AMPERAGE Marketing & Fundraising

One-Minute MarketerNonprofits Trending Toward Image Communications

Subscribe to AMPERAGE Marketing & Fundraising

nonprofit organization internet  domain

Nonprofits Trending Toward Image Communications

New reports are finding that more nonprofits are looking to use visual media more often to communicate ideas and appeals.nonprofit organization internet  domain

Video, images and infographics are leading areas of communication which will be distributed through websites and email. This fits with trends for other marketing categories. The movement to video is true across all platforms.

The communications goals cited as most important included: 1) Engaging our Community; 2) Retaining Current Donors; 3) General Brand Awareness; 4) Acquiring New Donors; and 5) Thought Leadership.

As you look at this list, you can see that people engaged with a nonprofit will fulfill all of the other areas. The only dark spots in the study were around execution. Nonprofits reported challenges of time, resources and a clear strategy. The strategy is the most important issue facing nonprofits today in our view: Without a clear strategy, you become reactive oriented and you miss opportunities for consistent, long-term growth.

Video, images and infographics require a lot more investment of time and resources than other forms of communications. They work, but they must be done well to accomplish your goals. And they must be carefully planned for each media outlet, such as YouTube, websites and email. New media may provide many possibilities for quick and easy communication, but if it doesn’t fit your mission it will not grow engagement.

The report is the 2015 Nonprofit Communications Trends report published by Kivi Leroux Miller

Written by:

Mark wrote his first direct-mail fundraising letter in 1981 for the University of Iowa Center for Advancement. The effort raised a few million dollars in undiscovered wills and legacy gifts. From that day forward Mark discovered a love of the big idea that moves the needle.

After 12 years at KWWL, Mark became a business owner as a co-founder of ME&V — rebranded as AMPERAGE in 2015. After 25 years of leading creative teams in video production, graphic design, PR, writing and web development, Mark transitioned out of ownership in 2021. Today he serves in an employee role as special projects consultant.

He is creatively ambidextrous — son of an artist and engineer — and famous for distilling complex ideas down to a few words and a few visuals. Mark is a writer. When he found that many nonprofits struggled with complex branding puzzles, he wrote the book, “NonProfit-NonMarketing .” He also wrote a novel called “Reenactment.”

Mark is an active blogger OneMinuteMarketer® with nearly 1,000 readers each week on LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter. One of his most popular YouTube videos is on “How to Look Good on Zoom.”

One of Mark’s fondest business memories was being named to INC 500 two times and attending the INC 500 conference with other winners. Mark is considered by some a Civil War expert (and that explains his novel). Mark also served as an adjunct professor in the business and in the communications departments at Wartburg College.

Mark is a graduate of the University of Iowa and is currently vice president of the University of Iowa Journalism and Mass Communications Advisory Board.

Mark is married to state Sen. Liz Mathis, and the two love to travel, even when it means being trapped by a volcano in the Czech Republic for three weeks.