How Non-Profit Marketing Differs from For-Profit Marketing

Whether it is focused on for-profit or non-profit promotion, a marketing company will market a product or cause using methods such as:

1. Marketing Mix: the different tools and methods they will use to get their message out - print, TV, radio, Web;
2. Target Markets: the specific markets and market segments they believe they need to market to - teenage girls, ages 13-16, is a target market; single mothers with two children is a target market;
3. Positioning: using words, symbols and ideas, this is how the company positions itself against competitors in the marketplace - they want to position themselves higher than their competitors in the minds of consumers; and
4. Public Relations: working in the community and getting individuals to talk positively about the company or product without having to pay for it as an advertisement. Both non-profit and for-profit companies use free public relations strategies in addition to paid marketing.

Non-profits use promotion to encourage donations and involvement with their cause

To take this a step further, let's break down how the Four Ps would look as they relate to these two different company types.

While for-profit and non-profit companies use the facets of marketing to draw awareness to them, they have very different end goals in mind. The for-profit wants to sell a product and exchange customer money for that product. The non-profit is building awareness and looking for donations and support to help its cause. Both types of companies need to engage the market and get people (customers) to do something - either purchase a product or donate - and in the end, that really is the goal of marketing: build awareness and inspire customers to purchase your product. The major difference is, in non-profit companies, that product is not something customers get to keep when they buy it, but rather they feel good about the help they provided to a cause.

Regardless of their intended goal, they must use the proven mix of the Four Ps of Marketing: price, the price charged for the product; place, where the product can be purchased; product, what the product actually is; and promotion, how customers will learn about or want to purchase the product.

At the end of this video, you'll be able to explain how for-profit and non-profit companies utilize the Four Ps of Marketing differently.