Marketing can be a scary word if you’re not an experienced fundraiser or marketing professional. Add in that most rescue groups have little to no paid staff and rely on lots of volunteers to keep their organization running, and  the idea of marketing is daunting.

When we designed Profits for Pets we kept this in mind every step of the way and have done our very best to provide you with all the materials you’ll need to get the word out about your Profits for Pets shop.

Once you’ve applied to open your Profits for Pets shop and have been approved, you can find the marketing materials in the Support Tools section of the website.

Here are a few tips to help you get the most out what we’ve provided:

Be consistent in your branding. One of the most important aspects of marketing pretty much anything is to be consistent with the look and feel of everything associated with your brand. If you’re not a marketer this may make you go a little cross-eyed, but bear with us. It’s actually pretty simple.

In this case, the “brand” is your rescue group. You probably already have a website and logo, which should use the same color palette and font. If you don’t already have something like this, it’s worth the investment. Check out the resources in the Support Tools section for pointers on how to get a logo made.

Once you have a logo, website and color palette selected, you have the basics of your brand image. Using these design components in all of your communications helps make your organization recognizable to your fans, builds trust and gives the impression of legitimacy. All important things for successful fundraising.

Invest in printed materials for your organization. In the Support Tools section, you’ll find a few different options for printed materials. Take advantage of this resource and have materials printed to handout to potential shoppers. These are a great way to spread the word at adoption events and get people involved with your organization who love your work, but don’t have the time to be directly involved.

And don’t be shy about passing out information about your organization. Equip your foster parents with materials and educate them on the shop. Pass out flyers to new adoptive parents. Partner with local businesses pass out flyers. There are endless possibilities for what you can do with the materials.

Have an elevator pitch. Think through how you want to talk about your Profits for Pets shop. We’ve provided some tips and sample language to help you get started. But every organization and shop is a little different, so putting some planning is a good idea.

Write a short script (3-4 sentences) for anyone you’re working with to use. This is especially useful if you work with a lot of volunteers in your organization. Being able to quickly explain your shop to your volunteers and in turn have them explain it to everyone else will be extremely helpful in getting the word out.

One key to successfully fundraising through your Profits for Pets shop is letting people know about it. If your organization holds adoption events or tables around town, you already have a captive audience.

The beauty of a Profits for Pets shop is that you know anyone who approaches you at an event is already your target market! What pet lover doesn’t want lots of pet paraphernalia?

So, here are 3 tips for letting people know about your shop at events without feeling to “salesy”.

Set up a display on your table. Put your Profits for Pets shop front and center at events. Create a display to attract the attention of your visitors and engage them in conversation about your organization. Consider ordering a few of your favorite items for sale in your shop to use in your display. Shoppers love to be able to see and touch before they buy.

Hand out flyers. It’s worth the investment to have materials like flyers or postcards designed specially for your organization. This can be done for a small fee on sites like Fiverr and will more than pay for itself. Be sure to include the URL for your shop and QR code so that someone can scan the card and immediately visit your site. Instant gratification goes a long way. An added bonus of potential shoppers/donors visiting your shop while you’re talking to them is that it gives you a chance to answer questions and tell them more about your organization.

Collect email addresses. If you don’t already have an email list for your organization, you should start one ASAP. If someone gives you their email address that means they WANT to hear from you and learn more about what you do.

Once you have started collecting email addresses, email your subscribers regularly and let them know what going on in your organization and invite them to visit your shop. Even if they aren’t interested in purchasing an item while at your event, that doesn’t mean they won’t want to later. Keep reminding your subscribers that your shop is there and what the profits go to. On average someone needs to be asked 7 TIMES before they will purchase something. So don’t be discouraged if someone isn’t ready to make a purchase when they first meet you. Instead take the opportunity to introduce your organization, get an email address and build a relationship.

 

One key to keeping your Profits for Pets fundraising machine running smoothly is the keep your shop fresh and exciting. Once someone purchases an item from your shop and LOVE their item, they’re likely to come back for more if you ask them.

Here are 4 tips for keeping your shop fresh and keeping your shoppers coming back again and again.

