Nonprofits have a natural opportunity to be incredibly effective at content marketing. Why? The story you have to tell is often a lot more compelling and easier to tell than for-profit entities. Because of this, you would think that nonprofits would see much greater results from content marketing. Unfortunately, the opposite is true.

According to a study by the Content Marketing Institute, most nonprofits struggle with content marketing. While 61 percent of nonprofit professionals use content marketing, only 35 percent say they are effective at it.

So why are so many nonprofits missing the opportunity to leverage content marketing to reach more donors and raise more money? Here are three reasons:

1. Lack of knowledge

They don’t understand the requirements of successful content marketing. Nearly 50 percent of nonprofit professionals said they were challenged by a lack of knowledge and training in content marketing. To achieve content marketing success, you need to be a journalist and a marketer. Some nonprofits don’t even know how to tell their story effectively. Those who do are great at telling how their nonprofit makes a difference, but they don’t know how to inspire action.   

2. No content strategy

Nearly 70 percent of nonprofit organizations featured in the study have someone in place who oversees content marketing, but only 23 percent have a documented content strategy. The nonprofits that are seeing the most success are the ones taking a strategic approach to content marketing. Content marketing is not about sharing as much information as you can as quickly as you can. It’s about strategically providing content in the context your audience understands to move them to action.

3. No call to action

Providing a call to action is probably the simplest solution for most nonprofits’ content marketing struggles. If you want content marketing to produce results, you’ve got to tell your audience what to do next. Don’t assume they know or make them guess. The key to using content to drive conversions is to show them what action they should take.

Allegiance + Pursuant has helped many nonprofits with content marketing strategies. Our experts can perform a content audit and work with you to build an effective content strategy. Contact us to learn more.