When a coffee company wants to sell coffee, they put together a budget just for marketing so that they can run ads, mail flyers, hire content marketers, and find stores to place signs. This all costs money, and can get expensive. What if you didn’t have the marketing budget? How could your organization survive?
Non-profit organizations have the challenge of raising money for a greater purpose without having the funds for a marketing campaign. One non-profit which figured out some secrets to getting donations and launching a solid marketing campaign is Charity:Water. They are a non-profit which has raised over $260 million to bring clean drinking water around the world. How? Charity:Water found that telling stories about real people has the greatest impact.
Launch a Website to Share Stories
As technology has advanced, it’s not optional to have a website to run a successful non-profit; its required. A website allows you to tell powerful stories while building credibility. Charity: Water has used the power of the web to make a great impact around the world. One example is the “Someone Like You” page. They discovered that people were struggling to connect with people in third-world countries. They built a web page where you can type in some information about yourself and they virtually introduce you to someone who shares your same interests. This has helped bring a connection between their web visitors and those who need help around the world.
One of the biggest challenges that most nonprofits face is the funding behind launching a website, so finding a company with solutions that are within your financial capabilities is critical.
InMotion Hosting works diligently to provide the best possible deals and discounts, allowing nonprofits to take advantage of the high-caliber performance and power of InMotion’s servers at low costs. Plus, our staff of Web Experts are here to guide you each step of the way! Reach out to a member of our team to start building your site and sharing your story.
Tell Stories About Real People
Tyler Riewer, content marketing lead for Charity:Water, shared at the Fast Company Innovation Festival how using visuals to tell stories allows people to relate at a whole new level. Tyler shared one of his most powerful examples. “Aissa Marou, a woman who lives in Niger, makes trips to a local well six times a day, where she uses handmade rope to collect water, one bucket at a time. One day, as she perched her foot on the edge of the well to pull the bucket up, her baby–held in a carrier on her back–unexpectedly shifted, and both she and the baby fell into the cement well. Her collar bone was broken, but she managed to call for help, asking neighbors to save her baby; they saved both lives. But after Marou recovered, she still had to keep using the well. Her story–and photos–make it easier to understand, and remember, what life without a faucet can be like.”
Pour Yourself Into Every Story You Tell
When telling a story, one of the key aspects of it being successful is putting in as much time as needed to launch a campaign successfully. It can be easy to shortcut to rush to publish, but with time, usually comes quality. Paull Young, Director of Digital Marketing for Charity:Water shared the secret that they found for creating powerful content, “Great content requires blood, sweat, and tears.” Three things which can make impressive content is “great people, the time to do great work, and making the work really important [on your priority list].”
Telling stories can be told through many ways, such as video, images and articles. Launch a website, find and tell stories of real people, and pour yourself into each and every project to help raise donations for your non-profit organization today.
