For small non-profits, digital marketing can seem overwhelming.

Limited resources, time, and personnel often make it challenging to reach and engage an audience effectively. Yet, with the right tools, even small organisations can create impactful marketing campaigns without the need for a large team or extensive budget.

Here, we’ve compiled a list of essential time-saving tools across five categories: Trends and Ideas, Email, Social Media Strategy and Analysis, Design, and Reminders. Each tool can help you streamline your efforts, get inspired, and do much more with less.

Trends and Ideas

Staying up-to-date with trends and finding content ideas are crucial for keeping your audience engaged. The following tools will help you uncover the topics your audience is interested in and explore the latest trends relevant to your cause.

• AnswerThePublic: This tool is a goldmine for topic ideas. Simply type in a keyword related to your organisation’s mission, and AnswerThePublic will generate a visual map of questions and phrases people commonly search for around that topic. This tool is particularly useful for understanding what potential supporters want to know, allowing you to tailor content that addresses their needs.
   
• BuzzSumo: BuzzSumo enables you to discover the most popular content within your sector or topic area. You can identify high-performing content across social media platforms, which helps you learn what type of content resonates with people and can guide you in creating similar posts.
   
• Google Alerts: With Google Alerts, you can set up notifications for specific keywords or phrases. This means you’ll receive regular updates on relevant topics, helping you stay informed about what’s happening in your field. Monitoring keywords related to your organisation’s focus can provide inspiration for timely and relevant content.

By leveraging these tools, you can keep your digital marketing efforts in line with current trends, which can help increase engagement and establish your organisation as a trusted source of information.

Email Marketing

Email remains one of the most effective communication channels for non-profits. It allows you to connect with your supporters, update them on your work, and encourage donations. However, crafting and sending personalised, engaging emails can be time-consuming. Here’s a tool that can help:
 

• Lemlist: Lemlist is a user-friendly tool for sending customised email campaigns. It allows you to personalise emails at scale, making it easy to add a personal touch that resonates with readers. You can also track engagement metrics like open rates and click-through rates, which provides insight into the effectiveness of your campaigns. Lemlist’s automation features can save hours each week, allowing you to focus on crafting impactful messages. For small non-profits, Lemlist is an excellent solution for nurturing relationships without needing extensive technical expertise or time.
   
• Constant Contact: Constant Contact is a robust email marketing solution with specific features tailored for non-profits, including donation collection and event management integrations. Its easy-to-use templates allow you to quickly design professional-looking emails, and it provides extensive analytics to track your email performance. Constant Contact also offers customer support, making it ideal for teams who may need guidance.
   
• Moosend: Moosend is another affordable option that’s user-friendly and packed with automation features. It allows you to create customised workflows based on subscriber behaviour, making it easy to send targeted messages to different segments of your audience. Moosend also has a range of templates, which is perfect for non-profits that need to create visually appealing emails without extensive design skills.

Social Media Strategy and Analysis

Building a social media presence is essential for non-profits to raise awareness and foster engagement. However, it’s often challenging to create consistent and relevant content, particularly when juggling other responsibilities. Here are tools that can simplify this process:

• Sprout Social: Sprout Social provides a suite of social media tools that include publishing, analytics, and audience engagement features. Sprout Social’s reporting features offer in-depth insights into your audience demographics and engagement trends, which can help you adjust your content strategy. For non-profits, this tool is particularly useful for tracking social media impact and understanding supporter behaviour across platforms.
   
• Our eBook! Copalana’s Social Media Strategy for Non-Profits is a comprehensive guide to creating a winning strategy on social media, even if you’ve never made one before. Taking you step-by-step through the process, it will help define your goals, come up with authentic and engaging ideas, and plan in advance so you don’t have to spend so much effort in the future.
   
• Trello: Trello is a project management tool that helps teams organise tasks visually. For non-profits, Trello can streamline your content planning and scheduling process. With Trello, you can create boards for different social media platforms, set deadlines, and assign tasks to team members. The platform’s collaborative features allow teams to coordinate content creation, ensuring a consistent posting schedule.
   
• SEMrush Social Media Toolkit: This toolkit offers comprehensive social media analytics, enabling you to monitor your social media performance across different platforms. With SEMrush, you can track engagement, analyse competitor activity, and schedule posts. It also provides suggestions for improving your strategy, making it easier to identify the best times to post and topics to share.

Together, these tools make it easier to plan, track, and improve your social media efforts without adding extra work to your team’s plates.

Design

Effective visuals are essential for capturing attention and communicating your message, especially on social media. Fortunately, creating professional designs no longer requires a graphic designer, thanks to these accessible design tools:

• Canva: Canva is an intuitive, drag-and-drop design tool that enables anyone to create beautiful graphics. It offers pre-made templates for social media, presentations, posters, and more, which is ideal for non-profits that lack design experience. Canva’s free version has numerous templates, fonts, and images, allowing you to create consistent, branded visuals quickly.
   
• Veed.io AI Video Generator: Veed.io simplifies video editing for beginners, enabling you to create engaging video content without needing prior editing skills. You can use the AI Video Generator tool to quickly create relevant and engaging content, then add subtitles, captions, and filters to make your videos more accessible and visually appealing. This tool is ideal for non-profits looking to create compelling video content for social media or website promotions.

By using these tools, you can create high-quality visual content that enhances your message and increases your chances of connecting with audiences, even on a limited budget.

Reminders

Aligning your digital marketing efforts with important dates can significantly increase visibility and engagement. By tapping into relevant holidays or awareness days, you can make your content timelier and more relatable. Here are some calendars that list dates significant to various causes:

• GlobalGiving CSR Events Calendar: This calendar includes key dates related to corporate social responsibility and philanthropy. Using this, you can plan campaigns around dates relevant to the causes your non-profit supports, making it easy to capitalise on broader awareness.
   
• YouGiveGoods Cause Awareness Calendar: This calendar lists dates for major awareness days across various causes. It’s a valuable resource for planning posts or events that align with global and national awareness efforts, giving your campaigns a boost in relevance.
   
• Diversity Resources Diversity Calendar: This calendar highlights diversity-focused days and months. If your non-profit focuses on inclusion, this is an essential resource for planning culturally sensitive and relevant content.
   
• Council of Europe Human Rights Calendar: This calendar features human rights-related dates, which can be particularly useful for non-profits focusing on social justice or advocacy.
   
• Millie Social Impact Calendar: Millie’s calendar highlights social impact events, ideal for non-profits looking to connect with like-minded audiences.

Integrating these dates into your content calendar can help create a timely and engaging digital marketing strategy, without requiring constant brainstorming for new ideas.

By incorporating these tools into your digital marketing strategy, your small non-profit can streamline operations, stay relevant, and engage with supporters effectively.

For those looking to take their social media to the next level, our own Copalana StoryTeller tool offers a suite of features specifically designed for non-profits. StoryTeller allows you to share stories that highlight your mission, accomplishments, and community impact.

With Copalana, you can focus more on your authentic, uplifting story and less on the mechanics, ensuring that your voice resonates with those who matter most.