Unlike large companies, an association does not necessarily have infinite means to develop a project. And yet, its ambitions are no less important! This is where growth hacking comes in.
Today eBrigade supports you in setting up your web-marketing, mailing and content marketing strategy. In this article, you will find the keys to a strategy to reach your target…
Growth hacking: Definition
The term Growth Hacking refers to the use of techniques to rapidly develop the growth of a business, using any means possible. Hence the term hacking.
The objective is therefore to maximize returns with the minimum possible resources.
Contrary to popular belief, growth hacking should not be reserved for startups. Associations have similar objectives to those of a B2B or B2C company and therefore have every interest in using growth hacking.
Growth hacking: Benefits
In addition to using very few resources, growth hacking has many advantages.
There are direct advantages as well as medium-term advantages. Among the direct advantages, we therefore distinguish the fact of:
- Drive traffic to your website.
- Increase the visibility of your structure on the various social networks.
- Attracting new members
- Improve customer data collection.
In the medium term, these methods make it possible to:
- To increase your notoriety.
- Attract investors, which can be a real financial lever.
- Increase commitment to your cause.
The advantages of these techniques are obviously not limited to these few points mentioned above. On the contrary, growth hacking has countless advantages that we could almost devote to it in a whole series of articles!
In concrete terms, how can you put it into practice?
After reading this article, Growth Hacking will no longer hold any secrets for you!
SEO optimization
First of all, we advise you to start with your website since it is the first thing that can establish a relationship of trust and justify your notoriety. Hence the importance of good digital marketing which will result in good SEO.
Natural referencing aims to stand out from your competitors on the various search engines. So think about integrating a blog part on your site and multiplying the keywords.
Boost your website
Your website is in a way the showcase that gives a first impression on your association. That’s why you need to create strategies to achieve your marketing goals.
In order to achieve this successfully, follow these tips:
- Make sure that the link to your site is present in all the email signatures of your employees and volunteers. Also, it should be featured on the various social media used.
- Set up a footer at the bottom of the page on your site, with links to your social networks.
- Then take it to the next level by offering your visitors the opportunity to share your content on various networks thanks to a plugin.
- Multiply CTAs (Call to Action) on the site to guide the customer journey.
- Double internal links to increase your conversion rate.
- Be present on social networks to exchange with the different publications that are part of your sector or field of activity.
Because you’re a nonprofit, you’re eligible for Google Ad Grants. As a result, you will have $10,000 per month available for the implementation of web advertising. Thus, you could exponentially increase your web traffic.
To start using your new budget on Google Ads (formerly Google Adwords), nothing could be simpler; just make a request to Google for associations. Then, get your nonprofit approved through Google Ad Grants.
Thanks to Google Analytics, you can measure the impact of your web strategy.
Turn your visitors into members
Although you have managed to attract a good number of visitors to your website, this does not mean that they will necessarily become members. That’s why you need to have a collection plan in place that will allow you to grow your database.
In order to increase your database, you will need to set up different collection levers, in other words different CTAs. These include:
- Popups: the small windows that may appear inside a site and that invite us to subscribe to the newsletter for example.
- Sidebars: side bands that can have various links.
- Buttons or banners in the middle of articles that interrupt reading in a discreet way to invite your readers to subscribe to the newsletter.
In addition, this plan will serve both to inform your members and to support your potential customers in their commitment so that they become members.
The Membership and Application module of the eBrigade software allows registration from an external site.
Improve your conversion funnel
Secondly, facilitate the user experience to transform this new traffic into members or investors. Insofar as the mere presence of collection levers is not enough, they will have to be adapted so that the information is clear and attractive from the visitor’s point of view.
To do this, here are some characteristics that your collection levers must have:
- Clearly present your value proposition.
- Personalize the messages displayed as well as possible.
- Have the ideal number of fields in your forms. The latter must be of quality.
Growth hacking: the A/B test method
First, let’s define this method. It is a marketing technique that consists of offering several versions that differ according to a given criterion in order to determine the variant that gives the best results with the target audience.
The goal of A/B testing is to achieve the greatest possible impact. In other words, we are looking for concrete results in order to measure effectiveness as well as possible.
A/B testing is therefore fundamental when it comes to growth hacking. That’s why you need to apply it. This can be in your emails, your calls-to-action, your texts, your forms and even in your images!
Growth hacking: comprehensive acquisition strategy
To begin with, it is quite possible to approach companies directly thanks to Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR), which is a real opportunity to seize.
A distinction is made between outbound marketing, which consists of an active approach that will seek out the target audience, and inbound marketing, which is a strategy aimed at bringing your target to your association.
In your growth hacking strategy, consider integrating an outbound marketing strategy.
More precisely, this will involve the identification of relevant profiles. Secondly, get in touch with these profiles. Finally, convert these profiles into donors, investors, or followers.
How to identify the most relevant profiles?
Let’s start by looking at profiles using questions. These will aim to identify your target, to know where to find them. Finally, these questions will define the contact with the target.
Obviously, a large majority of professionals can be found on LinkedIn. This network will therefore be preferred. However, you should know that it is not the only social network. It is therefore quite possible for you to get in touch via another network such as Instagram, Facebook or even in rare cases: Tik-Tok!
Did you know that thanks to the HelloAsso module of the eBrigade software you can offer the payment of subscriptions, activities and donations?
Data scraping in Growth hacking
The concept of scraping is simple. It refers to the action of extracting data from a given website to use in the growth of your structure. For this, you can use Phantombuster. Also, use Sales Navigator on Linkedin. Now you’re armed with a solid duo to boost your growth hacking. Don’t overlook the power of data scraping to build a strategy.
Analyze your customer data
Since the customer base is crucial for your association, you need to analyze it well.
Segment your base to differentiate your active donors and followers from your inactive followers. You can rely on various performance indicators, in other words KPIs.
From there, you will be able to improve your relationship marketing strategy as well as your future campaigns.
Growth hacking: lead nurturing
Nurturing is a method that means “incubating prospects”
It aims to maintain a customer relationship with prospects who are not yet converted.
In this sense, you will deliver quality and tailor-made content to any prospect to develop a privileged relationship with them that you will strengthen over time.
The objective is to convert them into business opportunities and then into loyal customers. In a nutshell, loyalty plays an important role in acquiring new targets.
Nurturing strategy: the secret
Needless to say, the key to a lead nurturing strategy in growth hacking is segmentation.
Indeed, it saves time rather than exchanging irrelevant information from the prospects’ point of view, because not all prospects are equal.
The most important aspect of segmentation is then to classify your leads based on several parameters.
Digital and Social Media Strategy
Lately, growth hacking involves a content strategy.
As digital communication becomes more and more a relevant marketing tool, consider defining a digital marketing strategy.
Obviously, to achieve your goals, you’re going to have to work on your branding. The latter will then be reflected in your editorial line on the various digital channels, but also in your emails and your web marketing in a more global way.
In addition, target the right influencers whose editorial style is crucial for a good strategy. For this, you can contact a digital marketing agency.
Conclusion: Growth hacking for nonprofits
To conclude, growth hacking is a marketing strategy that aims to use all means on all channels to retain new customers.
We can see that traditional marketing is giving way to digital marketing. Ultimately, it is essential to succeed in your strategy.
Finally, for a perfect return on investment, implementing an emailing and digital media strategy is essential.
You are finally equipped with the growth hacking tools to define your strategy and, consequently, develop your association more quickly!
Need more specific information? We have put together a series of articles to support your association in its growth.
