Google Ads are an incredibly useful tool for expanding your organization’s reach and driving conversions. Plus, eligible nonprofits can take advantage of this resource at no cost through the Google Ad Grants program, which provides applicants with $10,000 in advertising credits each month. This way, you can spread the word about your mission and encourage new audiences to get involved.
To make the most of this nonprofit advertising opportunity, you shouldn’t take a set-it-and-forget-it approach. Instead, revisit your strategy often and look for ways to optimize your Google Ads for maximum effectiveness.
In this guide, you’ll learn the basics of Google Ads optimization, as well as 13 top tips to help you get started. Here’s what we’ll cover:
At Getting Attention, we understand the importance of a strong Google Ads strategy for nonprofits like yours to promote their missions. Our team specializes in Google Ad Grants management, helping nonprofits worldwide optimize their search ads. As you implement the strategies in this guide, don’t hesitate to reach out for expert help at any stage of the optimization process. Let’s dive in!
What Is Google Ads Optimization?
Google Ads optimization is the ongoing process of refining and improving your organization’s Google Ads to improve results and achieve your goals.
As the world’s largest and most widely used online advertising platform, Google Ads have helped countless organizations further their missions. Continuing to re-evaluate the ways you leverage this tool over time comes with a variety of benefits, including:
- Increased online conversions such as event sign ups, donations, and volunteer registrations.
- Expanded organizational reach to supporters new and old, inspiring them to take action.
- Simultaneous campaigning, including the ability to market multiple ad campaigns with different purposes.
- Greater audience understanding to better meet the needs of current and potential donors, volunteers, and advocates.
For nonprofits participating in the Google Ad Grant program, an additional benefit of Google Ads optimization is Google Ad Grants policy compliance. Your Google Ads must follow certain rules for your organization to maintain eligibility for the grant, and regularly optimizing your account allows you to check for and fix any aspects of your campaigns that may be out of line with Google’s guidelines. This way, you can ensure that your Google Ads continue to be a valuable part of your nonprofit’s marketing strategy.
Google Ads Optimization Tips Overview
Now that you know why Google Ads optimization is important, let’s dive into our top 13 tips for getting started:
We’ve broken these tips into categories to make them easier for your organization to implement, and the first category we’ll cover is optimizing your overarching Google Ads strategy.
Google Ads Optimization Strategy Tips
Although you likely developed a strategy for leveraging the platform when you first created your account, ensuring this strategy aligns with your nonprofit’s goals will help you maximize your Google Ad Grant over time.
1. Evaluate Your Current Ads
The first step to optimizing your Google Ads campaigns is to evaluate your current ad performance to see what is working and where you have room to improve. To do this, pay attention to four key metrics:
- Impressions. An impression occurs every time your ad is displayed or seen by someone searching on Google. First, determine which of your campaigns are getting the most impressions. Then, consider why those ads might be more visible than others—oftentimes, the deciding factor is either ad quality or relevance to the searcher.
- Click-Through Rate (CTR). This metric refers to the percentage of users who click on your ad after seeing it. It can be calculated by dividing the number of clicks by the number of impressions and multiplying the result by 100. A high CTR means a large audience is seeing the ad and finding it relevant.
- Conversions. A conversion occurs when a user takes a desired action after clicking on your ad, such as donating, registering for an event, or signing up to volunteer. Keeping track of the amount of impressions and clicks that lead to conversions will help you identify which ads in each of your campaigns are performing the best.
- Cost per click (CPC). This metric can help you budget your nonprofit’s $10,000 per month from the Google Ad Grant effectively. CPC is affected by the amount you bid for each keyword in your strategy, the keyword’s quality score, and the ad’s placement on the search engine results page (SERP). Examining your ad spend can help you scale your ads appropriately to get them in front of the right audience.
You can access reports on all of these metrics in your nonprofit’s Google Analytics account. The program will even break down the report by time of day, providing even more insight into when your ads perform best.
2. Find and Fill Opportunity Gaps
Using the metrics above to evaluate your current ads can also help you identify opportunities that you haven’t yet taken advantage of or gaps in your strategy that need to be filled. In particular, this process can help you notice lost impressions, which are missed impression opportunities between you and your audience. Analyzing your lost impressions report can help you prioritize the ads that have the most potential to convert.
Additionally, you should regularly compare your Google Ad Grants strategy to your organization’s overarching goals. For instance, if your nonprofit has set a goal to boost online donations by 20% this coming year, you might put more effort into improving and expanding the reach of your Google Ads that link back to the donation form on your website.
Google Ads Optimization Keyword Tips
Keywords are the words or phrases that Google users type into the search bar. When you create a Google Ads campaign, you’ll attach keywords to your ads to trigger their appearance on the SERP when users search those keywords.
Here are three tips to help you optimize your Google Ads keywords for maximum reach.
3. Choose Specific, Relevant Keywords
Your keywords should be closely related to your mission and the desired action attached to each of your Google Ads. This way, you can get your ads in front of the users who are most likely to convert.
Following the Google Ad Grant policies for keywords not only ensures your account is in compliance with the rules, but it’s also helpful in optimizing your strategy. Google’s requirements include:
- No single-word keywords unless they’re on the approved list of exceptions. Most single-word keywords are too broad to get your ad in front of an audience who would want to engage with it. For example, if an animal shelter used “cat” as one of their keywords, that would bring up a wide range of search results, many of which have nothing to do with aiding in the shelter’s mission to rescue cats in need. Choosing phrases like “adopt a cat” or “volunteer with cats” could reach the organization’s target audience more effectively.
- No overly generic keywords. Remember that the goal of your keyword strategy is to drive conversions from users who are interested in your mission. Generic keywords like “free videos” or “eBook downloads” don’t tend to be helpful in reaching that goal. So, Google doesn’t permit nonprofits to use generic keywords to ensure they use their grant wisely.
- No keywords with a quality score of 1 or 2. Quality score is a diagnostic measure that Google uses to determine keyword relevance. It’s calculated using factors like historical impressions for that keyword and expected CTR. Keywords with a quality score of 3 or higher on a scale of 1 to 10 are more likely to convert users and make the grant money your nonprofit spends worth it.
By choosing high-quality, relevant keywords, your ads can effectively engage users who are actively searching for information related to your mission and work. Leverage Google Keyword Planner and other keyword research tools to help you create the most effective strategy for your nonprofit.
4. Consider Keywords’ Search Intent
In addition to keyword quality and relevance, thinking about search intent is essential for getting your Google Ads in front of users who would be interested in them. While there are a variety of reasons why someone would search for different keywords on Google, some of the most common search intents that your nonprofit might target with ads include:
- Educational: Users want to learn more about a cause or issue by searching terms like “effects of childhood poverty” or “dog adoption statistics.”
- Navigational: Users are looking to access a specific organization’s website by searching a term that includes the nonprofit’s name.
- Commercial: Users aren’t necessarily ready to take a desired action yet, but they’re weighing their options through searches such as “volunteer opportunities near me” or “top-rated animal shelters.”
- Transactional: Users who search keywords like “sponsor a child” or “adopt a shelter dog” are typically at the point of conversion.
Depending on the keyword’s intent, you can direct audiences who click on your ad to different landing pages. Educational keywords often lend themselves to promoting blog articles, downloadable resources, or case studies. Searchers of navigational keywords usually want to be directed to your homepage, and ads targeting commercial or transactional keywords should link to landing pages where users can fill out a form or take another action.
5. Identify Negative Keywords
Once you’ve determined which keywords you want to target with your ads, you should also identify keywords that don’t relate to your organization’s offerings—also known as negative keywords. Despite the name, negative keywords aren’t inherently bad. They’re just phrases your organization may not want its ads associated with.
Because you spend your Google Ad Grant funds every time someone clicks on one of your ads, it’s vital to exclude irrelevant or wasteful search terms from your campaigns. That way, you can maximize your monthly budget by focusing on ads that are likely to convert users.
Google Ads Optimization Tips for Audience Targeting
Although keywords are essential for your Google Ads to reach the correct audience, there are other targeting strategies you can use to boost clicks and conversions. We’ll discuss three of these in more detail below.
6. Define Your Target Audience
As with any strategy for supporter engagement, it’s important to understand the individuals you want to reach with your various Google Ads. Some segmentation criteria you can use to define your target audience include:
- Demographic characteristics such as age, location, education, family status, and wealth.
- Giving and involvement history with your organization, including past donation amounts and frequency, volunteer hours, event attendance, and participation in advocacy activities.
- Relevant interests and motivations for supporting your nonprofit’s mission.
Once you understand your target audience, you can write ad copy that they’ll be receptive to and add keywords that they’re likely to search for to your strategy. Also, keep in mind that each of your ads might have a slightly different target audience.
7. Leverage Geotargeting
Geotargeting allows your nonprofit to narrow down the audience for a Google Ads campaign to users in a specific geographic area. This is especially useful for marketing in-person events, volunteer opportunities, and services to ensure that the people who see your ad live close enough to benefit from it.
Google Ads provides three overarching location criteria that you can use to get started with geotargeting:
- “Target” locations are places where users are physically located in which your ad will be shown.
- “Exclude” locations are places where you don’t want a specific ad to appear.
- “Location of Interest” places allow ads to be shown to users searching for information about a particular location even if they aren’t physically there when they conduct the search.
From there, you can further refine your geotargeting by inputting custom locations on a map or reaching out to specific demographics within your target locations. You can also adjust your location-specific keyword bids based on where you’re most likely to receive clicks.
8. Create a Remarketing Strategy
In the context of Google Ads, remarketing or retargeting involves showing search ads to audience members who have previously visited your nonprofit’s website but didn’t convert. When these users search for relevant terms, your ads will display higher on the SERP. Retargeted ads may also appear as banners on other websites within the Google Display Network.
Remarketing allows you to re-engage potential supporters who have shown interest in your organization in the past, reminding them about your mission and encouraging them to come back to your site to take a desired action. Your organization can nurture supporter relationships that might otherwise have been lost and increase a variety of conversions, from donations to event attendance to signups for your email newsletter.
Google Ads Optimization Tips for Ad Structure
While the optimization tips we’ve covered so far focus mostly on factors that affect your entire account, the next four will dive deeper into how your individual Google Ads fit into the bigger picture. Your campaigns determine where your website will show up and who will see those ads, and your ad groups, headlines, copy, and landing pages are the deciding factors that affect your CTR and conversion rates.
9. Understand Correct Campaign Flow
We’ve mentioned the terms “campaign,” “ad group,” and “ad” several times throughout this guide. While each refers to a specific element of your Google Ads strategy, they fit together in a specific way, as shown in the diagram below:
- Campaigns. These are the largest building blocks of your strategy. You can run up to five campaigns at a time, and each one should be centered around a broad goal such as “volunteering” or “fundraising.”
- Ad groups. These are collections of ads that target related sets of keywords. Each campaign should have at least two ad groups to improve keyword alignment and landing page relevance.
- Ads. Each individual ad consists of a headline and description that shows up on the SERPs for relevant keywords. For the best user experience, you should have at least two ads per ad group.
The guidelines of having no more than five campaigns, at least two ad groups per campaign, and at least two ads per ad group are also important for your nonprofit to maintain compliance with the Google Ad Grant policies.
10. Improve Headlines and Copy Through A/B Testing
One of the reasons your nonprofit is required to have at least two ads in each ad group is so that you can conduct A/B testing. This process involves comparing two versions of an ad against one another to properly determine which is the optimal performer.
A/B testing can help you improve several aspects of your Google Ad design, including:
- Headlines. Your headline is the top, bold line of text in your ad. It’s the first thing users notice when your ad appears on a SERP and the place they click to visit your landing page. Testing multiple variations of the same headline can help you determine which one grabs users’ attention and boosts your CTR the most.
- Descriptions. A Google Ad description is usually two lines of text that appear below the headline and let users know why they should click on an ad. As you test different descriptions, optimize them for clicks by incorporating second-person pronouns (you/your/yours), using active verbs, and focusing on benefits to the user.
- Landing page choice. With some keywords, the exact user intent may not be clear at first glance. It can be helpful to run two variations of an ad that link to similar landing pages to determine which one users actually want to click. For instance, you could link to your volunteer sign-up form in one version of an ad and a page describing volunteer opportunities at your nonprofit in another to determine whether users who search for your target keyword are ready to convert or need more information before signing up.
The Google Ad Grant policies require your nonprofit to maintain at least a 5% CTR and be able to show a minimum of one meaningful conversion per month to stay eligible for funding. Testing different variations of your ads against each other to see which one leads to the most clicks and conversions can help you comply with this rule.
11. Optimize Your Landing Pages
In order for your nonprofit to receive Ad Grant funding, Google requires that your website have substantial mission-related content and provide a positive user experience. This is also an area where you shouldn’t take a set-it-and-forget-it approach, though. Once you’ve secured your Google Ad Grant, continue to evaluate your landing pages by asking yourself the following questions:
- Is the content relevant to users’ needs and the target keyword’s search intent?
- Are the visuals and multimedia elements used on the page engaging and accessible?
- Does the page have a clear value proposition and call to action?
Additionally, make sure your site loads quickly and is mobile responsive to ensure your audience stays on the landing page long enough to convert.
12. Incorporate Ad Extensions
To make your ads more user-friendly, Google offers a variety of additional features known as ad extensions. There are many different types of extensions, but here are some of the most popular ones for nonprofits to use, as shown in this example from WWF:
- Sitelink extensions append links to additional pages on your website, offering more options for audiences to learn more about your cause and get involved.
- Call extensions allow users to call your nonprofit simply by clicking on the phone number attached to your ad.
- Lead form extensions provide a place for users to submit their contact information directly from the ad so that they can easily ask questions or express interest in receiving communications from your organization.
- Callouts are text snippets that highlight key selling points, statistics, or other information about your nonprofit to promote it more effectively.
According to the Google Ad Grants rules, nonprofits have to add at least two sitelink extensions to each ad to maintain compliance. However, you should also experiment with the other types of ad extensions to see which ones boost conversions the most.
Google Ads Optimization Tip for Effective Management
Our final tip for Google Ads optimization is a simple one: In order to continue managing your campaigns over time, work with experts who specialize in all things Google Ad Grants.
13. Work With a Google Grants Management Professional
Google Ad Grants management is a full-time job. Oftentimes, nonprofits will turn to professional consulting agencies to manage their Google Ad Grants accounts. If you do this, make sure to invest in an agency that devotes its time solely to Google Ad Grants.
Getting Attention is one such agency. We’re prepared to help you every step of the way, from submitting your application to setting up your account to optimizing your ads over time.
Some of our core services include:
- Completing Google Ad Grant applications and eligibility checks.
- Maintaining proper account hygiene.
- Conducting keyword research and advising you on which ones to target.
- Optimizing, redesigning, and relaunching potential landing pages on your website.
- Helping you get your account reactivated if it’s ever suspended for any reason.
If you need additional services outside of these five main solutions, we’re open to discussing our experience and ability to meet your needs. Contact us to learn more about how Getting Attention’s services can help your nonprofit optimize its Google Ads strategy!
Google Ads Optimization: The Bottom Line
Effectively marketing your nonprofit’s mission involves not only taking advantage of the $10,000 in free promotion that the Google Ad Grant provides, but also ensuring your ads continue to perform well over time. Although the optimization process may seem daunting at first, know that you don’t have to go it alone—the experts at Getting Attention are here to help!
