Ultimate Guide To Multichannel Marketing For Nonprofits

In today’s digital world, your audience isn’t just in one place. If you want people to find you, remember you, and donate more, you need to understand multichannel marketing for nonprofits.

In our latest ultimate guide, we go over everything you need to know. This includes why multichannel marketing for nonprofits is important, actionable steps, and examples from the nonprofit world you can learn from.

By the end of this guide, you will have a multichannel marketing framework that helps you build your audience and drive more donations.

Let’s get started.

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• What Is Multichannel Marketing And Why Should You Care?
• 5 Steps To A Multichannel Marketing Plan That Works
• Multichannel Marketing Plans You Can Learn From
• 10 Tools And Resources
• Conclusion

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What Is Multichannel Marketing And Why Should You Care?

Multichannel marketing for nonprofits is the practice of using multiple platforms to engage with your audience, and doing so in a coordinated, intentional way. As you can imagine, there are a ton of platforms / channels that a multichannel marketing plan could cover:

• Email
• Social media
• Direct mail
• SMS/text messaging
• Website content
• Ads (digital or print)
• Events (online and in-person)

Multichannel marketing for nonprofits isn’t about “being everywhere” for the sake of it. Instead, it’s about meeting your stakeholders where they are. It’s about giving them multiple opportunities to engage with you, and increasing the odds that they engage with your mission.

Why Multichannel Marketing For Nonprofits Is Important

As for why multichannel marketing matters? This isn’t just a fancy buzzword; if you want to grow your organization, you need to understand why everything we outline below is worth your time. Here are three specific benefits to multichannel marketing for nonprofits:

1. Increases reach. People consume content in different ways. Some prefer email. Others spend quite a bit of time on Instagram, while others still love the intimacy of a well-designed postcard. The premise is simple: show up in more places, and more people will see you.
2. Boosts recognition. A huge component of multichannel marketing for nonprofits is the repetition it creates. When someone sees your campaign on Facebook and in their inbox and on your website, it’s more likely to stick. This increases the odds that someone recognizes you and further reinforces your message.
3. Improves results. The evidence is clear: multichannel strategies are linked to a number of benefits. These include higher engagement, better donor retention, and more donations overall. When you expand to more channels (and don’t rely on a single point of contact), it becomes much easier to get results.

These are the reasons you should invest the time and effort into building a multichannel marketing plan. As for how you set one up? Keep reading for the five actions every nonprofit should take.

5 Steps To A Multichannel Marketing Plan That Works

1) Know Your Audience

Before you can build an effective strategy for your nonprofit, you need to understand your audience. Deep audience research is the foundation of any successful multichannel marketing plan.

Here are a few questions you should answer:

• Where does your audience spend their time (either online or off)?
• How do they prefer to receive information?
• What kind of content does your audience usually engage with?
• When do they tend to take action?

To get this information, start by following three steps:

1. Look at your data. Odds are you probably already have a decent amount of your information at your disposal. Check it out for some insight. What kind of emails does your audience open? Which social platforms drive traffic to your site? Who responds to texts or print mail? Answer these questions and you have a solid foundation for understanding your audience. Once you’ve done that, consider gathering these insights into an actionable document for your team.
2. Research other platforms. Just because somebody isn’t in your audience yet doesn’t mean you can’t learn from them. Look at the people that are similar to your donors. Which platforms do they frequent? What kind of content do they respond well to? Get a read on these questions, and you can learn about your own followers.
3. Survey your supporters. If you want information straight from your audience, ask them directly. A simple survey is easy to send out, and can provide you with a wealth of knowledge. You might be surprised by what you discover.

Do these three things consistently, and you will gradually learn more and more about your audience. This will directly impact the quality of your marketing efforts.

2) Build A Cohesive Message Across Channels

When it comes to their multichannel marketing for nonprofits, organizations often treat each channel or platform like it’s a separate thing. This is a mistake. You want your audience (and people that just found you) to have a consistent and predictable experience when they are interacting with you. This doesn’t happen if you don’t have a cohesive message.

Here are a few things to keep in mind:

• Develop a core campaign message. No matter if it’s a fundraising appeal or a new program, start with one central idea or story. This is the core of your campaign message, and should remain consistent everywhere you talk about it.
• Adapt for each platform. Notice that we say adapt, not “change.” For example, your email marketing might be more in-depth, while your social media content should be short-form and visual. As for your website? Comprehensive, with a focus on user experience. The language and tone that you use will certainly shift depending on the platform. Still, the heart of the message should remain consistent.
• Use consistent visuals. This goes for everything from your colors and logos to your graphics. Your marketing efforts (no matter if it’s new content or a full-on fundraiser) should be recognizable everywhere it appears. Consider creating a brand style guide if you want to systematize this.

People will inevitably move from channel to channel. The goal is to make it feel like they are part of the same story, no matter where they are interacting with you.

3) Choose the Right Mix of Channels

You shouldn’t be on every platform. That just diverts your attention. Instead, focus on showing up on the right ones. Choosing these is a combination of two things: where your audience actually spends time, and what your team can realistically maintain.

Most likely your organization is already on several. However, if you’re looking for a true multichannel marketing plan, it can help to expand. That’s why we recommend the following:

• Understand the channels or platforms that would be the most beneficial to your organization
• Choose between two and four channels that you can consistently manage.

This will set you up for success. Get started, and build from there.

4) Use A Cadence That Makes Sense

One of the biggest advantages of multichannel marketing is that you can be in multiple places at the same time. This makes it easy to establish a kind of “omnipresence” among your target audience. Still, you need the right system.

This is where strategy comes in. With a multichannel marketing system set up, you will typically publish content and communicate with your stakeholders on several different platforms simultaneously. As we’ve discussed, this both builds trust and drives action.

