Making The Shift From Traditional To Digital Marketing

the digital shift

Making The Shift From Traditional To Digital Marketing

Changing the way something has been done for years can be a little scary. How will you know if it’s going to be worth it? Luckily for nonprofits, for-profit companies have already blazed the trail in digital marketing.

Most often, for-profit companies have more of the necessary time, staff and money to test new ways to optimize their marketing strategy, and by being among the first out of the gate, they benefit the most when something works out. In a recent case study from Google, executives at Sprint experimented with Google AdWords versus their traditional marketing. The phone company saw a 20% increase in digital sales and a 32% increase in in-store sales.

But there is good news for nonprofits. Fortunately, the Google Grant has leveled the playing field for nonprofits looking to enter or enhance their presence in the digital marketing realm. With the Google Grant, nonprofits get up to $10,000 each month to spend in Google Search Ads, which is among the top performing ways to market online. The best way to take advantage of this leg up is to find a trusted partner who is certified in managing AdWords accounts. Using AdWords correctly may be the best course of action for getting the highest return on investment for your organization.

Here’s an example from one of our clients…

The Safety Council of Palm Beach County had been advertising with Yellow Pages for years, and when they began to notice that less and less people were using the physical books, they started paying for YP’s internet advertising program.

Yellow Pages now has online search ads in addition to their traditional print ads. When you search for something on a search engine (like Google, Yahoo or Bing), a Yellow Pages ad may show up, which, when clicked, will take you to their own search page for the same search you just performed. Businesses and nonprofits pay to be on the Yellow Pages search results, which consists of additional, unnecessary pathways for the consumer to take.

But things changed once they hired Cause Inspired Media for Google Grant management…

As it turns out, when using Yellow Pages’ online ads in combination with Google AdWords, you’re competing against your own nonprofit in the search results page. It costs more, and does not prominently feature your nonprofit since you still have to compete with other organizations or companies on the YP search results page in addition to Google’s search results. Your organization ends up paying more for less advertising.

Executive Vice President Toni Burrows, of Safety Council of Palm Beach County Inc., a nonprofit organization dedicated to safety and servicing Palm Beach County and all of South Florida, was advertising on both Yellow Pages and on Google’s Search Network with the Google Grant. Here’s what she saw happen:

Our Safety Council has been with Yellow Pages for decades.  Our advertising costs increased each year.  In the print editions we had headings or ads to promote our company under different categories, such as Motorcycle, Traffic, Driving, Occupational and even in the Spanish book.

Over the years less and less people used the print edition and we saw a decrease in our call volume.

Then Yellow Pages sold us on the idea of internet advertising and we did that for a number of years.  They would send us analytics to show us how well we were performing.  YP Marketing Solutions would send us ad performance summaries showing clicks and impressions.

We stopped using Yellow Pages most recently because other Safety Councils told us that they completely stopped using phone books.  We know that people do not want a book and use the internet to find information.  We did not know how to stop and thought that we didn’t have an option until we received a Google Grant.  Then it took us over a year to realize that we were competing with ourselves by using Yellow Pages and the Google Grant.

Once we had this awakening we were able to cancel our renewing agreement with Yellow Pages just in time.

With AdWords, you get a much more in-depth analysis of where your money is going, how much each ad costs, how well each ad performs, and more. With a trusted, certified partner in AdWords and the Google Grant, no one in your office has to be an expert in digital marketing to know what kind of return your nonprofit is getting. At Cause Inspired Media, our strategists take you through your results step-by step every month, and are happy to explain everything to you clearly and concisely.

AdWords is a proven method that works magnificently to get brand awareness, donations, volunteers, newsletter sign ups, and so much more. While it can get costly for businesses, nonprofit organizations have an upper hand with the Google Grant. Cause Inspired Media has been able to help the Safety Council of Palm Beach County and many more nonprofits who were in the same position before they started working with us.

If you want to make the switch from print to digital, or you have questions about the Google Grant and your expected results, call us today!

By: Katie Kelderman, Digital Strategist