4 Content Marketing Tips for Nonprofits with Limited Resources

If you know how to use content marketing effectively, you can quickly set your nonprofit organization’s online presence apart from the crowd. One issue that most nonprofits run into is that they have far less resources for marketing than for-profit organizations. There’s never much to spare.

Here are four things you can do to increase the effectiveness of your content marketing efforts despite limited resources.

1. Focus on quality

A larger company might be able to write 15 blog posts and a white paper every month, then pay to promote this content on Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. For most nonprofits, this production level is unrealistic.

So, if you’re only writing three blog posts a month you have to make that content count. Perform audience research to understand your (prospective) donor’s attitudes and pain-points, their motivations and what social channels matter to them; then, create content that provides answers or helps solve their most vexing problems.

2. Reach out to guest bloggers

Not all of this remarkable content has to come from within your organization. One tactic to generate additional content is to invite guest bloggers to write guest posts like the one you’re reading right now.

Guest posts are just one of many ways you can creatively work around your own limitations to create great content that answers the questions of your prospective donors. Just be selective in vetting and approaching a prospective writer. Make sure the guest blogger is truly knowledgeable and that his or her areas of expertise or experiences are relevant for your audience.

You’d be surprised how willing people often are to contribute guest posts. Reach out to volunteers, board members and even donors. Your nonprofit gets free content, and the writer gets the opportunity to share their story. If they help you promote the content, you will be able to pull in their audience as well.

3. Really connect with people

Even the best content may never be seen unless you take an active role in distributing it. Social media is a great way to do so.

You probably can’t afford to pay to promote your posts on Facebook and Twitter, so focus on interacting with the people who already follow you. Your followers will share your content for you, leading to even more discovery.

Create brand advocates from existing donors and volunteers who will speak out for your cause online. Nurture existing relationships – they just might lead to new ones!

4. Work as a team to increase your visibility

It’s unlikely that you have a full-time social media manager unless you’re a larger nonprofit, so to maintain a high level of activity, consider giving a handful of trusted employees access to your social media accounts.

There are a few must-haves for NPOs who are active on social media. These crucial insights include:

• Creating a documented strategy for where you’ll be active and what you’ll publish
• Defining your audience personas
• Creating a document that contains login information for your team.

By breaking up the responsibility of distributing content and interacting via social media, everyone is able to provide value, you get in front of a larger audience, and you can interact in a timely manner with people who are already advocates for your cause. This can open up a whole new world of possibilities!

How is your organization utilizing content marketing? Let us know in the comments below!

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