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What Can a Marketing Strategy Do for Your Charity?

Creating a marketing strategy might seem like a daunting task, especially if your charity or not-for-profit is small and resources are stretched. You might be juggling fundraising, advocacy, and brand-building all at once. It’s a lot to manage, and without a clear plan, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed.

At Humph, we believe a marketing strategy doesn’t have to be complicated to be effective. A well-crafted strategy acts as your roadmap, aligning your team, streamlining your efforts, and helping you make the most of your limited resources. Here’s how a marketing strategy can transform your organisation—and why our straightforward Marketing Strategy Template is the perfect tool to get started.

Why Your Charity Needs a Marketing Strategy

A marketing strategy provides focus and direction. Instead of trying to do everything at once, it helps you prioritise what matters most. Here’s what a good strategy can do for your charity:

  1. Align Your Teams
    Marketing and fundraising are often separate functions—or even handled by one person in small charities. A marketing strategy ensures these areas work in harmony, avoiding duplication of effort and maximising impact. It provides a unified vision that everyone can rally behind.
  2. Understand Your Audience
    Knowing who you’re speaking to is critical. Whether you’re engaging donors, beneficiaries, or advocates, a clear strategy helps you identify your target audience, understand their needs, and tailor your messaging effectively.
  3. Define Your Goals
    Setting clear objectives keeps your efforts focused and measurable. Whether it’s increasing donations, raising awareness, or driving advocacy, a marketing strategy ensures every action contributes to your mission.
  4. Optimise Your Resources
    With limited time and budget, every dollar and every hour counts. A good strategy helps you allocate resources where they’ll have the greatest impact, from creating awareness to driving conversions.
  5. Measure Success
    Without a strategy, it’s hard to know if your efforts are working. By defining clear metrics, you can track progress, adjust your approach, and demonstrate the value of your work to stakeholders.

What’s Involved in a Marketing Strategy?

A marketing strategy doesn’t need to be overly complex. At Humph, we recommend focusing on a few key areas:

  • Objectives: Set SMART goals that are specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound. This ensures clarity and focus across your team.
  • Target Market: Define who you’re speaking to. Understanding your audience allows you to create campaigns that resonate and drive action.
  • Positioning: Clarify your organisation’s message. This is your internal rallying point—a clear statement about what makes your cause unique.
  • The Funnel: Plan activities across the supporter journey:
    • Top of the Funnel (TOFU): Create awareness through social media, advertising, or events.
    • Middle of the Funnel (MOFU): Build engagement with stories, webinars, or case studies.
    • Bottom of the Funnel (BOFU): Drive action through donation forms, sign-ups, or other calls to action.
  • Roles and Risks: Use tools like a RASCI framework to clarify who is responsible for each task, and create a risk register to identify and mitigate potential challenges.

Why Use Humph’s Marketing Strategy Template?

We understand that creating a strategy can feel overwhelming, especially when you’re wearing multiple hats. That’s why we’ve designed our Marketing Strategy Template to be simple, clear, and easy to use. It focuses on the essentials, helping you cut through the noise and focus on what matters most.

Here’s what sets our template apart:

  • It’s tailored to small charities, with practical steps that don’t require excessive resources.
  • It helps you unify marketing and fundraising efforts, ensuring consistency and efficiency.
  • It’s flexible and adaptable, so you can adjust as your organisation evolves.

With our template, you can build a robust marketing strategy that empowers your team, engages your supporters, and drives your mission forward.

Take the First Step Today

A marketing strategy is more than just a plan—it’s a tool to help your charity thrive. By aligning your efforts, understanding your audience, and setting clear goals, you can make a bigger impact with less effort. Sign up to Humph for your template and intsructional video to get started today.