The digital age has arrived. Just having an online presence is not enough. If you want your charity to stand out from the crowd and drive enough donations to support your goals in 2022, you need to implement a watertight digital marketing strategy.
If you’re just starting out with digital marketing for your charity, it can be overwhelming. There’s a lot to consider and experiment with. It’s unlikely you will get things right the first time but through careful planning and monitoring, you will be able to refine your strategy and put yourself on the path to success. If you want to learn more about digital marketing for your charity, check out our free ultimate guide here. And if you are keen to get a helping hand from a marketing agency with proven results, contact us today to organise your free consultation.
In the meantime, if you’re looking for a good starting point, here are three digital channels your charity should consider prioritising in 2022. Like with everything in business, this will depend on your goals, audience and individual needs – so keep that in mind!
Your charity’s website (& SEO)
Your website is one of the few digital assets your charity has total ownership of. It’s often the first port of call for new and returning visitors and offers insight into who you are and why you exist. If you hadn’t already gathered, it’s pretty important.
It’s 2022, simply having a website is no longer enough. Your charity needs an online hub that’s functional, visually appealing, informative, persuasive and most importantly, that prioritises user experience. To nail your charity’s website, you’ll need to consider a number of key areas which are covered in-depth in our ultimate guide to website design here. And if you want to get inspired, we’ve compiled a list of top nonprofit websites here. To summarise, here are a few key aspects you’ll want to consider:
- Prioritise functionality and user experience
- Make it mobile-friendly
- Use on-brand colours and imagery throughout
- Remember visual hierarchy
- Don’t be afraid of white space
- Never underestimate the power of content
And whilst it’s all very well and good having a beautifully designed website that educates and inspires your target audience if they can’t see it, what’s the point? Cue SEO (search engine optimisation).
If you’re serious about driving donations and raising awareness for your cause, your charity needs to prioritise SEO in 2022. But what is it and how does it work?
SEO for nonprofits
In a nutshell, SEO for charities involves improving your website and the content within it to increase your visibility in the SERPs (search engine results pages), aka organic search. Aside from being completely free, SEO can bring a range of benefits to your charity, including:
- Increased volume of targeted traffic to key landing pages
- More opportunities to drive donations and attract volunteers
- Improved brand awareness
- Highly trackable
- Boosts your charity’s credibility
Sounds pretty good, right? In the words of Luther Vandross & Janet Jackson, “The best things in life are free” – when you know how to use them, of course. Discover a comprehensive guide to SEO for your charity here. But in the meantime, here are a few top tips to get you started:
- Prioritise humans – not the search engines
- Always conduct keyword research (discover how in our latest blog post)
- Prioritise building relevant links from trusted domains
- Ensure your site is responsive and mobile-ready
- Never forget metadata
- Remember: speed is key
Email marketing
Along with your website, your email list is the only other digital asset you have total ownership of. The phrase: ‘Old but gold’ springs to mind when email marketing is mentioned. It may be one of the longest standing digital channels, but it’s also one of the most effective.
Email marketing offers your charity a means to connect with your audience on a personal level, helping to establish trust, build meaningful relationships and ultimately, drive donations. For a full rundown of everything you need to create a successful email marketing campaign for your nonprofit, check out our ultimate guide to email marketing here. For now, here are a few pointers to get you started:
- Prioritise personalisation
- Be sure to segment your audience
- Be consistent
- Optimise your subject lines and preview text
- Include relevant CTA (call to action)
- Get to know your audience
Social media marketing
As a nonprofit organisation, to optimise your results, you need to show up where your target audience is most active. And in 2022, that is typically on social media. The content you share will vary depending on the social media platform your charity prioritises – and this will be influenced by your target audience – but as a general rule, you’ll want to:
- Ensure content is on-brand and consistent
- Included CTAs
- Interact with your audience
- Plan content ahead of time
- Consider your overarching goals
- Utilise paid promotion where appropriate
For more help with your social media strategy, check out our ultimate guide to social media marketing here. Or better yet, head to our case studies page to discover how we have helped charities like yours to reach their full potential with digital marketing.
