By Aby League

Are you a small nonprofit, or are you a marketer with a nonprofit client? Do you find it hard to hit the KPIs? We can’t blame you. Coming up with a proper marketing strategy for a nonprofit organization can be tricky because you’re not just selling a product, you’re also selling a cause.

But the rise of smartphones and mobile-focused marketing has made it easier for marketers – especially those working for nonprofits – to reach their audience. Whether or not you have a mobile strategy or are just developing one, you should be aware of these commonplace mobile marketing mistakes to avoid so that you can reach or even surpass your KPIs (key performance indicators).

Not having a sound mobile marketing strategy

There’s an old saying that goes, “if you fail to plan, you plan to fail.” This applies to marketers who fail to come up with a sound mobile marketing strategy. With mobile marketing, there are tons of information at your disposal and, equally, a ton of ways to use the information you get. This can be used to gather more specific information such as the best time to send out marketing campaigns, custom content, and correctly targeting the intended audience for each nonprofit.

Sadly, a lot of nonprofit organizations take this information for granted and don’t maximize such resources, which leads to a failed campaign or strategy. It’s a notorious mobile marketing mistake that you should avoid.

For you to create a sound strategy, you need to create a solid marketing framework to build on. This can include a mobile-friendly website, creating customized content, and even go as far as using the analytics to come up with an effective schedule to send out campaigns. Or you could simply look at how Propelrr’s digital marketing works.

Failing to tailor content to your niche cause

You can post as many videos, images, quotes or as many emails you like, but if you don’t realize that not everyone can relate to the cause of your client’s nonprofit organization then you are doomed to fail.

As with any digital marketing framework, you need to segregate your audience into personas or categories that fit your client’s needs and niche. Knowing the who, what, when, and how of your audience will help you create personalized content and campaigns. This will also help your audience relate more, which then leads to a more successful call-to-action.

Not optimizing content for different kinds of mobile devices

By now, online marketers should know that the number of mobile device users has overtaken the number of desktop users. As such, Google has rolled out it’s mobile-first indexing, which sent web developers, designers, and even SEOs in a frenzy to adapt their websites and campaigns as fast as possible to get a jump on the competition.

Marketers aren’t exempted from Google’s new search algorithm. Their marketing material and email campaigns must comply with mobile-first indexing, not because it makes it easier to search. No, no. It’s actually due to the number of users who will view your campaigns through mobile devices. In this day and age, nobody wants to squint their eyes or go through the trouble of zooming in just to see the content. It’s either you will follow today’s standards or go home. Make sure your content works on various platforms.

Not all nonprofits need a mobile app

It’s no secret that gaining traffic for nonprofits is difficult even for seasoned marketers. What more if you want people to install and use a mobile app. Before you or someone suggests that your client’s nonprofit organization needs a mobile app, you might want to do a little research.

Your client might be spending money on an app that nobody will use. If that would be the case, then it would be wiser to invest in helping create a better, more optimized mobile website to increase the presence for your client on all mobile devices. But in case there are specific targets that can only be achieved through a mobile app, then invest in creating one that will increase the engagement with your nonprofit.

Failure to make use of the data

You cannot come up with a marketing framework that drives online success if you don’t use the data given to you. You can gather the information from practically every avenue your nonprofit client has such as social media analytics, website stats, and through email marketing. You can also do A-B testing with the data you get.

By digesting the information, you can easily find trends, see when your audience is most active, and figure out which marketing strategy works and doesn’t help your nonprofit client. It’s all about how much you can play with the information you gather.

Failure to include a call-to–action

A lot of marketers – even those who work for nonprofits – fail to add a call-to-action because they hope the powerful message of their campaign materials will be enough sway people into supporting their respective causes

Unfortunately, you could have the best image or video in a marketing campaign, but without a call-to-action your audience will most likely leave after taking a look at the image or watching the video.

Even if you have a call-to-action, it should be placed precisely in such a way that it’s not intrusive or disrupts the user experience. Marketers can use a whole image as a link to a landing page or use the end of a video to help generate interest to click the link. A well-executed call-to-action can help your marketing framework drive online success.

Launching a marketing strategy without user retention in mind

Think of this: you’ve launched an awesome mobile marketing strategy to capture your audience’s attention. Now what? You can have all the goodies to get the audience behind your client’s nonprofit cause, but without a user retention strategy in mind you could be losing them as soon as they close the tab or email.

Keep your audience engaged by doing follow-ups, creating value in your mobile app marketing, keep your content updated, and provide great customer service. That way, your users keep coming back to your app or rally behind your client’s cause.

Marketing a nonprofit organization is a lot different compared to a business. That’s why knowing these mistakes will help you create a solid marketing strategy for your client with a nonprofit organization. After all, you’re not just selling a product; you’re also selling a cause.

Aby League writes on the subjects of marketing, technology and health. She lives in the Kansas City area. You can find her on Twitter at @abyleague.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported.