Much has changed in fundraising and marketing. A simple direct mail piece is no longer enough to reach your audience. To keep up with current donors and recruit next-generation supporters, you must have a digital presence.

Of course, the digital landscape evolves constantly and rapidly. Just the term “digital landscape” can be overwhelming. A simple way to look at it is what you’re doing online.

Consider this your primer for establishing and building your organization’s digital presence. We’ll explore the key components you need in place and how you can venture into paid media to move constituents through the giving funnel more effectively.

Essential Components of a Digital Presence

Again, your digital presence is what you do online. It can include email communications, your website, an online donation portal, organic social media, and paid digital ads.

These components fall into three categories: owned, earned, or paid media.

• Owned media is the content you create and control — for instance, your website, blog, emails, and organic social media posts.
• Earned media is content or exposure about your organization that you didn’t create or pay for. Think shared social posts, word of mouth, or media coverage.
• Paid media is content you pay for. Basically, it’s any type of advertising: TV, print, social media, pay-per-click, and search engine.

Most nonprofits have owned media, and with it comes a tremendous amount of data. The people who visit your website or blog, subscribe to your emails, and follow you on social media are essentially giving you permission to communicate with them. They’ve shown an interest in your mission and want to learn more.

Unfortunately, this is where many nonprofits stop. They think their owned media is enough to achieve their goals. And while Facebook posts and monthly e-newsletters are great for keeping your organization top of mind, they alone won’t help you reach the new, younger donors you need for long-term support.

Why You Need Both Earned and Paid Media

Using owned media to promote a fundraising campaign will only get you so far. Most people follow organizations they’ve already donated to — they want to ensure you’re being a good steward of their gift. A new campaign may motivate them to give again, but fishing from the same pool over and over will limit your success.

Paid media can deliver the scale, impact, and reach you need to hit your fundraising goals. With paid, you can guarantee that people will see your message. The good news is that it’s more affordable than you think.

Many nonprofits target people in a defined area — their local community, county, or state. Tools like geotargeting enable you to set boundaries on your paid ads. So, rather than spending tens of thousands of dollars to cast a wide net, you can spend hundreds and target those around you. After all, they’re the ones most likely to give.

Building Awareness Through Paid Media

Fundraisers and marketers often use owned media to build awareness of their organization. However, boosting awareness is an upper-funnel goal. Those at the top of the funnel are new to your organization — they’re not the ones following you on social media and subscribing to your blog.

Think of it this way: owned media maintains awareness, but paid media jumpstarts it.

You can create lookalike audiences based on your current followers through paid social media outreach and target them with paid ads. We encouraged one client to invest in upper-funnel media through a similar approach, increasing their organic leads by 90% year over year.

Another client in the healthcare space used digital out-of-home to promote an upcoming walk. In core areas around their campuses, we utilized paid media via digital billboards and screens in local businesses. The goal was to plant the seed of awareness about the event. We then tracked who saw these messages and followed up with more direct digital ads asking them to register for the walk or donate.

Paid media can target people based on their online and offline activities. Again, it’s all about finding people who behave like those who already support your nonprofit. For instance, you could target people who attend a specific event or visit a particular venue. You can also target folks based on the online content they consume down to the keyword.

The Art of Retargeting

To many nonprofits, retargeting simply involves delivering an ad to someone who visited their website. While this can be effective, today’s digital tools make it easier to do more.

We mentioned geotargeting earlier. This tool can deliver a customized experience to those in your immediate area. For instance, if the weather forecast shows a cold front moving in, a shelter could push an ad to local residents asking for coat and blanket donations.

Retargeting is an excellent way to warm up supporters and build trust and loyalty in your organization. If someone visits your blog to read an article about Type 1 diabetes, you wouldn’t send them an ad to support you with a gift. Instead, you might send them an ad promoting your cookbook of healthy recipes.

Through retargeting, you’re using data about someone’s behavior to continue offering them relevant content and resources. This delivers a customized experience that shows you understand and care about their needs.

More importantly, it builds an affinity for your cause. That way, when you’re ready to ask for a donation, you’re more likely to be successful.

An Audience-First, Data-Driven Approach

Today’s digital landscape puts your audience front and center. One tactic, programmatic display advertising, enables you to set a target audience and a desired action for them to take. Then, automated technology finds people who match your parameters on websites or social media and delivers your ad.

Data is the backbone of an audience-first approach. Each platform you use collects some type of data about the people you reach. Integrating this with your first-party data — what you know about your constituents — helps you pinpoint precise behaviors and actions to target.

Moreover, a third-party data partner like Allegiance Group + Pursuant’s GivingDNA platform generates more insights to inform your campaigns and testing. For instance:

• Who’s most likely to donate based on lookalike modeling?
• Who’s more likely to give a single gift but may lapse monthly?
• What do your loyal donors and supporters look like?
• Where do your volunteers and donors intersect?

With the right data, even the smallest budgets can make a significant impact through paid media. Refining your messaging based on demographics, interests, and geography will make your communications more impactful than ever.

Build a Better Digital Presence Today

Don’t be overwhelmed by digital fundraising and marketing — and don’t be fooled when agencies say you need a substantial budget to move the needle. Use what you’ve learned through your owned media to target similar audiences around you. Use data to put the right messages in front of the right prospects at the right time.

At Allegiance Group + Pursuant, we’re data-obsessed. Our paid media experts would love to help you build a digital strategy that meets your budget and needs. Contact us today to learn more.

This blog is based on a recent Go Beyond Fundraising podcast episode. Solving the Paid Media Puzzle: Unlock New Donor Relationships and Digital Growth.