For your community to grow, you need a marketing strategy.
Your organisation may be brand new, or maybe it isn’t.
If your organisation has been around a while, maybe things have changed. Old approaches to attract new members or customers may no longer work.
The audience you used to appeal to may have moved on. Maybe their interests have changed, or maybe yours have. Maybe what you’re motivated by has moved you in a different direction.
Either way, a new approach is needed.
Your marketing strategy will help you determine the audience you are seeking to serve. It will show you who you need to get to know.
And knowing your audience better will inform you how to serve them better.
A good strategy reflects the philosophy that you wish to guide your organisation. Your organisation’s strategy influences how you make decisions. It determines your brand. Strategy also directs how you connect with and serve your audience.
So, who is your organisation seeking to serve? And how will you reach them? What is your strategy?
You need to start by answering those questions.
If you don’t know who you’re seeking to connect with, you won’t know how to act. At least not in anyway that will lead to noticeable, consistent growth.
An effective marketing strategy needs to work with the systems your organisation already has in place. It should help you to reach your audience and share your purpose with more ease, not make your life more difficult.
An effective strategy will also help ensure you retain new and loyal supporters. The ones who walk through the door one day, then go on to become your dedicated customers or dependable and enthusiastic volunteers.
Those individuals who share your vision and who you really value and want to keep around.
Know your strategy, and you’ll know where you’re going – and who wants to go with you.
Your community will grow out from there.