Not for Profit Marketing

A Not-for-profit is the term that is used to describe organisations that are working towards a cause such as charities, non-governmental organisations and CSO’s which are the Civil Society Organisations. There are also private voluntary organisations that fall within the definition of the not-for-profit organisations (Hartley & Claycomb, 2013). As the name implies, not-for-profit marketing is the range of the marketing activities that are used by non-profit organisations (Mort et al., 2015). The main aim of  using this particular type of marketing is to spread the message of the non-profit organisation, whose objectives are to solicit donations and to call for volunteers. The not-for-profit marketing involves creating logos and slogans as well as using other media campaign to make sure that the exposure of the organisation can be made possible outside their conventional audience (Hartley & Claycomb, 2013).

     
     Non-profit organisation can use the same marketing approach as any conventional business would opt to do (Hartley & Claycomb, 2013). In doing so, they must, firstly, identify the target market, or the people they want to reach. When that is done, the next thing to do is to develop the marketing material so that it can be sent to the target market (Hartley & Claycomb, 2013).  The other thing that can optimise the outcome is determining the objective of the market campaign (Mort et al., 2015).  In some ways, it can be said that the not-for-profit marketing is based on the same premises as the conventional marketing as they are following the same line of thinking. For instance, both approaches follow the much-discussed Four P’s of marketing.  However, there are several distinct differences between the two (Hartley & Claycomb, 2013).

To understand this concept, understanding the ideology behind social entrepreneurship is essential (Mort et al., 2015). This concept is pretty much an organisation on its own. The concept stresses on the importance for the not-for-profit organisations to not being too dependent on the funds that are provided by the government or by other charitable foundations. As they are relying on external source of funding, it becomes really hard for them to carry out their financial projections. Consequently, in order to have a much more steady source of funds, it is important that they efficiency allocate their resources (Hartley & Claycomb, 2013).

In the case of non-profit organisation, the marketing is centred on creating awareness on the cause that the organisation is working towards rather than selling a product or a commodity ( Mort et al., 2015; Pitts et al., 2014). Once the customers understand the cause and start supporting it, the financial support can be taken care of  (Mort et al., 2015). In other words, the customers are buying the cause, and in return, contributing towards the cause, which has been earlier “sold” to them. Similarly, as in the case with the profit marketing, the results are the corporation might keep the funds and the product and the service that is being sold (Hartley & Claycomb, 2013).

With regards to the communication methods and overall strategy that are used in the not-for-profit marketing, there are many elements that must be incorporated (Pitts et al., 2014). Firstly, the target customers must be identified. This refers to the people, who are passionate about the cause that the organisation is working towards ( Hartley & Claycomb, 2013; Pitts et al., 2014). Secondly, relevant communication methods must be employed to ensure that message could reach these people (Pitts et al., 2014).  For instance, a non-profit organisation that concerns about veterans should focus on spreading the message to people in the veteran community (Pitts et al., 2014). Thirdly, the strategic marketers must communicate using the message using the right sort of communication tools.  Some of the methods that can be used for the communication include carrying out the social networking, fundraising events, and even using the traditional advertising (Hartley & Claycomb, 2013). Using the same example, the use of mass media marketing tools is not going to attract people in the veteran community as there are not many prospective people who care about veterans who would care about the veterans (Hartley & Claycomb, 2013).

Next, creation of the alliances also play an important role in how profit marketing works. The not-for-profit marketers should collaborate with the other similar organisations and mobilise their resources (Pitts et al., 2014). For instance, collaboration can be made with the local grocery store chains or retailers. Moreover, bar coded cards can be used to facilitate the alignment of the resources that can be shown to the existing and prospective non-profit donors (Pitts et al., 2014). When the card is presented and scanned at the checkout, the barcode will allow a certain percentage of the purchase to be shared with between the partner non-profit organisations (Pitts et al., 2014). These are some of the few examples that can be applied by non-profit organisations for fundraising. Lastly, relevant communication channel should be set up (Hartley & Claycomb, 2013). In doing so, non-profit organisations can add an instant donation button to their website and social networking profiles. Potential donors can simply click the button, fill out a donation form with their credit card information and the amount that they wish to donate. Once the transaction completes, the system can generate a charitable donation tax receipt for the donor (Hartley & Claycomb, 2013).

Hartley, R. F., & Claycomb, C. (2013). Marketing mistakes and successes. Wiley. Retrieved from http://engagedscholarship.csuohio.edu/scholbks/148/

Mort, G. S., Weerawardena, J., Sargeant, A., & Bennett, R. (2015). Social entrepreneurship and value creation in not-for-profit organizations. In Marketing in transition: Scarcity, globalism, & sustainability (pp. 372-376). Springer International Publishing. Retrieved from http://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-319-18687-0_140

Pitts, R., Blose, J., & Mack, R. (2014). Exploring Donation Appeals in Top Not-For-Profit Websites. MIS Review, 19(2), 15-38. Retrieved from http://www.airitifile.com/al/a0000558/201501270005/a0000558-201403-201501270005-201501270005-15-38.pdf