To learn more about Google Ads and their purposes, check out these additional resources:
Matching Gift Software Accessibility in the Higher Ed Sector
/in Nonprofit Fundraising, Nonprofit Tools /by Jessica KingHow Your Nonprofit Can Get Started With the Google Ad Grant
/in Google Ad Grants, Nonprofit Marketing /by Jessica KingWhether supporters find out about your nonprofit and its cause through social media, your website, or flyers, it’s all thanks to the power of marketing. With a strong marketing strategy, you can communicate to the general public what issue your nonprofit is working to resolve and how people can get involved.
Of course, having a sophisticated marketing strategy is often easier said than done. The term “marketing” itself probably makes you picture late nights spent planning out social media content, busy days writing blog posts, and hundreds of dollars poured into printing posters, flyers, and mailers.
But what if we told you that there was a digital marketing tool your nonprofit could tap into for free? One that has driven over 14 billion clicks worldwide to over 65,000 nonprofits’ websites?
We’re talking about the Google Ad Grant, a program that can empower you to capture new supporters’ attention online without paying a dime. Let’s dive into how your nonprofit can get started with this marketing tool!
A Quick Overview of the Google Ad Grant
So, what exactly is the Google Ad Grant?
The Google Ad Grant allows your nonprofit to tap into the power of Google Ads for free. You’ve likely seen a Google Ad before—search something like “dog sitter” and you’ll see a number of Google results pop up at the top of the search engine results page that are labeled “Sponsored.”
These are Google Ads, which companies pay for to get more visibility for their products and services. The Google Ad Grant lets you do the same—for free.
Here’s how it works. According to Getting Attention’s complete guide to the Google Ad Grant, select charitable organizations can apply for the grant, which gives organizations $10,000 in monthly Google Ad credits. And this isn’t a one-time grant—as long as the organizations comply with the program rules, the grant automatically renews every month.
So, if you want your nonprofit’s website to be visible for search terms related to your cause, like “beach clean up” or “animal shelter volunteering,” the Google Ad Grant can help you stand out.
On top of helping you reach more people, using the Google Ad Grant also comes with other benefits, like:
To take full advantage of all the Google Ad Grant program has to offer, your nonprofit needs to get a strong start to its Ads strategy. Let’s look at the three major steps you need to get up and running with the Ad Grant.
1. Meet the eligibility requirements.
To be eligible for the Google Ad Grant, your nonprofit must meet several requirements:
As you assess your organization’s Google Ad Grant eligibility, you may find that your website could use some fine-tuning before you apply for the program. Apply these best practices to ensure that your website is the best that it can be:
Of course, you’ll continue to improve your website even as you start running Google Ads. But putting in a little extra effort now will help you start seeing results faster once you begin!
2. Apply for the program.
Once you know that your nonprofit is meeting all of the eligibility requirements, it’s time to apply for the Google Ad Grant program. Here’s how the process will work:
To begin leveraging the Ad Grant, set up an ad campaign.
First, conduct thorough keyword research for your campaigns that have decent traffic and are relevant to your mission. Next, follow the required account structure: For each campaign, you should have at least two ad groups. (An ad group contains one or more ads with similar targets.) Within those ad groups, you should have at least two active ads. Finally, enable sitelink extensions so you can link to specific parts of your website below your ads.
3. Manage and maintain your account.
Remember, the Google Ad Grant isn’t a one-off grant—it will renew every month if you properly manage and maintain your account! Ensure you maintain your eligibility (as discussed above) and follow these requirements so you can keep running your Ads:
On top of proactively staying in line with these requirements, check the Ad Grants Compliance Guide often. This is the most up-to-date resource that you can reference to manage and maintain your account.
Bonus: Work with a Google Ad Grants agency.
Managing your Google Ad Grant (in a way that gets you real results) is essentially a full-time job. As a result, it’s often put on the back burner or farmed out to team members who already have plenty of responsibilities on their plates.
This is why many nonprofits opt to work with a Google Ad Grants agency. Google Ad Grants experts can take over the heavy lifting for your team and offer services like:
Of course, working with a Google Ad Grants agency is an investment. However, the money you spend on working with Ad Grants professionals will feel like nothing once you’re seeing results for your mission!
There are many different ways to help your nonprofit stand out in its marketing and fundraising efforts, but the Google Ad Grant program is by far one of the most effective. Now that you know about this key resource, you’re already on your way to getting free advertising credits for your mission.
Use this mini guide to continue on your journey, and consider working with a Google Ad Grant agency to streamline your strategy and get the most out of the program. You’ve got this!
What to Know About Corporate Giving and the Google Ad Grant
/in Nonprofit Communications /by Jessica KingCorporate giving comes in a variety of forms, from sponsorships and direct monetary donations to scholarships and grant programs. One unique corporate giving program is the Google Ad Grant, which provides nonprofits with the resources to market their cause online.
Few corporate giving programs are similar to the Google Ad Grant. Nonprofits interested in tapping into the resources provided through corporate giving initiatives may be curious about how the Google Ad Grant fits into their strategy.
To help kick off your nonprofit’s research, this guide will answer a few essential questions about corporate giving and that Google Ad Grant, including:
Navigating the Google Ad Grant and corporate giving relationships in general can be a challenge. If your nonprofit needs additional guidance or assistance choosing which corporate philanthropy programs to pursue, consider working with a consultant.
What is corporate giving?
Corporate giving is a form of corporate philanthropy wherein for-profit organizations give resources to nonprofits. These resources are usually monetary donations, but they can take other forms, such as:
To get a sense of how widespread corporate giving is, check out these statistics:
Essentially, these numbers show that consumers and corporations agree: the more corporations participate in corporate giving, the better.
How does the Google Ad Grant relate to corporate giving?
The Google Ad Grant provides marketing resources to nonprofits. While these resources may not directly benefit nonprofits’ programming, they take pressure off of nonprofits’ budgets, allowing them to allocate more resources to their initiatives.
Plus, by giving nonprofits the resources they need to reach more supporters, Google can help them increase donations and spread awareness to a wider audience. Strategic nonprofits can use the $10,000 in ad credits Google provides and receive tens of thousands in donations from supporters they connected with through the grant program.
Why does Google partake in corporate giving?
Many corporations use corporate giving as an opportunity to promote their products and services. However, Google is a globally known company that controls over 85% of the search engine market. That means it likely won’t benefit from a few nonprofits telling their supporters to use Google.
Regardless, Google still hosts multiple corporate giving programs. While few companies’ leadership will outright state why they give to charitable causes, there are several common reasons most companies, including Google, participate in corporate giving. These include:
Outside of these general reasons, most businesses attempt to be more specific with why they give and what causes they support. Many businesses have stated philanthropic values that focus on a specific issue related to their products or services, such as supporting the arts, helping low-income schools, or fighting food insecurity.
As a worldwide company, Google supports an array of nonprofits through the Google Ad Grant, exempting only government organizations and establishing a separate ad grant program for educational institutions.
Outside of the Google Ad Grant, Google focuses its philanthropic efforts on causes related to technology, skill development, and education, which makes logical sense from a technology-based company.
What corporate giving programs from Google can my nonprofit benefit from?
Google offers multiple corporate giving programs with which different types of nonprofits can engage. Determine your nonprofit’s needs, whether they are related to marketing, finances, or finding skilled volunteers. When you know what your nonprofit hopes to gain from corporate giving programs, finding organizations that provide the services you need will be much easier.
Nonprofits looking to Google for assistance can take advantage of the following corporate philanthropy programs:
Google Ad Grant
What is the Google Ad Grant?
The Google Ad Grant is an advertising grant Google provides nonprofits, allowing them to market their websites on Google Search for free. Essentially, Google provides nonprofits with monthly ad credits they can use to bid on keywords related to their cause. When the nonprofit wins a bid, its ad will be shown to users searching their target keywords.
