Sadly, one of the most common challenges I see in not-for-profit and cause marketing is the disconnect between the person doing the marketing and the organisations leadership.

If you’re the leader, CEO or founder in your team – here are the 5 things you need to know, and communicate, to get your marketing on point.

Clearly articulate organisational goals

Many marketing people I speak to don’t have a really good understanding of where their organisation is going in the future or what the key targets are to hit. The goal of marketing is to drive tangible outcomes for your organisation – so if there is a disconnect there, it’s no surprise your marketing feels a bit lacklustre.

Branding isn’t marketing

It’s well and good to have 10,000 followers or to be widely known, but if you’re focusing your marketing budgets on these goals then chances are you’re not hitting your critical organisational targets. You’re better off having 1,000 really engaged people in your community who support you or use your service than wide awareness that doesn’t create tangible results. Unless you have big budgets to play with, chasing ‘awareness’ is not a great strategy.

What ‘success’ looks like for you

This should be a collaborative task. Your marketing person should be able to show you what metrics are available to them based on the channels you use, and you should be showing them how to measure their marketing success within the company.

Your marketing person should be able to clearly see things like volunteering enquiry numbers, new customer leads, donation targets, average donation per person and so on. They need to see if their marketing efforts are translating to organisational success.

What platforms you’re using, why & how to support them 

Too many brands choose their channels for the wrong reasons. If it’s been a while since you’ve done so, take an audit of all your marketing channels and make sure you’re using them for the right reason and not just wasting time (and money) having a presence that doesn’t serve you.

As a founder, CEO or manager, you should also be working with your marketing team to work out how you can best support them. Should you be writing content? Sharing posts? Engaging on LinkedIn? Recording videos?

The future is digital

When 99% of Australians older than 13 are on social media, it becomes a bit of a no-brainer. If you feel like your organisation hasn’t nailed your digital channels yet, today is the next best time to start - because the future of marketing is digital. 

What’s Coming Up:

Get a free $50 Training Voucher this week by taking my quick 8-minute survey 

August 18 – WA Fundraising Forum 2022 with FIA WA. I'll be teaching Fundraising on Facebook.

Aug 30-Sept 1 – Fundraising Institute of New Zealand Conference 2022 - Using Social Media to Activate Your Community workshop (can't wait to see you all in person in Wellington!)

7 Sept - How to Activate Your Community with Social Media  worksop with Centre for Volunteering NSW 


14 September -  Instagram & TikTok for NonProfits workshop with Connecting Up