Why now is the most important time for nonprofit advertising

Many nonprofits take pleasure in a spike in donations on the finish of the 12 months.

And so, they focus their digital advertising packages on November and December. 

However right here’s a secret: If you wish to pull in donations on the finish of the 12 months, it’s worthwhile to lay the groundwork now – and hold it going by means of the spring and past. 

Listed here are my suggestions for a way to do this with PPC promoting.

Maintain budgets constant

With an emphasis on year-end giving, many nonprofits will pause all promoting till November. That’s not an awesome long-term technique. 

As with all Google promoting, consistency is vital – even for nonprofits.

That is one thing we work with our nonprofit shoppers to realize. One shopper, for instance, gave us an agile price range: so long as our promoting was giving a constructive return, the sky was the restrict. 

This labored nice from 2020 to 2021 when COVID-19 and different components helped drive curiosity and conversions for our nonprofit’s worthy trigger.

However when curiosity and conversions slowed in 2023, our agile advert price range primarily based on returns would have dropped to a stage the place the impression of our promoting would have been negligible. 

Reasonably than doing that, we talked to the shopper, and so they agreed to a base $3,000 month-to-month price range that we might deal with donation-generating campaigns and producing engagement and consciousness. 

This method actually paid off. As you possibly can see from the next chart, we stored our Google Adverts funding regular all year long and continued to see a constructive return each month. We broke even in some months and got here out forward in others. 

By the point we reached November and December, the income numbers had been primed to extend. 

I strongly suspect that we ended the 12 months significantly better than we’d have if this shopper hadn’t continued to put money into their promoting all year long. 

Dig deeper: How to use Google Ads to get more donations for your nonprofit

Monitor the competitors

Should you want additional motivation to maintain a base month-to-month promoting price range in place all year long, monitor your opponents. 

Through the use of totally different instruments, you possibly can see if competing nonprofits are pausing or pulling again their campaigns outdoors of the massive giving months – which might open the door to you getting your message out. 

Don’t obsess about opponents 

Whilst you wish to watch your nonprofit opponents, you shouldn’t obsess about what they’re doing. (This is applicable to for-profit advertisers as effectively.)

Years in the past, a competitor to one in every of our nonprofit shoppers landed a high-profile superstar spokesperson. The superstar’s household had been personally impacted by the trigger and was actively selling the opposite non-profit. 

Elevating consciousness of necessary causes is an efficient factor for everybody – however, on the identical time, my nonprofit shopper additionally has an necessary function in supporting this trigger. And I nervous that there was no manner we might “compete” with the superstar spokesperson and get our message out. 

However guess what? We did, and we nonetheless do. 

Sadly, on this case, the competing nonprofit didn’t totally make the most of the superstar spokesperson of their web site and advertising. This left us with a window of alternative to speak the necessary work our shopper was doing on this house and ship extra donations in our path. 

Leverage high- (and low-) worth video belongings

We’re lucky that the nonprofit shopper talked about above has some nice, high-production worth video belongings we will use of their promoting. 

However that doesn’t imply you possibly can’t get away with utilizing much less shiny belongings. We’ve seen that even lower-production-value belongings (particularly video) can carry out very effectively. 

So, when you have a stable video testimonial that didn’t value tens of millions to supply, don’t sweat it. Use it!

Concentrate on getting in entrance of the best individuals with a message that can resonate with them. In case your asset is a bit of tough across the edges, it might not matter.

We will additionally dispel the notion that video campaigns are costly. That’s not at all times the case. It depends upon various factors, and you’ll often make changes to remain inside your price range. 

We’ve created video campaigns for shoppers with month-to-month marketing campaign budgets as little as $500 monthly and these video advertisements nonetheless pack a punch when it comes to impressions and views. 

When video campaigns are fastidiously focused, it’s superb how many individuals watch a one or two-minute video commercial to the tip – and click on by means of to the touchdown web page. 

Get out of your consolation zone

I’ve spoken about the necessity to hold a gradual base price range all year long. 

However that doesn’t imply you shouldn’t improve that price range – by loads – through the giving season. 

That features December, in fact. Nevertheless it must also embody elements of November and January. 

Listed here are among the pointers we use to consider vacation occasions within the US: 

• Mid-November to Thanksgiving weekend and Giving Tuesday: Improve advert marketing campaign budgets by 2-3X.
• December: Improve advert marketing campaign budgets by 4-5X.
• January: Maintain budgets excessive for no less than the primary week when many individuals nonetheless have the giving spirit. 

In abstract, don’t be afraid to extend your price range greater than you will have up to now – and hold it going over an extended interval.

All the pieces is a take a look at and nothing is absolute

Should you actually wish to lay a powerful groundwork for December, it’s worthwhile to create and observe a test-and-learn plan that you just apply all year long. 

It’s one of the best ways to maintain a pulse in your nonprofit enterprise, your business and Google itself. 

By frequently testing, you’ll enter the giving season with a reasonably good concept of what campaigns you must lean into and the place to place your price range.

It is a significantly better method than pausing all the pieces till November and hoping that what labored final 12 months will work once more this 12 months. 

Dig deeper: A/B testing mistakes PPC marketers make and how to fix them

The giving season begins now

Whilst you could be used to considering of December because the giving season, don’t wait till then to begin promoting. 

Begin placing a powerful basis in place now – and begin turning each season right into a giving one.