5 Simple Tips to Get More Visibility for Your Nonprofit

I recently gave a free educational webinar with Bloomerang, on the topic of Digital PR Basics for Nonprofits-  How to Get Visibility for Your Cause. Over 1000 nonprofits registered!

In the webinar, I covered:

**What is Digital PR and why it’s more than just “getting on social media”

**How to start a manageable Digital PR Plan for your nonprofit

**Tried-and-true techniques and tools to manage online overwhelm and get better results from your digital marketing activities

In case you missed it or wanted to review the content, check out the slides and the recording.

Be sure to check out upcoming (free!) webinars with Bloomerang.

Nonprofits of all sizes struggle with the issue of visibility. We know that we do fantastic work each and every day, but how can we get others to pay attention?

How can we continually reach new audiences and build up our donor prospect files?

There are quite a few ways to make a splash and get more exposure. It takes creativity, a unique hook, and a great pitch.

For step-by-step instructions on leveraging social media for your nonprofit, check out How to Get Started With Social Media for Fundraising for Your Nonprofit. You’ll receive a planning worksheet and in-depth instruction for using social media to get real results!

In this article, I am going to share 5 simple tips that you can use to get more visibility for your nonprofit.

1) Identify places where you can guest blog. 

The key to a successful guest blogging initiative is to look at it like forming partnerships.

Posting your ideas on someone else’s site must be mutually beneficial for both parties.

So, what’s in it for the site where you are guest blogging?

• Time saved;
• Great content;
• A unique perspective;
• Something new, fresh, and interesting.

What’s in it for you and your nonprofit? There are 3 main benefits.

• More exposure to the audience that you desire to reach;
• Enhanced credibility with your audience;
• More visibility for your ideas

Full disclosure, I receive requests to guest blog on my site EVERY SINGLE DAY.

Most of these requests are not well thought out, they don’t match my audience and my topics, and they sound generic and spammy. (Delete!)

When approaching a blogger, be sure you can explain a) why you are approaching them specifically and b) how this blog post will benefit their audience.

I’m protective of my audience and I won’t share just anything with them!

2) Research the right reporters to target. 

Reporters should be targeted the same way as bloggers.

Do some research. Make sure you are contacting the correct person at the newspaper and media outlet!

Start your email to any reporter with the hook. There MUST be an interesting angle for them to pay attention.

Here are 3 surefire ways to get your pitch deleted immediately:

• It’s boring, not well-written, and doesn’t have an interesting story or hook.
• It’s been sent to the wrong person (no, they won’t forward it).
• It doesn’t have a local, relevant angle.

Make a Twitter list of reporters that cover stories in your industry, about your cause, and in your local area.

Follow them, retweet them, comment on their tweets, and then pitch them your fantastic idea.

3) Get interviewed on podcasts.

Podcasts are exploding in popularity, and they often have dedicated audiences that listen every single week.

Often podcast hosts are looking for unique and interesting guests that would appeal to their audience.

Some nonprofit podcasts and video shows that you should check out, and potentially pitch, are on this collaborative Google doc: bit.ly/nonprofitpodcasts

4) Create a free webinar. 

One way that I build my business and connect with new audience members is through free webinars.

When I started out, I had no blog readers, no email subscribers, no social media followers. I started from scratch.

I did research on the places, blogs, and companies that already had the attention of my target audience – nonprofit marketing professionals.

This led me to relationships with Wild Apricot, Bloomerang, CauseVox, Classy, CharityHowTo, Nonprofit Learning Lab, DipJar, and more.

Webinar presenters are not just consultants and public speakers! Often the best webinars I attend feature nonprofit professional in the trenches, sharing insights, new approaches, and innovations with the attendees.

For a list of the places where I am speaking and providing free webinars and talks this year, visit my Speaking page.

5) Re-use and re-purpose that press release.

One press release can be adapted into an unlimited number of content pieces, including:

• Slideshare presentation
•  Blog post
•  Guest blog post
•  Pinterest infographic
•  LinkedIn article
•  Facebook update
•  Video
•  Op-ed article for local news

Don’t reinvent the wheel! Use what you have and mold it for different platforms and channels to get the most mileage out of it.

Getting visibility for your nonprofit isn’t easy, and there are no silver bullets.

In the noisy, cluttered, competitive world of Digital PR, there are 3 keys to success:

Consistency – showing up regularly and being present

Content – that people like to watch, read, share, comment on

Confidence –in your voice, in taking risks, and in being yourself.

Please let me know what you think in the comments, or on Twitter!