Welcome back to another video edition of Ask a Responsive Fundraiser, where we take your questions to a fundraising expert so that ultimately you can grow generosity. Today, we’re taking your questions to Chris Barlow. Chris is the founder and Customer Happiness Director at Beeline which specializes in helping nonprofits grow their mission and donor base through digital marketing.
Chris loves helping nonprofits use digital marketing to multiply the reach of their mission and the growth of their donors. Most of all, heโs grateful to be the dad to seven kids, and to try to teach them how to live in a way that multiplies good in others.
Be sure to check out past editions of Ask a Responsive Fundraiser and leave us a comment on LinkedIn so we can answer your questions!
Editorโs note: Chrisโ answers were edited for length and clarity. Watch the video to see his full answers.
Dear Responsive Fundraiser: We have access to a Google ad grant, but we struggle to use it effectively. And most of the budget goes unspent. So how can we maximize the value of the grant to increase visibility and drive more traffic to our website?
Chris Barlow: That’s a great question. And it’s a very, very common struggle. So if you’re there, just know that a lot of nonprofits have the same problem.
There are two main approaches with the grant, and the ultimate goal I would say for any nonprofit using the grant should be to grow their audienceโspecifically to grow their email list.
But of course, getting traffic and getting awareness is another good goal. And that’s usually a little easier. The main thing I would recommend doing is: If you’re a regional or local nonprofit, you think, โWell, I can’t advertise us to the whole U. S. or all of Canada or wherever else, because that’s just not a relevant audience to us.โ
But what you can do is advertise any content you have, like if you have a blog article or you have some other piece of content, you can advertise that nationwide. The reason is because you’re not trying to necessarily attract people who will then be invested in your mission. But what you’re doing is, you’re bringing signals to Google.
These keywords, these subjects, these themes are relevant for your organization. And if you get relevant people, traffic and people visiting for the keywords you wanna show up for, and the topics and themes, that’ll actually help you on the local level too, even with your SEO. So thatโs one thing to think about is, maybe you need to expand where you’re reaching out to because Google’s search ads are limited by how many people are searching.
And it doesn’t matter how good your stuff is, how good your site is, if there’s just not enough people searching for that. In your region, in your city, you’re just not going to get a lot of traffic. So that’s one approach that you can do.
Another thing you can do is, you can tell Google that certain conversions, like just visiting your site, is worth a certain amount of money to you. Even if it’s not, you could say it’s worth a hundred bucks just to get a click. And so Google will be willing to then bid up to $100 to get a click.
Dear Responsive Fundraiser: Our donation pages aren’t converting as well as we’d hoped, and we’re not sure why. How can we optimize our landing pages to create a better experience and ultimately increase conversions?
Chris: There’s a lot you can do with a donation page, but I would say the number one thing that you should do is work on your value proposition.
You need to answer the question for the visitor: โWhy should I give to you rather than to some other cause or not at all? Why shouldn’t I just go buy something for myself?โ And so, if you can really, really hone in on that โwhyโ and answer that question, then you’re going to automatically increase your donation conversion rate.
Craft your value proposition, get some feedback from your current donors and say, โDoes this speak to you? Does this describe the reason why you give to us?โ Listen to why people are giving to you in the first place and use that to put it together.
Dear Responsive Fundraiser: Attracting new donors is becoming more and more difficult and our existing methods don’t seem to be working. So what are some creative and effective strategies to bring new supporters into our community?
Chris: The thing I love to talk about is, how can you use your knowledge, your expertise as a nonprofit to serve your donors? Can you create something that will help people who don’t know who you are, and in helping them, give them a taste of your mission? They may not be the main focus of who you’re trying to help, of what your mission is, but maybe you can provide some knowledge, some expertise, some learning. Maybe you can provide some encouragement that helps them, that they might be online looking for right now, that then creates a bridge and a connection to who you are and to the rest of the stories of what your main mission is about.
Learn More
Maximizing digital marketing for your nonprofit doesnโt have to be overwhelming. By leveraging Google Ad Grants effectively, refining your donation pageโs value proposition, and creating valuable content that serves potential supporters, you can expand your reach and grow generosity. Small adjustments can make a big impact!
Looking for the right tools to help you build deeper donor relationships and drive more impact? Learn more about Virtuous and see if our responsive fundraising platform is the right fit for your organization. Request a demo today.
