Improve your marketing strategy with free insights generated by Google

Target audience: Nonprofits, businesses, NGOs, social enterprises, socially responsible brands, marketing professionals, cause organizations, social media managers, bloggers, individuals.

Guest post by Frank Anderson
GreenMarketing.tv

You’ve started a blog for your nonprofit, NGO, social enterprise or green business and included examples of your organization’s sustainability initiatives. You’ve highlighted your efforts to reduce your carbon footprint and green your supply chain in your marketing collateral. You’ve created guides for your customers of how to be environmentally conscious with your product.

You’ve laid the groundwork for your green marketing. But things are changing and news is happening fast and furious. There are always new things to be trying and new green ideas you can be writing about to show that your organization is on the front lines of the green movement.

What is Google Insights?

The tagline for the popular movie The Watchmen was “Who watches the Watchmen?” With Google, if you’ve ever wondered, “Who searches the searchers?,” the answer is Google Insights.

Google Insights gives people access to what people are searching for on Google. And before you start to cry privacy foul, this data is on a very high level and no personal data is being shared there. In other words, you can see what groups of people are searching for, but not individuals.

What can I do with Google Insights?

Google Insights is best used for three things:

• Seeing the general interest in the topics you are focusing on
• Seeing popular related news articles to give you an idea of what is going on within your focus
• Ideas for what other areas you could be focusing on

But first, you need to go to the site and start searching for something you are focusing your business on regarding green issues.

Let’s say you run a furniture store. Perhaps you’d want to search for “eco friendly furniture” or “eco furniture” (“green furniture” would obviously pull up some unwanted data). We want to start broadly as Insights works with very high level data.

General interest

The first thing you are going to notice on Google Insights is the search interest graph. This graph gives you an idea of how many people were searching for that term over the last few years.

As you’re trying different keywords for things your company is focusing on in the green sphere, this graph will give you some insight into what is gaining popularity and what is not.

Popular news articles

If you are looking for article topics to write on your company’s blog concerning the latest innovations and news in green issues, Insights can be a real help. On many keywords that you enter, the interest graph will be smaller, and on the right you will have a list of trending articles related to your topic.

These are usually from very respected news websites and can get your brain spinning thinking of things to write about. Not to mention keeping up with the latest news on eco-issues will keep you well informed and knowledgeable on the subject.

Ideas for future initiatives

The last piece of Insights that could possibly be the most helpful is the Rising Searches section at the bottom right.

Rising Searches can give you an idea of topics similar to the one you searched for that are becoming popular on Google. If your marketing efforts have the goal of bringing people to your site, you may want to incorporate these new ideas into your plan.

In the furniture example, you may have focused your business on providing furniture that is eco-friendly, but were you aware of the desire for recycled furniture? Could you possibly have a page on your website that explains what the materials are in eco-friendly furniture to help people searching for that information? What exactly is organic furniture and how does it compare to other types of furniture?

Final thoughts on using Google Insights

People often look all over for ideas of how to perform better in their online marketing, especially in terms of getting more visitors form Google to their site. But not a lot of people realize that Google itself has a ton of tools to help you do just that. After you’ve had your fill of Google Insights, you might want to check out some of their other similar tools like Google Trends and Google’s Ad Words Tool.

Does your organization know about Google Insights?

This article originally appeared on GreenMarketing.tv. It is republished with permission.

The post How to use Google Insights for your nonprofit or business appeared first on Socialbrite.

Three simple steps to establish a successful partnership & boost your organization’s profile

Target audience: Nonprofits, NGOs, cause organizations, social enterprises, businesses, brands, marketing professionals.

Guest post by Amanda DiSilvestro
Content Writer, Resource Nation

The phrase “two heads are better than one” is becoming more and more popular as the economic outlook becomes less popular. In other words, many nonprofit organizations have begun to realize that striking up a partnership with another company can be beneficial.

Co-marketing, or cooperative marketing, essentially amounts to an agreement between two companies that says each company will help market the other. For example, an organization dedicated to helping the homeless may work with a food bank, or an organization working to renovate public schools may work with a construction company.

Benefits of establishing a co-marketing partnership

• The other company can refer your organization to customers. This will give you an entirely new group of people who may be interested in your cause.
• People who recognize and trust your partner company will be more likely to give your organization’s ideas a listen.
• You have the option to share expenses and profits with your partner company. For example, you may want to share an ad in a paper or include your logo in your partner’s e-mail messages.
• Both companies can use each other’s talents when creating marketing campaigns.

Now, the tricky thing about co-marketing is actually finding a company you want to work with, and then drawing up the paperwork. If you do one and not the other, those benefits I talked about are likely to go right down the drain. Fortunately, if you follow a few simple steps you will come out of a co-marketing deal with success.

3 steps to create a lasting partnership

Management and marketing department
1You should first learn as much as you can about these two aspects of your potential company partner. Go to lunch and ask those in charge about their customer loyalty, their strategies and their opinions on the overall approach they think works when it comes to marketing. Also, consider spending a day in the office observing. Really get to know how things work.

Reputation
2When you enter into a co-marketing partnership with another company, your reputation is on the line. You’ll want to make sure your partner has a sterling reputation. To properly vet a potential partner, go online and look at reviews and other customer feedback. If you need to ask the company for a few e-mail addresses or contacts, do so. To put it simply, don’t just take the manager’s word that they have a good reputation; do your own research.

Talk numbers and start slow
3When you sit down with the manager, owner or marketing department, ask for numbers. Figure out exactly what they want out of the partnership. While you are most likely looking for publicity, your partner company may be looking for profit increases. Many companies actually have a trial-run first where they work with a small number of customers and do a small amount of advertising together. If it seems to work, then jump into something more serious.

Boost your organization’s profile

In the end, co-marketing should go off without a hitch if you do your research and approach it with caution. As someone who has experience in co-marketing projects, I guarantee you will find that the benefits far outweigh any stress or problems you may encounter. Hopefully you will not only increase your publicity because of these efforts, but you will create a lasting partnership that will bring both you and your partner company to the top together.

The post How to make co-marketing work for your nonprofit appeared first on Socialbrite.