It can be difficult to make your nonprofit heard without a doubt. With more and more for-profit businesses moving into the realm of social enterprises and an increase in charities, speaking up over the crowd is more critical than ever.

Having a powerful marketing strategy in place is a sure-fire way to increase your reach and your volume. Rather than purely creating a campaign to let them know what you do, explain it with good old-fashioned storytelling. Use your advertising minutes, or seconds in some cases, to show how much of an impact you are making in the nonprofit world. Sell them on your mission and your goals and let them know that they too can join your cause to ensure that happens.

When people feel inspired by a story, they wish to get on board and assist. Ultimately you want your audience to take action – to donate to your cause, to share your latest campaign, to spread the word about your nonprofit or even to volunteer. Think about, in that case, how you can identify with your audience and what will inspire them to take action. Are you just speaking at them or attempting to challenge their thinking and connecting on a deeper level?

Don’t just shove facts and statistics at them. Your viewers want to hear real life stories about people overcoming challenges and achieving the impossible. They want you to speak to their heart – not their head. They want to be part and parcel of what you are doing. They want to help someone directly, even in a small way. Educate them on the facts and motivate them into taking action. It is the least you can do!

Always bear in mind, however, that modern audiences tend to have a short attention span so minimise the length while still being significant in their minds. Heavily visual stories will get your message over quicker – pictures can summarise better than words ever could.

Your overall message should spur them to take action and assist your goals. Make them want to donate, share, spread the word or volunteer. Make them want to sign up with you because it is such a worthy cause. Once you have done that on one platform, you can then recreate your cause to multiply your efforts on all fronts.

Together, with your followers, you can make some noise!