What do you do if your nonprofit's message isn't reaching large audiences?

One common problem that can undermine reaching more of your audience is the nature of the content. I've had a lot of luck encouraging non-profits and their communications teams to try to put themselves in their audience's shoes. Why do people support you? How can you craft content that speaks to that? I occasionally connect it to the old sales line "features tell, benefits sell. Work back from your best outcomes - how are you having an impact rather than what are the problems/issues/challenges you are working to overcome.

It depends what you mean about "reaching large audiences". 1) If you are talking about appealing to a large audience then you might need to re-evaluate who your target audiences are and if you are using themes that they can relate to. 2) If you are talking about physically reaching more people, getting more eyeballs on your content, then you need to assess your marketing strategy. Are you distributing your content in places your target audience actually shows up?

If you're not reaching a larger audience, go out and serve the community. Host a grill out at the park, hand out a goodie bag at the local grocery store parking lot, etc. Serving other people is a great way to impact the community for the better and to get noticed at the same time.

Having a digital presence is important, but so is remembering that not all audiences are digitally savvy. There should still be options for hard copies, phone calls, etc. to provide to those who are not on social platforms. The organization I work for publishes a quarterly magazine that used to be mailed to all members. We have pivoted to distributing digitally, but we do print a limited number of hard copies for those who request it. Not all solutions are one size fits all, so there should be room for inclusion.

To deepen engagement, a strong social presence is necessary but still requires a web-first strategy. Using all your resources on social media is risky. Your content is competing with everything else your audience is interested in. Use your socials to build community. When you launch your next major campaign, a results-driven organization will use socials to drive their audience to their website. Once there, an engaging, professional, and powerful website will serve you and your audience best. They'll be all yours and fully engaged, so provide web content that is interesting to hold on to your best supporters while they're undistracted by what social platforms would be throwing at them.

Nonprofits should define their communication objectives that reflect the results or outcomes of their communication activities like website visits, social media followers, media mentions, or surveys. This can help them understand the impact of their communication efforts. Nonprofits should assess their program efficiency and determine if they are truly listening to their stakeholders. They can use data-driven reporting to enhance impact evaluation, build trust with funders, and support growth. They should assess the cost-effectiveness of their communication strategies and ensure that they align with their long-term sustainability and financial health. Evaluate their communication efforts to continuously improve their performance.

A potentially unpopular yet valuable consideration is the importance of embracing negative feedback on your nonprofit's message. Often, organizations shy away from or defensively respond to criticism, viewing it as purely detrimental. However, negative feedback can be a goldmine of insight, revealing blind spots in your communication strategy or aspects of your mission that may not resonate with broader audiences. By actively seeking out and thoughtfully engaging with negative feedback, you can uncover opportunities for growth and deepen your understanding of public perception.

When you feel that your message isn’t reaching your target audience it’s important to consider what it is that you want that audience to do with the information that you are imparting. Do you want the audience to simply read it? Or are you trying to elicit a response? Meaning do you want the audience to comment? Share the message? Or take some type of action? Make sure you know the response you seek. Then look to successful messaging campaigns and analyze how they work. Take best practices from successful messaging and replicate those. Making sure your desired outcomes lead your planning/strategy is key.