Nonprofits can use the Google Ad Grant to promote a variety of projects, including:
The Google Ad Grant also allows nonprofits to market multiple projects in an organized manner. For each project, nonprofits create an ad campaign. For example, a nonprofit might create an ad campaign to recruit volunteers in their area.
In the ad campaign “volunteer recruitment,” there are multiple ad groups that focus on different keywords related to the main topic. In this example, these might be “volunteer opportunities near me,” “X [nonprofit type] volunteer opportunities,” and “group volunteer opportunities.”
For each of these groups, the nonprofit then creates multiple ads. In the “volunteer opportunities near me” group, the nonprofit might create one ad about how its volunteer positions can make a difference in their community and a second ad focusing on how the opportunity benefits the volunteer to attract as wide an audience as possible.
How can my nonprofit access the Google Ad Grant?
Nonprofits can apply for the Google Ad Grant by following these five steps:
If you need assistance at any step of the application process or help later on managing your Google Ad Grant account, consider partnering with a Google Ad Grant agency. Google Ad Grant agencies have up-to-date knowledge of Google’s latest policies as well as experience with the types of ad campaign strategies that tend to find success.
Matching Gifts
What are matching gifts?
Matching gifts are a corporate giving program wherein corporations make donations to the same nonprofit organizations their employees support. Essentially, if an employee gives $50 to a nonprofit, they can fill out a matching gift application form with their employer, and then the employer will also donate $50. Thousands of companies offer matching gift programs, including a select number officially designated as Certified Leaders in Matching Automation (CLMA-certified). That means more and more programs are offering matching gift auto-submission, making it increasingly easy for donors to get involved.
Most organizations with matching gift programs, like Google, match donations at a 1:1 ratio, but some at a 2:1 or even 3:1 rate.
How can my nonprofit access the Google matching gifts?
Your donors who work at Google can fill out matching gift requests to double the donations they make to your nonprofit. In addition to their matching rate, Google has a few other restrictions employees should consider as well, such as:
Each organization has its own rules and regulations for matching gifts. You can help your supporters learn more about their employers’ specific matching requirements by using a matching gift database. Matching gift databases allow users to search their employers’ name and be paired with their matching gift application form.
Google.org
What is Google.org?
Google.org is Google’s grant program for nonprofits. In contrast to the Google Ad Grant, Google.org operates similarly to other grant foundations. Google.org provides nonprofits with funds to advance projects related to their core areas, which include:
Additionally, while Google funds causes around the globe, they focus on U.S.-based initiatives, given their operations as a company located in the United States.
How can my nonprofit get involved with Google.org?
Google.org has the following four-phase process for nonprofits and other groups interested in applying for the grant:
Essentially, the key to winning the Google.org grant is the same as for any other grant: writing an effective grant proposal that differentiates your organization, aligns with the funders’ philanthropic goals, and demonstrates the potential to significantly impact social good.
Are there corporate giving programs similar to the Google Ad Grant?
The Google Ad Grant is fairly unique in that few other organizations own major search engines they can provide nonprofits advertising space on. The only other organization to offer a similar corporate giving program is Microsoft with the Microsoft Ad Grant.
While the Microsoft Ad Grant is currently paused following the launch of its pilot program, it functions similarly to the Google Ad Grant, and interested nonprofits will follow roughly the same application process. The details of this process are subject to change when the program is relaunched, however, so be sure to follow updates closely.
Outside of grants provided directly by Google and Microsoft, nonprofits can also look to marketing grant opportunities. Few grant programs offer funding specifically for marketing, but nonprofits can look for grants that provide unrestricted grant awards.
While most grant awards must be spent on specific proposed projects, unrestricted grants provide funding that can be spent on operating expenses like marketing. Regularly check top grant databases like GuideStar and Grants.gov for new grant opportunities that might align with your nonprofit’s cause and goals.
Additional Resources
Corporate giving is an underutilized resource for nonprofits, and the Google Ad Grant is an effective and unique way nonprofits can take advantage of corporate philanthropy programs.
Of course, before jumping into the Google Ad Grant application process, nonprofits still need to familiarize themselves with a few essentials. Get started with these resources before taping into this corporate giving opportunity:
5 Ways to Promote Your Nonprofit’s Branding At Your Auction
/in Nonprofit Fundraising, Nonprofit Marketing /by Jessica KingAs a nonprofit leader, you’re focused on one goal: fulfilling your mission. To do this, you work to raise funds and awareness for your cause. Auctions are highly successful fundraisers for nonprofit initiatives, but how can you use them to draw attention to your nonprofit’s mission?
Your nonprofit’s brand elements represent everything your organization stands for, so advertising them is essential to gain recognition and support in the communities you serve. You can easily incorporate this branding into your upcoming auction to remind attendees of the event’s purpose. Let’s explore five ways your organization can pair the power of auctions and nonprofit branding to increase support for its mission.
1. Event landing page
Brand exposure should start at the earliest possible stage in your event planning process: auction promotion. You can spread the word about your upcoming event by leveraging the visibility of your nonprofit’s website—and promote your brand while you’re at it.
To streamline the process, invest in auction software that facilitates event landing page creation. Then, use the page to connect your brand to the event by including:
Once you’ve completed the page, leverage the Google Ad Grant to ensure your page shows up first on Google for relevant keywords. For example, an animal shelter might target the keyword “support stray kittens” with its Google Ads so that an internet user finds the auction page and is encouraged to register for the event.
2. QR Codes
The most important bridge to build at your nonprofit’s auction is between the one-time event and the everlasting need for donor support. You’ll need to shift attendees’ focus from event participation to long-term nonprofit involvement by directing them to your nonprofit’s other resources.
QR codes can initiate this shift by encouraging bidders to explore your nonprofit. First, you’ll need to incorporate them into your event. ClickBid’s guide to silent auction planning recommends preparing QR codes for each auction item. To learn more about an item, bidders will use their phones to scan the code, which directs them to your auction item catalog.
By encouraging auction attendees to explore item information on their phones, you’ll create an opportunity for them to also explore more information about your organization. They can navigate to your nonprofit’s website, details about the event, or any other branded channels that encourage their long-term involvement.
3. Programs and brochures
If you’ve exhausted all your digital marketing options, consider using old-school techniques by printing event programs and brochures with information about your nonprofit. These materials can be passed out at the entrance to the event, placed on seats in the venue, or offered in any other convenient location where most people are likely to pick one up.
Use these reading materials to briefly share your:
Aside from directly addressing your nonprofit’s work, these programs and brochures can display your brand elements like your logo, color palette, typography, and tone. According to Kwala’s guide to nonprofit branding, brand elements such as these are important for unifying your promotional materials. Consistency between your auction pamphlet and other communications will help establish brand credibility and make your nonprofit more recognizable.
4. Branded items
During the event planning process, you’ll need to prepare numerous materials to be used at the auction. The good news is that these materials can display your nonprofit’s branding, drawing extra attention to your organization despite the excitement of enticing auction items and competitive bidding.
Some ideas for branded items that can be used at your auction include:
Depending on the items you choose, you’ll be able to include different elements of your brand. For example, your tagline might look visually appealing on a t-shirt but would be too small to read on a pen. Instead of simply printing your nonprofit’s logo on every material for the event, think strategically about how to make the merchandise visually appealing.
5. Mission-centric presentations
Especially if you decide to leverage mobile bidding software for your auction, you might need to secure entertainment since event attendees won’t be physically placing bids or listening to a live auctioneer. Recruit a presenter to share information about your organization. Consider asking:
After hearing a moving story from a beneficiary or the inspiring vision of a nonprofit board member, your audience will be more than just engaged. These impactful messages are at the heart of your nonprofit’s brand and have the power to turn auction attendees into loyal donors who continue giving beyond your auction.
To truly maximize the impact of your nonprofit’s branding, create a centralized brand kit that lists all of your brand elements and explains how they should be used. Consistent visual elements will make your nonprofit’s communications look more professional and credible. Plus, they’ll catch the attention of anyone who appreciates a great visual look!
