Step 2: Don’t Let Your Leads Just Sit There

Building Relationships through Engagement: The Second Step of the Relational Marketing Map
Reading Time: 5 minutes

Nonprofit organizations often struggle to engage their audience and build meaningful relationships that lead to increased donations and volunteerism.

However, it's important to remember that marketing relationships are like any other human relationship, requiring intentional effort and time.

In today’s issue, we’ll explore the second step of the Relational Marketing Map: how to engage your audience to build authentic long-term relationships.

But first, I want to remind you that you can get help defining your very own Relational Marketing Map at our FREE virtual event on Feb 21. You will workshop your marketing plan in real-time with Ben and Janelle (hi 👋 that’s me). Save your seat here (spots are limited!): https://nonprofitamplifier.com/map

Overcoming the Fear of Engagement

Have you ever worried, “I don’t want to email our subscribers because people might unsubscribe”?

…And then you only send emails when you have to ask for donations or volunteers?

This is a common problem among nonprofits. However, it's essential to have a marketing plan that centers around intentional, ongoing communication. Without regular engagement, your marketing efforts will be one-sided and ineffective.

Building Relationships with Intention and Time.

Relational marketing aims to build mutually beneficial, long-term relationships between you and your audience.

And like any other human relationship, marketing relationships are built with intentional effort and time.

Imagine being in a dating relationship where your partner went months without speaking to you, only occasionally asking for money. It probably wouldn’t end well.

The same applies to your relationships with potential supporters. You need a marketing plan that centers around regular, intentional engagement with your audience.

The Commitment Ladder

Once your audience knows you exist from the “Reach” stage (covered in last week’s email here), it's time to make meaningful connections. You can do this using the Commitment Ladder.

At the bottom ladder rung, you have the lowest commitment opportunities for people to engage with you. These include opportunities for your audience to anonymously consume content like blog posts, videos, or podcasts.

The second rung is gated content. People must provide contact information, such as an email, to access resources, sign a petition, or follow you on social media.

The third rung is live events. People must block time on their calendar and show up in real time—whether virtual or in person.

The top rung is one-on-one interaction, where your audience can schedule a call with someone from your team or engage directly with you.

Moving People Up the Ladder

To move people from rung one to rung two—where they truly become a "subscriber"—you need to provide upfront value. The best way to do this is with a lead magnet or opt-in funnel, where you essentially provide something of value in exchange for permission to email your audience. (Check if your lead magnet includes these 5 key ingredients: Part 1 & Part 2.)

The next step toward deeper engagement is time. Are you offering virtual or in-person events? Can they attend a webinar or training? Could you invite them to take a tour?

Ultimately, you want move people from anonymous to known, from on-demand to live, and from group interaction to one-on-one.

Brainstorm what resources and events you already have or could create to encourage your audience up the ladder, engaging at different levels of commitment.

Relationships are Messy

Just like any other relationship, marketing relationships can be messy. Each person is unique; some people may take longer to engage than others. Some may hang out on the second rung for months before moving up, while others may jump straight from the first rung to the next stage of the Relational Marketing Map.

Continue to engage people as long as needed until they’re ready to move forward (or until they decide they're not in alignment with your mission).

Putting It All Together

Engagement is crucial in building positive and valuable long-term relationships with your audience. It's essential to overcome the fear of regular engagement and use the commitment ladder to make meaningful connections, continually offering people opportunities to engage at different levels of commitment.

What's Inspiring Us
This meeting could have been an email. Or a Slack message.

How many times have you thought that? Structured meetings with a specific agenda can be incredibly helpful and efficient to keep projects on track. But we’ve all been in meetings that ran too long and derailed our to-do list for the day.

One of our favorite tools to combat unnecessary meetings is Loom. If you aren’t already familiar with this product, Loom allows you to film your screen with a voiceover. Instead of an hour-long meeting analyzing design options for a client website, I can film a quick five-minute video with my thoughts.

Now my teammate can watch it on their own timeline and send one back if needed. Boom. Meeting avoided, but communication was still clear.

Loom has a free and paid option, making it an easy tool to implement in your daily work. And this isn’t #sponsored by the way; we’re just happy customers!

Next Steps
When you’re ready, here are 2 ways we can help you grow your nonprofit and amplify your mission:

Free Workshop Feb 21 - Get help mapping out your ideal audience journey using the Relational Marketing Map. Plus, we’ll help you define the critical actions you need at each step to build valuable long-term relationships with your audience.
Unlimited Marketing for Nonprofits - Get unlimited marketing and creative services from a team of nonprofit marketing experts who care about advancing your mission for less that the cost (and hassle) of hiring a full-time marketer.