Leveraging Digital Tools for affordable digital marketing
Marketing and communications should be one of the cardinal pillars of every organizational strategy, it is how your target audience gets to know you. However, most small and grassroots organisations find that allocating an already stretched budget towards marketing a luxury they cannot afford.
We know that no matter how good the work you do is, the public will not get to know you and why you exist if you do not talk about it. For example, a strategic way for not for profits to appeal to donors and grant makers is through impact story telling.
While you can run a small marketing and communication strategy on a budget, it can’t completely be free. In this article we present a few tools you can utilize to run your campaigns; these recommendations will focus on digital marketing since it has always been more affordable than traditional media.
Canva for Graphic Design
We know payroll is one of the biggest expenses on any organisation’s budget. Uding tools like Canva can entirely cut out this cost for your organization. This free-to-use Graphics Designing tool can help you create social media posters, presentations, logos, letterheads, etc. You can use some of their already created templates and customize them to your brand needs.
Mobile Phone for Content Production
The mobile phone has evolved from just its traditional use of communication, it now has a variety of tools you can use. It can be an all-in-one production tool for video, audio and photography. Tools like Premier Rush a scaled down version of Adobe Premier Pro will help you edit any video content you would like to put together. Apple tools like Voice Memo will help you create high quality voice overs for your videos. Alternatively, you can use Tik Tok that has all these features within their platform.
Stock Images
Photography and visualization are another useful tool we use in our communication and marketing campaigns, but between getting a professional, paying models or a studio, you could lose your already limited budget. Using free stock images will eliminate this expense. You can look for and use stock images that resonate with your messaging. Some tools like Canva will have these already included in their products.
Analytics
Many of the digital platforms we use offer free analytics to their users. These help you track and understand the effectiveness of your marketing. Google Analytics is great for tracking website traffic and visitor behavior. Other platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn will also draw up a report for you whether it is hourly, daily, weekly or monthly.
Calendar and Scheduling Tools
Did you know you can now schedule your posts ahead of time in most of the popular social media platforms. You do not have to manually post content directly every time you want to push out information. The scheduling tools allow you to pick a time and date in the future when you want that content to be published. Some tools like Meta Business Suite will even let you schedule content for months at a time.
Google Ads Grants
You can utilize Google Ads Grants for free online advertising on Google.com for up to $10,000 per month. If your organization qualifies you can create text-based ads to reach possible doners, partners and even volunteers. You would have to create a separate account though if you are ever interested in paid ads in the future.
While these tools can improve your marketing and get it of the ground, it is important to note that they do not replace professionals. They however, can be the thing that gets you your first grant or donor.