Track your best sellers. Knowing what your best sellers are let’s you know a few things. Obviously what items people visiting your shop like best, but also what kinds of items they like. You can then use this information when selecting new items to add to your shop. Conversely, knowing what doesn’t sell in your shop tells you what you don’t want and what to cycle through.

Highlight an item. As you get your fundraising program going, find a way to highlight items in your newsletter. Having a featured product of the month is great way to remind people about your shop and what the proceeds go to.

Stay in touch. Make sure that you’re signed up for emails from Profits for Pets. We’ll keep you updated on new products, give you tips for success and let you know about learning opportunities.

Keep your shop updated. Assign the task of refreshing your shop to someone in your organization. Keeping track of what’s selling and what’s not. Staying up-to-date on new products that are available will keep things new and exciting, and keep people coming back for more.

1. Fill out an application. The first step to getting started with Profits for Pets is to apply. Once your application is approved, we’ll be in touch and help you get your online shop set up.
2. Set up your shop. We have lots of tools available to help you get your shop set up. To get rolling you’ll need to pick items for your shop and spread the word. If you need help don’t hesitate to contact us.
3. Promote your shop. Once your shop is set up, it’s time to promote it and find shoppers! We’re written a few blog posts to help you get started. And make sure that you’re signed up for our newsletter to stay in touch. We’ll keep you up-to-date on new additions to our inventory, more tips for being successful and other goodies!

When talking about starting a fundraising program with a small (or non-existent) budget, email marketing can be your rescue group’s best friend.

It’s not enough to just sign up for a Profits for Pets shop for your organization. You’ll also need to have a plan in place to let people know about it and get them excited about it.

That’s where email marketing comes in handy.

Are you wondering what “email marketing” is? If you have an email address, chances are you already know. Email marketing refers to those newsletter signups on websites and the “enter your email address here for 20% off your next order” coupons. Once companies have your email address, they send you emails to market their products. It’s that simple!

To send out emails like this you’ll need to start an account with an email service provider. A great place to start is MailChimp which is FREE if you have fewer than 500 email addresses. But there are lots of good companies out there and some of them even have special rates for registered nonprofits.

Using email marketing is quite possibly the best tool at your disposal for promoting your Profits for Pets shop and your organization. Statistics show that someone has to be advertised or marketed to 7 times before they decide to make a purchase.

If someone is introduced to your organization at an event, receives a flyer and visits your shop, that’s only one time they have “advertised to”. Statistically you need to ask them 6 more times to purchase an item from your shop.

That’s where email marketing becomes your most useful tool. You don’t need to be “salesy” and send out loads of emails. Rather, use the tips below to build relationships and engage your shoppers, adoptive families and other supporters.

Have a call-to-action on your website. If you don’t provide visitors to your website with a place to sign up for emails from you, then they can’t sign up! So, have a clear and obvious newsletter sign-up form on your website. Let people know what they are signing up for and be sure to follow through with it, such as letting them know they’re signing up to receive a monthly newsletter, and then sending a monthly newsletter.

Create an email template that is “on brand”. Having a recognizable look and feel to your marketing materials and website is extremely important.

According to Classy.org, branded donation pages generate 38% more revenue than generic pages. There are lots of statistics out there like this one and here is the take home message: People are more likely to interact with you online if they know a communication is from you. In email marketing terms this translates to using an email template that has the same look and feel of your website and marketing materials.

Think about this: if someone takes a flyer from you at an event advertising your Profits for Pets shop and go to your website, if your website looks similar to the flyer then they know they’re in the right place.

The same thing applies to your email communications. If your email template looks similar to your website (same color scheme, fonts and logo), people will know that email is from you and be excited to read it!

Segment your lists. This is certainly one of the fancier aspects of getting started with email marketing. But as you start building your email lists, it’s a good idea to segment your lists into different groups. For example, you might have one list of people who have adopted pets from you, another for people who have purchased items from your shop and another of people who have donated items or money.

