LinkedIn - from a professional network, has molded into an inspirational and creative network. The platform is about consuming content, reading viral posts, convincing the world about your influence, your professional achievements, and finding a new job.
According to Ashutosh Gupta, India Country Manager, LinkedIn, “The 100 million member community in India is using the platform extensively for more than jobs now - they are over-indexing on networking, messaging, and learning more than any other region globally.”
Recently I came across a post from an influencer on how Indian NGOs should communicate on social media and also make sure that every penny goes to the cause it is collecting funds for.
Creativity is one of the strongly debated topics between marketing and fundraising teams. For instance, some NGOs don’t want to show painful or unhappy faces and some do because they believe that showing the truth is required.
I believe that if we are only showing happy faces then why will someone donate? When everything is fine then why is the NGO asking for donations?
At the same time, there is a line that needs to be drawn. For instance, some NGOs prefer showing pelts rather than dead endangered species. And at the same time, there are NGOs who are ready to show the grave dangers species like Tigers or Snow Leopards face from poachers and other challenges.
Creativity is subjective but when you are raising funds for urgent appeals you do need to showcase real-life conditions. However, when it comes to children, human lives, and devastation you take a call on humanitarian grounds the extent to show the severity.
Last year Save the Children, a leading international NGO came under the radar of the Indian government for a fundraising campaign on malnutrition, which was objected to by the Ministry of Women and Child Development on the ground that the issue was being “vigorously pursued” by the government through its schemes.
In a recent development, the organisation’s India chapter Bal Raksha Bharat FRCA license has been rejected. Going forward it will not be able to receive foreign funds. The FCRA registration is a mandatory requirement for receiving foreign funds.
Not just Save the Children but earlier this year few more international NGOs were served notices from the government. In short, the government wasn’t happy with the fundraising commercials on TV and digital.
The line is imaginary. As an NGO you would know where to draw it and how much thicker it should be.
So in such an environment what should an NGO do?
Get back to the old ways of good marketing. The pull rather than the push marketing.
In the EU, Meta will ask users for consent before showing them targeted advertising in a move that could limit the ability of marketers to personalise ads on the platform. The change is right now in the EU only but it will follow its own course.
The age of third-party-based targeting is fading giving importance to first-party data.
Which means more work on developing an authentic brand. Consumers most likely will not give their personal details for free. So the exchange will have to be genuine and provide value to consumers.
So however boring it might sound businesses(big or small) will have to focus on brand building. On digital it would mean investing in - Websites, blogs, and Email Marketing. You can’t completely let go of performance marketing. However, the budget needs to be spread on brand building and new user acquisition.
Things will be the same for NGOs too. Maybe more focus on lead generation campaigns and slowly converting the leads into donors over a period of time. This will only happen when it starts investing in brand building.
I won’t rule out click-to-donate campaigns but as an NGO you will have to be more sensitive.
In a recent conversation with an NGO, I tried convincing them to start with brand building and then move towards digital fundraising campaigns. The challenge is that marketers can evaluate the ROI for performance marketing on a month-on-month basis.
But with brand building, you do have the industry metrics but will have to be patient. You can’t exactly replicate returns for every penny spent.
In the current economy justifying costs is a challenge and NGOs are facing the heat. But there is no other way around.
The second point that was raised was about using each and every penny for the cause. In reality, it is not possible.
Some NGOs don’t make a point to mention it but there are others who clearly mention on donation pages that the campaign is collecting unrestricted funds. In addition to the campaign, the money will be used for other causes too. Not just donation pages, the same is communicated on all the creatives.
The choice is whether you want to leave your donors in the dark or state the truth.