EMBiz: Profit vs Non-profit Marketing

Hi everyone. Laurel Mintz here, CEO and founder of Elevate My Brand. And this is EMBiz. What is the difference between for-profit versus nonprofit marketing? We at Elevate have always said that the for-profit marketing that pays the bills allows us to do the nonprofit marketing that feeds our souls. And that's just part of our ethos as a company. But it's really important to differentiate between for-profit versus not-for-profit marketing because there are obviously tons of companies on both sides of that fence. 

Incentive

The first thing is motivation and incentive. For a for-profit company, the motivation and incentive, both on the C-suite side or the team side, as well as on the consumer side, is obviously receiving some sort of product or service, a lipstick, some legal support, whatever that might be. The motivation or incentive for a nonprofit is significantly more heart-centered, meaning it's about the desire to help others. It's that feel-good, that we like to call warm and fuzzy. Now, nonprofits have a tendency to and really should obviously focus on marketing their mission, the core mission of what that nonprofit is there to service, whether that is helping the unhoused population, food banks, children, animals, whatever it is that nonprofit is supporting. The mission is what really matters. Whereas when you're marketing for a for-profit company, it's more about the product or service benefits and the differentiation between why that product or service is better than others in similar markets. 

Audience

The audience is also significantly different, or it can be significantly different for for-profit versus nonprofit for for-profit, we can be a little bit more focused and bucketed, and narrow and very specific in terms of the psychographics and demographics of who that product is targeting. For example, a nail polish, lipstick or skincare product might be more focused on a female demographic within a certain age category. But for a nonprofit, you can be a bit broader, right? You're trying to reach a much larger audience. Although we don't love it when people are like everyone is my audience. You still need to know who your demographics and psychographics are for a nonprofit as well. 

KPIs

The last piece that it's important to differentiate between is what the KPIs are in terms of the difference between a for-profit and a nonprofit. For for-profit, it's sales. It's the end of the bottom of the funnel conversation. How do we keep the lights on, frankly, and hopefully grow revenue, grow team and make more people aware of our product or service? Whereas on the nonprofit side, it's more about raising awareness, education, and getting the audience engaged in helping the nonprofit to execute on its mission. I hope that you do a little bit of both and that you engage both in the for-profit and nonprofit worlds. And that's a little bit about how to differentiate your marketing for both.