5 Tips for Building Your Niche Business’s Online Presence
/in Nonprofit Marketing /by Jessica KingAs the owner of a niche business, you possess a unique offering that sets you apart from the competition. Whether you specialize in artisanal crafts, eco-friendly cleaning products, or doggie daycare services, your distinctiveness is your greatest asset. However, the only way potential customers will discover the incredible value your business has to offer is through a well-crafted online presence.
In this guide, we’ll provide five tips for solidifying your digital footprint. From defining your niche to networking online, these insights will help your small business stand out.
1. Define Your Niche
In a crowded online marketplace, a well-defined niche can help you achieve long-term success. If you haven’t already, work with your team to:
Keep in mind that your niche may change over time. Stay on top of industry trends and adjust your positioning accordingly to ensure that your small business remains relevant online.
2. Leverage Social Media
Social media is a powerful platform for reaching a wide and diverse audience. Plus, it fosters direct and real-time engagement, creating opportunities for meaningful interactions, feedback, and relationship-building.
The specific social media channels that you choose to use will depend on your target audience. However, here are some common platforms that niche small businesses leverage:
Consider using a content calendar to take a consistent and strategic approach to posting on several social media channels. By scheduling posts in advance, you can maintain audience engagement and ultimately improve your brand visibility.
3. Optimize Your Website for SEO
Your website is likely the first place that potential customers go to learn about your products and services, read testimonials, make inquiries, and get to know your business. When your website is optimized for search engines (SEO), it’s more likely to rank higher in Google search results, making it easier for potential customers to find you.
To optimize your small business website, follow these steps:
A common challenge associated with SEO marketing is the ever-changing nature of search engine algorithms. Search engines like Google frequently update their algorithms to improve search results and provide a better user experience. Since these updates can sometimes impact a website’s search rankings, it’s important for your team to stay informed on the latest SEO techniques.
4. Create High-Quality Content
Develop valuable, relevant, and engaging content that resonates with your niche audience. This could include:
Focus on producing high-quality content rather than churning out a large quantity. Well-researched and well-produced content tends to perform better and attract a more engaged audience.
5. Build Online Communities
Online communities, forums, and groups are an opportunity to connect with potential customers both inside and outside of your niche.
For example, a sustainable fashion brand might join a nonprofit podcast focused on environmental conservation to discuss topics related to sustainable fashion, ethical manufacturing, and the importance of conscious consumerism. By sharing their expertise and insights, the brand can contribute valuable content to the podcast and appeal to potential customers from the nonprofit’s audience, who likely share an interest in their business model.
Ensure the community remains a positive and constructive space by moderating discussions, addressing any conflicts or issues, and enforcing community guidelines.
Remember that building an online presence takes effort and consistency. Focus on providing value to your niche audience, and over time, you’ll thrive in the digital marketing space.
Beyond the Basics: 14 Educational Resources for Nonprofits
/in Nonprofit Communications, Nonprofit Fundraising, Nonprofit Tools /by Jessica KingAs a nonprofit professional, you understand the importance of continuous learning. You know that to truly make an impact, you need to go beyond the basics and explore innovative strategies.
In this guide, we’ve compiled a curated list of 14 nonprofit resources that address the unique needs and challenges of the mission-driven sector. For easy browsing, we organized the resources into the following categories:
Whether you’re looking to enhance your fundraising strategies, improve your management skills, or gain a deeper understanding of marketing, putting these resources to use will take your nonprofit to new heights.
Fundraising Resources for Nonprofits
Nonprofits rely on fundraising to support their programs and fuel their mission. These nonprofit resources will teach you how to diversify your fundraising efforts and effectively plan, implement, and manage campaigns.
Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP)
The Association of Fundraising Professionals (AFP) is a professional membership organization that represents individuals and organizations involved in the fundraising and philanthropic sector. It’s one of the world’s largest communities of fundraising professionals, with members from more than 240 chapters across the globe.
Visit AFP’s website for access to:
Double the Donation
Far too often, nonprofits miss out on valuable donations because donors are unaware that their employers offer corporate matching gifts. Double the Donation provides a solution to this issue with 360MatchPro, a platform that automates and streamlines the matching gift process.
To learn more about matching gifts, you can explore Double the Donation’s:
The Fundraising Authority
The Fundraising Authority is an online resource hub that gives fundraising professionals practical financial guidance, tools, and advice. It was founded by Joe Garecht, a fundraising consultant, with the goal of helping nonprofits improve their fundraising efforts.
Some standout offerings include:
The Fundraising Coach
Marc Pitman, also known as “The Fundraising Coach,” is a well-known figure in the nonprofit sector, and his website offers a range of resources that help nonprofits enhance their fundraising efforts, including:
Marketing and Communication Resources for Nonprofits
Nonprofits thrive when they have strong marketing and communication skills. Learn how to engage your community, raise brand awareness, and drive support to your cause with these nonprofit resources.
Getting Attention
Getting Attention is a nonprofit marketing agency specializing in Google Ad Grant management. We help mission-driven organizations secure $10,000 in free ad spend per month. Additionally, we have an extensive library of free nonprofit resources that explore everything you need to know about Google Ad Grants, including:
Marketing With Purpose Podcast
The Marketing With Purpose Podcast is hosted by Monica Pitts, founder of MayeCreate, a web design company. Pitts and her team guide nonprofits through the complex landscape of digital marketing in a light-hearted, entertaining platform.
In addition to listening to the podcast for marketing advice, you can:
HubSpot Academy
HubSpot Academy offers a range of marketing courses that, while not specific to nonprofits, cover marketing strategies, content creation tips, and communication tactics that can be applied to your own outreach efforts. Plus, the academy’s blogs offer a wealth of smart, valuable tips that any organization can apply to its marketing strategy. Explore HubSpot Academy’s:
Resources for Nonprofit Statistics and Trends
Industry statistics and trends provide valuable insights into the current landscape and future direction of the nonprofit sector. By staying informed, nonprofits can identify emerging opportunities, anticipate challenges, and adjust their strategic plans accordingly.
Top Nonprofits
Top Nonprofits’ mission is to support the growth and development of nonprofits by sharing best practices and providing subject matter expertise. The website includes articles, guides, and webinars about a range of topics, including but not limited to:
Candid
Candid is the result of a merger between Foundation Center and GuideStar, two organizations dedicated to creating resources that support philanthropy and social good. Through their website, Candid produces research reports, studies, and publications related to philanthropy and the social sector. In addition, Candid offers:
Nexus Research Library
The Nexus Research Library is a collection of articles and statistics that can assist mission-driven organizations in staying informed about the latest trends. Whether you run a nonprofit, association, museum, or school, there is information to guide your decision-making. In the Research Libary, you can:
M+R Benchmarks
Each year, M+R Benchmarks publishes a report on trends relevant to the nonprofit sector. In addition to browsing the latest fundraising and marketing data, you can explore the:
Networking Resources for Nonprofits
Building relationships and partnerships within the industry allows nonprofits to leverage each other’s strengths, share resources, and work together to achieve common goals. Explore these top networking resources to connect with like-minded organizations.
NXUnite
NXUnite partners with experts and influencers in the nonprofit sector to bring educational content to its users, covering topics such as grant writing, nonprofit branding, and community engagement strategies. To take part in their networking opportunities, you can:
LinkedIn for Nonprofits
LinkedIn for Nonprofits offers a variety of groups specifically tailored to nonprofit professionals. These groups provide a space for discussions, sharing best practices, and networking with peers and industry experts. Plus, your nonprofit will receive access to:
NTEN Nonprofit Technology Conference
The NTEN Nonprofit Technology Conference is an annual conference that brings together nonprofit professionals, technology experts, and thought leaders in the sector. It covers a variety of topics related to technology for nonprofits, including online fundraising, social media marketing, cybersecurity, and cloud computing.
