Ask the Experts: Digital Marketing Strategies for Charity and Voluntary Organisations

Question: What are the best paid search strategies within online marketing for Charity and Voluntary Organisations?

Paid Search marketing is an integral part of a company’s digital marketing portfolio. Read below to find out more on how charity and voluntary organisations can maximise their online presence and receive funding with our top tips. 

As a long-term charity supporter, we took our participation in corporate social responsibility to a new level by recruiting a local charity, Winston’s Wish, the leading childhood bereavement charity in the UK, located in Cheltenham, to receive digital marketing consultancy services for their not for profit charity marketing. 

To achieve the charity’s goals, we implemented a strategic digital marketing PPC campaign to enhance the brand awareness and increase the donation of fundraising.

To spread the gift of giving back, our very own Lead Paid Search Consultant and Certified Adwords guru, Lol Lowe, has put together the top-10 paid search strategies that we implement for charities and other non-profit organisations.

Top 10 Paid Search Tips for Non-Profit Organisations

1) Apply for Google Adwords Grants

You can apply for $10k a month of free advertising on adwords.  UK based non-profits can apply, too! Apply here. 

2) Create a Separate Campaign for Each of your Projects or Goals

The idea is to group similar keywords together with closely matching ad copy and landing pages.  In very simple terms, this provides a better user experience for visitors and Google rewards you with lower cost-per-click.

3) Ad Copy

Don’t use just one set of ad copy – test, test, test!  Examples of things to test: same copy, different landing page; sentence case vs. title case; emotional copy vs. direct questions.

4) Site Extensions

Grab as much screen real estate as you can with site extensions.  These are additional lines to your ads that offer additional links and information to potential visitors and take up more screen space and help you ads stand out from your competitors.

5) Landing Pages

Make good use of your landing pages – make sure they match user intent (don’t just drive people to your home page).

6) Google Adwords

Use Adwords’ keyword tools to find more keywords and expand your current list but keep it relevant.

7) Adjust Bids Geographically

You can find out from the adwords interface how your ads are performing in different locations. If certain locations are generating traffic but never convert, then you can reduce your bids for this location or exclude them completely.

8) Adjust Bids Based on Best Times 

There are often better converting times of day, adjust your bids to make sure your ads are being seen at these times.  On the flip side, you can also reduce bids on poorer converting hours or days.

9) Keyword Testing

Test all keyword match types – when you are in receipt of the Google Grant you have more flexibility to test keyword types that might otherwise burn through an organisations budget. 

10) User-Friendly

Make sure your website is easy to navigate and it is easy for users to complete their goal (whether it’s information, donations, volunteering etc.).

By following these strategies we were able to achieve the following with Winston’s Wish:

• 11.9% increase in new sessions
• 61% increase in click-through-rate
• Improved Ad Position, from 5.2 to 4.8 with both local fundraising and volunteer local campaigns improving position more significantly by up to 37%
• 9.7% increase in new users
• 5.5% decrease in bounce rate, currently 39%

Are you a registered charity? Interested in more about how we can help?  Please contact us! [email protected], Tel: 01793 23867.