Nonprofits don’t want to manipulate people into supporting us.  We do want people to know what we do, and love it, and give money to keep us doing it.  In other words, we want their hearts and their heads at the same time.  How do we appeal to both?

Content marketing is a buzzword right now, but if you’re like many nonprofit organizations, you may have a hazy idea what it means.  You may think of it as just “publication.”  Unless you’re publishing anonymously, though, what you write, or post, or video will shape the perception of your organization.  Content marketing means putting content out strategically in ways that benefit the audience and help them get to know and love your agency.

Catherine Sherlock tells us that when businesses build relationships with customers, they go through a set of stages, a “buying cycle.”  Nonprofits go through a similar set of stages with our supporters.

• Awareness: They don’t know who you are.  You have to give them a reason to pay attention and find out.  Short, emotional content works best.  “Funny, weird, and inspirational are what tends to get shared on social media.”

• Interest: They’re beginning to recognize a need for your services.  They want to know who you are.  This is a great time to tell stories that show your organization’s personality and your values in action.  Remember, though, your purpose is not to brag: it’s to deepen their interest and begin to build trust.

• Evaluation: They’re seriously considering your program or service—and comparing you with your competition.   “At this stage, provide people with good, solid materials that enable people to substantiate their early feelings of security and trust.”

• Purchase:  For nonprofits, this is the moment when the donor clicks the “donate” button or mails the check.  “People’s fears about making a wrong decision often re-emerge at the point of taking action and handing over money. So, reinforce the feelings that you used to gain their attention in the Awareness stage, and ensure the actual purchase process is painless.”   (That means you make it easy for the donor to give, and thank them and remind them what a difference they are making both during and after the donation.)

• Loyalty:  In the nonprofit world, we sometimes talk of donor “retention,” and the “stewardship” it takes to keep our donors’ support over the long haul.  Businesses talk about loyalty, instead.  I prefer that, because it makes it clear that their continued attention and support is a further gift our donors give to us.  We can and should work to deserve their loyalty, and that means appealing both to emotion and to reason.  We can “maintain that sense of safety and trust that [we] established in earlier stages” and “provide information that proves” we are worthy of their trust.

The Right Audience at the Right Time

Now that you understand the cycle,  you can see that appeals to reason and emotion go hand in hand.   You will want to stress one more than the other at different stages, but mostly you will find the best way to combine them.  This raises the question: how can nonprofits catch their supporters at the right time in the relationship to send them the message that will fit them?

First off, you have to know your audience.

Then, if your nonprofit is big enough (or has a big enough communications budget), you may be able to do a lot of research and to capture the results in a constituent relationship management (CRM) database, so that you can send different messages to supporters at each stage of the cycle.

If you’re smaller, or if time or money are tight, you can still segment your list.  At a minimum, target different messages to new prospects, first-time givers, and established supporters.

Finally, think about what that audience wants to hear.  At this stage of the relationship, do they want you to grab their attention, or to help them trust you, or to reassure them that their trust is justified?  Are they ready for you to convince them or to touch their hearts, and how?