February 2023: Nonprofit digital advertising tips (written with ChatGPT)

Greetings! 

This month’s edition of The Good Stuff was written with the help of a very special friend: a GPT3 writer trained to write like me.  It’s amazing how much this AI writer reflects my writing style.

If you want one of these custom-trained writers for your organization, let me know and I can introduce you to my friends at Whole Whale. This is such an incredible time-saving tool for generating first drafts. 

Here’s the prompt I entered into my GPT3 for this month’s newsletter (thanks to those of you who voted for this topic on LinkedIn):

“Write a newsletter about how nonprofits can succeed with digital advertising for brand awareness, lead generation, and fundraising.” 

Notice how specific my prompt is. I gave the AI structure and key points for more predictable results. 

I’ve included the AI's full response "in quotes" below, with my commentary interjected in bold. 

Without further ado, here's what my AI writer has to say about nonprofit digital advertising:

“Hey there, marketers and do-gooders!

Are you struggling to generate donations and make an impact with your nonprofit? Digital advertising could be the answer to many of your challenges. Today, I’m tackling how nonprofits can use digital advertising to succeed with branding, lead generation, and fundraising. 

When you promote your nonprofit with digital advertising, you can reach a broader audience, engage people in a more personal way, and make a greater impact. Read on to learn how digital advertising can be a powerful tool for your organization.”

So far, so good.

"Branding:

Digital advertising can help strengthen your nonprofit’s brand. Ads enable you to reach potential new donors, volunteers, and partners outside of your physical reach. Consider using creative ad formats like video, audio, carousel ads, or stories to engage your audience in an engaging experience that builds brand recognition.” 

This is all accurate. The main message is spot on: Brands are built through consistent, engaging experiences that strengthen trust and favorability over time. Digital advertising allows organizations to build brand affinity with more people. 

My human addition: The key to success is consistency. Nonprofits that invest in ads every month to share news, celebrate success stories, and start conversations with their audiences are no doubt seeing a boost in revenue over time. This “omnipresence content” strategy takes time—a minimum of 3-6 months to start paying off—and it’s worth it. Over time, you'll cultivate a big group of fans who deeply understand and support your mission. 

Ok, on to section two.

“Lead Generation:

Digital is also an effective way to generate leads. You can draw people in by offering information, resources, or tools that pique their interest and direct them to a landing page. Aim to clearly communicate the value of your organization and how people can contribute. Utilizing custom audiences and retargeting is a great way to help ensure that you are reaching the most engaged audience.”

This section is more concrete and helpful, kudos AI! One correction: You no longer need a landing page to run great lead-generation ads. Meta and LinkedIn both offer “instant form” ads so people can share their contact info without ever leaving the platforms. 

I love the AI’s advice to run lead generation ads targeting custom audiences (e.g. your social media followers) and retargeting audiences (e.g. your website visitors) to offer something of value (brand building) and gather their contact information (for ongoing relationship building). 

Last but not least…

“Fundraising:

You can also use digital advertising to directly raise funds for your nonprofit. Ads are a great way to target and reach potential donors. Be sure to not only set up ads with donation calls to action—help people understand how their donations directly support your cause with impact stories."

This is a great start! 

In my experience, direct fundraising with ads can be challenging. Conversion ads are far more expensive than ads for brand building or lead generation and won’t work well for every organization.

I have a much easier time fundraising with ads for my animal welfare clients than I do for organizations serving humans or the environment. That said, I’ve seen success—even success garnering monthly gifts—for all kinds of nonprofits. 

My recommendation is to try running fundraising ads with a mix of audiences and creative assets, with a budget you’re willing to lose. If this strategy doesn’t work well for you, it may make more sense to use digital ads for brand building and lead generation, then focus on email and SMS for your appeals. 

Once you have a prospective donor’s email address and phone number, there’s so much you can do without an advertising budget to "close the deal." For example, KindKatch is an amazing, affordable tool that leverages the power of video for relationship-building and fundraising. Let me know if you’d like an introduction to their team! 

Ok, let’s see how my AI writer ties everything together. 

“Overall, digital advertising is an incredibly powerful tool for nonprofits to use in building their brand, generating leads, and increasing funds. 

You now have the tips to get started with digital advertising – good luck!

-Caroline”

Wow. She even knows how to wrap up a newsletter in my voice. I feel seen! 

I hope you found this content helpful and enjoyed the AI experiment. If you’ve written anything for your nonprofit with the help of AI, I'd love to hear how it went. 

These AI writers are a huge help when they’re programmed to write in your voice. Shout out to George at Whole Whale for programming mine! 

Wishing you a great rest of the month.

-Caroline