Like small businesses, most not-for-profits have limited resources, ambitious goals, and finite capacity. Many NFPs operate in ways that would not be considered ‘business-like,’ AND these organizations, like their small, for-profit cousins, can benefit by leveraging the ideas and tools that we often discuss in the Lean Marketing series.
Here are 8 tips for not-for-profit organizations on marketing their organizations, and some tools and suggestions for setting goals, maximizing resources, and extending capacity.
1. Define your goals.
Many NFPs have long-range plans, ambitions, and a clear mission. But one of the tenets os lean marketing is to define short-term and intermediate goals. It is of critical importance that NFPs define smaller, intermediate goals which are highly measurable and allow the organization to assess whether the strategies and tactics in use are successful. When determining these it is important to be as specific as possible, and to determine in advance how progress will be measured. Here is a post which goes into greater detail on the topic of setting goals.
2. Have a plan.
Put it on paper. Like most business startups, NFPs should also write their plan out in the form of a report or a presentation. Key to this process is homework: research, research, research. It is just as important for NFPs to write a formal document as it is with a for-profit business and the content of the plan should have many similarities to a formal business plan: an executive summary, a description of the market space and size, competitive analysis, and projections of growth and description of how that growth will be measured
3. Understand your market.
Many NFPs don’t view their organization as being a participant in a market, but the truth is they are. A market merely defines the aggregate of demand for a product or service and every organization, whether for profit or not participates in one. Without a clear understanding of your market, it’s size, shape, and composition it is impossible to define goals, raise funds, or execute strategy. Ross made a video on this topic and it is just as relevant for NFPs as it is for all small business and startups.
