Strategies for Nonpro t
Marketing:
How to Increase Advocacy and Engage
Donors with Online
Performance Advertising
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Introduction
While there are signs that the economy is improving, corporate and individual giving has not yet
steadied. According to a study by the Nonpro t Finance Fund, 52% of nonpro ts expect the recession to
have a long-term or permanent negative e ect on their organizations.
52% of non-
profits expect At the same time, the need for services has increased dramatically. More people are turning to nonpro ts
the recession to for help, creating a larger burden on the nancial stability of organizations that are already strapped for
have a long- cash. 93% of nonpro ts expect an increase in demand for services this year. Nonpro ts are faced with the
term or unique challenge of both an increase in demand for their services and a decline in resources.
permanent
With a challenging fundraising climate ahead, nonpro t marketers need to do more with less. You need to
negative effect make sure that you are reaching the people who care most about your organization, while keeping a close
on their organi- eye on your marketing ROI (return on investment).
zations.
The challenges that many nonpro t marketers face are how to continually ll your donor database quickly
Nonprofit and cost-e ectively, and how to keep donors and advocates engaged in your cause so that the rst gift is
Finance Fund not the last. This white paper focuses on how nonpro t marketers can nd - and build relationships with -
people who are actively interested in supporting your organizations. It also provides insights into how the
ASPCA used online performance advertising to help build a vibrant social community of people who are
passionate about their cause.
Connect to Interested Prospects Through Online Marketing
It’s no secret that online marketing makes sense • CPC (Cost-per-Click): You pay for clicks. CPC is
Online givers for nonpro t marketers. It is e cient, targeted, typically used to run paid search campaigns.
donate more and on average, yields better results than o ine
than offline marketing. According to research by Blackbaud, • CPL (Cost-per-Lead): You pay only for leads, or
givers. The the average online gift in Q2 of 2009 was $124.17. sign-ups - and never for wasted impressions or
Blackbaud research also shows that from the rst clicks.
average online
half of 2008 to the rst half of 2009, nonpro ts
donation in Q2
saw a 22.13% year-over-year growth in online With CPM advertising, there is no guarantee that
2009 was
revenue. you will achieve results. That’s why it is no surprise
$124.17.
that performance pricing models, like CPC and
To acquire donors online, you can purchase online CPL, are growing at the expense of CPM. In the
Blackbaud
advertising using three di erent pricing models: latest IAB/PWC advertising revenue report, perfor-
mance advertising represented 58% of all ad
• CPM (Cost-per-Thousand): You pay for impres- revenue in the rst half of 2009, while CPM repre-
sions. CPM is typically used to purchase third sented only 38%.
party donor lists or run display banner campaigns.
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According to
the IAB (Internet
Advertising
Bureau),
performance-
based media
accounted for
58% of internet
advertising
revenues in H1
2009
Using performance pricing models like CPC and to your campaign and allows you to reach a
CPL, nonpro ts can connect with interested universe of non-searchers.
donors and see immediate ROI.
For example, if you are a nonpro t that is trying
“CPC Pricing
You may already br running paid search to build awareness about an environmental
Models are a
campaigns to increase tra c to your website. issue, you want to make sure that you are
placeholder for However, adding CPL to your marketing mix advertising in front of audiences who are
CPL.” provides you with the following advantages: predisposed to caring about the environment,
but who might not necessarily be searching for
Daniel Taylor
Senior Analyst • High ROI: In Cost-per-Lead campaigns, you your speci c organization.
The Yankee Group pay only when someone signs up to hear more
from your organization, not for impressions or With CPL, you reach a broad audience of
clicks. interested donors and advocates and pay only
when someone raises their hand to receive
• Expanded reach: While search is e ective at communications from you.
“pulling” consumers toward your cause, what
about people who aren’t actively searching for
your organization? CPL adds a “push” element
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Grow your Database with CPL Advertising
What are The success of a nonpro t outreach program is typically measured by database growth, or the
marketing leads? number of people who sign up to hear more about a cause. With CPL advertising, you acquire
marketing leads, which are organization-speci c leads that are never resold. For example, a market-
Marketing leads ing lead acquired for the 2008 Barack Obama Presidential Campaign would never be resold to John
contain the McCain.
contact informa- Because people are explicitly signing up to share their contact information with you, you can connect
tion of people to prospects with a high level of intent. Instead of blasting messages to a wide population with the
who are hopes that a few people listen, you can use CPL advertising to nd people who are already inclined
interested in to respond - and pay only when you acquire new, quali ed additions to your database. You can run
your cause or sign-up ads on premium websites that look like this:
organization.
Nonpro ts using
marketing leads
to build donor
databases
include:
People opt-in to share contact information with you in order to receive information about events,
updates, and donations. Not only are people who sign up for your communications more likely to
get involved, but advertising that is priced on a performance basis is much more cost-e ective.
A lead contains contact information of a high intent prospect. You can collect two kinds of marketing
leads:
1. Leads with basic fields: People provide basic information such as name, email, and postal address.
2. Leads with premium elds: People provide more detailed information such as telephone number,
answers to custom questions such as, “Have you donated to a charity in the past year?,” and
geo-targeted information.
