Marketing & Public Relations

Your nonprofit could be the best organization in the state, but if you don’t know how to market it effectively, you'll remain a "best kept secret". This is why Marketing and PR are essential to nonprofits for promoting your programs and services, as well as your organization as a brand. This page is full of helpful tips and resources to help you form a marketing plan and execute it.

If you have any resources that you’d like to share with the nonprofit community, please email a brief description, and link or PDF to Melissa Harris.

 

Cause Communications' Toolkit

A guide to navigating communications for the nonprofit world is a comprehensive resource offering practical information in virtually every area of communications -- from how to develop and budget a communications plan to what tools you need to help raise awareness and funds.The toolkit is practical and easy-to-use. Tips, templates and strategy outlines are based on more than 25 years of experience from professionals at Cause Communications, and on information from national qualitative and quantitative audits of what nonprofits need in the area of communications.

Design Matters

The Why and How:

6 Reasons Why It’s Important to Hire a Graphic Designer: How hiring a graphic designer will improve your marketing strategy

How to Hire a Graphic Designer

Key Thing to Ask When Hiring Designers

The Design Process:

How to work with a graphic designer, articles by:

A Client’s Guide to Professional Conduct in the Design Industry

An outline of the process a designer uses, by AIGA

Nonprofit Graphic Design Services: A few design companies dedicated to nonprofits

Grassroots.org

Shoestring Creative Group

Orange Square

How to fund creative projects:

Finding Grants to Fund Marketing

Hartford Foundation for Public Giving - Technical Assistance Grants (TAG)

Taproot Foundation - Service Grants for professional consulting services

More Resources:

Kivi’s Nonprofit Communications Blog – Posts on Graphic Design

 

Online Resources

Network for Good: Online Fundraising Guides and eBooks -- A series of free e-books, guides and white papers on online fundraising and marketing.

Nonprofit Good Practice Guide

A Nonprofit's Guide to Green Printing

Do more to reach out to constituents and less to damage the earth.

 Marketing Best Practices Checklist: A self-assessment instrument that helps nonprofits identify capacity strengths and challenges and establish capacity building goals in the area of marketing and public relations. ($10) 

 Brand Identity for Nonprofits: Brand identity can offer reinforcement of mission, operating stability, and increased revenue, tying together diverse elements of strategy to produce real and lasting results. 

Making the Most of Limited Marketing Resources: Proven Steps to Successfully Market your Nonprofit on a Shoestring Budget

Social Media

Social media is becoming more popular in the nonprofit community as a way to promote organizations and the work that they do. Below are some guides and tools for Facebook and Twitter to help get you started!

Guide to Facebook - TechSoup

Facebook Best Practices for Nonprofit Organizations

Sample Nonprofit Policy on Social Networking

Social Media: What is Your Strategy?

Inside Facebook 

Five Essential Apps for Your Nonprofit’s Facebook Page

Guide to Twitter

Tweetdeck – A useful program that lets you track and update your Facebook and Twitter accounts from one location

Articles

Shoestring Creative Group is proud to be partnering with the Philanthropy Journal to provide articles for its new Marketing and Communications Resources Section.
This is a really great collection of articles!

10 Small Business Social Media Marketing Tips

White Papers

Vocus publishes monthly white papers and hosts webinars on PR themed topics. Recent topics include:

State of the Media

SEO for Press Releases

10 New Rules to Get a Flood of Traffic from Online Publicity

PR Planning: White Paper & Webinar

PR Strategies: White Paper & Webinar

Expert Tips for Effective Media Relations

How to Use Online News Releases to Drive Social Media Campaigns

Does Traditional Media Still Matter?

Creating a Social Media Strategy

Analyze the Impact of Social Media

CT Nonprofits’ Public Relations Toolkit

Effective Public and Media Relations

Working with Newspapers

Working with Broadcast Media

Press Conferences

Communication Model

Tips for Letters To Editor and Op-Ed Pieces

Sample Letter to the Editor

Pitching Feature Stories

Marketing Bookshelf

A Tool Chest for Self-Marketers

Marketing Nonprofit Programs and Services : Proven and Practical Strategies to Get More Customers, Members, and Donors

Mission-Based Marketing : Positioning Your Not-for-Profit in an Increasingly Competitive World

The Jossey-Bass Guide to Strategic Communications for Nonprofits

Strategic Communications for Nonprofit Organizations

Succeeding with Consultants: Self-Assessment for the Changing Nonprofit

 

Upcoming Trainings in Marketing and Public Relations

 October 6 | 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. | CT Nonprofits, Hartford
This workshop will help nonprofit marketing and business leaders learn how writing for the web and in social media environments differs from writing for print, how your website should correlate with your social media efforts, how SEO fits in, and much more.
This workshop is for those with experience in social media; it is not an introductory workshop for beginners.
Members: $50; Nonmembers: $70 | Code: SMS
Trainer: Suzi Craig and Louisa Handle, Fathom
 
 October 29 | 9 a.m. – 12 p.m. | CT Nonprofits, Hartford
This session will help organizations in the nonprofit community to understand and take advantage of rapidly changing technologies and the new communication ecosystem that exists in our connected society.
Members: $50; Nonmembers: $70. Register each additional guest for $20 | Code: DA
Trainer: Brian Reich, little m media

 Indicates IdeaEncore contribution. 

 

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