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We've covered a variety of mediums that you can use to get your message in front of your donors.

All of these methods should be part of an integrated marketing plan for your organization.

What is integrated marketing? Integrated marketing is when you create a unified marketing front by ensuring brand consistency across all channels. Integrated marketing includes your printed & digital media efforts, such as direct mail and social media. The goal of integrated marketing is to prevent conflicting messages across different mediums.

According to Nonprofit Source, organizations that use a combination of digital and direct mail campaigns have a 28% higher conversion rate. Also, a study by Pursuant found that a donor's lifetime value is bound to increase based on the number of interactions they have with your organization across multiple channels.

There are steps you can take to get all members of your organization on board with integrated marketing.

Plan Your Content Calendar

Sit down with your team and map out your marketing plan for the year to come up with a comprehensive plan. You want to ensure that your marketing efforts encompass all channels, not just a sampling. In our next two posts, we'll share a sample of an integrated marketing content calendar.

Optimize Your Database

When it comes to creating and deploying content, you'll want to make sure you have a clean database. Whether this means your donor list or branded content, make sure all of your information is consistent across the board regardless of the medium.

A/B Test Campaigns

Work with your teams and test integrated marketing tactics on a couple of campaigns, whether that be fundraising efforts or community outreach. By using this approach, it will allow your teams to get familiar with what integrated marketing entails.

Pro Tip: Keep track of information such as donation dates and amounts so you can personalize your letters to current and lapsed donors when asking for new contributions. Simple touches such as this show your donors that you care enough about their donation to keep track of it, and it can act as a reminder of what they gave in the past.

Utilize SMART Goals

What are SMART goals? This marketing strategy stands for:

Specific

Measurable

Attainable

Relevant

Timely

By making sure your integrated marketing strategy encompasses SMART goals, you're allowing your organization to test and measure the success of your marketing efforts. SMART goals will allow you to keep track of the progress of your marketing efforts so you can plan how to market in the future for an even higher ROI.

Pro Tip: Keep in mind the Rule of 7, which states that a prospect needs to see your marketing at least seven times before they notice it and take action. By utilizing integrated marketing best practices, you can be sure that your messages won't be creating brand confusion.

To stay up-to-date on digital marketing tactics for your organization, we encourage you to follow The Buzz: a LinkedIn page that focuses exclusively on nonprofit education, best practices, and tips.