Meeting the Unique Messaging and Marketing Challenges of Nonprofit Organizations

Q&A with Matt Hugg

So you think your small business has challenges? Wait until you hear what nonprofits are up against! I know every business faces its own unique challenges, but there is a complexity to marketing for nonprofits that is often underrepresented, and sometimes even misunderstood.

As the brains behind Nonprofit.Courses, Matt Hugg breaks down the challenges that nonprofits face to help would-be marketing consultants provide more strategic, targeted engagements in this industry. His perspective on messaging for audiences with drastically different goals is particularly insightful, even for those of us who don’t face as nuanced a challenge.  

Have we hooked you yet? Come on, dive in! If you’re a podcast fan, listen to it here. If you’re a reader, here you go. 

Debbie Albert: Welcome! On this episode of Prove It, we’re talking about the unique marketing challenges faced by nonprofit organizations. 

My guest is Matt Hugg, the president and founder of “Nonprofit.Courses,” an on-demand, online educational resource for nonprofit leaders, along with their staff, board members and volunteers. The website is definitely worth visiting, as it is chock full of materials that any nonprofit, or I would argue, even a for-profit business might benefit from. 

Matt’s the author of The Guide to Nonprofit Consulting, and he calls himself “the nonprofit consultant’s consultant.” He honed his skills as a consultant for nonprofits, and now he consults for those consultants, and my favorite part of this whole episode is that we were in the same high school class! So, Matt, welcome to Prove It! 

Matt Hugg: Well, thank you, Debbie. Yes, that’s right, we won’t say what class year that was, but… [laughing]

Debbie: It was in the last century, that’s for sure.

Matt: Yeah, there you go. [laughing] 

Debbie: So, I’ve explained the format to you. I’m going to ask you three questions, and then I’m going to ask you for a Prove It! point at the end, so that our listeners know that this really does work. My first question is pretty basic. How is marketing for a nonprofit organization different from marketing for a for-profit business or organization? 

Matt: Well, when we’re talking about tools, it’s similar. To get the visibility you want, you have to do target marketing, come up with an avatar, etc., which honestly, you have to do whether you’re a small business or a nonprofit, or even a big nonprofit. So, there are a lot of similarities. The issue really is the audience, and I might argue that it’s harder to do marketing in a nonprofit environment, because you have a wide divergence of audiences. You have the people who are your clients, and the folks who benefit from your mission. 

Debbie: Right. 

Matt: Nonprofits are all about taking action for the mission, but you also need the folks who support the nonprofits. They might be donors or grant funders. Sometimes those people are the same, but a lot of times they’re different. For example, in a social service environment, they’re typically very different, but in an environmental organization, they may be the same, or they may cross over.  

Debbie: I never really thought of that; that’s very interesting. 

Matt: It’s hard to get your head around at first, but a nonprofit relationship goes three ways. There is the nonprofit to the donor, and then the nonprofit to the mission recipient. But in business, you just sell to the same person or organization that benefits from your business. 

Debbie: Right, exactly. So you lead me right to my second question which is, how do you appeal to two different audiences, that require two different messages? Give us a sense, beyond a website, of how a nonprofit can speak effectively to two different audiences.

Matt: Well, the good news is that the closer you can bring these audiences together, particularly from the donor point of view, the better off you are. When you can put the donor in the mind of the audience you are serving, that’s a good thing. 

So how does this work? You need stories. We all know stories sell, right? People buy emotionally, and then they justify logically. So you need stories that appeal to both audiences. The mission recipients need a story about a person with whom they can identify, so they feel good about taking advantage of the mission. And then the donor audience needs to hear the same story, so they understand what the mission is about. 

The other part of this is about dignity – and you have to consider the dignity of both audiences. You don’t want to talk down to either audience, you don’t want to demean your mission recipients, and you want to make sure that your donors see these people as well deserving of what the mission provides. 

Debbie: That is a beautiful, important, and sensitive thing to say, and from my limited knowledge in this space, it is those stories that get to you. So, I guess my third question is, how do nonprofits balance these important messaging goals, and how do they tell these stories with limited budgets? 

Matt: Yes, limited budgets are an issue, so let’s clarify things here. Nonprofits can range from your community Little League to a major employer in the city. In Philadelphia, I believe the University of Pennsylvania is the biggest employer in the city, and also a nonprofit. In regard to a marketing budget, it will only commit so much money because they really have an ethic of putting the money into the mission, into the service of the people, but not so much into the promotion of it. 

