Jen Esparza Shares How to Navigate the Challenges of Nonprofit Marketing

In this conversation, Rob Pene interviews marketing expert Jen Esparza, who shares her insights on marketing strategies for nonprofits and small businesses. They discuss the importance of community engagement, crafting clear messages, and the challenges faced by nonprofits in turning readers into donors. 

Jen emphasizes the need for patience and foundational planning in both nonprofit and small business ventures, as well as the role of AI in enhancing marketing efforts.

Key Takeaways

▶️ Procrastination can hinder personal and professional growth.

▶️ Nonprofits face unique challenges in marketing compared to small businesses.

▶️ Crafting a clear and compelling message is crucial for nonprofits.

▶️ Email marketing is more effective than social media for nonprofits.

▶️ Community engagement can significantly boost a nonprofit's visibility.

▶️ Understanding community needs is essential before launching a nonprofit.

▶️ Patience and planning are vital for long-term success in business.

▶️ Validating business ideas can save time and resources.

▶️ A solid marketing strategy is necessary for growth.

▶️ AI can be a valuable tool for brainstorming and refining ideas.

Sound Bites

- "Get out of my own way."

- "Double the marketing to do."

- "Refining their message is key."

- "Find the gaps in the community."

- "Patience is a virtue."

Contact Jen

https://thejenadvantage.com

Chapters

00:00 Introduction to Marketing Insights

01:13 Personal Growth and Procrastination

02:34 Marketing Basics for Nonprofits

03:32 Challenges in Nonprofit Marketing

05:04 Turning Readers into Donors

06:22 Crafting a Clear Message

08:40 Effective Marketing Channels for Nonprofits

10:53 Community Engagement Strategies

14:49 The Importance of Community Needs Assessment

17:15 Foundational Steps for Small Businesses

18:52 Validating Business Ideas

19:59 The Role of Strategy in Business Success

21:43 Client Relationships and Referrals

23:51 The Impact of AI on Marketing

--

This epsidoe is brought to you by The Digital Writing Firm and their LinkedIn Ghostwriting service. Visit https://thedigitalwritingfirm.com for more information.

Transcript

Jen Esparza Transcript

Rob Pene (00:00.398)

Welcome, everybody. It's nice to meet you. The behind the scenes stories of busy professionals. am your host, Faleulu Ropachi Nicolaumikaele Pasipinholotaulau Usofano, but you can call me Rob. We'll keep it super simple. Nice and easy there. This episode is brought to you by Get Ghosted. It's a LinkedIn ghost writing and profile management service that helps to...

Write all your posts, manage your DMs, manage the connection requests so you're targeting the right people, all that stuff. So you don't have to write a word and you can build your trust with the audience in record time because you're not doing any of that stuff. So if you're on Instagram but you're not on LinkedIn, make sure to get on LinkedIn. GetGhosted is a service, but go to thedigitalwritingfirm.com for more information. Today, I'm excited because Jen Esparza,

is a marketing wizard and has written two books on marketing. And I've got a ton of questions because we want to pick her brain about the book content and her expertise. So man, thank you for joining us.

Jen Esparza (01:13.203)

Thanks for having me.

Rob Pene (01:14.798)

The question that I usually try to start off with kind of helps to get the wheels turning is this. In the last 12 months, if you were to turn those 12 months into a Netflix special.

What would that movie be about and what would you call it?

Jen Esparza (01:33.898)

my gosh, what would that movie be called? And what would it be about? The last 12 months. It would be a journey of growth and fighting procrastination and getting out of my own way. And maybe that would be a great title right there. Just get out of my own way. Get out of your way.

Rob Pene (01:56.886)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's good. Now was the recent book part of that 12 month process or?

Jen Esparza (02:04.565)

For sure, for sure. writing a book, it obviously takes time out of your normal activities of running a business and being a mom and a wife and all those things. And it's one of those things that you really want to get done, but then there's that voice that creeps in of whether it's as good, is it ready? And so a lot of that just procrastination, dragging my own feet, getting in my own way to actually.

