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Branding—What’s the Big Deal?
© 2003 Nonprofit Solutions, Inc.
Branding—What’s the Big Deal?
Kendra Myers, Communications Coordinator
November 2003
Branding has been a corporate buzzword for many years. There’s a lot of information available on this
topic. But what does it mean for a nonprofit organization? Why is it important for your organization?
What should you do about it?
In essence, branding is defining, promoting and achieving the perception you want your target market
(and your employees/volunteers/members) to have about your organization. It’s creating a unified
message that communicates your uniqueness, focus, and values (Chapman, 2002). In The 22 Immutable
Laws of Branding, Al and Laura Ries liken branding to the branding done on a ranch: “A branding
program should be designed to differentiate your cow from all the other cattle on the range. Even if all the
cattle on the range look pretty much alike.”
Branding can most easily be broken down into three components: Your brand, your brand identity, and
your brand image.
Your brand is who you are and what you do. It’s more than your mission statement, but it certainly
should incorporate and support your mission statement—and vice versa. It’s the essence of your
organization.
Brand identity is the promise that you’re making to your target market. It’s everything you want your
organization’s brand to be seen as (Temporal, June 2002). What services do you offer? How do you
perform in delivering those services? What values does your organization stand for? If your organization
was a person, what character traits would you want it to possess (such as trendy, professional, fun,
trustworthy, responsive, etc.)? Example: Saturn markets itself as a company that pays personal attention
to individuals.
Brand image is how the public sees your brand. For example, when asked for the first word they think of
when seeing the names Rolls Royce or Volvo, most people would answer “luxury” and “safe,”
respectively. This is the gut-level response people have to these companies’ brands. What do you think
and how do you feel when you see the logo for Saturn?
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What does branding mean for your organization and why is it important?
Andrew Chapman says it well: “Branding happens. You will be branded. People will have an impression
of you or your company or your offering. …Better to create the impression you want your audiences to
have than to allow them to create their own impressions.” (Chapman, 2002)
Al and Laura Ries state, “A successful branding program… creates in the mind of the prospect the
perception that there is no product on the market quite like your product.” They further state that this very
success means that no one brand can have universal appeal (Reis, 1998). It follows that you should pick
your market and focus your efforts on creating a successful brand within that market. If you’re a
professional association for roofing contractors, you shouldn’t be worrying about creating a brand that
appeals to lawn care specialists. However, you may wish to be concerned about how homeowners and
businesses (potential contract buyers) perceive your organization and its members, particularly if one of
your services is referral.
Brands are not just selling propositions; the best brands create strong relationships and worlds of meaning
(Center on Global Brand Leadership). As a professional association, you definitely have a relationship
with each of your members and with your prospective members. How do your current and prospective
members perceive their relationships with your organization? Defining and supporting your brand will
help shape those relationships and make them into what you want them to be.
How can you develop your brand?
There are many facets to consider when developing a brand—and a lot of literature on the subject. Two
excellent publications for further reading on developing your brand are The 22 Immutable Laws of
Branding (Al Ries and Laura Ries) and The Revenge of Brand X (Rob Frankel). Here are some general
ideas to help get you started.
1. Start with a quality product. Are you offering a valuable service that people will want or need?
Example: Saturn sells cars.
2. Identify your brand’s singular distinction, define your message, and position your brand
properly in the marketplace. The best brands are simple brands. Focus on one or two attributes of
your organization. What are your organization’s core competencies, or which one(s) do you most
want to focus your target market’s attention on? Boil it down to one word or phrase. Example: Saturn
pays personal attention to individuals. (Notice that Saturn has put more focus on this attribute than on
the fact that it makes cars—it’s what sets them apart from the other car manufacturers.)
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3. Tap into emotion. Frankel says, “Advertising grabs their minds. Branding gets their hearts.”
(Frankel, 2000) Think about how you want your target market to feel about you, and about what
emotion you want to elicit from them when they see or hear your brand. Example: Saturn cares about
you, personally; its marketing gives you that warm, fuzzy feeling.
4. Build the image. Develop your brand identity, including visual, emotional and stylistic aspects. Ask
yourself how you want to be seen by your target market. If you were to ask John Q. Public to describe
your organization as a personality, what are the first words you’d want him to say?
5. Market the image. Get the word out. Share your brand identity with your target market. Advertise
who you are!
6. Live the message. Every interaction you have with the public—written, oral, visual—as an
organization or an individual affiliated with the organization should incorporate, support and
reinforce your brand identity. Example: When you walk into a Saturn dealership, you expect warm,
personal attention. Saturn employees must be ready and able to deliver on that expectation!
7. Measure your brand equity against the competition and continue to build and refine your
brand. How is your brand doing? How should you modify and market your brand to be more
successful?
*Seven steps (text in bold) taken from Dave Dolak: Building A Strong Brand: Brands and Branding
Basics, http://www.davedolak.com/whitepapers/dolak4.htm, July 2003.
How do you measure your brand’s equity? Act On Vision offers several branding metrics that also help
frame the aspects you should consider when developing or defining your brand:
Ÿ Brand awareness (unaided) – Is the brand “top of mind” for the consumer?
