In 2020 and beyond, digital marketing will become an increasingly essential way to communicate important social missions and drive impact in communities worldwide.

In the social good sector, marketing communicates your mission’s brand, goals, and needs. While it may stem from the commercial sector, marketing in the digital age is arguably the most important way to ensure that people know who you are, what you are doing, and how you are changing the world. If they aren’t hearing from and/or about you, you will most certainly get lost in the crowd. 

As the market is noisier than ever before, social advertising and targeting play a major role in what we as content consumers see online. As you review your≈organization’s marketing approach for the year, here are four areas to keep top of mind to best engage with your audiences.

1. Personalization

You’ve heard it before, but it’s well worth saying again: make it personal. The content that a young researcher is looking to get from you differs greatly from that of a policy expert or engaged activist. Define who your main audiences are, segment them, and develop content — from web copy to email marketing — that speaks to them. 

2. Content marketing

Content marketing lies at the heart of marketing. That is to say, good quality content marketing. So don’t go out there with the intention of producing more content than ever, but creating the right content that is valuable to those who see it. In this vein, omnichannel marketing will be more important than ever in 2020 in ensuring that your audience is moving along a content path and engaging in multi-faceted conversations with your brand. It’s not all about creating the next best blog post, but creating a conversation across channels that keeps you connected with your community.

3. Branding

It’s no longer about creating a logo that’s recognizable, but creating an end-to-end brand experience that speaks directly to the individuals who touch it. This is about building an authentic, trusted relationship with your supporters that make them feel like they are themselves part of your brand and mission. This ranges from finding opportunities to further engage employees (aka. real people) in your brand messaging, to developing custom-branded content for your various audience segments. Again, there is a lot of noise out there, so be deliberate in making your brand shine just that much brighter this year.

4. Privacy

Personal data is on all of our minds. As you look to engage and reach out to new and existing individuals in 2020 through targeted content strategies and outreach tactics, ensure that you are being respectful of your audience’s digital footprint. This includes making your data collection policies crystal clear, and providing ample opportunities for people to sign-up or opt-out of your outreach. The more transparent you are, the better you will be perceived and treated as a trusted source of information and impact.