Marketing Costs for small businesses and non-profits who want to outsource

 

One of the first questions a potential client asks us is, “How much will our marketing costs be if we work together?” This is because spending conservatively is more important than ever for small businesses and non-profits. 

We know this well, as we’re not only a small business, but we’ve also been supporting mom & pop brands in outdoor recreation, travel, and action sports for over 20 years.  Tight budgets, limited staff, rising costs, and competing priorities can make it difficult to spend on things like marketing and advertising, especially when you are just trying to stay afloat!

 

Marketing can often feel like both a necessity and a luxury.  You want to be smart, cost-effective, and gain expert support without the overhead of a full-time employee.  But how much should you spend, who should you hire, and what are the trade-offs?  Let’s dive in!

 

In this blog, we’ll cover the following:

• Benefits to Outsourcing Your Marketing
• How To Determine Your Marketing Costs
• Who Could You Hire and What Should You Expect to Pay
• What Services are Included in Your Marketing Costs

 

benefits to outsourcing your marketing 

 

When you outsource, you’re hiring external professionals, freelancers, or an agency to handle some or all of your marketing needs. This frees up your time to work on other projects.  Marketing tasks an agency or freelancer can handle include:

• E-Commerce management
• Content creation, videos, graphics
• Paid advertising
• Email marketing
• SEO and search engine marketing (SEM)

 

For small businesses and non-profit organizations, outsourcing some of your marketing needs provides flexibility and access to specialized skills without the commitment of a full-time salary or benefits.  Before we move on, if you’re curious about working with a small agency like ours, take a peek at our marketing services and pricing!

 

Working with a marketing partner can help you identify new ways to reach your audience, and free up your time to work on other parts of your business.

 

How to determine your marketing costs

 

In order to figure out what your marketing costs might be, whether you are a bike shop or a tour operator, start by deciding which marketing tasks you can continue doing easily and which ones you need to offload.

 

Taking a look at the marketing services listed above, which are you most comfortable continuing to manage?  Which ones do you need help with?  If you’re a one-man or one-woman show, it’s critical to be honest with yourself about the amount of time you can dedicate to marketing.  Here are a few questions to ask yourself:

 

• Are tasks like daily social media management or sending weekly email newsletters something you enjoy?
• Do you have the time to manage these tasks?
• Should you be spending your time elsewhere where it is of more value to your business?

 

For example, if you are an executive director at a non-profit organization, you should not split your time between managing fundraising and marketing tasks.  Instead, you should be out having meetings with big donors, making phone calls, and pitching corporate partners to bring in high-dollar gifts!

 

Who Could you hire and what should you expect to pay?

 

There are four main options for small businesses and non-profit organizations who want to outsource some or all of their marketing:

1. Connect with a Freelance Marketing Specialist
2. Hire a Digital Marketing Manager (full-time or part-time)
3. Hire a Marketing Agency
4. Work with a CMO or Marketing Consultant

We’ll review each below.

 

1. Connect with a freelance marketing specialist

 A freelance marketing specialist is Ideal for individual tasks like blog writing, social media management, or graphic design.  Expect to spend $700 – $1,500 a month for a good freelance marketing specialist.  Sites like Fiverr, Freelancer, or Upwork can help you find freelancers in your price range.

 

Best for: One-off projects or small ongoing needs
Pros: Affordable, flexible, specialized
Cons: May lack strategic guidance or availability for fast turnarounds. May need to share your logins and passwords with a complete stranger.

 

 

2. Hiring a Digital Marketing Manager

As a small business or a non-profit, you may be ready for a full-time or part-time digital marketing manager.  As long as you can provide the overall marketing strategy and structure, your digital marketing manager can handle things like social media management, copywriting, email marketing, and website updates.  Marketing costs for a full-time digital marketing manager range between $55,000 to $85,000 a year here in San Diego, California.

 

Best for: Regular, ongoing support
Pros: Can work independently on projects once given direction
Cons: Expensive and will require standard employee benefits and compensation

 

 

3. Hire a Marketing Agency

What about hiring a marketing agency?  The benefits include a better ‘package deal’ where you can add on more services, you’ll have more resources at your disposal, and more experience in tough areas like SEO.

However, hiring an agency to manage your marketing costs between $850-$4,500 a month, which might be steep for a small business or non-profit.  Of course, these costs can be as high a $20K or more, depending on your goals and your budget!

 

Best for: Regular, ongoing support
Pros: Can offer a package deal, provide access to resources, and has more experience
Cons: May require a larger upfront investment or a long-term contract

 

As an example, at Top Rope Media, we work with many small businesses and non-profits on a monthly retainer to help them manage their marketing needs, such as SEO, email marketing, and paid advertising. 