Cross that finish line.

Rob Pene (02:35.874)

And this is the marketing basics for nonprofits? Yes. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Let's dive into that because I know there's so many nonprofit executive directors that struggle with marketing and perfect book, you know?

Jen Esparza (02:40.553)

Yes, that's my second book, yeah.

Jen Esparza (02:54.71)

Well, yeah, especially because, you know, whether you're a nonprofit or a small business, usually time and money are the two things you don't have a lot of. So if you don't have the resources or you don't even know where to start looking to be able to just buy a book that was literally the basics of what you need to get started and will make an impact right away. That was, you know, kind of like my gift to the community of being able to get this out there to just help more people.

Rob Pene (03:23.81)

What makes a nonprofit different from a regular small business in terms of how you market for the organization?

Jen Esparza (03:32.246)

Well, if you're a good nonprofit, you are running like a small business, because you kind of are. But the challenges that they have more so than a small business is their funding. Like funding will come in different ways and need to be used in different ways. And so they've got a lot of hurdles to cross with that. And then there's staffing. Like oftentimes, they're either all volunteers or it's a very small staff. And turnover tends to be pretty high. So just having consistency.

is a big part of that problem. So I think, you know, the actual marketing tactics and things can be really similar, but the execution of them, keeping them simple, keeping them consistent and having, you know, that consistent format so someone can jump in and take over if needed. Those kinds of things need to be set up just to help them be more successful.

Rob Pene (04:22.442)

Is it more difficult to turn like a reader into a donor? Or is it more difficult on the small business side to turn traffic into revenue?

Jen Esparza (04:35.744)

Great question. think for what that's worth. I honestly, think it's trying to turn somebody into the donor only because people are just naturally a little selfish. So if you see a product you want, you buy it. But if somebody wants your money for something you don't get a return for necessarily, a tangible return, there might be a little more convincing to do. And that's what I feel for nonprofits. They actually kind of have double the marketing to do because

in one vein they need to send a message that is to their donor audience. Like this is what we do, it's how we support your community, this is why you should help us. But then they also need a whole other marketing strategy to reach the people that they serve. Because those are two really different messages. If you were serving victims of sex trafficking, your message to the victims needs to be we're a safe place, this is how you find us.

This is what we offer you whereas to the donor. It's like hey, do you know what's happening in your community? These are the statistics. This is what's happened. This is how we've helped You know this is what we can do to help make it not happen anymore Or whatever head this how we serve them and they're just two very different messages So they kind of have double the work cut out

Rob Pene (05:49.491)

Yikes. Yeah, and all of that should be done ahead of time, right?

Jen Esparza (05:55.029)

In theory, yeah.

Rob Pene (05:59.346)

Sometimes they'll just go off of their passion and then start this nonprofit and, we want to help, we want to help, but then all of a sudden no money comes in and I'm sending emails and we're knocking on doors and we're doing events, but there's no money coming in. What would you suggest for people that are struggling like that, that are struggling with their message?

Jen Esparza (06:22.515)

And that's what I mean by, you know, folks need to run it like a business, even though it's a nonprofit, because there still needs to be like, is there a need for this in the community? Is anyone else doing the same thing? Like, should we join efforts together? Or should I do my own? And sometimes because of that passion, they forget to do that upfront work that like if you are a small business applying for a loan,

The bank would ask you all those questions like, well, what is the need for this? And what are your projections on your earnings? And is there another business just like this down the street that it's going to take away from you? they kind of missed that point. But you literally asked a question on Tag2That, and I don't remember what you asked me. Go ahead.

Rob Pene (07:06.382)

Yeah, well, what would you recommend them to do when they're like struggling with their message?

Jen Esparza (07:13.387)

their message. The first part of the book is actually an entire assessment of the organization asking them questions. And I think that really refining their message and asking themselves the questions of why are we doing this and what's our value proposition? What do we really offer that's different? And really kind of having those hard conversations either with themselves or with their board.

