Marketing and Communications
Demonstrating that Facts Tell, but Stories Sell
Marketing serves a vital role in business practices. It entails making the customer aware of the proposition, product or service, convincing them to buy the product or service, and eventually building a strong and reputable brand. With NGOs and non profits organisations (NPOs), these marketing principles are also relevant and beneficial as there is a financial necessity to carry on existing functions and to build capacities for the future. To make an analogy: the donor is our customer here, and the cause or project is our product!
Research and evidence have shown that market-oriented organisations, which understand the target audience thoroughly, are generally the most successful of organisations. How would one attract a customer (a donor here) if there are no efforts made towards building a brand and a customer base? So, let us recognize the applicability of marketing principles for NGOs and NPOs, to understand why they need marketing and why it is necessary to realize the importance of concerted efforts and resources allocated towards it.
The 4 Ps of Marketing
Marketing mix is a tool used by managers to design marketing plans and to achieve desired results. It comprises 4 Ps: Product, Place, Price, and Promotion. Drawing a parallel with NGOs and NPOs: (Here we are considering the donor a corresponding term for the customer, not a beneficiary)
- The Product for an NGO is the cause / idea that it supports or a core program / project that it seeks to carry out. We know that many NGOs work on the same causes, like livelihoods, child protection, human rights, public health and women empowerment etc. One needs to study the models adopted by other NGOs to have a clear understanding of what differentiates them, what is the unique proposition in terms of benefit to the beneficiary or otherwise.
- Price is the budget to be requested by the donor – i.e. the project or program cost. NGOs need to have the ability to explain what change the donation will bring about. In case of corporate donors, NGOs must project these costs as an ‘investment’, as the donor company has potential gains from this investment, like positive results for the brand, apart from the ‘Social Return on Investment’ (SROI). NGO need to have the ability to demonstrate to the corporate donor how they can ‘do well by doing good for the society’, and use the business case to pitch for funding.
- Promotion refers to all the methods of communication that a marketer may use to provide information to different stakeholders about the product or service. In the case of NGOs, promotional and communication material including the company website, social media platforms, and project proposals all play a role in the promotion of the cause. These days new innovative approaches are being used by non-profits for promotion of a social cause to increase awareness, while also gathering resources like funds and volunteers! (Multi-platform social media campaigns would be one key example!)
- Place: As the final P, the Place denotes the ease of access to the product for the customer. For the average business, channels of distribution and the resources required are included within this subsection. In case of development projects by NGOs, current CSR trends suggest that most corporate donors look for a project implementation site that is close and convenient enough for the donor to visit, monitor, or engage with employees. However, despite this, we must always remember that the actual need on the ground is the first and foremost criterion when designing a plan.
Marketing, Segmentation and Communication Strategy for Non-Profits: Lessons from the Private Sector
NGOs and NPOs form the ‘third sector’ of the society, as they are institutions and bodies which are neither governmental nor related to the business sector. They work towards addressing the social problems which remain largely unaddressed by the state and market, thus becoming the ‘voice’ of the citizens on various platforms.
Despite the good cause NGOs work for, there is a stranglehold of the government or state on their operations – especially their finances (primarily to ensure that the funds are actually being used for genuine purposes). Thus, investment in functions like ‘marketing’, ‘communication’ is seldom considered in line with the ‘objects’ of an avergae NGO, considering the opportunity costs.
The point to note here, however, is that NGOs are also working in a ‘market’ and they are therefore exposed to the various market-related externalities. They need mechanisms to sustain themselves, and many of the organisational and marketing principles hold good in the case of NGOs too.
It is important to learn how fundamental business principles can be applied in a non-profit context as well. Nonprofits need to reach out to donors to raise funds for their cause, build linkages and networks to sustain their functions and grow.
Here are some of the marketing principles which can help nonprofits to achieve their goals, build effective linkages with donors and to raise funds.
- Segmentation: Business organizations use the ‘segmentation’ approach to understand a consumer and then offer a proposition, which can be a product or service. They also highlight how their proposition fulfills the needs of the consumer better than that of the competitors. With the mushrooming of NGOs, it is very important to know the donor in and out, so that you can offer your project or cause as an excellent proposition to the donor and in sync with the donor’s needs and requirements. For example, if you are an organization working for health, you need to map the potential donors – say institutional and corporate donors – and then approach them as per their core domains. Some of the top renowned companies spend a huge chunk of CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility) funds on healthcare
- Communication strategies- a two-step process: Business organizations focus on a segmented group – i.e. their target audience – and use mass appeal or mass communication (one to all) accordingly. But in the case of NGOs, the focus of all the marketing and communication needs to be on a particular donor at a time (one to one). Thus, it is crucial to:
1. Choose the donor carefully (you make an informed choice rather than agreeing to requirements of any donor),
2. Conduct a mapping and filtering exercise of the potential donors, and then
3. Approach the shortlisted donors.
The criteria for such a filtering will depend on the segmentation you will undertake, as explained above. But communication strategy for NGOs is in reality a two-stage process. The first stage involves mass communication strategy, by means of mailers, promotional campaigns, social media updates, and others. The second stage will involve one-to-one involvement with the donor, with proposals, fund request appeals, timelines, and other relevant materials.
- Clear and single message: Remember that a clear and single message in your communication strategy – one that resonates with the core values, mission and vision of your organization – is of paramount importance for your every effort in this direction of communication.
How to Develop a Communication Strategy for your Non-Profit
The Internet and social media are changing the information and communication realm as we used to know it. Communication has become faster than ever, but there is merit in ‘quality and quantity’ of communication rather than just the ‘quantity’. Communications for an organization can be for internal and external stakeholders. For non-profits, here are some tips to note before embarking on devising a communication strategy:
- Identify your target audience: Your communications must keep the target audience in mind – and must be designed accordingly.
- Clarity around your goals: What you want to convey to the target groups must be clear to you first.
- Strategic Communication: Most non-profit organizations design their communications built around fundraising. However, it is important to keep the overall strategy in mind, including the self-identity, focus on the target groups/ beneficiaries, your advocacy and influencing agenda as well as and future plans.
- Ensure that your marketing and fundraising teams are in sync: Make sure that a unification of the goals of cross-functional teams takes place, rather than teams working in silos. It is important to remember that communication and marketing go hand in hand.
- Confirm the message has the right pitch: Even if the primary objective of your communication plan is fundraising, no problem! Just ensure that it has the correct pitch for fund-raising – your message for the potential donor must clearly convey your requirements, goals and strategies!
- Take the best use of quantity and quality: Know what to convey, when and how, and how frequently. Many organizations develop communication tools, but their efforts remain inadequate in dissemination or fade away with time. Remember, the target audience needs to be reminded of your message if you want it to be heard!
- Select the medium sensibly: The medium must be chosen carefully and as per the target audience. The newer media of communication give speed, flexibility, convenience and agility to your efforts, like websites and social media. Some of the conventional offline methods are reports, published materials, case stories, brochures, etc. But they must be selected as per the target audience and context. For example, there is little use of your third-party evaluation reports on social media, which is much more suited for instant and simple messages, or campaigning. But these reports are very important to be put on your website. Though all such reports form important communication material for a non-profit, the ‘when’ and ‘how’ are equally important as ‘what’ to share!
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