So you’ve nailed down your brand identity. Congratulations — that’s a big accomplishment!
You’ve spent the last several weeks, months or maybe even years developing and fine-tuning your vision, mission and target audience. You’ve established your brand personality and determined the best colors, fonts and visual elements to include in your marketing materials.
Now what?
Do you focus on social media? Is email marketing a thing of the past or more important than ever? How needed are in-person events at this early stage?
Keep scrolling to read about the three-pronged approach to marketing success:
1. Social media’s strength is awareness and community-building.
Social media can be time-consuming, and if you have an older audience, you might be thinking it isn’t worth it. But in the digital age, social media is vital, especially if you know how to lean into its strengths: awareness and community building.
Frequent posts sharing more about your staff, your products, your mission and your outreach remind your followers you are active in your community. Using photos, videos and stories add a personal touch on top of other infographics, statistics or facts you share.
In addition, different social media platforms engage different age groups, so the more you can cross-post, the more you’re reaching every corner of your audience. To save time, you can utilize a social media management platform such as Buffer, Loomly or Hootsuite to post across platforms simultaneously.
As you develop your strategy, focus on building an online community that allows your audience to see your brand’s personality and mission. You can — and should — include calls to action, but remember that social media’s purpose is primarily to connect within the confines of the app.
2. Email marketing calls your committed base to get involved.
Email marketing still has an edge on social media for bringing in donors, encouraging participation in upcoming events or selling products.
With this medium, your strategy is different.
Your email recipients already know who you are — they signed up, after all! So don’t take up valuable “real estate” with long sections explaining your mission or products. Instead, use this format to share longer impact stories, company updates or new releases.
Once you’ve shared exciting news or needs, be clear about how you’re asking your audience to respond.
Ask yourself: How can they make a specific difference or benefit from what your company offers?
Then condense that need into a concise statement such as:
- One gift of $20 can feed a family of four.
- Becoming a monthly donor, even at just $10 a month, helps us cover operating expenses and put more funds toward our mentorship program.
- Subscribing to our management software will streamline your employees’ efficiency and increase productivity.
Don’t forget to include links and buttons to make it easy for recipients to take the next step!
3. Budget time for in-person meet-ups or events.
Social media connects you with a broader audience, and email marketing encourages tangible audience support. Both reflect your organization’s brand and personality well.
But YOU can do it even better!
Consider hosting a few meet-ups throughout the year or planning larger-scale fundraisers or events. These in-person opportunities can be the tipping point for supporters who found you through your website or social media. Maybe they subscribed to your newsletter, too.
One conversation with you just might convince them that their support will make a big difference or that your product is exactly what their business has been missing!
And what better place to connect with customers or future donors than your favorite coworking space in Gwinnett County? Whether you’re building relationships with potential business partners while you cowork or hosting your supporters in one of our event spaces, we’re excited to see you take the next step in putting your best foot forward!
Now it’s time to finalize your strategy and start implementing it!
Every organization has different goals and audiences, but most can benefit from this three-pronged approach.
Maybe 40% of your marketing budget goes into social media while another finds email marketing and in-person is more effective and only budgets 20% to social media.
The balance is yours to discover!