Rob Pene (07:21.195)

man.

Jen Esparza (07:41.834)

To get to that, sometimes that pit in your stomach where you don't want to do the hard work, you don't want to have to answer the hard questions. so taking a few steps back and just really diving into what is our purpose here and getting everyone to speak that same language because people join nonprofits for different reasons. Whether it's they want to save the puppy dogs or because they want to meet people in the community and they want them to look good on their resume or whatever. It's always different reasons of why people join something.

making sure they're all on the same page for one will help know that they're talking about the same thing to the community. And then just really getting clear as to like what their purpose is so that can help build their story.

Rob Pene (08:22.806)

Hmm. What do you, from your experience, more tactical, what works better for nonprofits? Would it be like social, email, billboards, events?

Jen Esparza (08:40.257)

Like I said, easy and consistency are super important for a nonprofit just because of the way they're built. I think email is awesome for nonprofits once they've established themselves and they've got emails because social media is fantastic and pretty much everybody can use it and needs it. depending on what the algorithm gods are thinking today, you have no idea who sees it.

Whereas if I send you an email, I know it lands in your inbox. Like what you do with it's a whole other story and that's four strategies to what to do in the email. But at least I know it went to you and you're going to see that. So for nonprofits that they've already got an email list established, having regular like consistent emails sent so that people are hearing from you, you're top of mind. You know, the end of the year, I got a couple end of the year emails from nonprofits.

that were like, know, it's our end of the year campaign looking for donations. And like the squeaky wheel got the donations. Like, you know, we're bell busy people. So we don't have time to just sit here and be like, wow, who should I donate to today? Like whoever lands in my inbox is more likely to get it. So I think email is really important. Social media is great, but it can also just be, I don't want to say a waste of time, but if you're just doing it to do it,

Rob Pene (09:41.847)

Vietnam

Rob Pene (10:03.863)

No.

Jen Esparza (10:04.711)

you might not be getting the return on the time investment you're putting into it. So while it's great that it's free, there's a time investment and that's worth something too. still, I think it's still necessary to have a strategy behind it before you go out and just post randomly.

Rob Pene (10:20.748)

Yeah, yeah. I'm being led to maybe like an example. We could brainstorm around just fictitious nonprofit and then see what you would recommend for them based on what the passion is. Would you be okay with that? Yeah, yeah. A sports and education nonprofit that is serving not the underprivileged, but more the wealthy area.

Jen Esparza (10:36.607)

Sure, sure.

Rob Pene (10:51.15)

And the kids need structure, need attention. Yeah, let's go there.

Jen Esparza (11:02.057)

Okay. Okay.

Rob Pene (11:04.716)

Well, for sports and education, what would be the rollout? Like, hey, do we go to the chamber or how would they infiltrate the community to say, hey, we've got this program for our kids in this particular area?

Jen Esparza (11:20.981)

So that's what I was gonna first mention was your community can and should be your biggest cheerleaders when it comes to your nonprofit. And whether it's this or anything, like finding the people in the community who support a cause like yours is huge because it's like having free influencers all in your area. Like nonprofits generally, unless they're huge, which that's not what we're talking about, either serving the immediate community. finding your, you know,

people around the community who are already really involved and invested, get them to start talking about you, to get them to be your cheerleaders. Again, it doesn't cost anything and it's priceless. And word of mouth and having that word of mouth recommendation is so huge. like getting referrals as a small business, getting your five star reviews, it's kind of what that's like. So I think Chambers can be a great place to start in this case.

Rob Pene (12:09.752)

All

Jen Esparza (12:15.349)

I would definitely go to places where you're already going to find folks doing, you said sports and do you say other activities or just sports? Education. So finding places where they're already participating in that to one, either partner or two, just to find your audience to be able to maybe have an add on program to what they're doing. So I'm thinking like a lot of sports are already nonprofits like soccer leagues or whatever.

