Crafting a Content Marketing Strategy on a Shoestring Budget
I recently started a housesit outside of Olhão, Portugal. The house backs up to acres and acres of beautiful wild land; wildflowers, creeks, and rolling hills.
While walking around the land with the homeowner recently, I was admiring the landscape. That’s when he informed me of their dilemma last year. A large solar energy company sought to transform acres of pristine land into a sprawling energy farm, jeopardizing the delicate balance of the surrounding ecosystem.
Why couldn’t they just slap some panels on top of existing buildings/eye sores like grocery stores? Short answer…money.
This determined family organized under a former NGO, and were able to thwart this imminent environmental disaster. Through advocacy and activism, they emerged victorious, but the fight is not over. Now the family wants to make sure this can’t ever happen again. For that, they’ll need to raise more funds and get a formal land conservancy status from the Portuguese government.
They asked me how to help them shift the focus of their NGO to fundraising and community building, in case another crisis pops up? Below is the advice I gave them. My purpose for sharing this information is so that if you are an NGO, and have limited funds, you can scrap together a content marketing strategy that will help you achieve your goals. Before I deliver the goods, though, I want to stress one key point. In order for a content marketing strategy to work, you’ve got to stay consistent!! Now let’s get to the good stuff…
Crafting a Content Marketing Strategy on a Shoestring Budget
For grassroots organizations with limited funds, an effective content marketing strategy is key to amplifying your message and garnering support. Here's a step-by-step guide to building a robust strategy:
Step 1: Establish four marketing pillars.
These pillars will be the themes you will use to derive ALL your content. This will help you keep focused on the stuff that matters. Examples of pillars I’d recommend for the aforementioned organization include:
Environmental Conservation Advocacy
Community Engagement and Empowerment
Fundraising Initiatives
Event Promotion and Participation
Each post, piece of content, or talking point your organization delivers to the public will have to fall under one of the above categories. If it doesn’t fit into one of the categories, it doesn’t need to be said.
Step 2: Create a content marketing strategy (or just copy the one I have for you below :))
My suggestion:
1- Write one blog every week or every other week.
2- Derive 2-3 original posts from the blog and share them on one social platform of your choice every week. You can repurpose those posts onto other social platforms but it’s not necessary. Best to focus on growing one platform.
2- At the end of the month, send out a newsletter to your subscribers with a short personal message from you, including any relevant information about the NGO, any important events, and links to the blog posts from the month prior. Newsletter sites like Mailchimp are free up until a certain amount of subscribers.
3- Engage on social media - Follow members of your community, re-share their posts, tag local businesses, and use hashtags.
Step 3: Create a content marketing calendar.
I recommend using Google Sheets for this, it’s free and can easily be shared with other members of your team. Outline what kind of posts you will be sharing monthly. You can also write the posts in the Google Sheet if you need it to get approved by other members of your organization.
Step 4: Plan Community Building Events
1- Aim to provide a community-building event once every 1 to 3 months. These can look like clothing swaps, open mic nights, artisan markets, workshops, tours, concerts, lectures, etc. Partner with other organizations and co-host events with them. At every event make sure to give a short presentation about your organization and why it’s important to the health of the community. You can make these events free or charge a small fee, all of which will go back to the organization. COLLECT EMAIL ADDRESSES!
2- Aim to provide a higher-end community event once every six months. These events are aimed to attract those who can donate a substantial amount of money. These events can look like silent auctions with prizes collected from members of the community (massage by local therapists, workshops by local artisans, products made by local artisans) or black tie events that require a higher-cost ticket to enter.
Step 5: Implementing the content marketing strategy
1- To help you write things like blog posts, newsletters, social media posts, and fundraising proposals, fire up ChatGPT. Now use this step with caution. Chat GPT is a robot, not a human. That means it’s not funny, it lacks empathy and is just not as good of a writer as a human. But it can help you structure your content and eliminate any writer’s block. You can use the platform to get ideas and spark inspiration.
For example, you can enter a prompt such as:
can you write a fundraising proposal geared towards wealthy funders for a nonprofit that is trying to get protection status?
—> Tips: You can get very specific by adding an exact word count, adding the tone you are aiming for by expanding upon the ideal demographic, or by requesting a tone to sound like a certain public figure (ex. please rewrite this in the tone of Oprah Winfrey).
By adhering to these strategic steps and maintaining consistency, grassroots organizations can amplify their impact, rally community support, and safeguard precious natural resources like the wild lands of Olhão, Portugal. Together, we can make a difference.
Want to learn how to craft a killer content marketing strategy with the help of ChatGPT and other AI tools? Book a one hour session with me where we will deep dive into your business and I’ll show you exactly how to create content effortlessly. More details can be found here.
Embracing Singlehood
For anyone who has been partnered for many years, you know how hard (and awkward) it can be to transition to happily single. Not only do you have to get used to not having a warm body to cuddle and share home-cooked meals with, but you also have to get used to not having the mental and emotional support that comes from having a person. Though I tend to be quite independent in relationships, traveling solo and actively pursuing personal hobbies or interests, I love to share my life’s ups and downs with a special someone. Yes, I do this with a few close friends, but the level of intimacy and detail is different in a partnership.
For the last few weeks I have been volunteering at Animal Rescue Algarve and it has been healing in many ways. The first week I was here I went off the grid - I barely wrote to my best friend back home, only sent her a message here and there telling her I wanted to stay mum so I could process the transition. I even refrained from contacting either of my recent exes, one of which I still remain close friends with. As a big dog lover himself, I badly wanted to send him pictures and videos of the adorable doggos I was encountering daily - but I resisted.
I needed to break my habit of seeking validation from my partner and instead give myself that validation.
Sure - the dogs were adorable.
The surrounding nature was magical, with wildflowers and fresh lemons abloom.
And my body felt truly nourished with the combination of manual labor and the warm sun.
But it had to be enough that I was satisfied.
And I was. I was truly happy for the first time in a long while. Even if I didn’t have someone to share every detail with.
With every day I resisted seeking outside validation I felt my love of self, deepen. Once again I had overcome a difficult situation and had followed my curiosity towards happiness. I was proud of that.
And so on my days off a week ago, I followed my curiosity to Lagos. Though I was excited, the newness of the volunteer gig had started to wear off and the underlying sadness and disappointment from the past year had been slowly creeping back in. I started to throw myself a little pity party on the train but then about halfway there I told myself, “Look at you, doing EXACTLY what you love — you are in Portugal, volunteering for causes that light you up, surrounded by loving animals and people who love animals as much as you, traveling on your off days to explore a new city AND you are treating yourself to a Stand Up Paddleboard adventure through the caves.”
It was like someone flicked a switch and I no longer felt sad. I walked off that train with my head held high and my grin stretched wide. I was finally starting to embrace singlehood and all the benefits that it brings such as spontaneous travel and doing exactly what I want to do when I want to do it.
The next morning, the tour almost got canceled because there weren’t enough people signed up (the guide didn’t want to only take one person out on the water because it wasn’t worth his time, a minor detail that might have sent newly singled me spiraling) Luckily though, someone booked the tour last minute and so I was able to conquer a fear of the ocean and see some pretty amazing sights in the process. For two hours straight I was grinning from ear to ear, even when I lost my balance and flipped backward off my board. Life was GOOD as a solo traveling female. Possibilities were endless. And joy was boundless.