world is your oyster.
Final Thoughts
Holistic, like any other form of marketing, is an ever-changing beast. It is a hydra where you cut off one head, and three more grow in its place. You must adapt, and that requires looking at the data you review and adjusting your strategy.
Use tools like Google Analytics, social media feedback, user input, and email responses to cater to your audience. These key metrics will tell you what is working and what might need some changes.
Finally, listen to your team. At Web 105, we work with government, private, and healthcare organisations, often in the not-for-profit/NDIS realm. We see how well these reorganisations succeed when they have clear outlines of team responsibility as well as solid communication. You never know when a suggestion from the person sweeping your floors can translate into incredible returns. Let your team have input in your holistic marketing strategy, and you will see fantastic returns.
While you’re at it, be sure to mention our services. There is no point in building a robust online marketing strategy for your nonprofit organisation without a centralised website to send all that traffic. We can create a mobile responsive, clean, and aesthetically pleasing website aligned with your not-for-profit mission. Give us a call today and let Web 105 transform your online identity.