The new year is in full swing, and it brings with it a lot of promise, as well as some foreseeable challenges.
Non-for-profit organisations (NFPs) in particular have had to navigate new landscapes in recent years due to the COVID-19 pandemic, fluctuating economies and changing demographics.
Still, the NFP industry in Australia is huge, with a reported revenue of $166 billion in the latest Australian Charities Report. The industry is also growing significantly faster than other industries, with an estimated 6.8% revenue growth compared to a 2.2% revenue growth in other Australian sectors.
Keeping this all in mind, it is hardly a secret that marketing is crucial for NFPs to amplify their voices, spread awareness about fundraising campaigns, appeal to and attract more donors and fine-tune their message.
For marketers in the NFP universe, it is more important than ever to stay on top of the latest NFP marketing trends so that they can guarantee future successes for their organisation.
5 NFP Marketing Trends in 2023
What makes trends a useful tool for marketers?
Latest and emerging trends can provide marketers with useful insights of what went right, what went wrong, and what audiences wanted in the previous year. Trends also help marketers improve the effectiveness of their campaigns and identify the right channels to appeal to more people.
So without further ado, here are 5 NFP marketing trends that you should watch out for in 2023:
1. Be Authentic
In 2023, corporate, formal jargon is out and heart-felt, transparent messaging is all in. With an over-saturated content landscape, audiences are more discerning about what they consume.
For NFPs in particular that are running big fundraising campaigns and attempt to attract many donors, creating an image that is genuine and imperfect is actually better than an ultra-polished and fault-free look.
Marketers should let audiences peek into the behind-the-scenes efforts NFPs make to create and run a fundraising campaign. A day-in-the-life of a volunteer, for example, is an excellent way to humanise your organisation’s intentions and paint a more relatable image.
Moreover, focusing on case studies and the day-to-day impact that your campaigns have on real people will further ground your messaging and increase appeal.
2. Get Personal
By now, marketers should know that personalisation is the name of the game.
Email campaigns, for example, are much more likely to succeed if they take a few simple steps to personalise their messaging. This includes a personalised subject line, your donor’s name, their past giving amount, and mentioning their past engagement in previous campaigns.
Donors will feel much more seen and appreciated if they are addressed individually. In fact, donors are 26% more likely to open an email if the subject line is personalised.
But it doesn’t stop there. Marketers are now taking things a step further by segmenting their audiences.
While older audiences are more likely to respond to email messaging and give larger amounts of money, NFPs need to appeal to millennials and Gen-Zs as well.
Although young people might not have as much money to give, they are a values-driven generation that responds more frequently to social media and are more likely to volunteer and put their passions into practice.
By developing targeted messaging just for Gen-Z donors for example, NFPs will undoubtedly experience more relevancy and awareness-spreading.
3. Use SMS Comms
Email is absolutely essential in NFP marketing campaigns, but younger users in particular are using email less and SMS more.
In fact, text has a 95%-99% open rate, compared to an 18% open rate for email. And SMS can be a very versatile communication tool.
Marketers aren’t just using texts to ask donors for money. SMS can be used to build relationships, send images, celebrate past donations or even send voice memos.
Incorporating SMS as one of your core marketing tools will help you engage significantly more with new and existing donors.
4. Leverage Digital Wallets
In 2023, customers are expecting transactions to be easy and quick. They want their donation experience to feel like their online shopping experiences, ergo, no time wasted digging through their wallets or pockets looking for information they haven’t memorised.
Utilising Apple Pay, GooglePay, Venmo, and PayPal are an absolute must this year, and will facilitate a smoother and quicker giving experience.
And digital wallets aren’t only advantageous for the donors. The average one-time donation increases 1.5x when NFPs offer ACH and digital wallet options.
As a side note, cryptocurrencies are also gaining in popularity as a method of donation. It is a trend that shouldn’t be overlooked.
5. Focus on Your Data
Knowing your data and having a concentrated space where you can refer to it is crucial in an era where campaigns are getting bigger and engaging with more and more people.
Surprisingly, 3 in 10 Australian NFPs aren’t currently using a CRM (customer relationship management) platform to handle and analyse their data
That’s not all. 45% of NFP sector leaders in Australia, nearly half, do not understand the purpose of such platforms.
This is worrying, considering how powerful CRMs can be in optimising their campaigns and assisting marketers in making well-informed decisions.
CRMs like Monday.com, Salesforce and HubSpot are all great platforms for NFPs to consider if they don’t already utilise a preferred platform.
Final Thoughts
Watching out for and identifying emerging trends as we shift into a new year holds many advantages for NFP marketers.
More reliance on technology, more authenticity and focused appeal to younger demographics dominate 2023 NFP marketing trends.
Use these insights to level-up your fundraising game for 2023 and watch your revenue grow beyond what you imagined was possible.