Feeling a little overwhelmed by your nonprofit marketing job? Who isn’t?
On Tuesday, I’m teaching a one-hour webinar full of tips, tools, and advice that will help you get a handle on your workload. It’s called Time and Sanity Savers for the Overwhelmed Nonprofit Marketer.
One of my favorite tips is building a Marketing Bank. It’s a single location where you store all of the stuff that you need, and that you are often asked to provide to others. Building your marketing bank will save you tons of time, because you’ll always know where to look for that logo, program description, color palette, etc. And you can also send staff and volunteers right to it, so you aren’t constantly forwarding files to others, saving even more time. You can store your bank on a shared drive, ideally where others can access it remotely.
What belongs in the Marketing Bank? Here are some suggestions:
Logos, in various sizes and colors, e.g., online and print resolution, color and black-and-white. Include resolution, size, and/or colors in the file names so it’s easy to see which is which.
Photos, with captions, sources, and any restrictions.
Bios and Head Shots, for all key staff and board members — anyone who is considered a “public face” of the organization.
Boilerplate Text e.g., taglines, mission statements, program descriptions or background, history, etc.
Calendars, or links to organizational master calendars as well as editorial calendars.
Style Guides, full of editorial and design guidance, e.g., what gets capitalized, when to spell out numbers, what fonts and colors to use where.
Templates, especially for pieces like flyers that program staff are likely to produce on their own.
Checklists, to help other staff help you, e.g. a checklist for drafting an email newsletter or a press release.
Publication Archive, including back issues of newsletters, flyers, annual reports, brochures, invitations, press releases, etc.
Facts and Stats, e.g., up-to-date facts and figures about your cause and your organization, with sources where appropriate.
Your Links, such as your org’s accounts on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, etc.
Links to Others, e.g., your favorite resources that you want others to take advantage of too.
What else belongs in your marketing bank? Leave your list in the comments.