While this can sound like a lot of work, it doesn’t have to be. Start by mapping out what you plan to do, when, on which platforms. How can you create content on one platform that turns into a touchpoint with your audience across several platforms? This is the main question to answer. You might consider repurposing your content to speed things up.

Only you and your team know what makes sense. Still, here is just one example of what you could do across platforms for a new fundraiser:

Week 1

• Teaser post on social (to get people interested)
• Announcement email (to make it official)
• Website landing page goes live

Week 2 + 3

• Follow-up emails (important to stay top-of-mind with potential donors)
• Daily or weekly social posts
• Paid ads targeting website visitors (assuming you have a pixel installed)
• Text message reminder for event or deadline (via SMS marketing)

Week 4

• Final push email + social countdown
• Direct mail drop (if applicable)
• Thank-you message on all platforms (be sure to thank donors in the right way)

Two key things: coordination and clear responsibilities. Each action should lead naturally to the next, and it should be clear who is responsible for what. This applies to anything you do in multichannel marketing.

5) Measure And Adjust Accordingly

Multichannel marketing for nonprofits should drive results. Otherwise, what’s the point? If you’re going to make multichannel marketing work for you, you need to make sure you are measuring the right things. There’s good news, though: you don’t need to measure everything.

Here are the metrics we recommend staying on top of:

• Email: open rates, click rates, overall conversions
• Social: engagement (likes, shares, comments), reach, clicks
• Website: total traffic, referral sources, bounce rate
• Donations: revenue by channel, average gift size
• Retention: repeat actions (like donating or RSVPing for an event)

It’s important here to examine how your channels work together. Measuring things in isolation can give you a skewed view of the overall importance of different platforms.

For example, did your email drive people to your website? Did your social post increase the amount of event registrants? A true multichannel approach works like an ecosystem – not just a bunch of separate marketing silos.

Once you start measuring, you’ll have a better idea of what needs to be done. Is something working well? Do more of it. Something not quite landing? Adjust your approach. The most important thing here is iteration, not perfection.

Multichannel Marketing Plans You Can Learn From

To understand how a multichannel marketing for nonprofits works in action, it helps to have a few examples. Below you will find four nonprofit organizations that successfully run a multichannel marketing plan, as well as what we can learn from them.

1) charity: water

Charity: Water is a master at compelling storytelling. A lot of this comes from video content and social media. They also frequently engage supporters via email and customized donation pages.

Takeaway: Invest in storytelling and quality landing pages. These are two “top of the funnel” elements that can have a huge impact on everything you do afterwards.

2) American Red Cross

The Red Cross uses SMS for disaster alerts and donation appeals. They also employ email marketing, but typically save this for more general updates and volunteer engagement.

Takeaway: Each channel has its own strength. Understand that, and your multichannel marketing will be more effective as a result.

3) World Wildlife Fund (WWF)

WWF uses traditional channels like direct mail alongside the usual digital ones. No matter what the channel, though, their team works to ensure consistent branding and messaging.

Takeaway: A mixture of traditional and digital channels is worth considering if you have the capacity for it. Not only does it increase your reach, but it drives engagement across diverse donor groups.

4) UNICEF

This last organization works with influencers to spread word of their work. They also focus on personalized donor journeys (email and website) to appeal directly to supporter interests.

Takeaway: You need to tailor your content based on different segments. This creates the feeling of speaking directly to your audience and drives more donations as a result.

10 Tools And Resources

With everything we’ve discussed in this ultimate guide, it’s obvious that the right tools are essential. With that in mind, here are ten tools and resources you might consider in creating your own multichannel marketing plan.

1) Mailchimp

For multichannel marketing, you need email. No way around it. Thankfully, these days there are quite a few ESP’s to choose from. One of the most reliable is still Mailchimp, though. Not only can you set up your list, but the tool makes it easy to build landing pages and automations that will help you grow it.

2) Hootsuite

This is a tool that helps you schedule and monitor your social media activity across platforms. It’s great for managing campaigns with limited staff.

3) Canva

Every nonprofit needs images for their multichannel marketing. Unfortunately, you often lack the expertise needed to make images that pop. Canva, a user-friendly way to create them, can help.

4) SemRush

Even in the age of AI, SEO will continue to be essential. If you are an organization that relies on being found through your content, you need an SEO tool. SemRush fills that need.

5) Textedly

Looking to improve your SMS marketing? Consider Textedly. Easy to use and full of helpful features, this platform is perfect for organizations that depend on more direct communication with their donors.

6) Google Analytics

You need to stay on top of your data. Google Analytics, which tracks how supporters interact with your website and digital campaigns, helps you do just that. This makes it possible to understand which channels drive action.

7) Trello

For an easy project management tool, look no further than Trello. This software helps you stay on top of tasks and makes it easy to assign different responsibilities to members of your team. The result? Calmer (and more effective) multichannel marketing.

8) Zapier

Want to connect different software? Need all your tools to interact with each other? For “if this then that” automation, look no further than Zapier.

9) FundraiseUp

Once you have driven traffic to a donation page, you need software that makes it easy to increase the average amount given. For that purpose, one of the best tools out there is FundraiseUp.

10) HubSpot

If you’re looking for an all-in-one tool, HubSpot might be for you. Assuming your organization has the budget for it, this is a general-use CRM that can do just about everything.

Conclusion

Creating a multichannel marketing plan requires work and strategy. That said, it’s well worth it. By widening your reach, you don’t just get your message in front of more people – you connect with your stakeholders and drive more donations.

We hope this guide has helped you see what’s possible. Act on just a fraction of it and your marketing results will be better because of it. Good luck – and let us know if you ever need help!

CLICK HERE FOR THE PDF VERSION OF THIS GUIDE

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