Sybil: Marketing is similar in all organizations in that its ultimate goal is to create and maintain a favorable brand that positively impacts the bottom line. What’s special about nonprofits is that they’re responsible for a dual bottom line that includes a strong mission and financial viability. Nonprofits need to market their mission to attract attention and support because no mission means no money, and no money means no mission. 

What I’ve learned in my work with nonprofits is that having a noble mission doesn’t guarantee success. It’s easy to get caught up in staying mission-focused in managing the organization, finding and competing for funding, dealing with governance issues, etc., and lose sight of what matters - the tremendous impact that every employee and volunteer has on the brand. The reality is that consumer perceptions of the nonprofit and the degree to which they’ll engage with it (if at all) are greatly influenced by the individual and collective actions of everyone who works in the organization. In other words, a nonprofit’s employees and volunteers ARE the face of the brand. 

Yvonne: Nonprofits don’t have money – they’re always struggling; how does your book help them be better at something they can’t afford anyway

Sybil: When it comes to marketing, most nonprofits think of typical marketing tools like advertising, publicity, and promotion that are focused on external audiences and delivered through traditional or social media. My book explains a more basic and critical type of marketing that is easily overlooked – “internal marketing” that is focused on an internal audience (employees and volunteers) and delivered through internal communications. Internal marketing is a strategic approach that engages employees and volunteers in effectively representing a nonprofit’s brand by keeping them connected to the organization and its mission, the people it serves, and the people who support the organization.

While internal marketing doesn’t require any financial investment, NOT doing it can be quite costly and waste whatever precious marketing resources the nonprofit has. I tell nonprofit leaders that it doesn’t matter how creative and resourceful their marketing efforts are if consumers have negative interactions  with the employees or volunteers. That’s because everything is marketing: every phone call, every email, every conversation (whether face-to-face, by phone, or online), every experience your stakeholders have with your employees and volunteers influences how those stakeholders perceive your brand. If you don’t effectively engage your employees and volunteers, you can’t expect them to engage your stakeholders. 

Yvonne: Can the every-day average person interested in volunteering for a nonprofit, benefit from your book?

Sybil: Yes! I wrote the book to help nonprofits better engage the people behind the mission – employees and volunteers who represent a nonprofit’s brand. Volunteer leaders and frontline volunteers can apply the insight and tools found in Share of Mind, Share of Heart: Internal Marketing Tools of Engagement for Nonprofits to better understand and strengthen their own engagement. 

Yvonne: It’s so important to include “share of heart” in marketing, but even more so for nonprofits. Or, is “share of mind” the most important factor? You include both in your book – are they interchangeable?

Sybil: Marketing typically starts with “share of mind” to build and maintain brand awareness. How can people   support your organization if they don’t know about it? Creating “share of heart” follows in that once people know about your organization and mission, how will you engage/involve them with your organization (as consumers/clients, donors, volunteers, community partners, employees, etc.)? 

So the two concepts are distinct yet mutually supportive. People who have positive experiences with your organization will tell others about it – expanding your nonprofit’s “share of mind” and potential “share of heart” among their friends and other social networks. Those who truly enjoy their involvement willingly become your brand ambassadors. Caution: the opposite is also true in that those with negative interactions will share their experiences – not the kind of word-of-mouth any nonprofit wants!

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Internal marketing strategist and author Sybil Stershic advocates the important of taking care of your business' greatest investment...your people.