Our Top 10 Articles of 2021
Insights, delivered.
Our insights page is full of helpful articles, case studies, and tools to optimize your organization’s expertise and best practices. Our passion is providing mission-driven organizations with the resources they need to impact their communities, and we strive to be your go-to for insights and industry trends. Here are the top ten articles you found most helpful last year.
1. Messaging Platforms: What They Are and Why You Need One
How do you define your brand? How do you communicate who you are, what you do, and why you do it to the outside world? Unified and effective messaging across your organization is critical to communicating to your audience. A messaging platform is the best way to ensure that your messaging is accurate and representative of your organization. Not sure what that is? We break it down step by step in this article written by our CMO, Rachel Clemens.
2. 2021 Trends and Predictions
We’re a data-driven organization, and because of that, we like to look at emerging trends and topics at the beginning of the year. What better way is there to stay ahead of the curve? Research, data privacy, and content governance became topics of conversation in 2021, and it’s clear that plenty of you were determined to stay on the ball.
3. The Fundraising Metrics that Matter
Do you know what’s most important to measure when you start a fundraising campaign? How do you know you’re successful in your efforts? The needs and goals of a general fundraising program and a specific fundraising campaign are vastly different from one another—and understanding what to measure your success off of is critical. Learn what metrics matter when measuring your goals and how to track them.
4. The Best Government Websites We’ve Seen in 2021
We love to look around at government agencies that “got it right” and have incredible websites. Working through hurdles such as a global pandemic, an election year, and ongoing changes from a new administration means constant updates and restructuring to their sites. On top of that, these websites’ design and user experience are top-tier. These government agencies exist to make the lives of their citizens simpler, and it translates to their presence on the internet. That’s why they made it into our “best of” list.
5. Using Our Membership Marketing Campaign Template
Associations have a primary focus that drives the success of their entire organization—membership. Growing and retaining membership is the lifeblood of any member-based organization, and it’s the marketer’s job to keep current members (and new ones) engaged. Need to develop a campaign to improve your membership marketing? Download our free template and take a look at our guide on how to use it.
6. Messaging Platforms: Our Guide for Igniting Your Messaging Strategy
As marketers, we spend plenty of time worrying about what our target audiences say about us. It makes sense! Why wouldn’t we go to our audiences to understand how we present to the world? However, it’s also important to fully comprehend what your organization says about itself. Having a brand messaging strategy that is clearly defined for your team enables you to communicate the right things to the right people consistently. That’s where a messaging platform comes in.
7. Membership Retention vs. Renewal: Why Retention Should Reign
Associations sometimes struggle to understand the difference between membership retention and membership renewal. Getting to the point that your members choose to rejoin your organization before their term expires is critical and should be the focus of your marketing efforts. Why is member retention more important than renewal? We break it down in this insightful article.
8. The 411 on iOS14 and What It Means for Your Facebook Advertising
Apple’s iOS14 update has changed how digital marketing functions and operates for our entire industry. All mobile apps are now required to ask users if they want their activity tracked for third-party advertising—and that changes how we collect data. Learn more about this recent update and how to set up your Facebook Ads Manager for success here.
9. 7 Tactics to Increase Your Association’s Membership Retention Rate
Membership is the key success metric for associations. This often means that marketing efforts are focused on acquiring new members consistently. While this is important, membership retention allows for you to ensure constant growth and a foundation to start from. Learn about some simple tactics to increase your membership retention and set your organization up for the future.
10. Social Media as User Research: Crowdtesting Your Nonprofit’s Best Messaging
Without understanding the audiences you’re marketing towards, any effort you put forward to gain their trust will be a shot in the dark. User research and testing are critical to the success of any campaign. Social media is an effective way of learning who your audience is, what they’re interested in, and the messaging they respond to. Take a look at how social media can lead to more effective campaigns for all of your marketing channels.
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