At the conference, your nonprofit can:
Wrapping Up: Additional Resources for Nonprofits
Remember, the journey of learning and growth is ongoing. Stay curious, open-minded, and eager to explore new information. Doing so will help your nonprofit stay ahead of the curve and make a lasting impact in your community.
For access to more nonprofit resources, explore these free guides from Getting Attention:
Getting Your Nonprofit Tagline Right: Top Tips and Examples
/in Nonprofit Communications /by Jessica KingTaglines are the quickest and most efficient way in your marketing strategy to tell people about your nonprofit’s mission. In one short phrase, you can tell your audience who your organization is and why they should care.
Think about Nike’s “Just Do It” or Little Caesar’s “Hot ‘n’ Ready” – these taglines give the brands more energy and character. A great tagline can work the same magic for your nonprofit.
Even though they are an incredibly useful tool, taglines are overlooked in the nonprofit world. In this guide, you’ll learn about taglines and how to write one for your mission-driven organization. Here’s what we’ll cover:
Read on and you’ll be ready to create a clear, concise, and catchy tagline for your nonprofit in no time.
What is a nonprofit tagline?
A tagline is a short, memorable phrase that succinctly captures a brand’s message. Once it becomes well known, a tagline also acts as a way to easily identify the brand it represents. Specifically for a nonprofit organization, a tagline should communicate its mission and purpose.
5 Types of Taglines
There are five types of taglines that are commonly seen in the nonprofit marketing sphere:
A quick note: Taglines are not the same as slogans. A tagline is one phrase for the overarching idea of an organization. Slogans, on the other hand, accompany specific marketing campaigns. An organization could have multiple slogans for many different campaigns, but it will only ever have one tagline at a time.
Do nonprofits have taglines?
The short answer to the question of if nonprofits have taglines is yes, they do have taglines. However, seven out of 10 nonprofits rated their tagline as poor or didn’t have one at all. That means they’re not nearly as abundant as they should be.
If you fall within that seven out of 10 designations, it’s worthwhile to reevaluate your nonprofit’s tagline strategy. Here are three benefits to having an effective tagline for your mission-driven organization:
With the combined advantages of differentiation, high-quality branding, and consistency, your nonprofit marketing will become much more recognizable. Not only will this make you stand out from the crowd, but it can also give you a leg up in the digital marketing space.
For example, you can maximize programs like the Google Ad Grant with an impressive nonprofit tagline. If your nonprofit’s tagline conveys a particular sentiment or mission, the Google Ads funded by the Ad Grants can reflect the same message. This consistency then reinforces your organization’s brand and mission to potential donors, volunteers, and beneficiaries.
Interested in learning more about the Google Ad Grant program? Check out this video:
Now that you know the benefits of a stellar nonprofit tagline, let’s break down the criteria necessary to achieve one.
What makes a good tagline?
Coming up with a phrase that represents the entirety of your nonprofit in eight short words (or less!) is no easy task. Luckily, we’ve compiled a list of characteristics that will make your tagline stand out from the rest. We’ve also got the steps you can take when you start the process of drafting your own.
6 Attributes of a Strong Tagline
Let’s start with the attributes of a strong tagline:
Get creative, and write something memorable while also accurately representing your mission.
5 Steps to Coming Up With Your Very Own Tagline
Your nonprofit needs to know what it’s aiming for before diving in, but be open to where the brainstorming process takes you. Here are our five steps for writing a tagline:
Keep in mind that a tagline is one part of your nonprofit’s overall marketing plan. For your tagline to be relevant it needs to make sense within the context of your organization and its overarching audience and goals.
Top Nonprofit Taglines
So far, we’ve given you some examples of memorable taglines in the for-profit space. Now we’ll provide you with some nonprofit taglines—ones that are more similar to your organization.
Here is a list of 12 strong nonprofit taglines organized by the size or vertical of the nonprofit:
Global Nonprofits
These examples come from organizations whose mission extends to the entire world. Check out their taglines for clear illustrations of how to condense such a large concept into eight words or less.
This tagline is simple, meaningful, and memorable. The repetition sticks in people’s heads, and the welcoming nature of the writing reflects what this organization is about. According to its website, the mission of the United Methodist Church is “to make disciples of Jesus Christ for the transformation of the world.” With its tagline, the church is communicating that it is open to all people joining its mission.
An even better example of simplicity, UNICEF’s tagline clocks in at three words and expresses what UNICEF is about at its core: working toward the “survival, protection, and development” of children all across the world, according to its website.
Nonprofits of this size need worldwide recognition, and they utilize taglines to help achieve it.
U.S. Nonprofits
Although these examples come from nonprofits slightly smaller than those of the former examples, their taglines feel equally as strong. Read on to see how national nonprofits tackle taglines:
The United Negro College Fund “envisions a nation where all Americans have equal access to a college education that prepares them for rich intellectual lives” and works to increase the total number of Black college graduates in the U.S., according to its website. This tagline provokes thought relevant to the organization’s mission, calling on their audience to ponder how valuable people’s minds are—and subsequently, consider what they can do to encourage educational growth.
Every word in this tagline holds enormous weight in the message it’s conveying. Common Cause is a nonprofit that exists to ensure the United States’ democracy fairly serves all its constituents, and it does so by fighting for pro-democracy legislation like the recent Freedom to Vote Act. Their tagline succinctly expresses that sentiment— and it has a serious tone that matches the organization itself, too.
The United Negro College Fund and Common Cause are excellent models for provocative and descriptive taglines, respectively. Think about which type would best fit your nonprofit.
Local Nonprofits
Now we’ll look at nonprofits that while small in size, have taglines that feel larger than life.
Just because this nonprofit operates in a smaller area doesn’t mean its tagline is any less impactful. The Montana Historical Society describes itself as a “guardian of Montana’s history,” a history that this tagline appealingly illustrates as an expansive one full of sky and land.
Second Helpings Atlanta is a locally based nonprofit that fights both food insecurity and food waste in the metro Atlanta area by delivering leftover food from restaurants and grocery stores to food banks and individuals in need. This tagline is on the longer side, yet it remains memorable and clearly depicts what SHA volunteers do: drive leftover food from somewhere that doesn’t need it to someone who does.
Healthcare Nonprofits
Because health-related missions can be sensitive and require swift support, these organizations must use their tagline to build trust and form an emotional connection. Let’s review how these top healthcare nonprofits use their tagline’s language to inspire compassion and credibility:
St. Jude is “leading the way the world understands, treats, and defends childhood cancer and other life-threatening diseases” through advancing cures and prevention. The organization has been around since 1962 and dreams that no child should pass before the dawn of life.
St. Jude’s descriptive tagline gets right to the heart of its purpose. The simple phrase discusses how the organization uses its funding and why people should care.
The American Cancer Society is a leading cancer-fighting organization dedicated to ending cancer for everyone. They seek to improve the lives of people with cancer and their families through research, advocacy, and patient support.
This tagline provokes a sense of hope that aligns with the American Cancer Society’s positive tone. Previous campaigns such as “the official sponsor of birthdays” have contributed to the organization’s upbeat determination to beat the disease for good.
Environmental Nonprofits
Nonprofits dedicated to protecting the environment need taglines that will inspire hope and drive others to join in protecting that hope. Additionally, many environmental nonprofits cover several different initiatives, so their tagline can’t box them in. Let’s review how the World Wildlife Fund and Sierra Club structured their taglines:
For 60 years, WWF has helped both people and animals thrive in nearly 100 different countries. The organization collaborates with communities to develop and deliver lasting solutions to wildlife problems. WWF’s work extends into climate, food, freshwater, forest, ocean, and other wildlife-related initiatives to achieve a thriving planet.
