Digital Marketing Strategy Tips for Nonprofits (From Someone Who Gets It)

This one’s for my nonprofit friends. I know you’re doing a million things, and digital marketing probably isn’t at the top of your list today… but I’m hoping to give you a few quick, practical tips you can actually use to strengthen your digital marketing strategy.

Donor Attribution in Your Digital Marketing Strategy

Donor attribution is important on digital channels.

If you’re investing time in digital channels, you should have a way to understand what is actually driving donations. Make sure you have some level of donor attribution set up – whether that’s through your CRM, donation platform, or even just consistent tracking links. Even if it’s not perfect, having some level of tracking in place helps you make better decisions with your time and budget. If you don’t already have a system in place, you might try HubSpot for a free CRM (they have some benefits for nonprofits, too!).

Show Your Impact (and Utilize Your Network)

Social media is a great place to do that.

The 80/20 rule is a bit different for nonprofits. Impact and education should be 80%, and requests for donations should be 20% of your published content.

Back when I was soliciting donations myself through digital channels, I set up a rule. We only posted about the annual fund once a week, on Wednesdays. Otherwise, the channel stayed active with storytelling, including:

• Stories from the people we served
• Donor spotlights
• Event promotions
• Behind-the-scenes moments

Whenever possible, show the faces of the humans (or animals!) you’re directly impacting. That is what people connect with!

Take Advantage of Offers for Nonprofits

There are some really valuable tools available for nonprofits that I didn’t know about during my time as a frontline fundraiser. If you take the time to set them up, they can become an important part of your digital marketing strategy.

On Meta

If you haven’t already, get your nonprofit verified on Meta channels (Facebook and Instagram). 

This allows you to add a donation option as a main call to action directly on your profile page. Other benefits include eligibility for fundraising tools (like birthday fundraisers) and increased credibility and trust signals for your audience.

On Google Ads

Apply for a grant search account.

An approved grant will give you a $10,000 per month ad spend! This sounds amazing (and it is), but before your eyes get huge thinking about $10,000 a month, you have to know there’s a catch.

Yes, Google will allow you this ad spend, but you have to meet qualifications:

• Cost per click must typically stay at or below $2.00 unless you use certain bidding strategies
• You must maintain at least a 5% click through rate
• Ads are limited to search campaigns only (no display or YouTube)

You should also know that Google will almost always prioritize showing a paid ad instead of a grant account ad. The biggest challenge with this ad type is simply getting your ads to show at all, so they can be clicked and actually use the available spend.

I wish you all had someone in your arsenal like our Paid Advertising Manager, Kate, with a deep understanding of Google Ads strategy to give you the best leg up for getting shown and getting seen.

Watch Out for Ticket Scams

While we’re talking about Google Ads, if you’re a nonprofit that hosts events, especially those selling tickets to performances (like the community theaters, choirs, and bands that are near and dear to my heart), please keep an eye out for spam sites.

These sites may use your name within their ads to sell inauthentic tickets to your supporters. It is unethical, illegal, and downright rude, but it still happens.

Check for yourself. Search in a few different ways using:

• Your brand name
• Your event name
• The name of the location where the event is being held

If you see this happening, or hear from your audience that it is, here’s what to do.

First, make sure your audience is educated. Let them know there are spam ticket sites out there and that they should only purchase directly from your authorized site. Share this on your social channels, in your emails, and anywhere your audience is paying attention. Being upfront about the threat is better than having your patrons get burned.

Next, document and report it:

• Take a screenshot of the ad
• Copy the full link that the ad goes to, including all of the extra characters
• Submit it as a claim
  

If the ad is using your trademarked name in its copy, you can go one step further and submit a trademark complaint. You will need someone who can legally represent your organization to complete that form, such as the nonprofit founder, an attorney, or an authorized representative.

Final Thought

I’m genuinely passionate about helping nonprofits, so you can stay focused on the incredible work you’re doing.

If even one of these tips helps you reach more people, raise more support, or avoid a headache… I’ll call that a win.

Thanks for everything you do to make the world better ❤️