Let’s face it: With over 1.8 million nonprofits in the U.S. alone, standing out from the crowd is more challenging than ever. Plenty of organizations with worthy causes deserve donor support, yet many struggle to find their footing. What’s the secret?

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A robust marketing strategy is key to generating revenue for your nonprofit. If your current efforts aren’t generating the visibility you want, it’s time to take a fresh look at your marketing plan.

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Although nonprofit and for-profit organizations work differently in many ways, marketing is an area where charitable organizations can gain a lot by implementing common business best practices. Let’s explore corporate marketing techniques your nonprofit can leverage to expand its reach.

1. Establish a strong brand identity.

According to MassageBook, the cornerstone of great business marketing is identifying your niche. Focusing on a niche helps businesses better connect with their target audiences and set themselves apart from competitors.

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Take the same niche-focused approach to your nonprofit. Answer the following questions:

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• What specific problems or issues does your nonprofit solve?
• Why is what you’re doing important and urgent?
• What is your organization’s vision for the future?
• What makes an individual choose to support your nonprofit over others?
• What resources or partnerships can you rely on to broaden your reach?

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Uncovering your niche and unique value proposition gives you more clarity into what specifically inspires donors to support your nonprofit. Once you have this information, you can shape your nonprofit branding and communications around it. With a concrete brand identity, you can create robust supporter personas that you want to target, allowing you to send more targeted messages that will resonate with recipients.

2. Optimize your website for search engines.

With the rise of generative AI options like ChatGPT over the last few years, many people have started wondering whether search engine optimization (SEO) is a practice of the past. However, in 2024, Google received over 370 times as many searches as ChatGPT. Plus, the global market for SEO was valued at over 89 billion in 2024 and is estimated to reach over 143 billion in 2030.

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Many businesses understand that SEO is still a best practice for boosting visibility. Your nonprofit should also prioritize it when possible. Here are a few tips:

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• Start by fixing what’s broken. Broken formatting, links, and visuals not only lead to a negative experience for web visitors but also may reduce their trust in your website. They might even question whether your nonprofit is credible—and search engines like Google will, too.
• Build a clear site structure. Search engines understand your website by sending crawlers to trawl through and index your site. However, if your site structure isn’t clear, they may have difficulty understanding your website. Start by creating a site map and making it available for search engines to crawl—here’s a quick guide from Google.
• Provide a great user experience. One of the metrics that search engines evaluate to determine rankings is bounce rate, which is the percentage of web visitors who leave after viewing only a single page. Your bounce rate will increase if your site’s user experience is lacking. Implement a clear navigation structure (such as a robust header or footer) and ensure your site is mobile-friendly so individuals can access it on their preferred devices.
• Conduct keyword research. When researching keywords, don’t just look for the ones with the highest search volumes. Consider the intent behind those keywords to drive valuable traffic to your site. For example, someone searching “nonprofits in New York” is probably just curious about the charitable organizations nearby and might not be ready to get involved further. On the other hand, someone searching “volunteer opportunities in New York” is potentially ready to sign up to volunteer.
• Create high-value content. Once you’ve identified keywords you want to rank for, adding as many mentions of the keyword as possible is tempting. However, search engines prioritize the usefulness of the content over the number of keyword mentions. Focus on writing educational content that delivers value to web visitors to boost your search rankings.

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One trick businesses leverage is using a website builder that makes implementing SEO practices easy. For example, the web builder might allow you to create custom meta titles and descriptions, implement responsive design for mobile devices, and provide performance optimizations like fast hosting for speedy site loading.

3. Create compelling visual content.

There are plenty of strategies for crafting connections with your supporters, from regular communication cadences to targeted personalization. However, a commonly overlooked practice is adding compelling visual content to your messaging.

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Think about the business marketing emails you receive in your inbox. Most, if not all, have some form of image or video that catches your attention and makes you scroll through the rest of that email. Your nonprofit can capture the same attention by incorporating the following forms of visual media into your messaging:

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• Images
• Videos
• Infographics

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This can be as simple as creating decorative banners for your emails or as involved as generating short-form videos to upload to your nonprofit’s social media pages.

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If you’re interested in taking your visual content to the next level, augment your communications with user-generated content. This includes testimonials with direct quotes, photos, and videos from stakeholders like beneficiaries, volunteers, and donors. Platforms like Gather Voices make it easy to collect and integrate these types of visual content straight into your nonprofit’s marketing, helping you capture viewers’ attention and boost credibility with social proof.

4. Leverage technology and automation.

Increasingly, businesses are turning to technology to automate their processes, resulting in more efficient workflows for staff members. Nonprofits can reap these same benefits. And, since budgets tend to be tighter for charitable organizations, you can also reduce the number of staff members you need to hire by boosting productivity.

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However, you must do your research to find the right solutions for your organization. Businesses understand that, and it’s why a massage practice would look specifically for massage business software instead of a more generic solution that doesn’t fit all its needs.

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The same applies to nonprofits. Instead of purchasing any software that may work for your needs, look for ones built specifically for charitable organizations. Bloomerang recommends starting with donor management software, as these tools allow you to create donor profiles for improved segmentation and targeted messaging.

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Other nonprofit solutions, such as event management software and fundraising software, contain marketing tools on top of other important features. When you’re shopping around for software, keep your budget in mind, and don’t be afraid to book demos to see the solutions in action.

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Strengthening donor relationships is key to generating reliable revenue as a nonprofit. With a fresh approach to your marketing strategy grounded in tried-and-true corporate strategies, you’ll boost your mission’s visibility and bring in the support you need to further your cause.

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