Committees are a part of daily life in the typical college, university, or nonprofit. If you’re selling to a nonprofit, you’ve got to have content that makes committees swoon. Here’s what makes content marketing for nonprofit committees work.

If you’re selling to nonprofits or higher education, committees will be involved.

While it’s true that buying decisions within nonprofits are ultimately made by individuals, those individuals will always have to bring others to the party. They’ll have to either…

  • Persuade their peers to buy the product
  • Convince their peers of the decision they already made,
  • Onboard teammates onto the new technology or process they’ve bought into, or
  • Give an account of why they spent the money that they did.

Content marketing for nonprofit committees are the tools your internal advocate needs to bring his or her peers to your side.

The objective of content marketing for nonprofit committees is to empower your internal advocates. These are the individuals within the organization who are pushing for the purchase of your software, coaching, fundraising, or marketing services.

Empower your internal advocates with #contentmarketing for #nonprofit or #highered committees. They need these #marketing tools to persuade their peers of your value. Click To Tweet

These guys are your allies! Don’t leave them without the ammo they need to present your company’s case to the powerful committees in front of them.

Content Committees Will Drool Over

Brochures

You might think brochures archaic, but if you use them strategically, they can still give you bang for your buck.

Brochures are great pieces your internal advocate can use to introduce the committee to your company.

Keep these short and highly visual so they can be read at the committee meeting in 3 minutes or so. They should include:

  • Your reason for being in business (Your WHY)
  • A description of your ideal client (so they can identify with your description)
  • Quotes from satisfied customers
  • Call to action (free quote, phone call, etc.)

Like a well-crafted elevator pitch, brochures won’t sell your product. But they should leave the committee interested in knowing more about what you have to offer.

Case Studies

Your internal advocate has got an uphill battle on their hands. They’re facing an entire room of people who have to give an account of every penny spent.

They also have their own projects they want the general fund to pay for.

So, you’ve got to give them stories of how successful your other clients have been because of your product, counseling, or service.

These should be short case studies, and again, highly visual. They should highlight the problem, the solutions, and the results.

Oh, and with more conference rooms featuring flat screen TV’s, offering your internal advocates video case studies will go even farther.

How to Video case studies & testimonials are powerful content marketing for nonprofit committees.

Tear Sheets

Tear sheets are one-page white papers — and they are one of the most potent forms of content you can get into a nonprofit committee.

And like white papers, you’ll need to choose what kind of tear sheet to create depending on where your prospect is at in their buyer journey.

If your internal advocate needs to secure final purchase authorization, use a product or service explainer tear sheet to give purchase agents a quick overview of what they’re buying.

If you’re just entering the discovery phase with your nonprofit or higher education prospect, use a problem/solution tear sheet that sets up the problem that your product or service is designed to solve.

Explainer Videos

Worried that your internal advocate can’t articulate the value of your product or service well?

Then give them the gift of an explainer video! All they have to do is present your video on the conference screen, and…

Voila! You’re virtually there to sell the product yourself.

Explainer videos for nonprofit committees need to be short, about 2 – 4 minutes in length. They should be informative as well as inspirational as you show your prospect how your business can connect with their cause.

ROI Calculators

One of the most persuasive forms of content I ever used in a committee meeting was an ROI calculator. The CFO loved them!

ROI calculators do several things for the sale besides showing a return on investment. ROI calculators show that…

  • You’re reliable
  • You take their investment seriously
  • You’ve done your homework on your product
  • You care about results

But probably more than anything, ROI calculators allow committee members to show that they, in fact, did their due diligence.

How to ROI calculators empower internal advocates. Content Marketing for Nonprofit Committees

These, along with the other forms of content marketing for nonprofit committees, are the proof they need to show their bosses and constituents that they are doing their jobs.

You’re not just selling to the organization. You’re selling to the people who run it.

They have concerns about their careers and performance.

Your content marketing is one way to serve their personal interests as well as their organizational needs.

White Papers

White papers are takeaway content.

Your internal advocate can give your white paper to the members of the committee and encourage them to read it over the next few days.

Place stats, graphs, or other visual bits of information that your internal advocate can reference while presenting your product or service.

If they crack open your white paper during the presentation, it’s more likely that they’ll read the rest of it later.

White papers are exceptional selling tools! When I was an internal advocate, I used the white paper provided to me by the software company to persuade my organization to spend $15K in one year on a donor database.

I’m sure I couldn’t have convinced the committee to make that large of a purchase without the supporting marketing materials the tech company had given me.

I needed those white papers to help my colleagues believe in the product as I did.

It’s for the internal advocate — like I used to be — that you should create content marketing for nonprofit committees.

We need you to help us make the sale for you. Don’t let us down!