It’s pretty easy to tell when you have a financial problem.

Or when you have an I.T. problem.

Even when you have an operational problem.

But how do you know if you have a problem with your marketing?

When it comes to your marketing and advertising, it can be more difficult to discern whether you have an issue in the first place, never mind where and what that issue might be. Nevertheless, it is just as important for the success of your charity that you be aware of it so that you can fix it.

Here is how you can recognise if your charity has a marketing problem.

Symptoms of a marketing problem

Your marketing isn’t doing what it should if:

• You don’t know what you are doing and why you are doing it.
• You don’t have a strategy for delivering the right message to your target audience.
• There are people who would benefit from your work who aren’t engaging with you.
• There are people who don’t know what you do.
• Your fundraising efforts and/or content isn’t resonating with the people that it should.
• You are putting in a lot of time and effort for very little results.

3 ways you can sort out your marketing

Time is money and charities are often short on both, so if you have a marketing problem, make sure to fix it as soon as possible. You’ll soon find that you will have more of both if you do.

A few ways to improve your marketing include:

1. Carrying out market research about your target audience (e.g. what platforms are they most active on online, what content do they engage with the most etc).
2. Putting together a marketing strategy (e.g. what social platforms will you utilise, how often will you post, what content will you share, how will you engage with your supporters, where will you direct your traffic etc).
3. Working with professionals – investing in proper website design, consistent content of a high-quality or a social media whizz can really make a difference to the impact that you make with your marketing and therefore, the results that you get from it. Although it requires an investment, it saves you a lot of time from trying to do it yourself and a lot of money in the long run.

Are you not getting the results that you want from your marketing?

If you are not getting the results that you want from your marketing, consider reviewing your current efforts to see what is working and what is not. It might just take an update of your marketing strategy or hiring some professional help to get your charity back on track.