We allow for flexibility in the marketing services we provide each month; you’ll never pay for something you don’t need, and we do not require a long-term contract.  Read more about our marketing services and get a range of pricing here!

 

4. Work with a CMO or marketing consultant

Thinking a CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) or marketing consultant might be better suited to help your small outdoor brand or non-profit grow its wings?  A Marketing Consultant or CMO, whether part-time (often called a fractional CMO) or full-time, can build you a comprehensive marketing strategy, define your KPIs, and lead your outsourced team.  This is the perfect choice if you do not know where to start.  However, their services do not come cheap. Expect to pay between $150-500/hr for a marketing consultant.     

Best for: High-level support and startups
Pros: Great for audits or company restructuring
Cons: Will not execute and dig into the details, expensive, and not invested in your business long-term

 

So, while the short answer to “What will our marketing costs be?” is ‘it depends’, these key choices above will help you narrow things down. Below, we’ll address a few other areas you’ll want to think about when you search for marketing help. 

 

Why bring in someone to support you with marketing? Because your time is often better spent elsewhere- on new business development, or actually enjoying your vacation!

What services are included in your marketing costs 

 

As a small business owner, when you search for a service you need, you want to know early on how much it will cost.  However, when you start your search for marketing help, you may feel like you have reached a ‘gatekeeper’.  They will not give you the pricing details, but are more than happy to set up a sales call.  Grrr…this can feel incredibly frustrating.

If you’re wondering why there’s such secrecy in marketing costs, this is because an agency may not want its competition to know its pricing.  Or, they may feel like they could be leaving money on the table if they provide you with upfront pricing.  As we loathe those sales calls as much as you do, we’ve created a Services & Pricing page to give our customers a better idea of their marketing costs if they decide to work with Top Rope Media.

 

To further complicate marketing costs, several services fall under the marketing umbrella.  Prices will range greatly depending on the services you need.

 

First, let’s talk about what should be included in your pricing.  Your typical marketing manager, freelancer, or marketing agency should be expected to perform the following tasks:

• Social Media Management
• Content Production and Blog Writing
• Email Marketing
• Search Engine Marketing (SEM), Paid Social, and Google Advertising

 

A big plus if they also have experience in the following areas:

• Search Engine Optimization (SEO)
• Graphic Design
• Photography + Videography
• Web Development
• Public Relations

 

Look for a marketing partner that is well-versed in the marketing tools you need, whether that’s Instagram advertising, SEO, or email marketing.

final thoughts on marketing costs for small businesses and non-profits

 

Now that you have a better idea of what your marketing costs might be if you outsource and what they include, you are ready to take the next step!  Remember to ask lots of questions.  Become familiar with the current marketing trends and platforms before you bring someone in to manage them for you.

 

If you’ve got a question, drop us a line and let’s navigate the marketing wilderness together!  Lastly, if you’re seeking more tips on do-it-yourself digital marketing, check out these posts:

• Best Email Marketing: Improve Clicks and Open Rates 
• How to Use Your Website to Generate Better Leads
• 8 Steps to Kickstart Your Online Advertising with Facebook and Instagram

 

Until next time, happy marketing friends!

Meredith, Top Rope Media

 

The post Marketing Costs for Small Businesses and Non-Profits Who Want to Outsource appeared first on Top Rope Media.

DIY Tips to Promote a Fundraising Campaign for Non-Profits

You may be asked to promote a fundraising campaign for a startup, non-profit, or even a well-established brand that is hosting a fundraising event.  And then there’s supporting a community event, raising money for a charity run or ride, or fundraising for your kid’s school!

From our 20+ years in fundraising, we’ve been helping brands and non-profits raise crucial funds to help solve the world’s most challenging environmental problems!  So besides contributing financially to the cause, this blog will teach you that there are lots of steps you can take to help get the word out and raise money.

1. Have a Simple, Elegant Fundraising or Donation Page

To promote a fundraising campaign successfully, ensure you have a great landing page to send potential donors!  You may have 1,000s of followers on Facebook, Instagram, or your mailing list.  However, if the page you are directing all of these potential donors to is slow, clunky, and poorly designed, all of your fundraising efforts may be in vain.  

This is often where we begin work with non-profit organizations.  And in case you are wondering, yes we can create a landing page within your website, or redesign your site to give you a fresh look before you kick off your next event!

