The state of digital marketing in the charity sector

Charity Digital’s free #BeMoreDigital Marketing Day will be held on 20 May 2021. The day is full of innovative, inspiring, and interesting sessions from charity and tech experts from across the UK, each focussing on some the most important elements of digital marketing.

 

The charity sector has changed substantially over the past year, experiencing an accelerated form of digital transformation, with many trends likely to continue into the future.

 

Fundraising has shifted online, events have become virtual, service delivery has moved to videoconferencing platforms and websites, and donor engagement became entirely digitised. On top of those substantial developments, charity professionals and volunteers largely went from the office to the home, having to quickly and effectively adapt to remote working.

 

Because of these shifts in daily operations, digital marketing has become more important than ever. Social distancing restrictions, remote working, the overall move to virtual, and the changing landscape of charity events made marketing through digital technologies an absolute necessity for every charity, regardless of size, shape, or budget.

 

Our #BeMoreDigital Marketing Day 2021 aims to uncover some of most important elements of contemporary digital marketing. We aim to talk about the leading digital marketing issues of the day and explore future trends to help charities stay ahead of the curve.

 

 

Email marketing on the agenda

 

Email marketing is perhaps more important than ever. Emails, as with social media and charity websites, have received renewed attention since COVID-19 arrived.

 

As face-to-face and in-person communication became more difficult, emails became essential tools for raising awareness to a wide and diverse audience, enticing potential donors and communicating with repeat donors, and showcasing the important work of charities.

 

But email marketing can be complex. There is so much to consider, including keeping emails mobile friendly, bespoke options vs templates, quantity of emails vs quality, the correct systems that charities should use, and so much more. And, importantly, charities need to plan their emails into the future, which brings up all sorts of new challenges and difficulties.

 

The Charity Digital #BeMoreDigital Marketing Day 2021 will look at some email marketing issues. We will explore email marketing particularly in the context of strategic planning, giving charities a better understanding of long-term email preparation.

 

 

The importance of digital inclusion

 

Digital exclusion has also been a major talking point in the charity sector. COVID-19 has drawn increasing attention to the problem.

 

From adults securing employment and children learning at school to accessing bank details and communicating effectively with friends, almost every aspect of life requires at least basic digital skills.

 

Charities need to overcome these problems and aim for digital inclusion. And this is particularly true with digital marketing. Charities need to reach everyone, including donors and service users, addressing the digital divide and meeting audiences with inclusivity in mind.

 

The #BeMoreDigital Marketing Day 2021 will have a session dedicated to digital inclusion, with other sessions addressing more general aspects of inclusivity.

 

 

The time is right for a charity re-brand

 

One thing we’ve noticed is that lots of charities are digitally re-branding during lockdown, essentially taking the opportunity to change their look and feel.

 

There are plenty of reasons to embark on a digital rebrand. Perhaps your demographics have changed, or maybe your mission has altered slightly. It could simply be that your branding seems a bit outdated or old-fashioned.

 

Charities can improve their digital marketing by sprucing up websites and socials. They could overhaul everything by introducing a new colour scheme, new logos, new images, giving them a fresh new look to mark a new direction. Or perhaps charities only want to make small changes, such as little alterations to the style of their website.

 

Is your charity due a re-brand? If so, join us for a session on the #BeMoreDigital Marketing Day 2021, where we will look at some of the above re-branding issues and so much more.

 

 

Join us on the day

 

For sessions covering any of the above – and for so much more – please join us for free on 20 May 2021. We will be talking about re-branding, emails, digital inclusion, and so many other essential elements of digital marketing. The full agenda will follow in a few weeks.

 

So sign-up to keep up with the latest developments and secure your place on the day.