Does your nonprofit organization suffer from blurry vision when it comes to marketing? Do you find yourself distracted by all the online marketing options? Do you feel you need 3D glasses just to create some clarity in your marketing efforts? You’re not alone.

“Marketing the mission” is not for the weak hearted. It takes no small amount of focus, clarity and execution to maintain consistent messaging in all your nonprofit marketing efforts. And with the addition of online marketing and social media, a whole new world has opened up. It can be overwhelming, to say the least, to keep your voice strong, consistent and targeted to your mission. Here are three simple ways you can do this, starting today:

1. Optimize your website for your mission’s keywords.

Look at your mission and pull out the key phrases that you might expect someone to search for you under. If you provide housing referrals in Boston, for example, a good keyword phrase might be “homeless in Boston.”

Look at your website copy, and add that phrase to a page tile, Tadalis SX a subhead, and a few times in the body copy. Then make sure you’ve added it to your meta-description tag as well (your webmaster can do this for you).

What this does is make it more likely that someone entering the phrase “homeless in Boston” will see your website.

2. Look at your Twitter account (You don’t have one for your agency? Set one up; it’s free and simple). Add your logo, and use your mission statement as your “account profile.” This is a simple way to tie your nonprofit marketing efforts into your overall mission.

Don’t worry for now about what you’ll tweet or who will follow you. Just get it set up and make your first Tweet.

3. Make a blog post that clarifies or expands on your mission. Just a few paragraphs are all you need, talking about your organization and how it serves to change the world.

Don’t have a blog? Borrow one! Look for other blogs in your field, and ask if you could make a “guest post” in theirs. It’s done all the time; the blog owner will appreciate having a new point of view, and you’ll gain some new eyes on your nonprofit marketing message.

The key to a consolidated nonprofit marketing approach is to see the mission clearly, above all else. Twitter, blogging, the annual report, your website, brochures for donors…these are all simply different forms of tools we use to get the message across.

So put on your 3D glasses, get the big picture, and focus back on your mission. The rest will fall into place.

Author Bio: Carol Palmatier offers online marketing, design and custom content for commercial and nonprofit clients at Wordz for Change, integrating solid nonprofit marketing strategies with Web 2.0 tools so that her clients can change the world.

Category: Marketing
Keywords: nonprofit marketing