Liberal Communicators Network
Kivi Leroux Miller´s Insights on Marketing Strategies and Goal Setting
Kivi Leroux Miller, the founder, and CEO of Nonprofit Marketing Guide (USA), shares insights on developing an effective mission-driven marketing strategy and goal-setting. Kivi is a consultant, award-winning book author, and trainer with years-long specialized experience from the USA in helping NGOs excel in their communications and mentoring marketers to reach new professional heights. She authored one of the best books in the field “Content Marketing for Nonprofits”.
It has been an honor to have Kivi as a trainer for 3 years in a row at the flagship communications training of the European Liberal Forum and FNF East and Southeast Europe - The Liberal Communicators Network (LCN): Non-Profit Academy. The insightful learning journey focused on how to craft a communications strategy in a non-profit organization. Don't miss the dose of inspiration, thought provocation, and guidance to help you achieve communications success for your NGO or civil society organization – apply for LCN 2023 and learn first-hand from Kivi.
Goals
When it comes to achieving organizational goals, it can be tempting to try and tackle everything all at once which leads to confusion and wasted resources. Kivi recommends to rather focusing on smaller, achievable goals can be more effective in the long run. After defining your goals you have to develop a strategy. Strategies are the marketing approaches you to take to achieve your goals. You should customize them by referencing your target audience and the messages you want to bring across.
“When I ask people to show me their strategy, most people often show me their to-do list.”
Strategy
The two powerful tools that companies utilize the most are permission-based marketing and content marketing.
Permission-based marketing shares content only with individuals who have explicitly given consent to receive it, building a loyal audience that engages with the brand. Content marketing creates valuable content that organically draws individuals to the brand, establishing trust and thought leadership.
Other effective strategies include event or experience marketing, ambassador or influencer marketing, partner or alliance marketing, word-of-mouth marketing, peer-to-peer marketing, location-based marketing, general advertising, search marketing, unsolicited direct response, and relationship marketing.
It is essential to outline whom you are communicating with, what you are communicating about, and the resources required to implement your strategy.
“Goals are the big picture you are trying to achieve, tactics are all of the things that you do.”
Objectives
Objectives are the steps that have to be taken, to implement strategy and achieve the set goals. Objectives should be SMART – specific, measurable, achievable, resourced, and time-bound. This helps you track your progress and evaluate the effectiveness of your efforts.
Measuring participation levels is crucial for success. Tracking metrics such as registrations, donations, and RSVP can help make data-driven decisions and adjust strategies as needed. The most popular objectives are Financial Gains or Savings and Expressions of Loyalty. Joining, subscribing, or following are common metrics used by non-profits to measure communication success. Other important metrics to track include changes in knowledge, increased demand, levels of influence, increased satisfaction, change in behaviour, change in tone or attitude, and increased readiness or empowerment.
Non-profits must rethink their tactics continually and determine which ones are most effective for their specific organisations at this specific moment.
In conclusion, non-profits need to track multiple metrics to assess the effectiveness of their communication efforts. By setting SMART objectives, choosing appropriate tactics, prioritising their efforts, and tracking metrics, non-profits can identify areas of strength and weakness. This helps organisations adjust their strategies and to achieve their goals.
If you want to explore further the topic with a hands-on approach, get a copy of the Nonprofit Communications Strategic Planning Card Deck. Don’t miss the chance to follow the Annual Trends Report, issued by Nonprofit Marketing Guide, to get the latest pulse from the for-good communications industry in the USA.
Graphic recording is done by '500 Markers' studio from Bulgaria.
If you want to learn first-hand from Kivi Leroux Miller and other thought leaders, do apply for LCN by 4 April to join a professional network of liberal mission-driven marketers in Europe!