When nonprofits begin to expand their organizations, they often share with us the struggles associated with growing pains.
With changes in organizational structure, finances, processes, infrastructure, and staff, it’s easy to temporarily set aside your marketing goals. But doing so can actually hinder your growth strategy. You don’t want growth to be the barrier to serving clients and delivering on your mission.
Even if you’re understaffed or spread a little thin during this growth period, a nonprofit must keep strategic and comprehensive communication and marketing plans a priority. They are key to donor relations, member engagement, stakeholder support, and fund development success.
With video accounting for 80% of internet traffic, all organizations need to include video as part of their communications strategy. There is a perception that video will cost too much, be too challenging to create, or have too short of a shelf life, but all those concerns can be addressed in partnership with the right experts.
Here are five areas where video will make an impact for your nonprofit.
Member engagement
For member-based organizations, how are you connecting members to your mission? There’s no doubt you have an e-newsletter (or three) that you manage and your social channels are filled with content, but how are you creating an authentic connection? Deepen member connections to your mission by asking someone to tell his or her story on camera so the benefit of membership is amplified and felt.
Depending on your organization type and peer-to-peer networking foundations, you can also ask members to tell their stories to the online community through user-generated content. UGC is a powerful way members can engage with one another and deepen that authentic, two-way relationship.
Donor engagement
Building trust and demonstrating value alignment are vital when speaking to prospective donors. The goal of deepening their involvement can be met more quickly when you are able to form a personal connection to them. Video plays a powerful role in allowing the emotion of a story to come through in a way text on paper just cannot.
Have a plan to continue to seek out and foster relationships with those who understand your relevance in the community and for those you serve. And don’t underestimate the role a donor engagement video plays in your endowment strategy as well.
Annual report
Annual report videos should not only report the financial and impact data the organization achieved during the year, but it should reflect the tone and personality of the organization. It can be used as an opportunity to deliver a transparent message from leadership, and it has the ability to reach a far wider audience beyond your database.
Consider captivating illustration and animation that can be refreshed from year to year to punctuate the critical data points your stakeholders need to see.
Public policy & advocacy
If your organization relies heavily on regulatory issues or legislative developments, video can support your advocacy efforts beyond building relationships with public officials. Developing videos that persuasively present your case for support can help you be strategic at every step, speak directly to your target audience, and garner positive attention.
After partnering with your public policy consultant, consider premiering your video at press conferences, presentations or hearings, or use it in follow-ups after face-to-face meetings to help build a coalition and make real change.
Fund development
It is tempting to court money from any source that becomes available but this is where a nonprofit can veer off course easily. Staying focused on your funding model will help you realize your financial goals much faster. Regardless of what funding model you choose, a video can support those efforts and boost your ROI exponentially to move you in the direction of sustainable funding.
The mistake many nonprofits make is developing a video that tells the story of what the organization is about or makes a direct case for support. While an awareness video plays a role in the video marketing mix, it does little to move the needle while fundraising. Rather, take the approach to share the impact the organization has on those who are being served. Present an authentic story that allows the audience to connect to the message—allow them to feel the power of your efforts. Well-crafted fund development videos can be incredibly personal, moving, and effective. In fact, in a study conducted by Milward Brown, 57% of people who watched a fund development video made a donation.
Looking ahead
Is video the silver bullet? No. Video cannot solve all the complex problems your nonprofit faces. But it is an effective communications tool that must be included in the mix. With the right partner, each facet of your marketing plan can have a video strategy that features key messages crafted with consistency, planned to align with your content/membership/event calendar, and executed with efficiency to help you scale beyond “charity” to connect with agents for social change.
The possibilities are endless with video, and, with the right partner, it could make a big difference for your growing organization.