>>MARKETING

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Marketing plays an integral role in effectively communicating the value of

A Kid Again to potential donors. As a nonprofit organization, certain

unique challenges stand in opposition to achieving this goal. This section

will give you practical strategies to overcome the obstacles of nonprofit

marketing and how to best use these obstacles to your advantage.

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Strategies for Successful Nonprofit Marketing

Applying for-profit marketing strategies directly to nonprofit organizations may seem

sensible, but for the most part, marketing in the non-profit world is remarkably different.
While for-profit and nonprofit marketing strategies are similar, many differences exist
because of the nature of nonprofit organizations. Several key strategies that apply
specifically to nonprofit organizations include:

Familiarity, Efficiency, Effectiveness
 When advertising for A Kid Again, keep in

The greater A Kid Again’s perceived positive mind that generally, mass media advertising

familiarity, efficiency, and effectiveness, the outlets (advertisements on Facebook,

more likely people are to give. For A Kid Twitter, YouTube) are more effective than

Again, this means raising brand awareness personal solicitations.

and demonstrating how A Kid Again

External Causes
efficiently meets the needs of families of
People are more likely to donate when the
children with life-threatening illnesses. This
need is perceived to be due to external
includes telling stories through videos,
causes outside the beneficiary's control than
posts, and blogs, showing how it meets the
to internal causes under the beneficiary's
needs and enriches the lives of the families
control. In advertising, demonstrate that the
of children with life-threatening illnesses.
kids’ illnesses are entirely outside of their or

Mass Media Appeals their families’ control.

Nonprofits have a greater impact in mass

Helped Beneficiary Picture
media appeals than in personal solicitations.
Using pictures of children/families that have
Mass media appeals tend to give
benefited from A Kid Again’s help should
organizations like A Kid Again more
result in motivation to give. Pictures of
credibility, making the institution seem a bit
happy kids are scattered throughout A Kid
less desperate than personal solicitations.

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Again’s promotional materials, and this Self-Efficacy

certainly helps demonstrate the Greater helping behavior results when

organization’s effectiveness. However, these charities persuade donors of their self-

pictures don’t necessarily demonstrate efficacy (power to affect situations) in

specifically how these kids have been helping than when they do not. Marketing

helped through the work of A Kid Again. campaigns for A Kid Again should

Picturing the kids and their families during demonstrate the positive impact that its

an adventure, showing their relief and work has had on families of kids with life-

contentment at experiencing a time of threatening illnesses.

respite would undoubtedly help booster not !

only a clearer image of the organization, but
also motivate potential donors to give.
Empathy
Greater empathy (and greater selfless
Adapted from
Bendapudi, N., Singh, S. N., & Bendapudi, V.
(1996). Enhancing helping behavior: An
integrative framework for promotion
planning.Journal Of Marketing, 60(3), 33.
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motivation) is encouraged when an appeal

for help asks donors to “imagine how the

beneficiary must be feeling” than when

donors are asked to imagine how “they

would feel if they were in the beneficiary’s

place.” So, through mass media appeals or

social media posts ask donors to imagine

how the kids and families that benefit from

A Kid Again must be feeling as a result of

living with the reality of the kids’ life-

threatening illnesses.

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YouTube for Nonprofits

One way to communicate the value of A Kid Again is through its YouTube page. As a
nonprofit organization, A Kid Again has access to special tools through YouTube’s Nonprofit
program. Once registered for this program, your use of YouTube has the potential to
become exponentially more effective.

YouTube for Nonprofits has the

potential to integrate two of the

most important facets of any

nonprofit organization: storytelling

through advertising and donating. A

Kid Again could use this platform to

engage donors, potential donors,

and families with videos that explain

how its services benefit families of

children with life threatening

illnesses. With YouTube for

nonprofits, organizations that are legally identified as nonprofit organizations have access to

tools on their YouTube channels that regular users do not. These useful features include:
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Donate Button Live streaming
Viewers can use your channel's Donate Stream video footage live onto your

button to contribute to your cause YouTube channel; great for events,

online right from your YouTube videos. conferences, and reporting.

Call-to-action overlays Video Annotations

Place a Call to Action on your videos, Use annotations on your videos to

which viewers can click to visit your encourage users to subscribe to your

website, donate, or learn more. channel or click to visit your website.


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Branding Strategy
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A brand is more than an organization’s look: its name, logo, and graphic design.

Many nonprofits continue to view brand management provincially, seeing it mainly as a

means to raise funds. However, many nonprofits are beginning to widen their view,

understanding the strategic roles of a brand: driving social goals and strengthening internal

identity, cohesion, and capacity. Brand should be defined as “a psychological construct

held in the minds of all those aware of the branded product, person, organization, or

movement.” For A Kid Again, it’s important to develop a strong brand identity so that when

anyone interacts with any facet of the organization - an employee, the website, its Facebook -

the mission and vision of A Kid Again are self-evident.

SUGGESTIONS

For a nonprofit organization, an interactive form of brand management should

be implemented. For A Kid Again, this means providing resources like sample

text and online templates that all staff can access and adapt to clearly

communicate its mission, strategy, work, and values.

In the case of a nonprofit organization, it’s difficult to adequately express the

mission and vision with a single slogan. Instead of having one tagline - “Giving

illness a giant timeout” - try developing two or three more statements that help

clearly communicate A Kid Again’s mission and purpose. This way, staff,

volunteers, and helped families can personalize A Kid Again’s brand, allowing

them to more effectively assume the role of ambassador for the organization.

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