Marketing in non‐profit organizations: an international perspective

Abstract

Purpose -This study tests three hypotheses: (1) that non-profit organizations follow a customer-centered approach to marketing, (2) that marketing is run by marketing-trained staff and (3) that cross-continental differences in the adoption of marketing in the UK, the USA and Australia exist due to differences in the operating environment. Methodology -A survey study was conducted with non-profit managers. The sample contains 136 respondents; 36 from the UK, 33 from the USA and 67 from Australia. Findings -Non-profit managers indicated that the most important marketing activities are promotional in nature. The importance of market research and strategic marketing was acknowledged only by a small proportion of non-profits, supporting Andreasen and Kotler's (2003) assertion that non-profit organizations have an "organizationcentered" mindset. Only one fifth of marketing staff are trained in marketing. Non-profit organizations in the UK, USA and Australia did not differ in their use of marketing and marketing operations, suggesting that the similarity of market pressures may be more influential than the differences in operating environments. Practical implications -Shifting from an "organization-centered" to a "customer-centered" approach to marketing represents a key opportunity for non-profit organizations to increase their competitive advantage and improve their outcomes in terms of the organizational mission. The primary strategy to achieve this aim is to make increased use of formally trained marketing staff. Originality -To the authors' knowledge, this is the first study to assess the state of marketing practise in non-profit organizations since Kotler (1979Kotler ( , 1982, the first to test the organization-centered hypothesis and the first to test differences across countries.

Marketing and Communication Problems and Proposed Solutions for the Turkish Women’s N.G.O. Sector

“…Even though the general belief amongst marketing academicians is that the concept of marketing can be applied to NGO's, the numbers of persons who are skeptical about this idea have been on the increase since the beginning of 1990's (Başfırıncı, 2012). Conversely, it has been observed that the use of marketing tools applied in NGO's has not been as successful as that of profit organizations (Dolnicar and Lazarevski, 2009), because the non-governmental organizations are considerably different to commercial businesses in terms of their organizational structure, management and philosophy. The primary reason for these differences is that the main priority of NGO's in terms of their function is not to sell goods or services but to serve a mission (Başfırıncı, 2012).…”

“…For that reason they require marketing for the purpose of survival, growth and strength in their contribution for general wealth. This is why this group is considered as the third sector (Dolnicar and Lazarevski, 2009). Additionally, for Kotler and Levy, marketing has the capacity to expand a smallscale business beyond its own role and this feature gives wider social meaning to the subject.…”

“…In conclusion, it was shown that there was a significant lag in marketing in NGO's when compared to business principles such as accounting, financial management and planning. Kotler's work suggests that, although marketing is adopted by some organizations, it is either perceived as an intense tool of promotion or enthusiastically applied with little understanding (Dolnicar and Lazarevski, 2009). The 1970's and 1980's was the period when marketing increased dramatically in this sector and this philosophy entered a growth trend.…”

“…As such, they can set up marketing strategies and tools without any need for compromise in their mission. For example, to determine the clientele needing their help (market segmentation), to draw attention of those people in terms of image shaping (product positioning), to develop effective communication messages for those people (promotion), and to establish communications with the channels that those people will regularly use (distribution) (Dolnicar and Lazarevski, 2009). …”

Improving Transfer in the Food Sector by Applying a Target Audience-Centered Approach—The Development of a Nonprofit Marketing Campaign Guide Based on a Case Study of the LAV Platform

“…Several studies have proven a significant positive correlation between company success and a strong customer orientation [29]. Although market orientation (which implies a focus on a target audience) is a crucial aspect for successful marketing strategies for both for-profit and nonprofit enterprises, a study in the UK, the USA, and Australia revealed that nonprofits are still dominated by an organization-centered mindset in which marketing appears to be primarily defined by promotional activities [25,26]. However, what does target audience-centeredness mean for an organization?…”