Pro tip: If you will be using a platform like Classy.org, Kickstarter, or Go Fund Me, pay attention to the fine print.  Some platforms charge massive setup and/or transaction fees, or will not issue funds if you do not reach your goal amount!

Here are just a few of the organizations with whom we’ve created new website designs, and details about how we did it:

• Outdoor Outreach
• Michael P. Nosco Foundation
• Boys & Girls Club of San Dieguito

Pro tip: Directing traffic to your homepage is not going to generate as many conversions (aka donations or sign-ups) as a dedicated landing page for your event will.

Before you begin spreading the word about your next fundraising campaign, make sure your website or landing page has clear messaging about what your organization does for the community!

Checklist for Your Fundraising Campaign Landing Page

Does your fundraising campaign webpage have the following:

1. Good Branding

Are the logos, fonts, colors, and imagery on your fundraising campaign landing page the same as your print, email, Facebook, or Instagram post?  If there’s a disconnect, a potential donor may be unlikely to give!  Read our What Makes Good Branding blog for more tips on how to build a better brand style.

2. Inspiration + Impact

Does it inspire, and tell the story of your cause and organization? Do you demonstrate impact? Example: A contribution of $200 can provide a kayaking class for 20 kids!

3. Easy to Make a Donation

Is there a clear call to action (CTA)?  And, it is clear of any other calls to action except the focus of your campaign?  In addition, do you have a short amount of steps/clicks to actually submit a donation or sign up? Hint: 3 or fewer steps are best!

4. Optimization + Tracking

It is optimized to be found by search engines organically?  Meaning have you correctly set up the SEO??  In addition, do you have tracking set up via your website host, third-party app, or Google Analytics so you can easily tell where you acquire website traffic from, and how long they spend on your webpage or webpages?  And, if they do not make a donation, where are they dropping off?  Finally, does your landing page load fast?  Page speed times should be 2 seconds or less to keep a potential donor engaged.

5. Easy to Share

Is it possible to promote peer-to-peer fundraising from your landing page?  Meaning once someone engages and makes a gift, is there anything you have in place to help them share this via email, or social?  Or can they start their own page or fundraising team?

If you cannot answer yes to all of these, then the first step for you in learning how to promote a fundraising campaign is to get your website’s landing page in order.  Drop us a line if you want to get started with a website rebrand or redesign.

Pro tip: Remember that now more than ever, people are signing up for fundraising events or making their donations through a mobile device.  Therefore, ensure your landing page is also mobile-friendly!

Having a clear call to action, like Outdoor Outreach’s latest web banner, will make it easier for potential donors to get involved!

2. Create and Gather all of Your Fundraising Campaign Assets

Whether you are leading the charge on this fundraising event, or just playing a supporting role, ensure all the assets you need to promote the event are accounted for.  And easily accessible in one place!

What Types of Assets Need to be Created for Your Fundraiser

What do I mean by assets?  Anything that could be used to help promote the fundraising campaign and events. This includes:

• Copy: Approved text describing the event, taglines, hashtags, and anything you’ll be writing out in your pitch for donations
• Logos: Logos of the brand, non-profit, and all partners that you will need to include
• Images: High-resolution images (greater than 1MB, 300dpi, and in the CMYK color layout in most cases) are best for print.  Low-resolution images are best for web, email, and social (see below for specs).
• Video Production: 15 seconds, 30 seconds, and 1-minute video clips are perfect lengths to use for Instagram, Facebook, Instagram Stories, or your webpage
• Press Release or Public Service Announcement
• Graphic Designs: Need help with this one?  Read more on how we might be able to work together!

Having professional photos and videos created can help you appeal to potential donors!  Need help?  Read our blog on How to Take Better Photos!

Pro tip: Have a graphic designer create images in the following sizes that you, your volunteers, and your supporters can easily use:

• Instagram (1080x1080p or less, as long as you keep equal ‘square’ proportions)
• Facebook and webpages (1200x628p, 640x320p, or similar rectangular proportions)
• Email header or webpage banner (600x200p or a skinny rectangle!)

Where to Store Your Fundraising Campaign Assets

We use both Dropbox and Google Drive to store everything from images, videos, logos, or marketing strategy docs.  Create one file folder per event, per year, and drop everything into this folder and make sure everything is labeled.  IMG_78956 does nothing to help people identify the image and where it can be used!

In addition, share not only with your team but make it easily accessible to anyone helping you to promote the fundraising event.  Furthermore, you can also create a webpage where all of these links live!

Example: NATIONAL SUNGLASSES DAY

As an example, National Sunglasses Day is June 27th, and they’ve created a webpage that contains all of their print, web, and social collateral to help you promote the event for your brand!  Not only does this make it easy to share and download images and videos, but it also provides you with display ideas, copy suggestions and they even offer someone who can help you create customized artwork around your National Sunglasses Day campaign!

