Your Website is your Shop Window

Since the arrival of Covid 19, the use of new technology for charity marketing and fundraising has increased significantly. The commercial world is racing ahead making improvements with regards to their online presence, marketing and e-commerce sales, it is no surprise that the charity sector is not able to keep pace with this transformation.

For charities, resources, people, budgets and demands for services all contribute to the lack of ability for not for profits to upskill and redeploy budget into digital marketing and digitisation.

Other factors such as donor demographics especially now that older people are much more online, how do charities adapt and learn how to prioritise the marketing channels to use and target their older donors effectively?  Older donors are more likely to visit a charity's website before making a donation than younger donors. Older donors are of course entirely different from younger demographics who we see using social media channels predominantly as they make their way in the world to connect with others and the causes they support.

Social media channels are leading the way when it comes to client support services in the not-for-profit sector however social media channels cannot replace an organisation's website. Could you buy an IPhone if Apple didn’t have a website showcasing its products, would you exclusively trust its social media channels and the word of influencers? Many younger consumers would, but older demographics visit apple.com to see and experience the products before making a purchase decision. The same principle applies to charity marketing, your website speaks to your supporters in a way your social media channels cannot.

Ensuring that your organisation's website is SEO optimised improving your organisation's ranking on Google is one of the most basic ways to drive traffic to your site and onwards to your social media channels.

Another fundamental of charity marketing today is the possession of a reliable marketing platform or CRM. A Fundraising & Marketing database should be a priority for charities today – a single, comprehensive, user-friendly database that can hold volumes of clean data, such as information on individuals, corporate partners, foundations and their accompanying donation information. The evolution of digital marketing over the past 10 years means in terms of charity marketing and fundraising that it is now a vital part of the marketing communications mix.

Guest Blog by:

DRIVE Fundraising & Marketing is a small marketing agency based in Co. Roscommon. We provide SEO, content marketing, email marketing, digital marketing, fundraising strategy and CRM services.

DRIVE is affiliated to Mailchimp for its Smart Marketing Platform and app.

DRIVE is also affiliated to OnePageCRM and app, a Galway based CRM company.

Contact: www.drivefundraising.ie 

and 087 292823 for more.