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As you can see from the chart below, collecting basic information is less expensive than
collecting premium information:
Average Cost-per-Lead: Nonprofit/Advocacy Q4 2009
$1.60
$1.56
$1.55
$1.50
$1.45
$1.40
$1.35 $1.33
$1.30
$1.25
“If your list is like $1.20
Basic Fields Premium Fields
a garden, per-
mission is the
sun: Your list While you can certainly collect whatever information you need to meet your marketing goals, our
cannot grow experience with nonpro t marketers shows that asking for basic information upfront works best. By
without it.” keeping it simple, you reduce costs and improve user experience.
Kivi Leroux Miller Engage Prospects and With budgets as tight as they are, nonpro ts
Nonpro t Marketing Donors are increasingly selecting CPL advertising as a
Guide.com reliable and a ordable way to acquire email
Once you have a healthy database, use email addresses and build the right kind of
marketing to build engagement. database from which to engage.
Email marketing is one of the most e ective When deploying your email outreach
tools for increasing advocacy and donations. program, also keep in mind the validity of
According to the Direct Marketing each email address you collect. Building a
Association’s recent study, the ROI from email permission-based list is critical. In other
marketing was $43.62 in 2009. words, people must opt-in to receive your
communication. CPL advertising allows you
Studies also show that people are open to to connect to people who have explicitly
receiving email communication from brands opted-in to hear from you.
and organizations. A recent Harris Interactive
Survey showed that 96% of online adults are Email alone can be an e ective engagement
willing to share email addresses in order to vehicle. in addition, there are a number of
receive information or special o ers. methods that nonpro ts can use to have an
even more e ective dialogue with prospects.
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Through email and newsletter programs, you can drive people to community sites, social networks,
donation pages, and advocacy platforms to continue the conversation. Rather than broadcast your
“With Ponti ex,
message, target your focus to those people who are passionate about your organization. Use CPL
we acquired advertising to build a database of interested prospects and then build long term relationships
leads at a frac- through the social channels that mean the most to your audience.
tion of the cost
of CPM and CPC Here are some snapshots of just a few nonpro t engagement vehicles:
campaigns, and
even half the
price of other
lead generation
vendors.”
Sam Perry
Director of Online
Membership and
Activism
EDF
In 2008, the
Obama Cam-
paign spent
more money
with Ponti ex in
six weeks than
they spent with
the
WashingtonPost
.com in the
entire year
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Case Study: How the ASPCA Used CPL Advertising to
Build a Vibrant Social Community
In this case study, we will look at how the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals
(the ASPCA) used transparent Cost-per-Lead (CPL) advertising to connect with animal rights
adovcates and pet lovers to create a strong social presence on Twitter and Facebook.
Step 1: Grew Its Donor Database with CPL Advertising
The ASPCA ran CPL sign-up ads on demographically and contextually relevant sites. This allowed the
organization to connect to an audience who cared about animals, but wasn’t necessarily on pet sites.
It also allowed the ASPCA to take advantage of the other bene ts of CPL, such as:
1. Cost-e ectiveness: By running CPL sign-up ads,
the ASPCA was able to pay only for actual sign-ups
-- instead of paying for wasted clicks or impres-
sions.
2. Timeliness: With CPL advertising, the ASPCA was
able to get their message in front of the right
users, and acquire their contact information in
real-time.
3. Relevancy: Through CPL ads, the ASPCA
received the contact information of people that
had raised their hand and said “Tell me more!”
These were highly highly engaged users -- an
essential foundation for a vibrant and dynamic
brand community.
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Step 2: Engaged Donors and Prospects
As soon as the ASPCA received a sign up from an interested person, the organization sent an email in
real-time to keep the prospect engaged with its message.
In the email, the ASPCA embedded links to relevant Facebook and Twitter pages. This approach was
wise. According to the Harris Interactive Survey quoted earlier in this paper, 96% of online adults are
“Building a
relationship in willing to share their email addresses with marketers to receive additional information. That same
the social net- study found that in contrast, only 12% are willing to share their social networking information such as
working space is Facebook name or Twitter handle.
not very di er- The implications are clear: Marketers of all kinds, both corporate and nonpro t, have to build
ent from build- relationships with people through email before engaging them on social networks. With Ponti ex
ing a relation- AdLeads autoresponder technology, the ASPCA sent real-time emails at no charge in a completely
ship in the real automated way and laid the foundation for successful social engagement.
world. Once
marketers have
built relation-
ships and trust
through e-mail,
they then
engage con-
sumers in
relevant ways
on social net-
working sites.”
AdWeek
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Like email, social networking sites such as
Facebook and Twitter are excellent vehicles
for engaging prospective donors in
meaningful and relevant ways.
The ASPCA uses Twitter to provide
real-time tips about caring for pets and
immediate updates on animal welfare.
The organzation also uses Facebook to
share information about pet adoption
clinics. Through the Orange for ASPCA
Facebook app, users can add the ASPCA to
their pro le pages and share their pets’
stories with their Facebook communities.
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About Pontiflex
Ponti ex works with nonpro ts to acquire new prospects and build powerful databases. You can
connect to interested advocates through Ponti ex and pay only for organization-speci c marketing
leads, not for impressions or clicks that might never produce results. Because Ponti ex is transpar-
ent, you can trace leads to their sources and optimize accordingly. And, because any lead from
Ponti ex is collected on a strictly opt-in basis, you can be sure that you are growing a database of
people who are actively interested in getting involved.
To learn more about how to connect with new donors using CPL advertising, please email us at
info@ponti ex.com or give us a call at 1.800.420.6086.
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