On the first day of my Nonprofit Marketing class at the Evans School, I ask my class of super-smart graduate students the following question: What is marketing?
Is it an art? Is it a science? Is it its own discipline? Or is it a sub-set of another discipline, e.g. sociology or behavioral economics or some such? I assign this piece to get their brains percolating.
To the best of my knowledge, there is no definitive answer. If you look up the definition of marketing, you get:
NOUN
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the action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising.
VERB
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advertise or promote (something):“the product was marketed under the name “aspirin.””
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offer for sale:“sheep farmers are still unable to market their lambs”
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USbuy or sell provisions in a market:“some people liked to do their marketing very early in the morning”
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Helpful? Meh. Only a tidge. Mainly it reinforces the perception among nonprofits that marketing is a yucky activity, slimy, not something values-based, mission-driven people would want to do. Buying, selling, advertising, promoting? #Yuck
I offer this as an alternative definition specific to marketing in the nonprofit sector. Marketing is:
Strategically using resources to make sure as many people as possible
have the opportunity to create good in the world.
If you love what you do, if you’re passionate about your mission, why wouldn’t you want as many people as possible to have the opportunity to join you, to help you, to work with you, and for you? To create as much good in the world as possible?
By the way, by “resources”, I mean time, talent, passion, volition, and, yes, money. The intangibles–passion, enthusiasm, values–are a massive asset for nonprofits. And one that–in our super-charged, always-on, gotta-get-on-the-social-media-bandwagon–is often overlooked.
Marketing is a means to an end. It is a vehicle to advance mission. To raise money, engage volunteers, attract board members, promote programs. Advertising, social media, websites, brochures, annual reports, events–all ways to create more good in the world. Nothing yucky about it, if you think of it that way, now is there?
Post Readability Stats: Reading Ease: 53.2, Grade Level: 8.6