With today’s technology, your nonprofit organization has a variety of options to take advantage of when marketing to potential constituents. Whether it’s through social media, website promotion or virtual advertisements, your online marketing efforts have limitless potential.
As a trend, email marketing has increased dramatically in popularity in recent years. Personalized email marketing for your nonprofit organization (NPO) is 40 times more effective at acquiring new constituents than Facebook or Twitter, delivers six times higher transaction rates and has a return on investment of 3800% (Campaign Monitor).
Email marketing personally reaches out to people, garners attention for your organization, raises funds for the cause, attracts talented employees, increases volunteer participation and inherently helps your nonprofit accomplish its goals. It is essential for any nonprofit marketing plan.
An effective email marketing campaign allows your NPO to build relationships with people who have already expressed interest in your cause. It draws constituents in, captures their attention and encourages them to keep coming back to help advocate for your cause.
Are you interested in getting your nonprofit email marketing campaign up and running? Learn how to do email marketing by checking out this list of five nonprofit organization examples who rock at email marketing.
1. charity: water
In this example, the NPO charity: water exemplifies three innovative email marketing tactics:
- Tells the organization’s story and promotes the brand.
- Shows donors how their donations are making an impact with a step-by-step guideline.
- Initiates a call to action (CTA) at the end of the email.
charity: water communicates their organization’s mission—and how the donor helps engage the mission—in a clear and concise way, with simple images and easy-to-follow language. Their short, focused and visual email marketing message is especially useful to followers who engage with their smartphones.
2. The Society for Financial Awareness (SOFA)
The Society for Financial Awareness email marketing campaign does a great job of using their email marketing lists to promote events to followers. It gives information about the event, encourages constituents to participate and—most importantly—has a large call-to-action button which viewers recognize and feel inclined to participate in.
When creating an email marketing campaign for your nonprofit, events are an important tactic to recognize for awareness and involvement. SOFA’s message is concise, clear and engaging with a strong CTA which increases the CTR (click-through rate).al Awareness (SOFA)
3. Dare 2 Share
This Dare 2 Share email marketing campaign does two things particularly well: (1) It follows up with a previously filled-out form by the constituent, and (2) it offers downloadable content to keep the constituent engaged.
Following up with volunteers or donors after they have made a donation, signed up for an event, downloaded an offer, etc. shows constituents your nonprofit organization feels excited about their involvement and wants to continue to build a relationship. If necessary, your NPO can even use a marketing automation system to build a pre-generated follow-up email. This provides more information to the constituents, can include additional CTAs and encourages supporters to share their action with others.
By including a content offer in the email, Dare 2 Share grows their database and keeps the audience engaged with the material. It’s important to give viewers content of value—a free guide, video, more resources, etc.—which help the audience to continue to learn and grow.
4. UNICEF
One particular type of follow-up email marketing which promotes your nonprofit’s brand and positive image includes the thank-you email. In this example, UNICEF New Zealand shows just how beneficial taking the time to personally thank constituents can be.
A thank you email marketing campaign can also be pre-set up by your nonprofit organization. This type of campaign particularly helps when constituents fill out a form or make a donation to your cause. Thank-yous show gratitude to your organization’s supporters, and are a useful opportunity to include additional CTAs for future involvement. They also demonstrate how constituents’ efforts impact the organization currently and towards the future.
5. St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital
Last but definitely not least is the bread and butter of nonprofit email marketing: the newsletter. Just check out this example by St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. A consistent and current newsletter lets supporters know they make a difference, a powerful motivator when it comes to future campaigns.
Keep constituents updated and informed on all of your nonprofit organization’s endeavors, campaigns and volunteer opportunities with an e-newsletter. Your organization continually promotes its brand, while supporters feel personally engaged.
To create the best email marketing campaigns, be sure your nonprofit organization has a strong email marketing campaign by utilizing:
- A simple, easy to read and understandable design.
- An effective subject line compelling viewers to open the email.
- A variety of email styles to diversify the campaign.
- Visually appealing and well-balanced text, images and GIFs.
- A potent call to action encouraging supporters to take the next step.
When it comes to online marketing for your NPO, no more direct and personal way to reach supporters exists than through a strong email marketing campaign. Email marketing offers more effectiveness than traditional marketing, yields quicker results and enables your NPO to send personalized messages with immediacy. If your nonprofit organization wants to take its marketing efforts to the next level, get involved in an email marketing campaign today to see how your constituent base can evolve, your donations grow and your impact on the world strengthen.
