EA - The cost of (not) taking marketing seriously by James Odene [User-Friendly]

Welcome to The Nonlinear Library, where we use Text-to-Speech software to convert the best writing from the Rationalist and EA communities into audio. This is: The cost of (not) taking marketing seriously, published by James Odene [User-Friendly] on August 11, 2023 on The Effective Altruism Forum.TLDR: EA organisations are forfeiting impact if they don't take marketing seriously. User-friendly are offering a free and friendly 'sense-check' consultancy call to all EA-aligned organisations. Email [email protected] to enquire.IntroductionBy not properly addressing the role of marketing in the effective altruism movement, there is substantial impact being forfeited; potentially ~20% impact loss, though in some cases, likely even more. Our efforts, no matter how rational or impact-seeking, can only create the desired change if they are effectively communicated and disseminated to our intended audience. Marketing provides us with the tools to bridge the gap between intention and action, between knowledge and support, and between ideas and real-world impact. If we continue to communicate without adequate marketing consideration, we are consistently short-changing our impact.The effective altruist approach is highly analytical. Due to this, we often assume that our intended audience won't be impacted by marketing, however, everyone is (yes, even you are) impacted by aesthetic, by language choice, by an interface and experience quality. You may not think of your organisation as a 'brand' with a 'customer-base' trying to 'sell', but you are still beholden to all the same rules that consumer facing brands are as these are derived from human-nature and our shared (biassed) psychology.Below I will highlight some key research and how EA organisations can take advantage of the findings.5 key pieces of research on why marketing matters;"The Long and Short of It" by Les Binet and Peter Field:This influential research study analysed over 1,400 advertising campaigns and demonstrated the importance of long-term brand building and balancing it with short-term activation. The findings indicate that organisations that invest in long-term brand building experience significant increases in brand-related key performance indicators, market share growth, and profitability.How can EA organisations benefit from this:Firstly, it's important to note that most organisations don't have a marketing budget - so this is step one. What this should be will vary for each organisation, but I would expect a rough gauge of 10-30% of your annual budget to be on marketing.For companies that allocate 60% or more of their marketing budget to long-term brand building activities achieve a 140% increase in brand-related metrics. Additionally, organisations that strike the right balance between long-term and short-term campaigns experience 2.5x higher market share growth and 3x higher profitability growth compared to those with an unbalanced approach. For EA organisations, this could translate into higher donation volumes, fellowship applications or related organisational objectives. Even less directly public-facing organisations will rely on long-term brand building as without being known or being salient, the organisation objectives will suffer no matter how effective your core work is."How Brands Grow" by Byron Sharp and the Ehrenberg Bass Institute:Sharp's research challenges traditional marketing assumptions and provides evidence-based insights into brand growth and audience behaviour. The study emphasises the significance of reaching a broad audience and creating strong mental availability through consistent and distinctive branding. The research findings indicate that organisations focusing on broadening their audience base can achieve a 60% to 80% increase in brand penetration and a 25% to 50% increase in market share. Moreover, improving mental availability through consistent and distinctive branding contributes to a 10% to 25% increase in m...