Nonprofit Marketing for Your Church

Nonprofit marketing plans face many of the same challenges as for-profit businesses. In an increasingly connected world, how do we get our message in front of the right people at the right time? Forward-thinking churches and nonprofits are taking a page from successful business models. For example, they are using email and social media platforms. While important and useful, these tools have their limitations. Text Message Marketing presents an opportunity to deliver specific messages to targeted audiences. More importantly, it’s done so using devices that are always on and always at hand.  Choosing the right text message marketing platform is the first step toward nonprofit marketing success!

Building your nonprofit marketing goals.

Your organization measures your success by how well you are fulfilling your mission. Maybe it’s about bringing people to your faith. Perhaps it’s focused on environmental or health related issues. It could be about feeding the hungry or housing the homeless. No matter what the mission is, our many years of working with churches and nonprofits have taught us a lot.  Meeting your mission can be broken down into three kinds of activities:

• Outreach— In order to be successful, we have to spread the word. People need to know we’re here and they need to know about the value we offer. They need to hear our message and do so in a way that invites them to engage with us in a deeper way.
• In-reach— Once people find us and become involved with us—as members of our congregation, donors to our cause, or volunteers at our activities and events—we need to continue to communicate with them. Through communication we build community. Do that effectively, and we get deeper buy-in and commitment which, in turn, helps us to build a sustainable organization.
• Stewardship— Unless we raise money, and spend it wisely, we won’t be able to do the other two things very well and our mission goes unfulfilled. Sometimes raising money for our mission simply requires asking the right people in the right way at the right time. Once we bring in an additional dollar we are obligated to spend as much of it as we can on actually fulfilling our mission and less of it on raising more money. Striking the right balance is a constant focus for churches and other nonprofits.

Why SMS makes sense for nonprofit marketing.

It’s no secret the internet provides a means through which even the smallest of organizations with the tiniest of budgets can reach a wide audience. On-line social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and Linked-In have created virtual communities where people from all over the world can get together to connect with each other and share ideas. Increasingly, participants in these communities are accessing these platforms, not through a desktop or even laptop computers, but through hand-held mobile devices such as tablet computers and smartphones such as the iPhone and variety of Android phones. These devices represent the next wave of technological development. They’re affordable and they’re everywhere.

Nonprofit marketing statistics to consider.

• It takes 26 hours for the average person to report a lost wallet. It takes 68 minutes for them to report a lost phone. (Source: Unisys)
• There are 6.8 billion people on the planet. 5.1 billion of them own a cell phone, but only 4.2 billion own a toothbrush. (Source: Mobile Marketing Association Asia)
• It takes 90 minutes for the average person to respond to an email. It takes 90 seconds for the average person to respond to a text message. (Source: CTIA.org)
• 91% of all U.S. citizens have their mobile device within reach 24/7. (Source: Forbes)
• Around 66 percent of adults suffer from Nomophobia, a fear of being without your phone

For more and more people, a mobile device is the primary form of connection and communication, replacing land-line phones and even email. Text messaging allows you to put your message in front of the maximum number of people. Text message marketing with mobile websites and QR Codes gives every church and nonprofit organization the opportunity to cost-effectively leverage their existing communication efforts in a powerful way. For many, diving into any new kind of technology is a daunting assignment.  So, for a moment, let’s put aside the how and focus first on the end result.

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