In today’s day and age, email marketing is essential in running any type of business, most especially for NGOs who rely heavily on donors and supporters for continuous operations. Reaching out to people through word of mouth is no longer as easy as it used to given the amount of time people spend online. Be it at work or at home, people will constantly check and update their emails which is why it is essential for NGOs to provide interesting content. Boring or irrelevant content will only cause your contacts to either ignore your content or unsubscribe from your emails. Apart from reaching a wide range of potential donors, email marketing also come at a relatively low cost. Thus, in this article, we have come up with marketing strategies your NGO can benefit from.
- Select your subscribers carefully
You can email as much people as you’d like to but remember that only your targeted audience will be the ones to open and actually read your mailers. Always update your list, especially if some email addresses are no longer active. That way, you’d be able to determine how many active subscribers you actually have and what you need to do to improve on the number.
- Know where to acquire your mailing list
Once people decide to subscribe to your newsletter, it should be automatic that you send them a confirmation email. Without this, there will be the possibility of people subscribing through their inactive email addresses and not be able to serve the purpose of reaching out. Once they have confirmed their subscription, you’re more assured of their interest in actually opening and reading your email.
- Grow you mailer database
Growing your database means getting more subscribers but that doesn’t necessarily mean looking at just numbers. It is best to still grow your numbers based on your target audience. As much as possible, try not to sacrifice quality for quantity. To encourage sign-ups, try to make the process as simple as possible. For example, when entering your webpage, an idea would be to have a pop-up message asking viewers if they would like to sign up. Additionally, try to have your subscribers fill up only necessary portions as having a long sign-up process may discourage a number of users and decide to opt out of signing up.
- Come up with a strong message
You would like something that would catch your audience’s attention, something they will remember. Try to come up with something unique as well so they don’t confuse you with other organizations. At the same time, make sure that your mission statement is something that embodies the purpose of the existence of your organization. You can’t expect donor agencies for NGOs, philanthropic organizations, or NGO funding sources to just knock on your door. You will need to work for their time and attention, and delivering a strong message will aid you in doing so.
- Make your donors feel appreciated
Generic emails have their ways of making people feel ordinary or just average. To show your appreciation to those who are keeping you in business, it would be best to exert a little more effort by sending them a personal message. For example, if it were an individual you’re writing to, try to incorporate the stuff they like into your messages. For organizations such as philanthropic foundations, funding agencies for NGOs, or NGO project consultants, either their current or past initiatives can be incorporated in the messages you send, most especially if you are aiming to acquire donations from the messages you send.
