What we plan - and fear - in nonprofit marketing in 2011
- Sat, January 15 2011
- Filed under: Marketing essentials
My friend and colleague Kivi of The Nonprofit Marketing Guide has released the 2011 Nonprofit Communications Trend Report.
Here’s how we’re doing on the planning front:
—51% of nonprofits have written marketing or communications plans for 2011. 34% have notes, but no formal plan.
—Nonprofits say email marketing and websites will be their most important communications tools in 2011, followed by direct mail, in-person events, Facebook, and media relations/PR.
—When you combine the “very important” and “somewhat important” rankings of communications tools, Facebook follows websites (96%) and email (94%), with 79% identifying it as a very or somewhat important communications tool, trumping more traditional forms of nonprofit communication, such as in-person events (67%), print marketing (67%), and media relations/PR (57%). Other social media, however, don’t fare nearly as well.
—Monthly emailing of supporters is the most popular frequency at 43%, and 75% of nonprofits say they plan to email their typical supporters at least monthly.
—Quarterly direct mail is the most popular frequency for nonprofits at 35%, followed by twice a year at 23% and once a year at 16%. Only 10% expect to send direct mail to their typical supporters at least monthly.
I’m glad nonprofits are putting their websites and email first - getting these basics right is still the most important step in online engagement.
Kivi also asked nonprofits what scared them: lack of money and time, natch!
Enjoy the full study (free) here.
Comments
Gosh, these trends might as well have been notes from many meetings I’ve been in. That graphic of all our fears is spot on, although in my personal graphic “staff” would be a bit bigger. So would “training,” which I couldn’t find in the graphic.
Tom, I think Kivi did it on Wordle.