Articles & White Papers

11/06/2003
A Marketing View Point Framed by 30 Years Experience

Marketing is an overarching term defining a function central to the success of any organizations mission.

An organizational leadership function, marketing includes all aspects of establishing and maintaining relationships which ultimately result in an exchange of ones services with those seeking to engage those services.

All members of the leadership team are vital to the marketing function. Executives responsible for marketing seek

* to know the needs and wants of prospective purchasers and stakeholders
*to value the importance of accessibility, channels, locations and promotions in future selection of services
*to find optimal pricing strategies for purchaser and provider
*to regularly review overall service experience and revise to improve future performance.

While the product is less tangible in nonprofit service sectors, the role of marketing remains crucial. Nonprofit marketing services foster long-lasting value exchanges affecting areas of ones faith, health, security, knowledge, social and emotional well being.

Here are several marketing principles and tasks I have highlighted from my 30 years of experience in the nonprofit field:

1. Integrity: seek to promote your case as thoroughly and honestly as possible, including the social and faith dimensions of changed lives.

2. Courage: keep the faith, knowing that you are offering individuals deep joy from engaging in a meaningful purpose. Knowing fully about the mission and services you represent, its past and present stories, will instill courage and confidence to promote assertively, persistently and enthusiastically.

3. Respect: individuals and communities are respected as their unique personalities and ideals are given a voice in designing services well suited to their context. Involve a full range of voices when planning future direction and strategies.

4. Quality: use resources wisely and efficiently based on best practices and professional design; fewer high quality inputs may provide greater impact than larger quantities of poorly designed inputs; targeted messages will be more efficient and effective than lowest common denominator messages.

Tasks:

1. Listen: learn as much as possible about persons who are most likely to have interest in your services; manage the information in a way that protects privacy yet allows you to serve them in the future; forge relationships even before they have selected your services; evaluate their experience continuously.

2. Engage: build meaningful relationships with those who select your services. Develop and track the pathways over which your clients relate and interact with you. Provide multiple opportunities for stakeholder and client involvement with you and with others in the organization.

3. Reward: enjoy and celebrate with those engaged with you and the mission of the organization; acknowledge and express appreciation for their progress, effort and commitment regardless of the scope of needs yet to be met.

4. Measure: track marketing inputs and outputs; keep anecdotal information in its proper place; monitor near-term activity along with trend lines. Use measurement information primarily as a guide to motivate future performance.