5 ways a digital strategy agency can help accomplish a nonprofit’s mission

As a nonprofit, you're used to accomplishing a lot on limited staff, budget, and resources. With that being said, you'll never turn away an extra set of hands—particularly when it comes to marketing.

Experts advise allocating between 5–15% of your operating budget on marketing. If you're a grassroots nonprofit, this may not be enough to staff a full marketing department. However, it may be enough to invest in an agency partnership. 

A digital strategy agency can help with web development and design, creating brand experiences, investing in pay-per-click (PPC) ads, and creating a social media strategy—all of which can help capture and retain new donors.

Below, we explain how using an agency for your digital marketing strategy can help your organization. 

How to use a digital strategy agency to amplify your message 

You can hire a full-service agency for virtually anything related to your online presence. If you’re wondering whether it’s the right time to hire an agency, ask yourself if you need help in the following areas:

1. Branding and messaging 🎉

If you asked every full-time employee or volunteer at your organization, “Who are we and what do we do?” what would they say? If you expect to get 20 different answers to this one question, it’s a clear sign you need to work with a branding agency. 

Your brand identity is so much more than selecting a logo or color palette. A branding agency will help your organization get super clear about who you are, what you do, and how you do it—then convey that unified message across all channels. A branding agency will help you develop a unique message and tone, create graphics that convey your personality, and develop internal documents to help volunteers/staff stay on brand. 

Working with a branding agency can result in: 

• An internal style guide that explains the colors, fonts, tone, and personality to be used across all marketing channels. 
• A branding toolkit that explains your mission, values, positioning statement, and vision of the company.
• A visual guide to your logo, secondary logo, color palette, patterns, icons, and illustrations that can be used within all marketing channels. 

2. Storytelling 📚

As a nonprofit, storytelling is essential to reaching your fundraising goal. While sharing research or statistics can help make the argument for your cause (i.e. “Nearly 10% of New Yorkers do not have access to safe drinking water”) sometimes a first-hand account can be more persuasive. 

A digital strategy agency can help you collect videos, interviews, or short testimonials from people whose lives have been directly impacted by your organization. They can then help you edit and repurpose these anecdotes into social media posts, video ads, blog posts, or promo videos to help you share your message. Most importantly, a digital strategy agency can help ensure each deliverable stays on brand and is shared within the parameters of a larger marketing campaign. 

You might hire an agency for storytelling if you’re looking to: 

• Develop a promo video or explainer video for your fundraising page. 
• Capture short testimonial clips to share on YouTube, Instagram Reels, or TikTok. 
• Share stories as part of an ongoing blog series or within your annual report. 

3. Content marketing 📖

Your content marketing plan typically encompasses your work within search engine optimization (SEO), blog writing, web copy, and email automation. They can also help you improve your user experience (UX) across all platforms. Essentially, it helps educate current and potential donors on your organization, allowing them to learn more about your services without meeting you in person. 

Unlike other mediums, content marketing is meant to share evergreen content. Here’s why: Content typically forms the top of the sales funnel, and will therefore provide a generic overview on your company. For example, if you’re writing blog content, the majority of readers will discover those blog posts based on a Google search. A digital strategy agency can help determine which topics you should cover within your content marketing plan, helping you educate supporters on the topics your organization cares about. 

For example, an agency might cover: 

• SEO keyword research, determining which topics should be covered in your content marketing plan.
• Writing and posting blog posts for you with expert writers on a regular cadence so you don’t have to.
• Analyzing your web traffic and optimizing your site (and your posting strategy) so you see a significant increase in visitors.

4. Social media marketing 🎤

Social is meant to be a two-way conversation, responding to comments, following thought leaders in the industry, and replying to DMs.

Unfortunately, many small to mid-sized nonprofits lack the budget necessary to hire a full-time social media marketer. In those cases, it’s a good choice to outsource. 

A digital strategy agency will help you piece a social media plan together, perform audience research, and develop the graphics necessary to create new posts. 

If you partner with an agency to cover social media, you should expect to see these results: 

• Audience research pinpointing your target audience and which channels will help convert followers to recurring donors. 
• A content calendar displaying the videos, photos, graphics, and captions that will be posted for the upcoming month. 
• Regular reporting so you can analyze the success of your ongoing campaigns. 

5. Paid advertising 📊

If you have the budget available, investing in paid advertising can be an excellent tool to capture new donors. However, if you’ve never worked in digital ads, it’s best to hire an expert. 

Digital strategy companies understand how to research, execute, and report on paid ad campaigns. They will also help you determine which channels will get you the most bang for your buck, whether you choose to go through Google Ads or social ads. 

Depending on their marketing services, an agency can help you: 

• Apply for a grant to launch your first Google Ad campaign (available to registered 501c organizations). 
• Set a budget, do keyword research, and create a target audience profile to help launch your first campaign.
• Create and explain ongoing reports to determine the ROI and success of your paid campaigns.

Digital strategy agencies trusted by Givebutter 

Partnering with a digital strategy agency is a decision you'll need to make with your executive director, board members, or internal staff.

Ultimately, the best digital marketing agency for your organization depends on their strategy services, customer experience, and their history in working with nonprofits.

Fortunately, Givebutter partners with a number of award-winning web design, brand strategy, and market research agencies that specialize in the nonprofit sector. For example, ignite: action is an agency that specializes in storytelling, graphic design, web design, and social media. To find other agencies that align with your business goals, visit our Experts page. 

Find your digital strategy agency on Givebutter 

Many small to mid-sized nonprofits can't afford to employ a full marketing department. Therefore, outsourcing to a digital marketing company might be your best option.

If you're looking to partner with a digital strategist, check out the experts page on Givebutter. Givebutter is the all-in-one fundraising platform with 130+ tools encompassing branded pages, social media sharing, live streaming, and more. Plus, Givebutter comes with free fundraising tools, a built-in CRM, and email marketing automation, helping to get real results for your organization.

Ready to start your digital transformation with Givebutter? Launch your free account to get started.