How to Market a Small Nonprofit Event
Organizing a nonprofit event can be an incredibly rewarding experience. Not only do you get to the opportunity to involve yourself with your own community, you also get the opportunity to help a sincerely good cause. But what is often overlooked about nonprofit events is that they take a lot of effort to be effectively organized. Though taking shortcuts can often be tempting, doing so can be the difference between success and failure as an organization.
One area that many nonprofit organizers struggle with is marketing. Marketing is absolutely essential to the success of an event and is not something that should ever be willingly overlooked. We take a look at some of the ways you can better market your nonprofit event and help your organization achieve its goals.
Reach Out to Other Nonprofit Organizations
Unlike other, more directly competitive industries, organizing an event the nonprofit industry is not a zero-sum game. Often times, the nonprofit organizations that are the most successful are the ones that are able to find ways to partner with others in a mutually beneficial way.
Partnering with other nonprofits can increase your exposure to people who are already interested in giving or volunteering.
If you are only organizing a small event, your partnership with another organization doesn’t need to be overwhelmingly massive. By simply offering an exchange—for example, “we will feature your event on our Facebook page if you do the same for us”—you give both parties the unique opportunity to reach out to a new crowd. Additionally, because this crowd has already expressed interest in nonprofit organizations in general, they will be even more likely to want to work with your organization as well.
Be Active on Social Media
Over the past decade, social media has become the “go-to” medium for nonprofits to organize events of all varieties and sizes. It has been estimated that 81% of people in the United States have at least one kind of social media account and, naturally, this means that by putting just a little bit of work into your organization’s social media pages may be able to give you access to an audience that would otherwise be unreachable.
One of the best reasons for using social media to organize an event is you can begin building hype well in advance and continue reminding people as the event gets closer. Convincing someone to care about a nonprofit event can require a lot of work. Having consistent reminders will make them much more likely to actually want to go. Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram are among the best platforms for delivering these friendly reminders.
Look for Corporate Sponsorship Opportunities
Whether it is because they want to improve their image with the public or because they genuinely care about the community (or both), many corporations are consistently looking for new ways to get involved with nonprofit organizations.
Not only does a corporate sponsorship help your organization raise funds more quickly, it also has the potential to have information about your event to a wider audience. As your corporate partners inevitably publish the good news of your partnership, people who have never been exposed to your organization in the past may here about you and want to get involved.
Contact Local News Stations
Most local news stations are consistently looking for good news to lighten their broadcast and create a more positive image of their community. The relationship between these networks (or even publications) and nonprofit organizations is one that is very natural.
Contacting a local news station is a great way to target an audience located in the geographic market of your event.
Local news stations cover a very specific area and are also likely to talk about your upcoming event in a very positive light. If your event is one that is well organized, you may be surprised just how easy it is to get air time with a simple phone call.
These are just a few ways your nonprofit organization can increase its marketing presence. Once you have connected with other organizations, social media platforms, corporate sponsors, and local news stations, you will be off to a very good start.