What is digital marketing?

This domain provides advice and information to help you promote your organisation and fundraise online.

The digital marketing domain covers all aspects of promoting your organisation and fundraising online.

It includes:

Websites – how to take control of your online presence and how to create and manage your website.
Email marketing – how to use and track EDMs (electronic direct mails) and wrap this into your marketing and content strategy.
Social media – create a strategy, build a community and leverage your platforms for campaigns.
Digital Fundraising – use digital technologies to increase your donations and access grants.
Event management – streamline your events advertising, communication with attendees and payments.

We’ve summarised our not-for-profit digital capability levels and requirements in the table below so you can understand what we recommend to progress through the levels.

Digital marketing maturity model

	Challenged	Basic	Intermediate	Advanced
Websites	No online presence, or an outdated website, that is not maintained.	A very simple, optimised and mobile friendly website. Google Analytics is integrated to understand who your users are and what actions are they making.	A responsive & engaging website that plays a critical role in speaking with supporters and clients. The not-for-profit Google Ad Grant promotes your work.	Actively monitor website engagement and refine content to improve engagement and search rankings. You appear on the first page of relevant search results.
Email marketing	An electronic newsletter is sent to subscribers on a semi-regular basis.	Email marketing is planned and aligns with your communication plan. To improve your email graphics and send rates, you use an EDM tool such as MailChimp, Campaign Monitor or similar.	Identified the purpose of your email marketing efforts, and now ready to capitalise and optimise. Email marketing is planned and aligns to your digital marketing strategy.	Communications are planned and integrated. User engagement and content is tracked to prioritise content development and engage more effectively with your supporters.
Social media	Use one or two social media platforms, but often find it difficult to post engaging content regularly.	One or two social media platforms, and a social media scheduling calendar to regularly post engaging content which is shared and liked by a good number of people.	Social media content is driven by a social media strategy and is integrated into your email, website and advertising campaigns. Automated scheduling tools are used to support engagement.	Engage with large, active online communities through social media who actively and measurably help you achieve your mission.
Digital Fundraising	Accept donations and track current and prospective donors through a spreadsheet.	1-2 fundraising campaigns a year are supported by a fundraising platform connected to your website. These systems support and manage your payments.	Processes in place to foster potential donors and leverage multiple social media platforms as well as email to strengthen your donor pipeline through fundraising systems.	Use a system, such as a CRM, to track contacts and engagement across multiple platforms. A large group of donors support regularly and you understand them well and know how to expand your reach.
Event Management	Run some events and may use Facebook along with some manual processes to manage bookings.	Run in-person and online events to share your mission and engage supporters. Marketing tools are utilised to advertise and communicate online and take bookings via an event booking system.	Events align to your digital marketing strategy, and you effectively manage the advertising, communications, tickets, payments, reporting and analytics.	Use a system, such as a CRM, to manage events effectively, including advertising, communicating, tickets and payments, you connect data with other systems.