Tips for Developing Successful Campaigns for Nonprofits

Campaigns are an effective way to communicate who you are and what you care about as a nonprofit. They are meant to guide audiences toward a specific action or goal, and are carried out over a specific period. Common types of campaigns include brand awareness, advertising, fundraising and rebranding, to name a few. 

Campaigns can appear complex and made up of a lot of moving parts. For nonprofits, the idea of developing a campaign can often feel daunting. But in reality, a campaign is just a set of predetermined elements. Making important decisions and defining these elements at the outset is a great way to improve a campaign’s chances of success.

The Importance of a Competitive Audit

A competitive audit is a comparison and analysis of nonprofits similar to your own. This may include nonprofits with a similar target audience or mission. Competitive audits help to provide a bigger picture of the industry’s landscape, as well as identify strengths, weaknesses and areas of opportunity. 

It also allows you to see what other nonprofits look and sound like and, therefore, will assist you in identifying areas of differentiation. Your brand identity must be distinct to avoid confusion and missed opportunities amongst your audience. To stand out, you must first understand your competition. 

The Parkinson's Foundation created this cohesive look for a fundraising campaign. | Credit: Parkinson’s Foundation

Understanding Your Target Audience

Another important ingredient in developing a campaign is a thorough understanding of your target audience — the specific group of people most likely to be interested in your cause. Target audiences may be determined by gender, age, location, socioeconomic status or interests, to name a few. Understanding your audience and developing your campaign around their needs is essential.

The Importance of Clear Messaging

Messaging means more than just sharing information about your cause — it helps your audience understand what you do, why you do it and what you believe. 

It’s not just what you say but how you say it. Tone of voice is the mood or emotion you convey in your messaging through word choice and writing style.

We live in an age of information overload, and most people are skimming for content that appeals to their interests. For this reason, it’s important to be very clear and concise when coming up with your campaign messaging. You need to be very explicit about what you want your audience to do — whether it’s learning more about your organization, donating or signing a petition. 

What Makes An Idea Sticky

Your creative output is much more than what it looks like. The look and feel of your nonprofit must effectively communicate the creative concept, and when it comes to creative concepting, there is one acronym, coined by Chip and Dan Heath in their book "Made to Stick," to keep in mind: SUCCES.

• Simple. Break your idea down to its most essential elements and identify the most important aspect.
• Unexpected. Your idea must break through the noise. 
• Concrete. Make sure your idea can be experienced and described by the human senses. 
• Credible. People want to support brands they can trust. 
• Emotions. Create an association with something that the audience already cares about.
• Stories. Good stories are inspiring and move people to take action. 

How to Develop a Defined Visual Direction

Messaging and visuals work in tandem and reinforce each other. Clear messaging works best when presented in a visual style that complements its meaning. Audiences are extremely visually literate, so your visual direction needs to mirror what you are saying. 

The first step in developing a visual direction for your campaign is to develop a mood board or style tile. This is a layout consisting of fonts, colors, photos and/or illustrations, and visual elements that communicate the mood or emotion you want your audience to feel. 

The visual direction of your campaign is important because it conveys your attitude and personality to your audience even before they start reading. It sets the stage for your messaging and subconsciously communicates your organization's goals.

The University of Texas at Austin’s Center for Youth Mental Health used this visual concept for an awareness campaign. | Credit: University of Texas at Austin

Importance of Consistency — Why It Matters and How to Achieve It

Creative consistency improves brand perception and leads to an effective, cohesive, trustworthy brand. A consistent creative message sticks with your audience and makes your nonprofit easy to recognize. Your brand appearance — logos, design elements, fonts, messaging, tone and imagery should be similar across platforms and touch points. 

Your brand should be easily recognizable and maintain essential similarities from one interaction to the next. The more consistent your brand experience is for your audience over time, the easier it will be to build a trusting relationship.

How to Meet Your Audience Where They Are

Not every person who interacts with your brand will do so in the same manner or even on the same platform. It’s crucial to understand your target audience's demographic and behavior to speak to them in the channels they already use and with messaging they can relate to. 

For example, a nonprofit with a target audience of teenage students would be more effective utilizing content on social media rather than direct mail or email. Meeting your audience where they are will ensure that your message has a higher chance of reaching them. This may seem intuitive, but it is important to keep in mind when designating funds to make your campaign as effective as possible. 

The Importance of Accessibility and Inclusivity

People who live with disabilities are often overlooked when it comes to campaigns, even though they represent a large part of the population. In the US, one in four adults live with a disability. Examples of disabilities are hearing or vision impairment, limited mobility and cognitive disabilities, among others.

Inclusivity is the practice of giving equal access to opportunities and resources for people who may be marginalized or excluded. This includes those people living with disabilities or belonging to minority groups. 

The best way to showcase accessibility and inclusivity is by representing marginalized groups in campaigns. Accessible and inclusive campaigns will attract and empower new and larger target audiences.

For an advocacy campaign called “All In,” Tipping Point Community created this inclusive campaign. | Credit: Tipping Point Community

Campaigns may appear more than the sum of their parts, but our goal here has been to separate the unique elements that go into a campaign and shed light on some aspects of the creative process that may feel intimidating. These elements are just decisions to make that will increase your campaign’s chances of success. 

Nonprofits seeking positive change can and should leverage marketing and advertising tactics to create more impact.

The preceding post was provided by an individual unaffiliated with NonProfit PRO. The views expressed within do not directly reflect the thoughts or opinions of NonProfit PRO.