How to use funnels to convert your non profit audience
Funnels are an essential part of paid social ads, and marketing in general. They help you to take people from being strangers to supporters by helping them get to know, like and trust you.
Think of your funnel as an exceptional three course meal.
Your starter (for the sake of argument, let's call it scallops) starts to warm up your audience. They haven't been to the restaurant before, and they've never heard of the chef. But they are open to loving them both because the scallops have peaked their interest. They provide a flavour of what's happening in the kitchen.
Your main course (steak, chips, bearnaise sauce, portobello mushroom, salad) gives them even more of a sense of what your restaurant can do. They're now interested in the chef's vision and the sommelier's recommendation. They have a deeper layer of knowledge and understanding.
Now, your dessert. That's the highlight. I'm talking souffle. I'm talking chocolate fondant. By now, they understand the chef's influences, and their abilities. They've bought into what the restaurant is all about. The relationship is developing nicely. They're planning how they can continue the interaction; they'll come again and tell their friends. You might see your plates on Instagram Stories later.
By the time the bill comes they are happy to pay and everyone leaves happy. Another supporter is born.
In short, a well-designed funnel will:
Drive awareness of your organisation and what you do
Engage potential customers and get them interested in finding out more
Convert prospects into leads and customers
Now let's take a look at how you can use paid social ads to build an effective funnel that will help you convert strangers into supporters.
Drive awareness of your brand and what you do. Your focus here is reaching new audiences, finding where 'your' people are and testing what they respond best to in terms of messaging, creative (video, static images, graphics) and call to action. You're not asking for anything, you're just getting your organisation in front of people and introducing yourself.
Engage potential customers and get them interested in what you do. This is your education piece; your chance to take your prospects a step further along the journey of getting to know, like and trust you.
Convert prospects into leads and customers. Here you can focus on what you already have in place that converts people and send your warmed up audience to it. If it's your newsletter, drive people there. If it's your website, that's where they should go. If you have a specific donation landing page with a great conversion rate, focus there.
Your first step will be to plan how this journey from stranger to supporter looks. If you lay it out systematically it's a lot easier to track the journey your audience will go on, and where your gaps may be. If it starts to look more like an 8-course taster menu and you don't have a huge budget, review where you can make it a simpler, more streamlined journey and test that first. Simplicity is always the best approach. Bon appetit!