By Nancy E. Schwartz Nonprofits, the value of a marketing plan to serve as the foundation of your daily work cannot be overstated. The right plan is flexible enough to embrace the changes your organization faces on a regular basis yet specific enough to guide ongoing implementation. Yet, I find that many nonprofit communicators are working without a marketing plan. As a matter of fact, findings from my recent survey of over 200 nonprofit communicators showed that more than 60% of the respondents did not have a marketing and communications strategy. Even those who did have a plan, shared the following problems: The plan isn't followed.There's no budget.The environment (in which the nonprofit works, or within the organization) has changed dramatically, making the plan irrelevant. Those nonprofit communicators who are "planless" report that they do a lot of talking about creating one, but first need to develop leadership support for the process. Equally compelling, more than 89% of respondents said that learning more about strategy (why, what, when and how to communicate) was either "important" or "critical" to them. Most striking were these findings, highlighting that nonprofit communicators: Face Three "Greatest Challenges"
Respondents consistently pointed to three "greatest challenges" faced in their everyday work. These are: 1. Getting buy in (strategically, and in terms of resource allocation) from colleagues and leadership.
Respondents reported that colleagues, leadership and board members frequently don't see that program success is dependent on effective marketing. They frequently have absolutely no marketing insight.
A lucky 10% reported that their leaders fully support and understand their marketing work. But 63% responded that although they receive some degree of support from leadership, their work is still little understood.
As one respondent wrote "Our team's greatest challenge is being taken seriously by senior management, who often make communications-related decisions without our input."
Another commented that leadership "wants branding but never thinks about audiences; wants coverage but believes its real only when its a story in the New York Times."
2. Creating brand or name recognition to build and reinforce awareness.
Many respondents pointed to the lack of brand as a deterrent to marketing success. But it's a catch 22. Most nonprofit communicators lack the time, budget and/or expertise to develop a high-impact brand. One respondent pointed to her "inability to identify a clear message that we're all comfortable in communicating, much less specific audiences with messages tailored to each." 3. Lack of time and budget to do all that has to be done.
The respondent who summed it up as "too many competing priorities," seemed to be speaking for the 69% of respondents who pointed to the lack of time and money as a huge barrier to success.
Not an uncommon problem in the workplace. But when you're supposed to be producing, the problem is a big one. Another writes that she finds herself "getting bogged down in the day to day, leaving no time for planning, analysis or creative thinking." Are Striving Develop Skills In Several Areas
Over 80% of survey respondents identified these topics as "important" or "critical" areas in which they need to strengthen their skills. Strategy (tied for top pick, identified as an "important" or "critical" skill gap by 89% of readers)
Respondents want to learn more about strategizing to whom, what, when how and where to communicate. As you've read, most don't work from a communications plan, which is key to working within time and budget constraints. Even when they do, problems abound. Many of those who responded shared the lament that "fighting fires frequently preempt strategy even if you have a plan." Also described as "juggling while walking a tightrope." Message development and branding (the other top pick)
Nonprofit communicators report that although there's a lot of talk about nonprofit branding, there are few colleagues they can turn to for guidance in this area. 88% of respondents pinpointed this as an "important" or "critical" area in which to develop greater expertise. Website development and promotion
Many nonprofits continue to work on transforming their website from a brochure to one that takes advantage of the interactivity of the online medium. Marketing the site is another task for which enough time is seldom allotted, and for which skills are frequently just not there.
Several mentioned a lack of understanding on the leadership level on how and why an organization's web presence needs to be integrated with other communications strategies. Evaluating success
It is hard to measure how much communications are helping to change behavior of any kind, much less generate changes such as increasing awareness. Respondents reported that they know that evaluating impact is critical for building leadership buy-in and increasing budgets. One respondent commented, "we need to know results to determine how to invest the limited marketing resources we do have." Getting Attention survey results showed that many nonprofit communicators are faced with obstacles when it comes to a marketing strategy but have faith, each and every one of the challenges mentioned can be tackled with success. Take the first step by creating a marketing plan best suited for your organization. Nancy E. Schwartz helps nonprofits succeed through effective marketing and communications. Subscribe to her free e-newsletter "Getting Attention," at http://www.nancyschwartz.com/getting_attention.html and read her blog at http://www.gettingattention.org for more insights, ideas and great tips on attracting the attention your organization deserves. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Nancy_E._Schwartz http://EzineArticles.com/?Getting-Attention-Survey-Finds-Most-Nonprofits-Not-Using-Marketing-Plan,-Need-Strategy-Help&id=342941 ambien verapamil elavil
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