5 signs you have a problem
1. You had an event that was co-sponsored with partners and you figured since they were sending out press releases, that you didn’t need to, but were surprised when your organization did NOT get mentioned..

in the news story that came out, nor any traffic to your site.

2. You go to your own website and realize that no one has done any updates in a couple of months so you scramble to throw up anything new that you can think of including information about the fundraiser you have coming up in 2 weeks.

3. You’ve been selected as a grant semi-finalist for a major corporate grant and find out that finalists will be chosen by popular vote through social media and you scramble to get your email list and Facebook page up to speed.

4. You find yourself with less time to do your annual appeal so you decide to just use the same mailing list, the same direct appeal message and send it by email to save money – and you get the same number of responses and income as last year – or less.

5. With donation levels falling, you decide it’s time to target a new younger market through social media – or you assume your current target market is actively using and will respond to social media – and devote significant time and energy into it without getting the results you want.

A Communications Plan

A communications and/or marketing plan would have the following in place to help you avoid the problems above:

1. Partners plan of action - when you plot out the events and activities you will be doing for the year, add in a detailed outline covering how you will be working with your collaborative partners and how each will handle their portions of the marketing efforts for each event or activity. Make sure you include the development of banner ads, text announcements etc. that all partners can share on their websites and appropriate collateral materials. If you decide to create press releases as a group, make sure everyone has input into the press release and that the main point of contact will represent all the partners – otherwise, plan on writing your own media releases.

2. Website Planning – Keeping your website updated is crucial as it is the main communications hub for your nonprofit. Just as you would plan your development activities for the year, you should also plan your web updating activities for the year including what specific sections will be updated, how often and by whom and plan targeted messages for specific programs and activities that you want to highlight throughout the year on the main page of your site. This schedule will make it so much easier to stay on track with updates (taking less time and energy) and will help you generate more traffic and better results.

3. Connecting Quickly- Include in your communications plan any infrastructure you need to set up including making sure you have a proper database, all your data stored and up-to-date in ONE database so you can easily access your mailing list for urgent requests; keep the database maintained on a regular schedule. For social media, a lot of us start social media sites/accounts/pages and then abandon them because of lack of time – and time IS a big problem when it comes to maintaining social media outlets. In your communications plan, you would determine the best social media channels for you to use, and I guarantee it will not be ALL of them.

I tell people, you have to start with the tools you already have – if you don’t even update your website once a month, there is no point in adding a Facebook page that needs to be updated a lot more often. If you have launched a Facebook page, set up a regular schedule for staff to update it. I’m not big on using volunteers (or staff for that matter) unless they have been around for a long time and know the organization well. Your plan would also include the TYPES of updates that would be appropriate – designating different outlets for different purposes so you aren’t bombarding people with the exact same content on every channel.

4. Materials Plan - A lot of executive director’s are leaning toward pdf annual reports or email appeals to save money. But now is NOT the time to have your appeal lost in an email inbox or junk mail. Print materials still deliver the best bang for your buck – people are just more likely to read them. Your Communications plan should include plot out how often and in what format you will contact donors, how often you will present an appeal and what message and theme you will be presenting.

5. Target markets - Generally speaking, a down economy is not the time to switch your target markets entirely – chances are you are not communicating regularly with your current target market and just need to regroup, refocus and determine what community need you are filling (better than anyone else can fill) that is so compelling that donors will place those needs at the top of their priority list.

It’s just NOT business as usual anymore. We have to work harder to get the word out and draw attention to our nonprofits in this competitive environment and the nonprofits that are poised for success have their ducks all in a row. And by ducks, I mean their marketing and communications plan in place. A plan takes some initial and ongoing investment but is the best way to make sure your nonprofit survives and thrives in ANY economy.

Related Articles:
Marketing in the New Economy – The top 3 things every nonprofit should know

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