The typical non-profit has a very limited marketing budget, but that doesn’t preclude them from generating a respectable amount of website traffic. A thoughtful content marketing strategy can help any organization attract its fair share of visitors and here are some tips for doing so without breaking the bank.
Tap into your resources. Ask your followers to get involved. As fans of your organization they might have something useful to contribute and many will be glad for the opportunity to demonstrate their passion. It might be technical expertise about a particular topic or a personal experience related to your organization’s cause or something purely entertaining, like photos or video from an industry event.
Build widgets. Create a useful online tool that is germane to your organization’s mission. If you promote energy efficiency, for example, build a calculator that lets visitors analyze their energy consumption and costs and gives them ideas about how to be more efficient. If your organization is focused on cancer research or care, offer a ‘Donate’ widget that others can customize for use on their own websites. Just make sure it’s easy to share.
Pay attention to the pros. Folks like Joe Pulizzi, Elaine Fogel, and Jay Baer (to name but a few) offer great, free advice on their blogs. The more you follow knowledgeable professionals, from both within and outside your industry, the more ideas you’ll start to generate.
Capture the moments. There are a number of low-cost HD video cameras available, such as the Flip Video MinoHD and Creative Labs’ Vado HD that make recording, editing and sharing video simpler than ever before, so there’s no reason not to take advantage of this medium. Short videos allow you to make a more personal connection with your audience and are a nice enhancement to your mix of marketing content.
Share your slides. Although they haven’t evolved much in…well, since they were first used, slideshows are still used by many organizations. They’re useful for live events, sales pitches and face-to-face meetings with potential investors. Since you’re probably going to do the work of creating slides, then why not share them via an outlet like slideshare.net?
Don’t forget the SEO. Whenever you’re creating new content for the Web, be sure to optimize it for search engine rankings. This includes adding tags and incorporating keywords wherever applicable.
Developing useful, compelling content will not only make your own website more inviting, it will create backlinks for you as bloggers and other influencers direct their own traffic in your direction. As you generate more and more blog postings, slides and videos, your site will become a hub of activity that helps you introduce your organization to a steady stream of new visitors.
Guest Post: Jim DeLorenzo is passionate about marketing, online and off, and has been helping both small and large organizations better market themselves for the past 10 years. He lives in Central Massachusetts with his wife, son and twin daughters.
