Grassroots.org

Events are extremely important for many non-profit organizations. Aside from raising necessary funds, they also present opportunities to build strong relationships with supporters and convert them into loyal evangelists for the cause at hand. There are numerous marketing tools that can help get the word out, but in this article, we will focus on how a non-profit can utilize email marketing to bolster their event marketing efforts.

Pinpoint the Right Timing

When it comes to event marketing, the timing of your invitations and communications is incredibly important. Unfortunately, the rules on timing are anything but hard and fast as the right strategy will vary depending on a wide range of factors. For instance, you have larger, annual non-profit events that require the hosting organization to start making announcements and sending out invitations a year in advance. Only you can determine the right time, so take your event into consideration and figure out when the email invites and information needs to start going out. While it’s good to get an early start, you don’t want to begin so early that people lose interest by the time the event finally rolls around.

Target Your Communications Through Segmentation

If you haven’t already segmented your list of supporters for more focused targeting, we are here to tell you that it should be done before proceeding with your event marketing campaign. Why is it important to break down your list into segments and target individual groups? Because each of your supporters has different needs, wants, and preferences. More importantly, segmentation is a proven practice that can help you get the right message to the right person. For example, if some of your supporters already secured their tickets, putting them in their own group will make it easier to target them with information regarding what they can expect at the event rather than send them invitations. It’s all about making the most of each email interaction and being as relevant as possible.

Blend Email with Other Channels

Email marketing is an extremely powerful marketing tool on its own. However, its power increases tenfold when combined with other methods, essentially making it even more effective for a non-profit looking to generate hype around their event. One of the best channels you can turn to in this regard is social media. By simply including social sharing buttons in your campaign, you are giving supporters a convenient means to pass your event information along to their community of friends and associates. If you don’t know by now, social media is the perfect catalysis for viral marketing. Other channels that can boost your event marketing efforts when combined with email marketing include mobile, daily deals platforms, and direct mail.

Conclusion

Email marketing is one of the most effective methods a non-profit can use to drive their event marketing initiatives. It’s affordable, straightforward, and gets the job done. Use it correctly, and you will find that this tool is more than capable of making your events a huge success time and again.

Aidan Hijleh is a freelance copywriter and serves as the Non-Profit Partnership Liaison for Benchmark Email. Aidan advocates free email marketing services to assist with the flourishing of grassroots organizations.