Before you begin thinking about how you want to grow your organization, start by taking a step back and thinking about the people you want to attract.
Identifying your audience is one of the most important foundational steps you can take. It lets you create a picture in your mind of the people you’re trying to reach. And best of all, it will make all the other work you do much, much easier and more effective.
When you’re first trying out this exercise, it doesn’t have to take a lot of time. Think about your main goal for your organization, and think about the ideal people you’re trying to reach to accomplish that goal. If you’re looking to increase donations, think about some things a lot of your donors have in common.
Of course, there are some basic factors like age, gender, and income. But you might also want to ask other questions, like:
- What interests do they share?
- What’s their personality like? Are you appealing to a really professional community, or are they more informal?
- Where do they live? Are they in a certain region, live more in cities or rural areas, or near common landmarks?
- Are they tech-savvy? Are they on their phones all the time, or do they put more value in mailings or pamphlets?
Over time, you’ll be able to refine your audience even more to make what you do even more targeted!
It’s important to realize that you might have more than one target audience, depending on what you’re trying to accomplish. Your typical volunteers and your typical donors may be two completely separate groups – and that’s completely fine! (It can even work to your advantage!)
As you grow, you may also want to realize that you want to reach new groups of people to increase your reach or expand your diversity. But having a group in mind to start can give you a solid foundation to experiment and work toward future growth.
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