Effective marketing and communications are essential to a nonprofit's success. Often, however, nonprofits hesitate to spend time and resources marketing themselves. Also, in many organizations, communications functions - both internal and external - aren't given sufficient attention. This approach can be costly in the long run. A marketing and communications plan is one of the best investments an organization can make. Ultimately, these activities strengthen the organization and support the advancement of its mission. Through marketing and communications activities, the nonprofit makes its stakeholders aware of what it does and the value of its work. When an organization's constituents are fully aware of its achievements and value, they are more likely to support it - financially, politically, and programmatically.

Every nonprofit has many stakeholders - staff, board, customers/clients, donors, funders, partners, the media, local community, and the public at large. All of these constituents must receive honest, consistent, accurate, timely - and customized - messages regarding the organization's mission, services, value, and accomplishments. In order to cultivate and strengthen the support of its constituents, the nonprofit must also create and maintain two-way communication channels. That is, there must be feedback mechanisms in place so the nonprofit can learn about and understand the interests and needs of its constituents, and measure its success in meeting these needs.

La Piana Associates helps develop and implement practical, customized marketing and communications plans that effectively promote the nonprofit with all of its constituents, supporting the advancement of its mission. We emphasize the importance of two-way communication channels. These help the nonprofit assess its effectiveness - overall, and specifically, with respect to its marketing and communications functions. Nonprofits can use this information to continually improve their services and enhance their value.

Our marketing and communications services include:

• Marketing and communications plans, and the necessary systems and processes to support these
• Marketing messages and materials
• Training programs to help staff develop and maintain marketing and communications functions in-house
• Market research studies to identify trends in the external environment, and to measure the interests and needs of constituents
• Survey research studies to measure interests, attitudes, opinions, and behaviors of constituents with respect to the organization and its services
• Studies to measure and assess the organization's effectiveness in achieving its objectives
• Systems and processes for collecting, analyzing, and reporting market and survey research data and findings