I’m currently teaching a college course on internet marketing. This week I’m really pushing them to define their target market.
Most of them are trying to say, “Really, my market is everybody.”
Are you doing this with your fundraising?
If you are, “marketing to everyone” is a sure way to fail.
Here’s what I posted in the class forum:
You’ll find, when you market to “everybody” you end up reaching nobody.
The more focused your message can be, the more likely it will break through all the noise.
The great thing, if you do focus, others outside of your demographic will
1. be as likely to hear the message as they were before
and
2. be far more likely to refer your ideal demographic to you!
To get clear on their target market, I’m pushing them to identify:
- the age
- gender
- marital/life stage status
- neighborhood
- income level
- number of kids
- and interests
Then I want them to give the person a name.
Do you agree? Let’s have a conversation in the comments below.
Of course, I agree! 🙂 Especially for nonprofits, they can’t be all things to all people, nor should they try.
I think this is absolutely true. And in my experience, something magical happens when you are super specific about who your target audience is, you become “exclusive” and then everyone else (ie, not your target audience) starts asking to be involved too. http://www.dosomething.org is a fantastic example of this, they tell you to leave the website if you are over 18! Of course, they really send you over to an area where you can contribute money and share other ways you can get involved. And this works in all areas of marketing, not just fundraising.
So true! It does seem magical!
Very insightful. It really is good to choose a specific market so it would be easier to tone down on the junk and focus on the good stuff that your market are interested in.