Ÿ Brand awareness (aided) – Is the brand something that the consumer recognizes when presented
with the name?
Ÿ Brand attributes – Is the brand cool? Hip? Intelligent? Good value? Stable? Innovative? etc.
Ÿ Message association – Does the brand offer a specific value proposition to the consumer?
Ÿ Brand favorability – Is the brand well-respected and appreciated beyond being known and even
used?
Ÿ Brand preference – Where does the brand stand when consumers are asked to choose among a
competitive set?
Ÿ Brand loyalty – Is the brand strong enough to keep consumers coming back for more?
*From Act On Vision: What Is Branding?, http://www.handypal.us/, 2002-2004.
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Finally, always keep in mind the Three C’s of Branding:
Ÿ Clear: It is easy to distinguish what the brand represents from every communication received.
Ÿ Concise: The most important element for success is your willingness to focus on your core business
competency, that which you do best.
Ÿ Consistent: For a brand to be effective, the messages surrounding it must be consistently delivered
over time.
*From Big Pond Marketing: What Is Branding?, http://www.kamincusa.
com/BigPond_Marketing/What_is_Branding/what_is_branding.html, 2002.
How can you build your brand identity and brand image?
Your brand image may not coincide with your brand identity (Temporal, June 2002). What does John Q.
Public think about your organization’s brand? If he answers differently than you’d hoped, or if several
people provide widely varying answers, then you’re not communicating your organization’s brand
identity effectively. The challenge is in making your brand image match your brand identity.
You create brand experiences and perceptions of your organization with every point of visibility and
interaction with the public (The Nancekivell Group). In other words, everything you say and do
establishes your brand (Big Pond Marketing, 2002). The way you answer the phones, the language tone
and style you use in letters and e-mails, how quickly and accurately you respond to a request—each
interaction with the public can reinforce (or undermine) your brand image. Your brand—and how you
communicate it—should be clear, concise and consistent.
Some of the most basic elements in communicating your brand are the visual ones, which include your
logo, supplemental images, colors and fonts, and how you use them. Every printed or electronic
communications piece that carries your visual brand reinforces your brand identity and brand image (The
Nancekivell Group). An excellent article on the visual aspects of your brand is “Maintaining Your
Brand’s Image” by Miller Brooks, Inc. at http://www.mb-journal.com/2000_Q4/index.html. In summary,
Miller Brooks, Inc. recommends that you develop small families of fonts, colors and images (including
your logo), and apply them to all your brand’s promotional materials.
Your staff and volunteers are the best evangelists your brand could possibly have. Board and committee
members (and office staff) are your front line branders. Their daily interactions with current and
prospective members can reinforce—or undermine—your organization’s brand identity and brand image.
It’s not just using the right letterhead, fonts and language style (although that’s a significant part of it); it’s
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also how they converse with a member, how quickly and accurately they respond to a need, how
informative and professional they are—anything that touches on the brand identity you’re trying to
convey and the brand image that’s being received. Make sure your staff and volunteers are aware of and
understand your brand, and encourage and empower them to use it every day.
A simple and effective way to communicate the essence of your brand to your staff and volunteers is to
develop a style guide—a concrete document they can read right away and refer to whenever necessary.
Your style guide should establish guidelines for how you want your brand to be used. Notice that they’re
guidelines—you should allow flexibility in some areas. Some excellent information to include in your
style guide is:
Ÿ Mission statement. What is the core mission/purpose of your organization?
Ÿ Vision statement. What does your organization want to do or be as a result of the mission?
Ÿ Values. What are the basic values your organization upholds and adheres to?
Ÿ Tagline/slogan. If you have one, what is it and how should it be used (example: “Coke is it”)?
Ÿ Logo attributes. Define the acceptable sizes, colors, placements, logotypes and alterations in using
your logo.
Ÿ Organization name attributes. Define how your organization name and/or acronym may be used.
Examples: Ditch Diggers of America, Inc. or DDA—not the Ditch Diggers, not Ditch Diggers of
America, not the DDA, not DDA, Inc., etc.
Ÿ Communication attributes. Define the acceptable fonts, colors, and layouts of letters, brochures,
announcements, publications, presentation materials, etc.
Ÿ Writing style attributes. Your materials should reflect a consistent language style and tone
supporting your brand identity. For example, if your brand identity has a mature, professional, sedate
personality, then writing a promotional e-mail in the style of a teenaged Internet chat room user is
going to damage your brand image. Define your organization’s preferences for language, tone,
specific word use, and style.
Ÿ Examples. Provide correct—and perhaps some incorrect—examples of the various elements of your
style guide.
Ÿ Who to contact with questions. Who can a volunteer turn to with specific questions? Who in your
organization has oversight of your brand and the style guide?
By defining and establishing these parameters, you will help your staff and volunteers understand your
brand and give them a framework for using it. Once you have a style guide established, you should share
it with your staff, each existing and every new board and committee member, and every volunteer who
will be at all involved with communications for your organization. Require that they read it and bring it
up at every meeting to keep it at the forefront of their thinking. Notice and mention examples of correct—
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© 2003 Nonprofit Solutions, Inc.
and incorrect—branding. Educate your volunteers on how to use the brand correctly next time when
necessary.
