Tips to leverage your nonprofit board for your marketing
January often brings new ideas, new goals and new excitement. As you lean into that excitement, it’s a good time to take stock of where your nonprofit’s board fits into your marketing goals. Your marketing efforts will be even stronger if you can engage your board around your plans. Here are some tips to get your board involved to maximize your outreach and ensure your organization is reaching new audiences.
Get to know your board members.
Having a good understanding of the skills and interests of your board members can help you to determine what kind of role they can perform in your marketing efforts. When possible, try to get an idea of their strengths, and brainstorm ways that they can help. This doesn’t have to be a formal conversation – you can simply take note of what you already know about them and their strengths. Some information you might want to gather includes: if they use social media, what platforms they’re active on, how they find out about community events and share those with their network and if they have professional marketing skills. While a professional background in marketing isn’t necessary to support the organization, it can be especially helpful to know who on the board could provide additional expertise and support. Forming individual, authentic relationships when possible will ultimately make your organization stronger no matter the role they take in your marketing plan.
Educate your board members about marketing and keep them informed.
It’s important for your board members to understand the basics of marketing and how it is currently being utilized to benefit your nonprofit. The easiest way to do this is to provide them with resources or have a discussion about the basics during a board meeting. Once you’ve made sure everyone has a shared understanding of marketing, you’ll want to keep them informed of various efforts. While you may be able to share updates on campaigns, events, and other activities in board meetings, it might be easier to find a cadence of email updates that works well with other communications they receive.
Utilize the networks of your board members.
Board members likely have networks that they can tap into to help spread the word about your nonprofit. You can invite board members to share organizational updates through social media, email and word-of-mouth. By providing talking points, sample social media posts or email templates, you can empower board members to share information through channels that they regularly use in a way that’s most comfortable to them. Ultimately the more board members that share your organization’s upcoming events and other initiatives, the further your audience will grow.
By engaging your board in your marketing efforts, you can leverage their experience, skills, and connections to further your organization’s impact. All members join a nonprofit board for a reason – likely because they care about your mission. Learn into that commonality to keep them involved and excited about the impact you’re making together.
Connect with us to get support on your marketing strategy
Ready to level up your marketing strategy? If you are looking to start or supplement your internal marketing needs, we are here to help. We’ve been there and we get how multifaceted non-profit staff are expected to be. Because of this, we strive to take the pressure off so staff can focus on their roles. We work with all sizes and budgets. Contact us.