Rob Pene (12:22.094)

Sports and education.

Rob Pene (12:44.63)

Yeah, pizza like restaurants. Yeah, the pizza restaurants. I know they sponsor the sports league so we could go there.

Jen Esparza (12:44.917)

So, I'm trying.

Jen Esparza (12:54.932)

and supporting any kind of stores that are like a sporting goods store or tutoring center, any kind of activities that are already supporting those groups like I said, like a tutoring or who else supports kids. Also just looking at what the school system is doing and how they support them and maybe finding the gaps so that that's part of your value proposition is that maybe on the school team there's

Rob Pene (13:15.906)

Yeah.

Jen Esparza (13:22.547)

you know, some people get cut here, everybody makes it because you're all participating in the same thing. Maybe there's more like a value system led here. So at school, it's just school. here, like a theater I worked with was Christian U Theater. So it's theater for kids. But they also there's an underlying, you know, Christian and development of character that goes along with it. So that's different than maybe the theater you would get in school. Well, yeah, you have to come here and you pay to be in this theater at this nonprofit. But

you're also getting all this character development and things like that. So finding those value propositions that kind of make you stand out and make you different will be what attracts your audience. And you really have to decide what the audience is of who you're even trying to attract. So like you said, it's a more affluent, really creating that customer persona of who is it we're even going after? Like I said, yeah, the chamber's a great place, but who are you actually trying to find there? My chamber of commerce has thousands of people in it.

who am I actually looking for? So kind of doing that homework first to know who I'm looking for.

Rob Pene (14:26.104)

Right. Yeah. Okay. So before somebody even thinks about launching something, they should do all this, go into the community, maybe ask questions, find the gaps, and then create the solution to fill those gaps as the nonprofit. So it's almost taking the passion and then adding more color to it based on what the need is, right, in the community.

Jen Esparza (14:49.331)

Definitely, because if there isn't a need, like, the passion, I what good is the passion? So you still have to be able to find a place to put it to use.

Rob Pene (14:52.014)

Right.

Rob Pene (14:57.452)

Wow, so they have to really be patient and not jump the gun and try to start something, but really get entrenched in the community, find first what's missing.

Jen Esparza (15:08.351)

To be successful, think, yeah, mean, some folks are okay with starting small and they're okay with just helping a few and their intention isn't to grow some great big fabulous program. But for somebody who's looking to start something and they already have a vision of like, we're gonna do one sport now, but then we're gonna offer this tutoring and then we're gonna offer this boxing program and then we're gonna offer this. Like if you are really looking for something to expand, it is like running a business that you have to have that business plan laid out.

Rob Pene (15:38.033)

Yeah. I think that's important because I think a lot of nonprofits, well, at least the ones that have a desire, it starts from the passion and then they're blind to the plan. It's like, oh, let's just go. We want to help people, want to help people and no plan until much later. And then they get...

Jen Esparza (15:58.272)

Yeah. And it doesn't mean that they don't have a great cause. I know somebody who started one. It just started out of a necessity. She wanted to give women some to feel worth who were homeless or in need. And so she started collecting nice used purses. And she'd fill them with necessities that a woman might need. And then it started snowballing. It took off. But then she was storing everything in her garage because she had no place to store it. She was doing it all herself.

having friends come over to help her stuff these bags full of donated stuff in her driveway. it snowballed before she even really had a chance to figure out what she was doing. And that can help. That can cause burnout. That can just make you quit because you're like, hold on. I didn't have time for this. I didn't realize. And so while I love that passion and I love that, yeah, let's just get up and go and let's just do something. If you're trying to build longevity, at some point, you do have to do that work.

Rob Pene (16:55.01)

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So patience is a virtue, yeah.

Jen Esparza (16:59.414)

I don't have it, but hopefully they do.

Rob Pene (17:02.83)

So now on the flip side for small business somebody has an idea excited Would you recommend the same process or or a different process?

