A not-for-profit rarely has one audience.
The same organisation may need to reach people looking for support, volunteers, donors, partners, funders and the wider community. Each group arrives with different questions and a different reason to pay attention.
Marketing also works within real constraints. Budgets are often tight, internal teams are stretched and success can’t always be measured in revenue.
Pulse has worked with community organisations, adult education and local initiatives across Google Ad Grants, search, websites, content and campaign delivery.
Organisations whose marketing has to serve a mission as well as an operational goal.
Our work has included a community bookshop and literacy foundation, adult education, local precinct initiatives and community events.
Some need to reach people who use their services. Others need donors, participants, event attendees or wider public awareness.
The approach starts by separating those audiences, so each gets a message that fits.
People arrive with different intentions.
Someone looking for support right now behaves very differently from a potential donor researching the organisation or a volunteer deciding whether to get involved.
That makes site structure, campaign targeting and measurement especially important.
Three things tend to shape the work.
One organisation, several audiences
Services, donations, volunteering, events and advocacy may each need their own path through the same website.
The outcome isn’t always a sale
A useful conversion could be a donation, a registration, a visit, a program enquiry, a newsletter signup or someone finding the right support.
Free media still needs management
Programs like Google Ad Grants offer valuable free advertising, but the account still needs strategy, campaigns, tracking and ongoing optimisation.
The four services that come up most in our not-for-profit work, and what each one is for.
Eligible not-for-profits can access Google Ad Grants, but the grant alone doesn’t create useful traffic.
Campaigns still need the right keywords, landing pages and conversion tracking.
Organisations running both grant and paid campaigns need each account to have a clear job.
Organic search helps people find services, programs, resources and information without relying entirely on campaign budgets.
The work usually starts with the different audiences the organisation serves, making sure each has a clear path through the site.
Useful content can then answer the questions people search before they know the organisation by name.
A not-for-profit website often has to do several jobs at once without becoming confusing.
Navigation should make it obvious where to go to get help, donate, volunteer or learn about the organisation.
It also needs to be easy for the internal team to update after launch.
Paid social can reach people who are unlikely to search for a program or event directly.
It’s especially useful for awareness, events, storytelling and audience building when there are good visuals and real stories to share.
Examples from our work with not-for-profits and community organisations.
Google Ad Grants campaigns for Lost in Books and the Think+DO Tank Foundation. The case study reports direct traffic growing from about 275 to 435 users a month, a 58% increase, and visitors from 6,978 cities worldwide.
A website for the Heart of Surry Hills festival, built so visitors could search events, venues and deals by date and location.
Pulse has contributed to local activations for the Surry Hills Business Partnership, including Surry Hills Live, PICNIC and business networking events. Nico Pustilnick sits on its board.
A website redesign and campaigns for a not-for-profit adult education provider. The case study reports student enrolments up 18.7% and revenue up 32% year on year.
Pulse is an independent marketing agency based in Surry Hills, Sydney. We work with businesses and organisations across a range of industries, combining strategy, creative and digital marketing to help them grow.
Every business is different. If you’d like to talk about what could work for yours, get in touch.