Promotion vs Marketing

Whenever I work with non-profits to help get the word out about their service or product, I encourage them to think in terms of a promotional plan rather than a marketing plan. There are a couple reasons for this. For one thing, traditional marketing is expensive. Direct mail, paid advertising, and color print pieces all cost a lot but may not bring the kind of return you're looking for.

Promotion, on the other hand, includes sending out press and calendar releases to local print and TV media, public service announcements to radio stations, creating an eNews that you can send out to your constituents, and the current "hot" item - social networking. Promotion is really about getting someone interested in what you do so that they'll do the "selling" for you. And at the end of the day, if you're able to articulate what you do and why it matters, it's a lot less expensive.

Very few people in the non-profit world like sales. Most say they know they need to market themselves, but don't want to appear self-congratulatory or toot their own horn. But there's another benefit of promotion: letting your clientele, who've hopefully had a great experience, toot your horn for you. It's much easier to speak passionately about someone else than it is to praise ourselves.

So start collecting success stories, keep a list of testimonials, and include those items where you can: on your website, in a brochure, in a press release. And remember that a balance of pride and humility will go a long way.