A Marketing Plan, prepared for a class at DePaul Kellstadt, focusing on providing marketing consultation for social enterprises, small businesses, and non-profits.

1. Gordon Dymowski
Building a Marketing Plan
November 24, 2013

2. • 50% of respondents have
budgets under $1
million/year
• Five questions on Survey
Monkey
• Distributed via social
networks

3. IDENTIFIED SERVICE NEEDS
› Marketing/Communications
Strategy
› Search Engine Optimization
› Public Relations
› Copywriting/Blogging
› Social Media Strategy
IDENTIFIED BARRIERS
› Lack of Organizational Support
› Lack of Internal Resources
› Inadequate Time to Learn
› Lack of Budget
› “Too Many Consultants”
Current market for non-profit marketing consultants may be
oversaturated, resulting in need to identify untapped markets

4. COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS
SOCIAL ENTERPRISES
› Ranging from neighborhood
storefronts to smaller community
groups
› Governor Quinn – Task Force on
social entrepreneurship as
economic engine
› Increasing trend
› May not have formal 501c3 status
› Lack marketing, technology &
resources
› Funding focus on maintenance
rather than growth
– 137 L3Cs in Illinois (10/31/2013)
– 20 Benefit Corporations in Illinois
– Legislation – Approved B Corporations
as Legal Entity in Illinois (04/2013)
› Estimated 6,000 social enterprises
throughout state

5. › Social Enterprise Alliance: An organization or venture that achieves
its primary social or environmental mission through business
means
› Dependent on how mission is executed & how revenue is
generated
› Examples of social ventures
– Inspiration Kitchens (Chicago)
– Kazuzu (Chicago)
– Consolare (St. Louis)

6. › Dual focus on social impact and business
growth
› Non-profits have greater exposure and
professional interest
› High emphasis on results-driven metrics
and analytics
› Traditional marketing may not see
community impact outside of cause
marketing/corporate social responsibility
initiatives

7. › L3C which focuses on
marketing, public relations,
and strategic communication
for social impact initiatives
› Provides several marketing
“packages” (CORE, BREV
Report)
› Highly involved in social
enterprise community

8. › Creates sustainable growth
for passionate companies
› Focus on brand strategy,
›
marketing, and strategic
communications
› One of the first structured
Benefit Corporations in Illinois

9. › STRENGTHS
– Formal offering of specific packages
for businesses
– Strong background in social impact
and social marketing
› WEAKNESSES
– Exclusive focus on larger
brands/focusing their impact
› STRENGTHS
– Leader in Benefit Corporation
Community
– Focused emphasis on fostering
development of mission-driven
businesses
› WEAKNESSES
– Focus exclusively on B Corporations
– Marketing is secondary to strategic
communications

10. › OPPORTUNITIES
– Greater corporate/business emphasis
on social responsibility initiatives
– State Task Force on Social Innovation
working to locate “hot areas” of activity
› THREATS
– Potential perception as “another
marketing agency”
– Audience tendencies towards thinking
“non-profit” rather than “social
enterprise”
› OPPORTUNITIES
– IL adopts Benefit Corporation
structure means greater # of potential
clients
– Corporate Social Responsibility
Initiatives may provide opportunity for
client engagement
› THREATS
– Great need for education about
benefit corporations
– Greater sophistication about
marketing and communication needs

11. › Mission: “Help social enterprises and other
mission-driven organizations build communities
one cause at a time”
› Package of consulting services
– Social Media/Online Outreach
– Marketing/Public Relations Strategy
– Capacity Building Efforts for Agency/Business
› Impact/results-driven marketing
– Move supporters from awareness to advocacy to
activity
– Provide data for business/agency development

12. STRENGTHS
WEAKNESSES
Experience working with missiondriven organizations
Strong professional focus on
Marketing and Community
Engagement, Grassroots Public
Relations
Connected to various professional
networks (Illinois Task Force, Net
Tuesday)
Familiar with startup culture, social
business realm, and nonprofit/community organizations
Graduate of Integrated Marketing
Communications program, DePaul
Kellstadt Graduate School of Business
Lack of experience in other realms
of digital marketing (e.g. paid
search, graphic design)
Possible Brand Dilution with
Blogging/Online Focus on Popular
Culture
Heavily reliant on “bootstrapping”
for startup phase
Narrow client niche and focus –
potential risk of “mission creep”

13. OPPORTUNITIES
THREATS
Recognition of need for strategic
marketing services in missionfocused field
Increasing adoption of B Corporation
and L3C stats as business models
State Government facilitating social
businesses as engine of economic
growth
Non-Profits & Social Ventures Are
Increasingly Resembling Each Other
Greater advocacy for integrating
tech and formal marketing into
mission-driven organizations
High level of professional competition
with other “consultants”
For small/medium sized
organizations, payment & funding will
be issue
Moving Businesses Towards SelfSufficiency Vs. Potential
Agency/Business “Entitlement”
Matching clients to needs (e.g., Web
Development, Graphic Design, etc)
that cannot provide
 Refer externally
 Expertise in open source equivalents
(WordPress, Gimp)

14. › Works with social enterprises and mission-driven organizations
on driving organic word-of-mouth online and offline
› Collaborates with businesses on developing appropriate
strategies that drive mission and impact
› Develops analytics & metrics to measure business and social
impact of marketing strategy
› Provides down-to-earth, personalized guidance and consultation
to foster business growth
› Offers limited services to various related entities

15. › Social Enterprises
› Benefit Corporations
› Social Entrepreneurial Startups
› Small/Community Businesses
› Community Organizations
› Non-Profits

16. › Online Marketing Strategy
– Social Media
– Content Creation & Curation
– Limited Guidance on Special Topics (SEO,
Paid Search)
› Public Relations
– Media Relations
– Blogger Identification/Outreach
– Copywriting
› Other Consultation Services
– Event Planning
– Training/Professional Development Curriculum

17. OUR PHILOSOPHY
› Integrated word-of-mouth approach
› Active participant in social
entrepreneurship networks
OUR VALUES
› Metrics and analytics driven –
“Measurement matters”
› Digital Excellence/Digital Literacy
› Move clients towards self-sufficiency
› Open Source Solutions
› Providing measurable value
› Collaboration and Communication
› Social enterprises/small businesses
drive economic growth
› Grassroots/community focus
› “Plain English”/Pop Culture literate
› Activists vs. slacktivists

18. › Penetration Strategy
– “Ramp up” Trial Period
– Project Management Packages
› Goal: Provide Range of Services for
Underserved Social Businesses
› Work Within Existing Budgets
› Reduced Rates for Community
Organizations/Non-Profits
– Sliding Scale (based on budget)
– Select service packages
– Very selective

19. › OneCauseConsulting.com
– Search Optimized
– Built on Wordpress.org
– Reciprocal Linking
› Content Creation
– Chicago Now One Cause At A
Time
– White Papers/Guest Posts
– Social Media Branding
› Social Media
– Facebook Page
– Linked In Company Page

20. One Cause Consulting is active in many
community and professional organizations

23. › Informal Survey of Peers Via Survey Monkey
– Question 1 – 0 Answers for “Community Organization” (other self-select
option
– Question 4 – Several Options had 0 answers, and were not included. These
options were
›
›
›
›
›
Tasks Seem Daunting
Don’t Know Players
Too Technical
Not Confident I Can Implement
Don’t See A Problem
› Information Re: Social Ventures via Marc Lane, Chairman of Illinois
Task Force on Social Innovation