Creative individuals often feel that a defined brand is limiting, oppressive and boring. Your volunteers
may want to branch out and away from your defined brand—for instance, by trying to market an event
with a whole new look to make it stand out. While it’s perfectly acceptable to create an individual brand
for a special event or series of programs, you should take steps to ensure that the event’s brand
incorporates, supports and/or builds on your overall corporate brand. If the public doesn’t recognize the
event as coming from your organization, you may be losing out on some marketability.
When marketing events (particularly recurring ones), you should also be wary of frequent changes to the
color, size or style of your announcement. Designing a piece to be different than your usual marketing
pieces so that it will stand out may actually have the opposite effect. For example, if you always send
your event announcements on a 4x6 bright blue postcard, then your customers will immediately know
that the next bright blue 4x6 postcard that arrives in the mail is from your organization and contains
information about an upcoming event. They’re more likely to snag your postcard and read it first. If, on
the other hand, you send a special event postcard using a different color one month, your customers may
not recognize it for what it is right away and may even overlook it or throw it away.
In summary…
Ÿ Your organization has a brand, whether you know it or not. It may be vague and ill-defined, but it’s
there.
Ÿ Defining or developing your brand will help your organization find and strive towards its goals.
Ÿ Taking control of your brand will improve and strengthen your relationships with current and
prospective members, and with the general public.
Ÿ Taking control of your brand will also improve the marketing of your services and products (such as
educational programs or fundraising events).
Ÿ Your brand includes every point of contact you have with your members and the public.
Ÿ Consistency is the best policy.
Ÿ Your staff and volunteers are your brand evangelists.
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References
Ÿ Act On Vision: What Is Branding?, http://www.handypal.us/, 2002-2004.
Ÿ Big Pond Marketing: What Is Branding?, http://www.kamincusa.
com/BigPond_Marketing/What_is_Branding/what_is_branding.html, 2002.
Ÿ Center on Global Brand Leadership: What Is Branding?,
http://www.globalbrands.org/center/branding.htm.
Ÿ Chapman, Andrew: What Is Branding?, http://www.andrewchapman.info/stuff_what_branding.html,
2002.
Ÿ Dolak, Dave: Building A Strong Brand: Brands and Branding Basics,
http://www.davedolak.com/whitepapers/dolak4.htm, July 2003.
Ÿ Frankel, Rob: The Revenge of Brand X, Frankel & Anderson, Inc., 2000.
Ÿ Miller Brooks: Maintaining Your Brand’s Image, http://www.mb-journal.com/2000_Q4/index.html,
2000.
Ÿ Reis, Al and Laura: The 22 Immutable Laws of Branding, HarperBusiness, New York, 1998.
Ÿ Temporal, Paul: Corporate Identity, Brand Identity, and Brand Image,
http://www.brandingasia.com/columns/temporal10.htm, June 2002.
Ÿ The Nancekivell Group: Fact Sheet – Corporate Branding (http://www.nancekivell.com/).
Further Reading
Ÿ Are you a brand champion? by Ramanujam Sridhar,
http://www.brandchannel.com/images/papers/brand_champion.pdf
Ÿ Bootstrap Branding by Richard Layton,
http://www.brandchannel.com/images/Papers/Bootstrap_bro_Final.pdf
Ÿ Branding the Non-Profit by Kristine Kirby Webster,
http://www.brandchannel.com/images/papers/Non_prof.pdf
Ÿ Executive Brand Leadership by Karl D. Speak,
http://www.brandnetwork.com/brandtoolbox/articles/Executive_Brand_Leadership.pdf
Ÿ Integrated Communication Makes Strong Brands by Dr. Jürgen Häusler,
http://www.brandchannel.com/images/papers/strongbrand.pdf.
Ÿ Is Branding Relevant Now? by Mark A. Curtis,
http://www.brandchannel.com/images/papers/Isbrandingrelevantnow.pdf, 2002.
Ÿ More Than Employees: Brand Evangelists by William Arruda,
http://www.brandchannel.com/papers_review.asp?sp_id=85, June 2001.
Ÿ Online Brand Behaviour by Anne Nicholson,
http://www.brandchannel.com/images/papers/OnlineBrandBehaviour_final.pdf, 2003.
Ÿ Performing the Brand Audit by Martin Jelsema,
http://www.brandchannel.com/images/papers/PerformingBrandAudit.pdf, September 2002.
Ÿ Philanthropy Meet Technology by Joey Madrid, Jr.,
http://www.brandchannel.com/images/papers/nonprofit_final.pdf, February 2003.
Ÿ Synchronizing the Brand by Stephen M. Rapier,
http://www.brandchannel.com/papers_review.asp?sp_id=159, September 2002.
Ÿ Taking Care of Brand-ness by Matt Kollmorgen,
http://www.brandchannel.com/images/papers/TakingCareofBrand-ness.pdf, March 2003.
Ÿ Why Evangelist Employees Are Champions of Your Brand by Jon Hopwood,
http://www.brandchannel.com/papers_review.asp?sp_id=124, December 2001. |
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