Your Brand:
Why Building a Great One Matters

You've heard how important it is to build your brand. Let's look at why it has such value.

Branding is your public face. In many ways - some big, some subtle - branding influences how you are seen and felt in the minds and hearts of your donors and prospects.

Creating an identity is not done to deceive but in fact the opposite can be true; your brand will make it easy for people to know and understand you. It will also make them care. That's the secret of big corporations who create loyalty through branding. Your brand may inspire someone to give you money, to use your services or to become involved.

Your brand is your identity - a quick, creative representation of your organization.

Branding starts with a name and a logo but is brought to life everyday, in everything you do. Corporations pay hundreds of thousands of dollars to develop and maintain a brand. That gives you a sense of how important they are. Yours won't be that expensive but it does require some investment of time and money. The end result will be something you are very proud of, your constituents identify with and your prospective donors are drawn to.

Your brand works for you by building momentum in three steps:

1. Your brand introduces you. It is composed of elements, including your name, logo, colors and fonts, which together create your identity. They establish who you are.

2. Then your brand makes you familiar. Consistency is the key. Without a brand you just go out there again and again, starting over with each communication, publication or presentation.

3. Finally your brand becomes personal. Your employees, board members, volunteers, donors, service recipients and even the general public begin to care. When they hear your name or see your logo they feel good and want to be involved or connected.

Start with a name

An appropriate memorable name is the first element of your brand. If the organization is new, it is a requirement. If you are established, a review of your name is a good exercise. A good name is memorable and succinctly states your purpose. If you decide to pursue naming, you can find Twelve Steps to a Name on my site, Nonprofit Champion.

Your identity package

A great logo is an essential part of your brand. Is yours great? Is it easily recognizable? Does it work well large (on the side of a building) and small (on your business card)? Can you identify it from across a room? If you don't feel you can be objective about yours, get the opinion of one or more marketing or design professionals (or send it to me...I'll be honest!).

Design requires a professional. If you do not have the budget to hire one, look for a designer willing to work pro-bono.

A logo is one element of an identity package-a really important part of establishing your brand. These are the elements you will want your designer to provide:

1. The symbol - a stylized version of your organization name, with or without an accompanying graphic.

2. Official color selection - you'll select Pantone colors (this is what designer's use); this ensures matching the color for print, web and even paint.

3. Your selected font(s) - consistently using the same one or two fonts adds to creating an image that becomes associated with your organization.

4. A tagline - if this is not a service provided by your designer, you could have your Naming Team draft one. The tagline quickly and cleverly supports your name, further describing your organization.

5. Standards - ideally you will be given a small book (paper or digital) showing how the logo can and cannot be used. This would include one and two color versions of your logo, horizontal and vertical versions etc.

6. Selected materials incorporating logo - you will need new letterhead and other stationary items as well as a revised website. Hopefully you have the budget (or can secure funding) to do all this at once, if not spread it out.

The value of branding will first be felt internally. Being part of the process of creating a new brand is highly motivating and energizing. It is rewarding to anyone connected to an organization to be involved in a "renewal." The opportunity to reconsider the face of the organization and have that effort result in an updated, stylish and relevant image is very exciting. That is why I recommend sharing every step of the process so everyone feels connected. Branding is the single most exciting thing I have ever done with a nonprofit organization.