Whether your non-profit organization supports projects at home or abroad, make sure everyone on your team has easy access to the latest photos and videos to promote your programs.

3.  Set Up Your Fundraising Campaign Marketing Strategy

Now that you’ve got the major content pieces in place for your fundraising campaign, you need a clear outline of where this content will be distributed and when.  We cannot stress enough how having a plan in place weeks before launching the campaign will help everyone on your team stay organized and connected.

Therefore, if you have a set event date, work backward from there.  Ensure you leave plenty of time to drop content in emails, blogs, social media posts, and communicate with your non-profit champions.

Pro tip: Do not expect people to stumble upon your fundraiser simply through search alone.  Help them find it through strategic content distribution.  The great blog you just wrote, the graphic images created, or the video you just recorded to promote your fundraiser can be shared in a number of different ways.

Create branded imagery that is sized correctly and can be easily used by your team, your volunteers, and your brand ambassadors for social sharing!

Distribution Channels to Include in Your Fundraising Campaign Marketing Strategy

Here are a few channels we use, with links to how to DIY many of these steps!

• Email: We love Mailchimp!
• Social Media: (Twitter, Instagram, Reels, and Stories, Facebook, Pinterest, TikTok, and LinkedIn)
• Live Events: Zoom, YouTube, Pop-Up Store, Instagram, or Facebook Live
• Paid Social Advertising: Facebook and Instagram
• Online Forums: Facebook group pages and other networking groups
• Google Ads: Did you know Google offers Grants to non-profits of up to $10,000 a month?
• Postcards and Direct Mail: Especially if you are targeting an older demographic!
• Peer-to-Peer Fundraising: Donors can easily share they’ve made a gift to your organization or set up their own fundraising page!
• Crowdfunding: Classy.org, GoFundMe, or Kickstarter.
• Share with your Employees + Volunteers + Ambassadors: ID your brand champions.  These ambassadors can help you spread the fundraising campaign messaging!
• Text to Give Campaigns:  Make it very easy for someone to make a gift!
• Press Release or PSAs:  Public Service Announcements are a great tool to garner print, web, radio, or TV coverage for your non-profit fundraising.

Tracking your Fundraising Campaign Content Distribution

Pro tip: Keep track of the content you are distributing, what channels you use, and who is in charge of what.

We create a Content Calendar to stay organized and use publishing tools like Hootsuite to track when, where, and what we’re sharing for the upcoming fundraising event.

Examples of other tools you can use to organize your fundraising campaign content: Excel, Google Sheets, Buffer, Post Planner, Trello, and Hubspot.  Invite everyone that is participating in promoting the fundraising event to have access!

With mobile giving and peer-to-peer fundraising being two of the best ways to reach potential donors, make sure your website and/or landing page are mobile-friendly.

Key Takeaways on How to Promote a Fundraising Campaign

Here are your action items for the next few weeks:

Get that webpage or landing page ready!  Make sure it’s inspirational, the SEO is dialed, and it’s mobile-friendly!

Make sure you can accurately track conversions so you can see where your web traffic is coming from. This is huge to help you decide where to spend the rest of that marketing budget!  If your fundraising event gets more people clicking to register or donate via Facebook than Instagram or LinkedIn, spending on pay-per-click advertising on Facebook may be a great option!

Gather your assets– photos, video, copy, press release, and put them all in one place for easy sharing.

Create a marketing strategy to spread the word about your fundraising event!

Evaluate Your Fundraiser, But Keep it Fun!

The last step is to evaluate your fundraising campaign during and after the big event.  And, instead of focusing on negative stuff like what went wrong, or that you need to raise even more money next year, try and keep your fundraiser de-brief fun for your team.  Hold it in a cool spot.   Take ’em out for a hike or a SUP class on the bay.  Celebrate the small successes and the reason you are fundraising in the first place!

Want more tips on digital marketing?  Check out these posts:

• 7 Steps to Crafting Your Perfect Email Strategy
• How to Use Your Website to Generate Better Leads
• How to Take Good Photos and Use Them to Market Your Business
• Website Design and SEO for the Outdoor Industry
• End of Year Giving: Give Back and Save Money on Your Taxes

To learn more about what we do on the regular, follow Top Rope Media’s adventures on Instagram, Facebook, or Twitter.

Until next time, happy fundraising!

Meredith

The post How to Promote a Fundraising Campaign appeared first on Top Rope Media.