What do you do if your nonprofit's message isn't reaching large audiences?

One common problem that can undermine reaching more of your audience is the nature of the content. I've had a lot of luck encouraging non-profits and their communications teams to try to put themselves in their audience's shoes. Why do people support you? How can you craft content that speaks to that? I occasionally connect it to the old sales line "features tell, benefits sell. Work back from your best outcomes - how are you having an impact rather than what are the problems/issues/challenges you are working to overcome.

It depends what you mean about "reaching large audiences". 1) If you are talking about appealing to a large audience then you might need to re-evaluate who your target audiences are and if you are using themes that they can relate to. 2) If you are talking about physically reaching more people, getting more eyeballs on your content, then you need to assess your marketing strategy. Are you distributing your content in places your target audience actually shows up?

If you're not reaching a larger audience, go out and serve the community. Host a grill out at the park, hand out a goodie bag at the local grocery store parking lot, etc. Serving other people is a great way to impact the community for the better and to get noticed at the same time.

Having a digital presence is important, but so is remembering that not all audiences are digitally savvy. There should still be options for hard copies, phone calls, etc. to provide to those who are not on social platforms. The organization I work for publishes a quarterly magazine that used to be mailed to all members. We have pivoted to distributing digitally, but we do print a limited number of hard copies for those who request it. Not all solutions are one size fits all, so there should be room for inclusion.

To deepen engagement, a strong social presence is necessary but still requires a web-first strategy. Using all your resources on social media is risky. Your content is competing with everything else your audience is interested in. Use your socials to build community. When you launch your next major campaign, a results-driven organization will use socials to drive their audience to their website. Once there, an engaging, professional, and powerful website will serve you and your audience best. They'll be all yours and fully engaged, so provide web content that is interesting to hold on to your best supporters while they're undistracted by what social platforms would be throwing at them.

There are several benefits to regularly evaluating your communications efforts. By using analytics to track engagement, site traffic, and conversion rates, you can gain valuable insight into what resonates with your audience. This data-driven approach allows you to identify effective messages and channels and optimize your strategy for better results. It also gives you the flexibility to pivot if certain strategies are underperforming. Continuous evaluation and adaptation ensure that your nonprofit's message remains impactful and relevant, ultimately improving outreach and engagement efforts.

When you feel that your message isn’t reaching your target audience it’s important to consider what it is that you want that audience to do with the information that you are imparting. Do you want the audience to simply read it? Or are you trying to elicit a response? Meaning do you want the audience to comment? Share the message? Or take some type of action? Make sure you know the response you seek. Then look to successful messaging campaigns and analyze how they work. Take best practices from successful messaging and replicate those. Making sure your desired outcomes lead your planning/strategy is key.

Good point! Congratulations! I think storytelling plays a role here. . Was the content direction structured or serendipitous? . Effective results require the systematic use of data science and analytics. - My coach told me one day, 'First the brand, then the fundraising'. ( and this words has creat my new history) I appreciate your input, and if you want to comment, please do.