Let's chat nonprofit audiences.

I'm sure that at the most basic level, you shape messages specifically for your audiences. And yet, I bet you still have these challenges reaching the right people:

You're overwhelmed with too many audiences.

You use the same three platforms because it's what you're used to (blog, email, and Facebook), and you have a sneaking suspicion that your audience doesn't hang out there. 

While you're using your audience's "language," you fear that it's not inspiring them to get involved. 

Creating audience personas is easily one of those exercises that nonprofit marketers feel they can take or leave (especially when you have a dozen more urgent to-dos on your plate). 

But hear me out. Taking the time to discover your top target audiences, and having a deep understanding of who they are sets the groundwork for all your marketing activities. You'll be able to concentrate your efforts to create relevant communication, attract the right people, and motivate them to act. 

In this post, we're going to take a deep dive into defining your target audience through these steps:

• Getting the big picture on your range of audience members 

• Narrowing down your top audience members

• Understanding what exactly you want them to do

• Creating audience personas to better understand where they hang out online, what motivates them to act, and why you're nonprofit is 100% worth their attention 

Ready? Let's get to it.

Step 1: Know Your People

Any constituent you have or want is an audience member. When you get them on all paper, you may be surprised how many there are. Jot down all of the kinds of people you want to reach. These may be current or potential (i.e., current donor or prospective donor). 

Here's a list of typical nonprofit audience members that may help:

• Clients

• Program Participants

• Recipients

• Patients

• Members

• Donors

• Funders

• Vendors

• Volunteers

• Board Members

• Staff

• Elected Officials

• Press

• Nonprofit Partners

• Activists

• Alumni

• Local Businesses

Step 2: Narrow Down Your Key Target Audiences

While you’ll be creating messages for each of your audience members at some point, let's identify you're most valuable audience members. These are the people you want to reach to meet your current goals. 

From the list you created, choose your top three key audience members. Think about your audience's demographic, location, and lifestyle. In just a few words, list three specific audience members. 

For example, program participants are one of your top audiences, but you specifically want to reach college student activists. 

Take a look at this list to help further define your top three audience members:

• Children 

• Teens 

• College Students 

• Young Adults 

• Moms 

• Dads 

• Single Parents 

• Grandparents 

• Seniors

• Married Couples

• LGBTQ

• Teachers 

• Doctors

• Fitness Enthusiasts 

• Immigrants 

• Administrators

• People With Disabilities

• Social Media Followers

• Email Subscribers

• Local Audience

• National Audience

• Global Audience

Step 3: Establish Your Calls-To-Action

For each audience member, ask yourself why they are relevant to reach. What do you want them to do? Maybe you want them to be more engaged, become a member, or fundraise for you.

Choose a specific call-to-action for each of your top three audience members. Identifying exactly what you want your audience members to do will help you to focus on purpose-driven messages. 

Here are some calls-to-action to consider:

• Stay updated (follow us on social media and join our mailing list)

• Consume our information (visit our website and read our blogs)

• Donate 

• Fundraise for us 

• Become a client 

• Participate in our program

• Become a member 

• Become an ambassador

• Join our staff

• Come to an event

• Sign a petition or call an elected official

• Take part in our campaign 

• Change legislation

• Advocate for us

Step 4: Create Audience Personas

We're going to take this a step further and create audience personas. An audience persona is a fictitious person that represents an audience group. 

The magic of having audience personas is that you can write messages for a specific person instead of an ambiguous and large group of people. As a result, your communications will be more personal, relevant, and compelling. You'll also have a better idea of appropriate digital marketing channels to use. Win, win, win. 

For example, through the process of creating an audience persona for a college activist, you will come to realize that a college student may feel like they don't have enough experience to make an impactful difference. You can solve that problem by providing meaningful and student-appropriate opportunities to get involved in your organization. In your messaging, you can stress how valuable college student's energy and skills are to your cause. 

Use these seven sections and prompts to build out your three audience personas. Keep scrolling to see a sample. 

Would a template be helpful for you? Download from the link below. 

Background

Background information like age/generation, demographics, profession, annual income, education, marital status, and the number of children, and relevant interests.

Communication Preferences 

How they communicate with friends and family, professionally, preferred social media networks, and consumption of entertainment and other media

Goals and Values

Personal or professional goals, including passions and values

Challenges 

Biggest challenges to reach their goal

Motivations

What motivates them to act

How We Help

How your nonprofit will solve their biggest challenges and support them to reach their goal. 

Call-To-Action

What do you want this audience member to do?

How would you reach Emmanuel? 

You can create an internship post and send it to campus groups and clubs for environmental advocacy. You can partner with creative arts professors to get the word out. Do you want to get creative? Have intern alumni promote your internship via TikTok, where Emmanuel hangs out. All your messages should relay to Emmanuel that his skills and passions are the perfect fit for the Green Creatives internship program.

Taking the time to get to know your key audience members are well worth your time. Revisit your audience personas often, especially when you're stuck in a rut with your messaging. 

If you went through this exercise, do let me know how it went in the comments!