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August 13, 2021

Consider Print Materials as Part of Your Nonprofit Marketing Strategy

MarketingStrategyCommunicationsNonprofit

With so many aspects of our everyday lives having gone digital, organizations have the opportunity to stand out by utilizing print materials in a smart and strategic way.

When used to accentuate your work, print materials can help you connect, educate and call your donors and constituents to action. Print materials act as a tangible reminder of your nonprofit and have a longer lifespan than digital marketing tools such as email or ads.

Because the cost of printing is high, it’s important to think through which materials will make the most impact as physical resources, and which ones are fine staying digital.

Best Types of Nonprofit Marketing Print Materials

When deciding on how a project will be executed, one of the most important things you can do as an organization is to consider your target audience and their needs.

In order for you to get the desired response, what do they need from you?

If you’re doing a will-planning campaign, for example, perhaps creating a physical workbook will best serve your audience’s needs. However, if you’re running a contest then it may be easier to collect entries online.

Because every campaign is different, it’s important to think through the different ways it can be executed and find the best approach to reach your goals.

From content curation & editing, to layout and design, the crew at Anchor loves to help bring your print projects to life from start to finish.

Here are a few types of projects we’ve seen perform awesome as print marketing material campaigns:

#1. Direct Mail

Print Marketing Materials Examples For Fundraisers and Charities
Here is an example of an appeal letter that we created.
Love the design? Need some wordsmithery? Contact us, we’d love to help!

If you’ve been in the direct mail space for a while then you know, it works!

Sending physical fundraising appeal letters, newsletters or catalogues may seem like a thing of the past, but because less people are sending mail these days this allows your pieces to stand out.

The important caveat is to ensure you’re sending materials that are worth reading, and have perceived value for your constituents.

#2. Annual Reports

Making the effort to create a physical annual report is often worth the time and expense.

These can be used to show your donors what their support has accomplished over the past year, and cast a vision for what you’d like to accomplish together in the future.

This marketing piece has the potential to be your most important printed material of the year.

Print Marketing Material Ideas For Nonprofits
A brochure we created for one of our wonderful clients. Click here to hear what our clients have to say about Anchor!

#3. Posters, Brochures, Pamphlets

For organizations that participate in trade shows, you already know the important role brochures and pamphlets play in effective marketing.

These pieces are often used to promote a project or educate constituents about a particular campaign.

They could also feature a key program or offer a gift in exchange for signing up for your mailing list. These are often best-used at events… which we’ll eventually attend again!

#4. Calendars

Just like everything else in our lives, calendars are going digital. But there is still value in creating a physical calendar for your constituents. Again, it all comes down to understanding what your supporters are interested in and what they will value.

For some, a nice, big wall calendar with inspiring images and quotes will hit the mark. For others, a branded desktop calendar makes more sense. There are very few printed materials that stay in a home for an entire year, so if you can design the right calendar then you have found a way to stay top-of-mind all year long.


With all of our projects at Anchor Marketing, we take a strategy-first approach to ensure we connect with your vision and work towards reaching your unique goals. Take a look through a few of our past print materials projects and let us know how we can help make stronger connections with your constituents!

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