Jen Esparza (17:15.559)

Very similar and that's why again, the first part of my whole book really is on those foundational things because I found people were coming to me and saying, I need social media because they all, that's what you hear, you need to have a presence. But then I'd find that they had other holes in their business and I realized if you don't have people to answer the phone when everyone starts calling, if your product isn't quality and you're getting complaints, if you have really bad reviews, let's not even waste money on

marketing yet, like we need to fix some other things first. so, you know, talking about like branding and making sure that your brand is on point, whether it's just talking about like color and, you know, logos and professionalism there, but also just your message and how you're portraying yourself to the world and things like your audience and your customer avatar, who are you actually going after and how to retain the customers you have, like sometimes folks get so caught up in more customers.

Rob Pene (17:46.606)

Yeah.

Jen Esparza (18:14.217)

they forget to take care of the ones they already have. And sometimes you can just upsell the ones you already have with your new products and you don't have to go find a bunch of new ones. So really getting that solid foundation of what it is that you're doing, getting all of those things figured out. And again, that's patience and that's like annoying because you just want to take off and go start your coffee shop or go with your new, you know, t-shirt line you have or whatever. But

Rob Pene (18:35.671)

Yeah.

Jen Esparza (18:42.261)

It saves you so much time in the long run if you do all of that in the beginning.

Rob Pene (18:46.53)

What are your thoughts around validating an idea before you launch it?

Jen Esparza (18:52.65)

Yeah, easier said than done, but it's important. I think that's, you know, all these things we're talking about, your branding, your audience, like you have to keep revisiting all of that too. So an idea that you have right now and you try to validate it might not work. But maybe once you get a better footing in your community, more people know you, this like no like trust factor is stronger amongst them. And then you can try the same thing again. It doesn't mean it was a bad idea. But there's like.

Rob Pene (19:00.984)

No.

Jen Esparza (19:20.277)

won't even be able to think of the title right now, but there's a great book that I have that's like 100 ways to test ideas in businesses. And while a small business owner probably doesn't have the time to read 100 ideas of ways to test, the concept there is like there are so many ways to validate an idea. And if you're gonna invest your money or anyone else's money and your time in this, yeah, 100 % you need to validate your ideas.

Rob Pene (19:46.574)

That's good, that's good. What would you say is your top skill set? Do you like writing? you like graphics or are you creative? Which one of those would be your strong suit?

Jen Esparza (19:59.734)

Great question. I do love to write. If you just locked me in room all day and let me write to my heart's content, I would be very happy. Hence the two books. But as far as what I actually do for my clients on a daily basis, really it's building that strategy piece. As you can tell, I'm super passionate about making sure that all the ducks are in a row to help their business just really make sure there's a solid foundation to grow.

Rob Pene (20:09.782)

Right.

Jen Esparza (20:27.509)

And that's part of that strategy work of asking all those hard questions. Like I will always be the annoying one in the room that's like, but what about this? And it's not because I want them to fail, it's because I want them to succeed. So like, let's get all of this stuff flushed out. And then to ask the question of like, what really are your goals? And some people, it's hard to articulate their goals. It's like, I want more money, or I want to be able to afford a new car for my teenager, or I need to pay for college.

actually articulating the specificness and how you would measure those is harder for people. And so I love to work on that with folks so that we can create their plan and with actual goals and benchmarks in place so that they can see by the end of the year, wow, look what we actually accomplished. Yes, my business is growing. Because sometimes, especially as a business owner or a nonprofit, but you're just constantly in this fight or flight mode. You're just constantly like,

my God, I need more business. I need more business without stopping and go like, hey, we're actually doing okay. So helping them build strategy into everything that they do so that they can see those benchmarks and go, yeah, actually we're doing good. Or we're not doing good and we need to change, but hopefully they're doing good.

Rob Pene (21:38.039)

Yeah.

Rob Pene (21:43.48)

What types of clients do like working with?

