Marketing Mix
By Heidi Kelley & Tara Mahady, Campagne
Associates
June 23, 2003
Part 1: Marketing for the Nonprofit Organization - Introduction
Part 2: Setting Goals and Targeting Constituents
The marketing mix is a set of controllable elements that helps to produce a desired response within a target market. It is sometimes referred to as the 'Ps' of marketing. In the nonprofit world there are six of these elements to consider when developing your marketing strategy:
- Product
- Publics
- Price
- Place
- Production
- Promotion
Product
For nonprofit organizations, product refers to the programs and services that are offered. When examining the product your organization offers keep in mind that nonprofits are mission driven as opposed to product driven. However, many nonprofit organizations pride themselves on offering quality programs and services for their constituent base.
In the for-profit sector many companies make guarantees on their products in order to stress quality. The same is true for some nonprofit organizations, which helps them distinguish themselves from other organizations in the same sector. Some examples are a college guaranteeing small class sizes of less than 15 students, or a world hunger organization guaranteeing that 90% of monies raised will go directly to their cause.
Publics
This element of the P's identifies those with whom you want to engage in transactions. Publics may include your board members, constituents and prospects. These may also include individuals, corporations and foundations you plan to exchange your product or service with. Your publics must understand these programs and their benefits to them. Having a clear understanding of your publics is a key element in planning your business and marketing strategies.
Price
Price is an important element in the marketing mix because it establishes a perceived value for a program or service. At times we purchase a more expensive product if the perception is that it offers a greater value. This relationship between price and perceived value also exists in the nonprofit sector.
An example would be a school that has a large endowment and brings in substantial funds via contributions. This allows them to keep tuition costs at a minimum even though other schools in the area are raising tuition. However, incoming parents admit that price is a gauge of quality. Therefore, in the community, parents perceive this school's academic programs as inferior.
Place
This element refers to the location where the product or service is available. Location is a key factor when you are attracting constituents to your organization for programs and services. If you are a social service agency serving inner-city youth and move your offices to a more affluent location many clients will most likely stop coming to your organization. This impairs your organization's ability to accomplish its mission and goals.
Production
Production refers to how well your organization can meet the demand for your products, programs and services. In order to be effective your operations team should focus on demand and supply that equates at a feasible level for your organization. If your demand is exceeding supply then you'll need to look for ways to increase production and/or productivity.
Promotion
This is an element that is sometimes overlooked by nonprofit organizations. Even if an organization offers some of the best programs and services, if the market they were intended for has no knowledge of their existence the programs will not be utilized to the fullest. This could be dangerous for a nonprofit since constituents are reluctant to support an organization with which they are not familiar or which isn't clear about its mission and goals and how they plan to achieve them.
Even in the smallest nonprofit organization with limited resources for marketing and promotion there are still ways to spread the word about your group. The following are just some examples of how to use free media and volunteer resources:
- Send out news releases regularly to media representatives and other key people on your mailing list.
- Cultivate relationships with local media representatives. These folks can be of great assistance in placing feature material, calendar information, and coverage of press conferences and events.
- Periodic public relations events can be planned and executed by volunteers. Any means of creating broader interest in your community, constituency, and the publicity will help the image of your organization.
- Send out a newsletter periodically to your list of supporters. If there are different groups of people for which different messages are necessary then separate newsletters can be created.
- Build relationships with local schools. Identify functions and initiatives they are learning that would benefit your organization.
An effective marketing plan combines all of the marketing mix elements into a seamless program designed to achieve your marketing goals.
*Part four of this series will discuss how to put the marketing mix to work in helping to create a marketing plan for your organization.
Heidi Kelley and Tara Mahady are marketing coordinators for Campagne Associates,
which offers fundraising software solutions to assist nonprofit organizations
in becoming more effective fundraisers. They can be reached at info@campagne.com.