Nonprofits have to step back, and say, “are we doing enough in terms of marketing? Are we striking the right balance where we can show that marketing is going to pay off in that it supports fundraising, which really means it supports client acquisition?” I think that client acquisition is now actually a revenue producer, when you think of universities, for example.  

Debbie: Right, but to really make the marketing part of giving back to the mission, the marketing budget should be supported because you are helping the mission by funding marketing. 

Matt: Yes, exactly. But many nonprofits don’t see it that way. They often will see it as an extra expense. Another issue is comfort level. People in nonprofit work are all about the mission, but they aren’t comfortable with marketing it. It’s just not who they are. 

Debbie: Right, that I totally understand. [laughing] 

Matt: So that’s an issue that they come down to. “Well, do we have to do this? Do we have to go out and do that?” Think of it this way. You may be working with the best hospital physician, or nurse, but they want to do their job, they don’t want to do marketing. So, when you get down to it, what we’re really talking about is the need to ‘market the marketing.’ 

Debbie: You’re exactly right, and that’s our job, the people who own marketing firms. If we’re trying to work with nonprofit organizations, we have to explain the importance of the integration of marketing with the mission. 

Matt: Right, and do it in a way that doesn’t look self-serving. There’s a big question in the nonprofit sector about, well, that’s their interest, do they just want to take money from us? You have to be sensitive to that, and put the marketing tools to work that you would use for them, but in this instance for your own company. In other words, to help them see that yes, marketing should be core. 

Debbie: So, before I ask you about a specific nonprofit that did that, and you don’t have to mention names, let me just ask you one more question about, what resources are out there that can help nonprofits stay on top of this ever-changing world of marketing? 

Matt: It would be terrible if I didn’t mention my business, Nonprofit.Courses, right? I really do have a number of resources for nonprofits, and marketing resources especially, because I think it’s essential for any nonprofit. Marketing resources tailored to nonprofits are really tough to find. I will tell you, though, that the number one thing to keep in mind is to start with the basics. A lot of nonprofit organizations really just need to start with why somebody needs to engage with them. 

Debbie: Absolutely.  

Matt: For 80%, 75% of the nonprofits you’re working with, that’s going to be a revelation. 

Debbie: Okay. 

Matt: And then take them into more sophisticated techniques. It isn’t that much different than standard marketing things. 

Debbie: I agree, I mean, you have to build the foundation before you build the house. 

Matt: Right, and you’ll find that if you come in with the understanding that they are all about mission, you’re going to make a difference. 

Debbie: Right, tell the story from that angle, okay. We’re up to the Prove It! part. 

Matt: Ah, yes. 

Debbie: Why don’t you tell us about a nonprofit, and how they worked marketing magic with the resources you provide, their limited budget, etc.?  

Matt: I come from a fundraising background, so one of the things that always strikes me is how well organizations will use multiple marketing channels. It bothers me when I get approached by a nonprofit that says, “We took everything, or we want to take everything, online.” 

I have a nice example of a school that tried to do that, backed off of it, and then decided on a three-pronged approach. They did telephone calls, they did direct paper mail, and there’s some really good tracking stuff on that. I love that the US Postal Service is able to track direct mail, so you can then follow up with emails. 

So telephone, direct mail, and email. The emails are much more effective when you put those three things together. It really makes a difference. They boosted their revenue from that campaign over what they had before, when they just did direct mail. They just weren’t happy with it, but when they put these three things together, it made a huge difference. 

Debbie: Oh, I love that story. That’s great, and so I’m going to thank you for that, because we’re out of time, but I would be remiss if I didn’t say, again, if you are a nonprofit, or not, and you just want some more marketing resources online, go to Nonprofit.Courses. I was amazed, Matt, when I went there, and saw the number of things you have, and broken down by category, and I mean, there’s so much to read, there’s so much to share with people. I happen to be on the board of a large nonprofit, and I learned a lot from looking at the materials on your site, so I thank you for that. 

Matt: Well, thank you very much, and if anybody wants to be a content provider, I’m certainly open to that, too.  

Debbie: Oh, that’s a good point, too. So, let me wrap it up by saying, thanks everyone for listening. If you have thoughts about this episode, please let us know. We hope we’re adding some clarity for you and what’s happening to marketing communications today and stay tuned for another episode of Prove It!