Having these lists can come in very handy if you want to target a certain group of people with an email. For example, maybe you’re looking for adoptive families to follow up with and highlight in your newsletter or you are in desperate need of emergency funds for a litter that just showed up on your doorstep.

Knowing who on your contact list has helped you out of a pinch before or who has adopted from you in the past 2 years, and easily being able to reach out to those people is invaluable to both parties.

Setting lists like these up is easy once you have an account with an email service provider (ESP). And every ESP has lots of resources on their website to show you the ins-and-outs of how their software works.

Communicate consistently and regularly. Remember that people who give you their email address WANT TO HEAR FROM YOU, so don’t be shy. For example, for your monthly newsletter you could have a section for updates on adoptions, highlight a few adoptable pets, a give list of upcoming adoption events and have “product of the month” to showcase.

Sending regular emails will allow you to build a relationship with the people who are invested in your work and will give you a chance to show them what you’re accomplishing.

Think about how many adoptive moms and dads are out there that you haven’t had a way to stay in touch with. The people that have adopted from you have a special place in their hearts for what you do and are your biggest advocates. These are the people you can call on when you are in need of food, supplies, foster homes, emergency funds, etc.

If you’re staying in regular contact with the people who love the work you’re doing, they will be happy to help you out when the time comes.

And having these regular communications also keeps your subscribers interested and engaged with your Profits for Pets shop. The more you can encourage people to visit your shop, the more items they will buy and the more your organization will earn. It’s a win-win!

One of the biggest challenges that small nonprofits face is a need for funds to achieve their missions, but they have no budget pay staff or invest in marketing and advertising to get their message out the get funds to achieve their mission. It’s a bit of a chicken and egg situation.

The good news is that you don’t need to be a professional or make a huge investment to create a simple fundraising program to raise money for your operations.

Step 1: Delegate. As a rescue group, you may tend to concentrate on needs such as finding foster homes or making sure you have enough resources to care for your incoming critters.

To start fundraising, you’ll probably need to expand your network. If your current network of volunteers and foster parents don’t have the skills or the time to help you with a project like this, there is someone out there who will be excited to. Lots of people are looking for volunteer opportunities and are willing to lend to a helping hand.

Sites like Catchafire and Idealist have “job boards” for volunteer opportunities. If you have a social media presence advertise your opportunity there. You could also contact a local community college or university and post an internship. There are lots of people out there who are ready to help, all you need to do is ask.

Step 2: Have a website. You don’t have to be a professional to get a website for your organization. There are several companies that provide a “drag-and-drop” interface, such as Weebly and Wix, that are incredibly easy to use, even for someone with no experience.

These sites do offer a free version of their service, and those are pretty good. But it’s a good idea to pay a little money and get your own URL. This makes it a lot easier for people to find your website.

Step 3: Start an email list. One of the best choices for groups getting started with building an email list is MailChimp.

MailChimp is very popular, they offer lots of support if you need and they are completely free if you have a small (under 500 names) email list. Collect email addresses anywhere you can such as adoption events, people who adopt from you, fans on social media, etc.

Step 4: Send a monthly newsletter. Once you start collecting email addresses, communicating with your subscribers on a regular basis. Create a template that is on brand with your organization and find a “formula” that works for creating your newsletter.

For example, in each newsletter you could have an update on what happened the previous month (how many dogs and cats were adopted, new foster parents or volunteers, etc.), highlight a pet that is currently up for adoption, and let your subscribers know about adoption events coming up. And ,of course, direct subscribers to your shop and remind them what the proceeds go to.

Step 5: Make your appeal. Communicating with your subscribers regularly helps you build relationships, ultimately building trust. Building these relationships and trust means that when you have an urgent need or are making an appeal for supplies, you already have a group of people who love your cause and are ready to help.

Be strategic in your appeals. Be specific about what you need, for example a food drive, or create a financial goal for something that your donors can rally behind.

Make the most of your Profits for Pets shop by reminding your subscribers about your shop, let them know what’s new, and take advantage of special times of year, like the holiday season.

Remember that people want to know about your work, what you’re doing and what you need. If they have given you their email address they want to see an email from you, so make the most of it!