You have a fantastic nonprofit. You’ve put a lot of thought into your story and now it sings. You’ve launched a campaign, and you’re ready to make a difference.
So how do you make sure that people know? How do you make sure they come, ready to donate?
You enlist the help of your audiences!
Your most devoted audiences and donors already love you and are probably more willing to spread the word than you realize. You just need to give them the materials and a little push to share them. Here are 5 ways to get your donors to share your nonprofit crowdfunding campaign:
Make a Marketing Plan
The words ‘marketing plan’ are enough to strike fear in the hearts of many a fundraiser.
But don’t worry. Your marketing need not be big, complicated, or scary. It doesn’t need to follow any template or match those composed by entrepreneurs and marketing executives. But it does need to include a bit of the following:
- Goals: how many people do you want to reach, how much money do you plan to raise, what do you want to accomplish?
- Targets: who do you plan to reach, who do you intend to engage, who can help you spread the word, and who do you expect to contribute the most?
- Channels: which marketing channels (social media, email, web, direct mail, in-person appeals) do you plan to utilize and how?
- Messaging: what is the main message you wish to communicate about your campaign?
The more detailed you can make this marketing plan, the easier it will be for you to get people on board to not only donate but bring more people to your cause.
Get Support Pre-launch
It may feel like just one more thing to do in the days leading up to your campaign’s launch, but gathering support before everything gets going is a fantastic way to prime your engine. By coordinating with a group of people you can count on to spread the word and preparing them to hit the ground running on day 1, you can give your entire campaign a well-earned head start.
Know Your Audience (and Give Them What They Want)
Does your target audience (your most reliable donors) like stories? Do they prefer charts and graphs of where the money goes? Maybe they prefer specifics about your cause and how your efforts make a difference.
Pay attention to what garners the most response from your key audience members and then give it to them. People are far more likely to share content that they find interesting or personally engaging and you are more likely to succeed when your content is widely shared.
Tell Your Story (and Make it Personal)
Personal stories travel. Everyone loves a good story that they can read, relate to, and connect with. Try using video to tell your story for even farther reach.
People need to connect with your cause enough to want to share it with their friends and, as we know, stories are one of the most effective to engage.
Provide Regular Updates
Even if you launch with a fantastic story that gets shared widely among your audiences, eventually the life of that story will come to an end. When that happens, the world around your campaign might grow quiet and eventually fall off the radar completely. Regular updates on the progress of your campaign or the specifics of your cause not only make people feel part of the action but also give you a constant stream of content to publish about your campaign. Steady, fresh content gives your followers more reasons to share you and your work, which, of course, leads to more donations.