Jen Esparza (21:46.976)

Gosh, my clients vary so much and a lot of them are like home services, so plumber, electrician, HVAC. I have med spas, a statistician, I have lots of nonprofits. And I wouldn't say that I have a favorite, which like my life would be so easy if I only did dentists, because I could just reuse all the messages. But I'm really attracted to the person I'm working with.

Rob Pene (22:13.87)

Hmm.

Jen Esparza (22:14.345)

I like to see somebody who does have that passion for what they do, for helping others, for just really wanting to make a strong business, who like to help other people put food on their table and they're supporting their employees. I'm really attracted to the business owner who's just really out there with a great value system, lots of integrity, who's just trying to do their best.

Rob Pene (22:38.818)

Nice. And how do they find you or do you find them?

Jen Esparza (22:43.762)

gosh, referrals are amazing. Back to the Chamber of Commerce thing, when I first started my business, I joined our Chamber of Commerce and I've got the most loyal group of referrers ever. Once they get to know you, that's been fantastic and just my clients also will refer me to others and so there's nothing better than getting a phone call or a text and it's like, yeah, I heard about you from so and so. I told them what I needed and they said I had to talk to you.

That always, that feels good. But I mean, I still, I've got a social media presence. I've got a website. I've got all those things that I'm supposed to be doing. But I wouldn't say that people are like, wow, I saw your social media post and I called you. Those are just great markers for them to be able to check back. It's like my resume, right? They can go stalk me on my website and be like, what's this woman all about? And they can go to my social media and be like, okay, yeah, she's.

Rob Pene (23:30.093)

Boom.

Jen Esparza (23:37.181)

in business, this is what she does, this is her vibe, I like this, this is what I need. But I wouldn't say that that's why they called me.

Rob Pene (23:46.156)

Yeah. Last question. What do you, what are your thoughts on AI?

Jen Esparza (23:51.304)

Hmm. Yeah, love hate relationship. I definitely people have asked like, my gosh, you're just going to take over your job and like, no, not yet, at least. Because I still think that the person feeding the information into AI needs to know how to feed it in and how to, you know, still make it their own. And mean, I'm sure you can tell just like anyone can tell the post

A post has a rocket ship, know, AI, you know, wrote that post on LinkedIn or something. But it's I think it's a great brainstorming tool. Like it is a great way to say like, this is what I'm thinking. This is what I'm trying to say. And it can really help formulate what you're trying to say better. It can really help be like as a solopreneur. It can be a lonely job sitting in a room by yourself. So having this AI tool to bounce ideas off of and for them to like correct your work or help

to your work is fantastic. So I think it's an amazing tool. I just think it needs to be used carefully and properly so that it's, if you're just feeding it like, hi, I'm a marketing business and I need 10 posts about marketing, that's not gonna resonate with anybody. Like, that's not helpful.

Rob Pene (25:06.208)

Yeah, good. Well, how can people find you, your social, and then the books? Where can they find the books?

Jen Esparza (25:12.925)

Yes, so on Instagram and Facebook, it's the Jen Advantage.com. And then my books can be found on Amazon. This is my nonprofit book, Marketing Basics for Nonprofits and Marketing Basics for Your Small Business. They're both on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Walmart, wherever you buy a book. You can find it there online as well.

Rob Pene (25:38.486)

And they can, because you're on podcasts too, so they can YouTube and watch all the different podcasts you're on.

Jen Esparza (25:43.381)

For sure. For sure. I am definitely anywhere on YouTube and then I'm on LinkedIn as well. But I'm on LinkedIn as just well, the GenAdvantage is on LinkedIn, but most of the stuff is just under Genis Bursa.

Rob Pene (25:55.586)

Yeah, nice, nice. Well, thank you. I appreciate it. Definitely got a lot of knowledge today. Yeah, it's good. Make sure to go to thegenadvantage.com, Check it out. Okay. Thanks.

Jen Esparza (25:58.909)

Yeah, thank you.

Thanks. Yeah, this was fun.

Jen Esparza (26:08.182)

Thank you.