WWF’s tagline captures these ambitious goals by staying descriptive yet being all-encompassing. Because the WWF has several goals, using “planet” rather than “community” or “wildlife” shows that each solution is interconnected and will ultimately benefit the whole planet.
The Sierra Club is a grassroots organization located in the United States that exists to defend everyone’s right to a healthy world. Their work promotes the responsible use of the earth’s ecosystems and resources in addition to educating others about protecting the environment.
The organization’s descriptive tagline goes beyond just suggesting that we should protect the planet just for protection’s sake. Rather, it suggests that the planet is worth protecting because it’s where we explore and enjoy life.
Human Rights Nonprofits
By nature, human rights Nonprofits carry heavy emotional undertones. To strike the right chord with their taglines, they must inspire action without digging too deeply into negative emotions. Both Amnesty International and CARE do a stellar job at this:
Amnesty International is a global movement that campaigns against human rights abuse. The organization’s initiatives include topics such as child rights, climate change, police brutality, international justice, and many more campaigns created to achieve justice.
This provocative tagline implies that Amnesty International wants to turn sympathetic feelings into action. The organization’s robust research advocacy, lobbying, and campaigns were created and funded to make change happen.
CARE works globally to save lives, defeat poverty, and achieve social justice. Specifically, the organization focuses on aiding women and girls in need and advocating for equal rights opportunities. Their work spans climate, food and water, health, education and work, and equality-related goals to offer a better life of dignity and security.
CARE’s inclusion of dignity within its tagline speaks to its hope of restoring the integrity of others. Its transformative programs act as a pathway to an enriching life.
Wrapping up
A strong, well-written tagline can elevate your nonprofit’s brand and marketing efforts. We hope this article has been helpful to you in learning what a tagline is, why they’re important, how to create a great one, and what examples are out there.
Getting Attention can also help take your marketing strategy to the next level, especially in getting your brand new tagline to the top of Google’s search results. Get a free consultation today!
Here are three extra educational resources to help boost your nonprofit marketing strategy:
Rebranding Your Nonprofit: 4 Frequently Asked Questions
/in Nonprofit Marketing /by Jessica KingYour nonprofit’s brand should be a visual and verbal representation of your mission, values, and personality. And when you first developed it, it likely fulfilled that purpose. But what happens when your organizational identity no longer aligns with your brand identity?
If your nonprofit finds itself in this situation, it may be time for a rebrand! A successful rebranding effort starts with taking a step back to examine who you are as an organization and how your brand strategy can better reflect that. After this initial brainstorming, it’s time to creatively re-envision your messaging and visuals, which you’ll eventually roll out in your nonprofit’s communications.
The rebranding process takes time and effort, and it can quickly become complicated. To help clear up confusion and get your nonprofit on the way to a successful rebrand, we’ll answer the following four frequently asked questions:
If you launch into your organization’s rebrand and find that you need help, consider reaching out to a creative design agency. These professionals can answer any additional questions you may have and work with you to take your branding strategy to the next level. But before you ask for help, the answers and tips in this guide will help you get the rebranding process started.
1. When should our nonprofit consider rebranding?
Generally speaking, your organization might choose to rebrand when internal and external factors suggest the change could be beneficial. For example, you might consider rebranding when:
While any of these situations could make you consider rebranding your nonprofit, avoid changing your brand too often. The main purpose of branding is to make your organization recognizable and memorable for your audience, and making significant updates more often than every five or ten years can create confusion. Additionally, before embarking on a rebrand, ensure you have the time and resources available for brainstorming, commissioning, and implementing new brand elements.
2. What elements of our brand should we update?
Even if you wait several years between rebranding efforts, keep in mind that the scope of your updates will likely differ every time. Some rebrands require a full overhaul, while in other cases, you might just need to make a few small changes.
No matter the scope of your rebrand, you’ll likely consider updating one or more of the following elements:
Loop’s guide to nonprofit branding recommends compiling all of these elements into a single document so that anyone who works on your organization’s communications has a reference for your brand, helping you develop more consistent content. As you rebrand, make sure to update this document with your new brand elements.
3. Who should we involve in the rebranding process?
Because your brand is a representation of your nonprofit’s identity, it’s important to take multiple perspectives into account as you rebrand. Consider consulting the following stakeholders during the rebranding process:
Getting these stakeholders involved early in your rebranding process not only provides new insights into what will make your rebrand succeed, but it also makes everyone aware that you’re rebranding so they aren’t blindsided when you roll out your updates.
4. How should we roll out our new brand?
There are two main things to keep in mind when you’re ready for your rebranding rollout. First, awareness is essential to ensure your brand remains recognizable. Set a date for your big reveal, and communicate regularly with all stakeholders in the weeks leading up to that day.
Second, make sure your rebrand is rolled out consistently across every marketing channel your nonprofit uses. This includes print communications such as fundraising flyers and direct mail, as well as digital channels like email, social media, and your nonprofit’s website. The more your supporters are exposed to your updated brand, the faster they’ll remember it.
The rebranding process will look slightly different for every organization depending on your goals and current brand. However, you should always go in with a clear strategy for why and how you want your rebrand to take place. Use the tips above to get started, and don’t hesitate to reach out to experts with any additional questions.
13+ Simple and Effective Tips for Google Ads Optimization
/in Google Ad Grants, Nonprofit Communications /by Jessica KingGoogle Ads are an incredibly useful tool for expanding your organization’s reach and driving conversions. Plus, eligible nonprofits can take advantage of this resource at no cost through the Google Ad Grants program, which provides applicants with $10,000 in advertising credits each month. This way, you can spread the word about your mission and encourage new audiences to get involved.
To make the most of this nonprofit advertising opportunity, you shouldn’t take a set-it-and-forget-it approach. Instead, revisit your strategy often and look for ways to optimize your Google Ads for maximum effectiveness.
In this guide, you’ll learn the basics of Google Ads optimization, as well as 13 top tips to help you get started. Here’s what we’ll cover:
At Getting Attention, we understand the importance of a strong Google Ads strategy for nonprofits like yours to promote their missions. Our team specializes in Google Ad Grants management, helping nonprofits worldwide optimize their search ads. As you implement the strategies in this guide, don’t hesitate to reach out for expert help at any stage of the optimization process. Let’s dive in!
What Is Google Ads Optimization?
Google Ads optimization is the ongoing process of refining and improving your organization’s Google Ads to improve results and achieve your goals.
As the world’s largest and most widely used online advertising platform, Google Ads have helped countless organizations further their missions. Continuing to re-evaluate the ways you leverage this tool over time comes with a variety of benefits, including:
For nonprofits participating in the Google Ad Grant program, an additional benefit of Google Ads optimization is Google Ad Grants policy compliance. Your Google Ads must follow certain rules for your organization to maintain eligibility for the grant, and regularly optimizing your account allows you to check for and fix any aspects of your campaigns that may be out of line with Google’s guidelines. This way, you can ensure that your Google Ads continue to be a valuable part of your nonprofit’s marketing strategy.
Google Ads Optimization Tips Overview
Now that you know why Google Ads optimization is important, let’s dive into our top 13 tips for getting started:
We’ve broken these tips into categories to make them easier for your organization to implement, and the first category we’ll cover is optimizing your overarching Google Ads strategy.
Google Ads Optimization Strategy Tips
Although you likely developed a strategy for leveraging the platform when you first created your account, ensuring this strategy aligns with your nonprofit’s goals will help you maximize your Google Ad Grant over time.
1. Evaluate Your Current Ads
The first step to optimizing your Google Ads campaigns is to evaluate your current ad performance to see what is working and where you have room to improve. To do this, pay attention to four key metrics:
You can access reports on all of these metrics in your nonprofit’s Google Analytics account. The program will even break down the report by time of day, providing even more insight into when your ads perform best.
