When Marketing Was a Dirty Word in Nonprofit Circles

When I started working in the nonprofit world, marketing was a dirty word. No, really!

The one person who changed that perception was Philip Kotler. His book, Strategic Marketing for NonProfit Organizations, was an eye opener for those of us who were struggling to find ways of making our nonprofits relevant to a world gone mad with its love of things.

I don't remember exactly how I stumbled upon Kotler's book, but it opened a new world. I learned that marketing did not equal "selling" but, as Kotler explains, "Marketing and selling are almost opposites. Hard sell marketing is a contradiction...Marketing is not the art of finding clever ways to dispose of what you make. Marketing is the art of creating genuine customer value. It is the art of helping your customers become better off. The marketer's watchwords are quality, service, and value." Q&A by Kotler.

Kotler understood the "third sector." In an early article, he said:

"In most societies of the world, economic activity is a function of the actions and interactions of a profit sector and a governmental sector. The American economy, however, contains an important third sector made up of tens of thousands of private, non-for-profit organizations....

"This strong third sector constitutes a middle way for meeting social needs, without resorting to the profit motive on the one hand or government bureaucracy on the other. Third sector organizations tend to be socially responsive and service-oriented. They specialize in the delivery of social services that are not adequately provided by either business or government....While Big Business is healthy and Big Government continues to grow, the third sector...is in trouble."

Kotler thought marketing was the answer. He pointed out that we were all doing marketing without realizing or acknowledging it, saying, "...all organizations do it whether they know it or not When this dawns on a nonprofit organization, the response is much like Moliere's character in Le Bourgeois Gentilhomme who utters: 'Good Heaven! For more than forty years I have been speaking prose without knowing it.'"

I love that quote! Kotler suggested such far out ideas as that nonprofits should appoint a marketing committee, organize task forces to carry out an institutional audit, hire marketing specialist firms, hire a marketing consultant, hire a director of marketing, and even hire a VP of marketing.

Well, things were in an uproar for a time. Fortunately, I was working for an enlightened organization, The Girl Scouts, under the leadership of Frances Hesselbein (a protégé of Peter Drucker, who also championed nonprofits). We joyfully jumped into the marketing game and never looked back.

Kotler's book has gone through numerous editions, and he still stands as a guiding light to nonprofits. I can't think of another book that had so much influence on me just as I was entering the nonprofit scene.

Do you have a favorite book? Nancy Schwartz is collecting posts on the book that most influenced you professionally for the Nonprofit Blog Carnival. Get the details and submit yours.