Brave Communications in 2019

In our connected world, thousands of messages compete for your audience’s attention everyday.  Does your Nonprofit Wellness Plan include a communications strategy to help cut through the noise?  Last year, Ray Gary, the CEO of iDonate, shared five digital trends affecting nonprofit organizations in 2019.  Here is our take on three of these trends that will be especially relevant to nonprofits as you work to craft a communications strategy to reaches your stakeholders.

Marketing automation

Your brand doesn’t have to be restricted to regular business hours.  Leverage your marketing tools so you can connect with stakeholders when it’s most convenient for them.  Email marketing tools like MailChimp, Contact Constant, and Bloomerang will allow your messages to be scheduled and sent any time in the future. From a social media perspective, Facebook’s page insights will show you what times your audience is online, so you can schedule your social media posts to be published when users are most engaged. When you begin to implement automating your marketing, your messaging can work overtime, even if you’re not at your computer.

Using technology to nurture recurring gifts

Make sure you promote the gift that keeps on giving.  Have you leveraged your fundraising software to promote recurring gifts?  Helping your supporters become recurring gift partners can bolster your campaigns and help your organization plan for the future. In the busyness of life, even the most dedicated supporters can forget a donation.  Maximize your fundraising software and email marketing plan so they are conducive to this type of recurring giving.  When these elements are in place, you will be able to encourage your supporters to automate the things that are most important to them.

Contextual communication

Tech leaders like Google, Amazon and Facebook have created digital environments where users have come to expect one-to-one personalized experiences. Your audience will expect these same norms from the organizations they interact with online.  Less relevant or generic communications can alienate audiences and is one of the quickest pathways to “unsubscribe.”  To keep your growing your audience, communicate messages to only the relevant segments of your audiences so they only interact with content they care about.  (Tip: try personalizing your email messages by adding the recipient’s name to the subject line to increase your open rates.)

One last thought: “People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but they will never forget how you made them feel.”– Maya Angelou

The clarity and bravery of your communications in 2019 will help your audience feel valued and create a community around your brand.

Jack Smithey
Communications and Collective Impact Manager
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