Solutions to the Top Three Nonprofit Marketing Challenges

Challenge: Services, not products.

Without a physical object to hold or visualize, target audiences may not understand your organization’s purpose, no matter how strong the mission is.

Solution: Tell your story.

Storytelling connects your mission to your audience’s values. Your organization’s origin story, the story of someone your organization has helped or the story of a volunteer are all great ways to humanize your mission.


Challenge: Multiple audiences.

Nonprofits are unique in that they must cater their message to donors, clients, volunteers, board of directors, the government and any other stakeholders.

Solution: Tailor a message to each audience.

Strategize what you want from each an build the message from there. Your donors and board members who are looking to give funds won’t respond to the same messaging as volunteers who want to give their time and efforts to your cause.


Challenge: Limited resources.

Smaller nonprofits tend to have leaner budgets and smaller staff.

Solution: Don’t underestimate the power of social media.

Have blog posts to share? Post the links on Twitter and Facebook! Does your service-based work give opportunity for photographs? Share them on Instagram! Once you have built up a sizeable audience who connect and respond to your messaging, making an ask for donations comes across less harsh than a hard ask.