2. Find and Fill Opportunity Gaps
Using the metrics above to evaluate your current ads can also help you identify opportunities that you haven’t yet taken advantage of or gaps in your strategy that need to be filled. In particular, this process can help you notice lost impressions, which are missed impression opportunities between you and your audience. Analyzing your lost impressions report can help you prioritize the ads that have the most potential to convert.
Additionally, you should regularly compare your Google Ad Grants strategy to your organization’s overarching goals. For instance, if your nonprofit has set a goal to boost online donations by 20% this coming year, you might put more effort into improving and expanding the reach of your Google Ads that link back to the donation form on your website.
Google Ads Optimization Keyword Tips
Keywords are the words or phrases that Google users type into the search bar. When you create a Google Ads campaign, you’ll attach keywords to your ads to trigger their appearance on the SERP when users search those keywords.
Here are three tips to help you optimize your Google Ads keywords for maximum reach.
3. Choose Specific, Relevant Keywords
Your keywords should be closely related to your mission and the desired action attached to each of your Google Ads. This way, you can get your ads in front of the users who are most likely to convert.
Following the Google Ad Grant policies for keywords not only ensures your account is in compliance with the rules, but it’s also helpful in optimizing your strategy. Google’s requirements include:
By choosing high-quality, relevant keywords, your ads can effectively engage users who are actively searching for information related to your mission and work. Leverage Google Keyword Planner and other keyword research tools to help you create the most effective strategy for your nonprofit.
4. Consider Keywords’ Search Intent
In addition to keyword quality and relevance, thinking about search intent is essential for getting your Google Ads in front of users who would be interested in them. While there are a variety of reasons why someone would search for different keywords on Google, some of the most common search intents that your nonprofit might target with ads include:
Depending on the keyword’s intent, you can direct audiences who click on your ad to different landing pages. Educational keywords often lend themselves to promoting blog articles, downloadable resources, or case studies. Searchers of navigational keywords usually want to be directed to your homepage, and ads targeting commercial or transactional keywords should link to landing pages where users can fill out a form or take another action.
5. Identify Negative Keywords
Once you’ve determined which keywords you want to target with your ads, you should also identify keywords that don’t relate to your organization’s offerings—also known as negative keywords. Despite the name, negative keywords aren’t inherently bad. They’re just phrases your organization may not want its ads associated with.
Because you spend your Google Ad Grant funds every time someone clicks on one of your ads, it’s vital to exclude irrelevant or wasteful search terms from your campaigns. That way, you can maximize your monthly budget by focusing on ads that are likely to convert users.
Google Ads Optimization Tips for Audience Targeting
Although keywords are essential for your Google Ads to reach the correct audience, there are other targeting strategies you can use to boost clicks and conversions. We’ll discuss three of these in more detail below.
6. Define Your Target Audience
As with any strategy for supporter engagement, it’s important to understand the individuals you want to reach with your various Google Ads. Some segmentation criteria you can use to define your target audience include:
Once you understand your target audience, you can write ad copy that they’ll be receptive to and add keywords that they’re likely to search for to your strategy. Also, keep in mind that each of your ads might have a slightly different target audience.
7. Leverage Geotargeting
Geotargeting allows your nonprofit to narrow down the audience for a Google Ads campaign to users in a specific geographic area. This is especially useful for marketing in-person events, volunteer opportunities, and services to ensure that the people who see your ad live close enough to benefit from it.
Google Ads provides three overarching location criteria that you can use to get started with geotargeting:
From there, you can further refine your geotargeting by inputting custom locations on a map or reaching out to specific demographics within your target locations. You can also adjust your location-specific keyword bids based on where you’re most likely to receive clicks.
8. Create a Remarketing Strategy
In the context of Google Ads, remarketing or retargeting involves showing search ads to audience members who have previously visited your nonprofit’s website but didn’t convert. When these users search for relevant terms, your ads will display higher on the SERP. Retargeted ads may also appear as banners on other websites within the Google Display Network.
Remarketing allows you to re-engage potential supporters who have shown interest in your organization in the past, reminding them about your mission and encouraging them to come back to your site to take a desired action. Your organization can nurture supporter relationships that might otherwise have been lost and increase a variety of conversions, from donations to event attendance to signups for your email newsletter.
Google Ads Optimization Tips for Ad Structure
While the optimization tips we’ve covered so far focus mostly on factors that affect your entire account, the next four will dive deeper into how your individual Google Ads fit into the bigger picture. Your campaigns determine where your website will show up and who will see those ads, and your ad groups, headlines, copy, and landing pages are the deciding factors that affect your CTR and conversion rates.
9. Understand Correct Campaign Flow
We’ve mentioned the terms “campaign,” “ad group,” and “ad” several times throughout this guide. While each refers to a specific element of your Google Ads strategy, they fit together in a specific way, as shown in the diagram below:
The guidelines of having no more than five campaigns, at least two ad groups per campaign, and at least two ads per ad group are also important for your nonprofit to maintain compliance with the Google Ad Grant policies.
10. Improve Headlines and Copy Through A/B Testing
One of the reasons your nonprofit is required to have at least two ads in each ad group is so that you can conduct A/B testing. This process involves comparing two versions of an ad against one another to properly determine which is the optimal performer.
A/B testing can help you improve several aspects of your Google Ad design, including:
The Google Ad Grant policies require your nonprofit to maintain at least a 5% CTR and be able to show a minimum of one meaningful conversion per month to stay eligible for funding. Testing different variations of your ads against each other to see which one leads to the most clicks and conversions can help you comply with this rule.
11. Optimize Your Landing Pages
In order for your nonprofit to receive Ad Grant funding, Google requires that your website have substantial mission-related content and provide a positive user experience. This is also an area where you shouldn’t take a set-it-and-forget-it approach, though. Once you’ve secured your Google Ad Grant, continue to evaluate your landing pages by asking yourself the following questions:
Additionally, make sure your site loads quickly and is mobile responsive to ensure your audience stays on the landing page long enough to convert.
12. Incorporate Ad Extensions
To make your ads more user-friendly, Google offers a variety of additional features known as ad extensions. There are many different types of extensions, but here are some of the most popular ones for nonprofits to use, as shown in this example from WWF:
According to the Google Ad Grants rules, nonprofits have to add at least two sitelink extensions to each ad to maintain compliance. However, you should also experiment with the other types of ad extensions to see which ones boost conversions the most.
Google Ads Optimization Tip for Effective Management
Our final tip for Google Ads optimization is a simple one: In order to continue managing your campaigns over time, work with experts who specialize in all things Google Ad Grants.
13. Work With a Google Grants Management Professional
Google Ad Grants management is a full-time job. Oftentimes, nonprofits will turn to professional consulting agencies to manage their Google Ad Grants accounts. If you do this, make sure to invest in an agency that devotes its time solely to Google Ad Grants.
Getting Attention is one such agency. We’re prepared to help you every step of the way, from submitting your application to setting up your account to optimizing your ads over time.
Some of our core services include:
If you need additional services outside of these five main solutions, we’re open to discussing our experience and ability to meet your needs. Contact us to learn more about how Getting Attention’s services can help your nonprofit optimize its Google Ads strategy!
Google Ads Optimization: The Bottom Line
Effectively marketing your nonprofit’s mission involves not only taking advantage of the $10,000 in free promotion that the Google Ad Grant provides, but also ensuring your ads continue to perform well over time. Although the optimization process may seem daunting at first, know that you don’t have to go it alone—the experts at Getting Attention are here to help!
To learn more about Google Ads and their purposes, check out these additional resources:
Google Ad Grants Rules: 9 Compliance Policies to Know
/in Google Ad Grants /by Jessica KingIf you’re familiar with the Google Ad Grants program, you may know that its coordinators enforce a series of Google Ad Grants rules nonprofits must follow to stay eligible. While it’s easy to view the compliance guidelines as limitations, these rules can actually be helpful for optimizing your account.
This complete Ad Grants policy compliance guide will share everything you need to know to keep your account in good standing.
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