How Your Website Can Support Your Multi-Channel Marketing Strategy
The internet is one big distraction. The second we log on we are bombarded with pop-up advertisements, calls to action, the perfect solutions to this and that, and countless other voices vying for our attention. Our digital age has made advertising and marketing strategies increasingly complex and therefore challenging. How can your organization cut through all the noise with its digital marketing strategy? One strategy to help bolster your organization’s marketing and therefore fundraising success is to use a multi-channel approach. Multichannel fundraising can help your organization boost engagement and also recruit new supporters/awareness. A critical place for securing a new channel, and supporting your other marketing endeavors, is your website. A bad website can undermine your entire digital channel in your multi-channel marketing strategy. Let’s take a look at what to consider to ensure your website supports your multi-channel marketing strategy.
Your Website
Many nonprofits underestimate their website’s importance, but in an increasingly digital age with younger generations becoming donors, your website plays a critical role in the donation process. When we see or hear about something new these days, we google it. It is just how we react. That goes for nonprofits more than anything else. When donors encounter any of your marketing channels, they will go to the internet and land on your website in order to research. This research phase is an essential step for courting donors. If they are turned away by what they see on the internet you can lose them in an instant. The look of a physical office used to be the face of an organization, but now, first impressions are made on the internet.
Furthermore, your website itself is a channel, if not for gifts then for membership or volunteer signups. It would be a waste to not leverage your website for some form of support. Visitors are coming to your website because they are interested in your nonprofit. Another thing to consider is the links you are sharing. If you send an email newsletter or post on social media, you are likely spreading links to your website. If potential supporters are going to follow these links, it is critical that they arrive at a quality website that is maintained and updated. Make sure information is up to date and accurate lest your nonprofit be viewed as sketchy or inactive by researching donors.
How to use Your Website to Support Multi-Channel Marketing
Two key features for your website to maintain are being up to date and relevant. A potential donor sees your organization in an Instagram post and looks you up on google to see whether it is a worthwhile organization. Your most recent information is from 2009. That donor will be turned away and might even question if your organization is still operating. Secondly, information needs to be relevant. Don’t share about other topics that have nothing to do with your work. If your organization operates a homeless shelter, but your website discusses saving the elephants, donors will be confused and uneasy about donating. Donors want to know where their money is going. Keep your information up to date and relevant to your work.
While those are the first two points to have in order, the next steps include optimizing your website for search engines (SEO) and users. SEO focuses on optimizing your site for Google’s algorithms and is a complex yet rewarding process. It typically begins with improving your site and keyword research. These are fairly long instructional reads, but start by learning and then implement the basics, slowly improving your site over time. A few other points to keep in mind:
Do regular maintenance: make sure that your extensions are updated and all features are working. Fix broken links or pages and make sure images are loading quickly. Checking up on your website regularly will ensure that mistakes do not stay up for long and visitors won’t get the chance to see them.
Keep your visitors in mind: Today, we live in a world of instant information. It is truly like no other time in history. Before the internet you had to have the patience to learn something whether that be in school or by going to the library, finding the correct book, and then reading that book. Now, it takes the amount of time for you to pull out your phone and type in whatever it is you are looking for. Have you ever been frustrated when the web result loads super slow or a page does not have the answer front a center? If your website loads slow and important information like addresses, contacts, donate buttons, mission statement, etc are hard to find then users will leave your site. This is the side effect of living in an age where we expect instant info. Make sure to make your site navigable, easily readable (no tiny font or jam-packed pages), and fast.
Optimize your site for mobile visitors: In 2020, half of all web users were surfing the internet on mobile devices (tablets or phones). It less common today, but still some websites will load slowly and in odd configurations on mobile devices. Make sure that your site will load in a timely manner, desirable, and readable format in order to avoid turning away mobile users.
Use well-written calls to action: It is easy to forget, but this whole effort is to support your multi-channel marketing and therefore fundraising. Briefly explain how you are solving a particular problem and then call the visitor to take action to support your efforts (donate). Buttons often draw users to click better than links. Make sure to take advantage of the traffic that is driven to your site by other marketing strategies.
Don’t miss out on the opportunity to improve your nonprofit’s image and overall marketing effectiveness. Successful marketing and an improved digital image will support fundraising and drive your mission success. Use these tips to audit your site and maximize its potential. From there, don’t stop improving. The internet is a nearly unlimited pool of resources with millions of potential donors. Continue improving your site and you can establish and strong, consistent channel to bolster your multi-channel marketing and fundraising efforts.
Need help developing your fundraising strategy? We’ve raised over $100 million in capital campaigns, membership programs, and sponsorships. We pass the same insights we used to develop extremely successful fundraising strategies on to our clients every single day.
