Soapbox Engage Blog

When you think of marketing, you may think of the billboard you drive past on your way to work or the social media influencer you follow who keeps posting about skincare products. In reality, these examples only represent a small subsection of marketing techniques used by for-profit businesses. Nonprofit marketing often uses a different approach altogether.

Understanding the differences between nonprofit and for-profit marketing is crucial for creating an effective marketing strategy that earns your nonprofit new donors and creates strong, lasting supporter relationships.

We’ll cover three important factors that separate nonprofit marketing from for-profit:

1. Nonprofits market their mission instead of a product.
2. Nonprofit marketing is about relationships.
3. Nonprofits and for-profit businesses measure success differently.

Both nonprofits and businesses use marketing to increase audience engagement and maintain a positive public perception, but that’s where the similarities often end. Read on to discover where they differ and learn how you can improve your organization’s marketing approach with these differences in mind.

1. Nonprofits market their mission instead of a product.

As their names suggest, the most obvious difference is that for-profit businesses use marketing to make a profit, and nonprofits don’t. While nonprofits do use marketing to ask for donations, they’re asking supporters to fund their mission rather than to buy a product or service.

In addition, nonprofits use marketing for a variety of purposes beyond earning donations. Other important goals include:

• Educating supporters about your mission, upcoming events, and ways to get involved
• Raising awareness of important issues in your community
• Driving positive social change by supporting your programs and initiatives

To further these goals, nonprofits need to market their organization’s mission and values at all times. Even if you’re running a product fundraiser in which you’re “selling” a product like branded t-shirts, the campaign’s marketing should still revolve around your mission and what your organization will be able to achieve with the proceeds.

Tips for marketing your mission

Marketing the idea of your mission to supporters can feel more challenging than promoting a tangible product. These tips can help you successfully explain and earn support for your mission:

• Use storytelling techniques: To inspire your audience to connect with your mission, your marketing materials need to evoke positive emotions. Tell the stories of your beneficiaries, volunteers, and staff to showcase your organization’s dedication to your cause.


• Maintain a strong, cohesive brand: Kwala’s nonprofit branding guide refers to branding as “a visual shortcut for marketing your mission.” When tied to your mission, your nonprofit’s brand gives your audience an immediate sense of what you stand for. From your name to your visual style to your brand voice, make sure your branding makes sense for your organization and that you maintain consistency across marketing materials.


• Develop clear campaign messages: When promoting fundraising campaigns, ensure that every campaign has a campaign message that’s straightforward and clearly aligned with your mission. If your nonprofit works to restore native Tennessee wildlife, for example, your campaign message might be “Donate to give our local deer population a chance.”

Another way to ensure supporters have a clear idea of and connection to your mission is to incorporate your nonprofit’s impact into your marketing materials. Update supporters often on what you’re able to accomplish with their donations, and celebrate major milestones across marketing channels. This will help them see firsthand the impact they can have on your mission by donating.

2. Nonprofit marketing is about relationships.

According to Meyer Partners, one of the main differences between nonprofit and for-profit marketing is that nonprofit marketing is about building relationships to cultivate a longstanding support network. In order to build relationships with prospective and existing donors, nonprofit marketing relies on emotional appeals, storytelling, and personalization. These techniques allow you to connect with your audience over shared values on an individual level.

In comparison, for-profit businesses need to showcase the benefits of their products or services to customers. They rely more on communicating value propositions and product features, and they often focus on one-time transactions over long-lasting relationships.

How to focus your marketing strategy on relationship-building

To build relationships using nonprofit marketing, create a multi-channel stewardship plan that includes frequent touchpoints with donors in a variety of different ways. For example, you might:

1. Send a fundraising appeal via direct mail to a prospective donor who attended one of your events.


2. After they donate, send an immediate thank-you email that includes their donation amount and the campaign they donated to.


3. Within a week, send a personalized acknowledgment letter that highlights upcoming events relating to their interests and invites them to follow your organization on social media.

Personalization is key throughout this process. Keep track of individual donor preferences and interests in your CRM, and create segments of supporters with shared characteristics to make sure even bulk communications are tailored to donors’ interests.

If you need help putting these ideas into practice, consider partnering with a marketing agency that understands the needs of nonprofits. With their industry expertise, they’ll be able to design promotional materials that align with your nonprofit’s mission and take your supporters’ unique interests, preferences, and concerns into account.

3. Nonprofits and for-profit businesses measure success differently.

While for-profit businesses may measure their marketing success in new sales, customers, or clients, nonprofits can measure success in a number of different ways. Depending on their goals, nonprofits may measure performance metrics relating to:

• Donor acquisition
• Donor retention
• Event attendance
• Volunteer acquisition
• Overall fundraising success

To get accurate measurements of your progress towards these goals, it’s important to choose relevant key performance indicators (KPIs) and monitor these metrics throughout marketing campaigns.

Choosing nonprofit marketing KPIs

Nonprofits can measure many different KPIs, but how do you choose the ones that will give you the most accurate picture of your success?

First, outline marketing goals that are aligned with your current organizational priorities. Then, choose relevant KPIs that help you clearly determine your success and point you in the right direction when you need to shift your approach. For example, if your nonprofit is focusing on two upcoming campaigns in your fundraising calendar, you might measure the conversion rates of each marketing channel to see which channels drive the most donations.

Other KPIs you might consider include:

• Per-channel response rates: This metric measures the responses you get from direct mail, email, phone calls, and any other channels you use to reach out to supporters. Comparing response rates across channels can help you determine which channels are most successful in furthering your marketing goals.


• Email click-through rates: Click-through rates measure how many of those who receive your emails click on the links within them. From this metric, you can determine which types of email content lead the most supporters to go to your donation page or other important pages on your website.

Once you’ve chosen a few KPIs to measure, use your CRM or dedicated marketing tools like Salesforce Marketing Cloud to easily track them. Monitor your KPIs regularly, and use them to inform your strategy going forward.

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Ultimately, nonprofits want their marketing efforts to have an overall positive impact on their beneficiaries, while for-profit businesses’ goal is to make money. This fundamental difference should inform every aspect of your organization’s approach to marketing. When you focus your marketing strategy on furthering your mission and helping beneficiaries, you’ll be able to connect with your audience in no time.