Market Research – Dan Sanchez – Your Audience Growth Guide

If you’re in the nonprofit world, staying ahead of trends, software, donation changes, and the best marketing strategy – is everything. If you care about your nonprofit the way I’m sure you do, then you need to follow the professional development blogs that will undoubtedly make your life easier. Take tips from the best and watch your nonprofit take off! What are the 7 blogs nonprofit marketers must read to stay in the game? These blogs made it onto our list based on the quality of content, readership, popularity, and reviews from avid readers. Bloomerang Blog Classy Blog Media Cause Blog Wild Apricot Blog Charity Navigator Blog Nonprofit Pro Blog Cause Vox Blog This isn’t about surviving; it’s about thriving. Get ready to read up on some fantastic nonprofit marketing blogs. It’s all about enjoying the learning process and seeing it as a way to continue your self-growth, not as a burden. These blogs will take your nonprofit to the next level and give you the leg up you’ve been searching for to see more results! Why Read Blogs as a Nonprofit Marketer? Self-education is challenging to begin because you have to hold yourself accountable. If you are able to do that, there is an incredible plethora of knowledge to absorb. You will not only see an impact in your nonprofit business, but you will also find many hacks and tricks you’ll wish you had read about sooner. Most of these blogs will have their own missions but offer valuable content to their readers as a sort of comradery to other nonprofits. The reasons you should be reading a marketing blog as a nonprofit owner are: Offer you a wider perspective Teach you about the changing trends Inform you of new software and apps to make CRM/data management easier Give your mind a workout Give you ideas on how to make your nonprofit better Keep your thoughts fresh and up to date Bottom Line: You need to know what other nonprofits are doing to understand how you can exceed their methods. I know we’re all out here trying to make the world a better place, but it’s hard to get your nonprofit noticed, so you’ll need any advantage you can get to just be seen. Take advantage of free or affordable help from the experts that are experimenting and learning some things that your team might be missing. Allow them to inspire you and offer their wisdom so you can always improve your nonprofit business. 1. Bloomerang Blog Bloomerang is a wonderful blog tool that’s oozing with good advice! It was a finalist for the Tech Point Mira Awards for ‘Startup of the Year,’ and helps those starting out in the world of nonprofits. The Top 5 blog posts from Bloomerang that I would recommend are: Video Grow Your Nonprofits Revenue Above 1M for the First Time 6 Ways to Leverage Financial Data for a Successful Giving Season How to Get More People to Open Your Nonprofit Email Some of the Best Nonprofit Content Marketing Options The #1 Way to Warm up Your Donors for Year-End Giving 2. Classy Blog Classy is one of my favorite blogs for its useful content and blog focused on marketing advice that works on younger generations. I find their blog to be very observant and thought-provoking with advice from many other noteworthy nonprofits. Their articles are not taking themselves too seriously and find fun ways to reach donors. The top 5 blog posts I would recommend from Classy are: 36 Free Nonprofit Resources to Bookmark How to Write the Perfect Fundraising Email 7 SEO Tips Nonprofits Can’t Afford to Ignore 25 Quick Fundraising Ideas for Nonprofits and Charities Top 10 TED Talks for Nonprofit Leaders Or just check out the entire marketing section here. 3. Media Cause Blog Media Cause is a blog with the main focus of teaching you how to engage with your members and digital marketing strategies. It is user-friendly and offers many free tools for nonprofit owners to retrieve some value out of with no price tag attached. They will help you with advertising and branding, which can feel daunting in the beginning and have posts for any nonprofit at any stage. The top 5 blog posts I would recommend from Media Cause are: When Marketing Gets It Wrong (And How We Can Make it Right) So You Want to be A Better Marketing Writer? 3 Ways to Enhance User-Generated Content Ways to Grow Impact with Animals in Digital Marketing Nonprofit Advocacy 101 – 5 Steps to Change the World 4. Wild Apricot Blog Wild Apricot is a blog site that I’ve personally found to be invaluable in helping me understand the ever-changing world of nonprofits. They offer resources on growing your foundation's community and free options as well as a membership you can pay for. This resource is great is you have a larger team to manage and need a membership database. The top 5 blog posts I recommend from Wild Apricot are: 4 Tactics You Definitely Aren’t Using to Your your Nonprofit Email List Instagram for Nonprofits 101 Ways to Get New Members and Donors Donor Management Software – 19 Options to Try Today A Guide to Effective Team Management of a Nonprofit 5. Charity Navigator Blog Charity Navigator’s Blog is an excellent source for reputable information from a foundation which enacts change in the world. The other things you can use this site for, besides it’s a free blog, is the page where you can search any charity and learn more about where it’s donation money is really being allocated to and allowing you to donate on the spot based on keywords. The top 5 posts I would recommend you check out from their highly reputable blog are: 5 Things to Consider When Supporting Disaster Relief The Do’s and Don’ts of Peer-To-Peer Fundraising Tidying Up My Philanthropy Nonprofits and For-Profits: A Matchmade in Heaven? 501(c) What? 6. Nonprofit Pro Blog Nonprofit Pro is a blog you need to keep up with for their strategy advice alone. They focus on essential subjects such as legal issues and technological evolution in the nonprofit world, and over 75 categories that will keep you hunting for knowledge on an endless loop! The top 5 blog posts I absolutely recommend you read are: When Elephants Fight, Grass Gets Trampled Social Good Summit 2019 – What Matters to Nonprofits Why Our Brains Respond to Print and Direct Mail Nonprofit Marketing: 7 Emails for All-Year Engagement Leveraging Our Biases to Fundraise 7. Cause Vox Blog Cause Vox is an authentic blog that was started by two nonprofit owners who understand your fundraising struggles. Now they help nonprofits succeed and offer tools to new foundations. They’ve got over 10 years of experience and over 1500 clients they’ve worked with to see real results in their fundraising. The top 5 blog posts I would recommend from Cause Vox are: Welcome Email Series - Tactics to Retain Donors How to Cultivate Donors and Reach New Donors in Todays Connected Economy Optimizing Your Donation Pages for More Donations How to Design and Grow a Monthly Giving Campaign A Guide to Building Relationships with Your Community Final Words of Wisdom By strengthening your marketing game, you will better help your cause. You will be able to do more with less and speak from an informed and well-researched perspective. If you get more things done efficiently through digital hacks and marketing tricks – you’ll have that much more time to commit for day-to-day help on your nonprofit. That perspective can only come by expanding your limits to new voices, causes, and opinions. We are so lucky to live in a time of such a wealth of information. It’s a labor of love, but isn’t the cause so incredibly worth the work?